"If I go to Konoha, what are you going to do with the Akatsuki?!"
Nagato fell silent for a long while. The truth was already staring him in the face.
Even if Nagato refused to believe it, what difference would that make?!
Bai Ye's Rinnegan clearly made far more sense than his own, both in its ocular power and the way it evolved.
His own Rinnegan seemed to have appeared out of nowhere.
He had possessed these eyes before, but for some reason, he had been completely unable to use them.
He had originally thought he simply hadn't known how to activate them back then.
But now, how could Nagato fail to realize that wasn't what had happened?
These Rinnegan hadn't belonged to him in the first place.
That was why things had turned out this way.
Thinking back now, so many things that hadn't made sense suddenly fell into place!
That also made Nagato completely abandon the idea of carrying on with his plan.
First, Bai Ye was doing exactly what he had wanted to do, only even more thoroughly.
Second, his own circumstances were pretty much exactly as Bai Ye had described.
He really was nothing more than a pawn.
Then I'm done with this, too!
No wonder these eyes had been devouring his life force every moment of every day.
They hadn't been his to begin with.
"Konan took me to see the countries you liberated. I think... perhaps your ideals are right... a single show of force isn't enough to keep people in check.
And your approach really is the best option we have right now..."
After a brief silence, Nagato continued, "Actually, I came here because I saw what things were like in those countries, and I wanted to speak with you.
I just never