Everything was connected. How bitterly ironic.
Konan considered this for a moment, then continued analyzing the real reason the two had disappeared.
"They simply don't have any energy to spare for us right now."
"The Sky Screen has already exposed every secret about Obito's control over Kirigakure and his covert schemes."
"Kirigakure must be in utter chaos now. Every faction will be settling old scores and hunting down traitors. Obito must have his hands full just trying to save himself."
"As for Black Zetsu..."
Konan's gaze grew more grave as she revealed the most crucial truth.
"The Sky Screen has already exposed that he isn't some ordinary manifestation of someone's will. He's Otsutsuki Hara."
"Now the real Ōtsutsuki Isshiki has been revealed, and he kills without mercy."
"The identity Black Zetsu concealed for a thousand years has been completely exposed. All he can do now is hide for his life, terrified that Isshiki will find him and wipe him out. How would he dare show himself?"
Nagato listened quietly, then remained silent for a long time.
Life was unpredictable. Fortunes could rise and fall overnight.
Black Zetsu, who had once controlled everything and toyed with everyone's fate, and Obito, who had once controlled an entire village, were now both hiding their identities, unable even to guarantee their own safety.
Yet Nagato, the pawn they had manipulated and exploited, remained peacefully in the Land of Rain, with no one paying him any attention.
After a long while, he murmured, "I never imagined this."
"All these tangled secrets from the Sky Screen have thrown every side into chaos."
"And somehow, I-the leader of the Akatsuki, the threat everyone feared-have ended up safe."
A strange twist of fate had protected the pawn who should have been discarded.
At his words, Konan took a