After school, Naruto said goodbye to Hinata and went home.
He could hardly wait to find Nagato and bring him over to his side.
Naruto had a bit of a collector's streak. Since he intended to recruit the Akatsuki's all-star lineup, the sooner, the better.
Once he returned to his room, Naruto put on the Virtual Headset, planning to visit the virtual world for a heart-to-heart with Nagato and Konan!
In the virtual world.
Nagato sat alone beside a stream, staring into space. Behind him stood Konan, worry written all over her face.
"Konan... what do you think I should do?"
Konan found herself at a loss for words at Nagato's question.
She desperately wanted to say that they should simply give it all up and find somewhere to live in seclusion!
But... she couldn't say that. Doing so would mean dismissing all the efforts Nagato and the late Yahiko had made.
"I don't trust Obito Uchiha..."
In the end, Konan could only change the subject.
"Obito Uchiha... Madara Uchiha, Zetsu... none of them can be trusted. I know that!"
"But right now, I'm lost. I don't know what I should do next."
"I've thought about destroying these eyes of mine. That way... perhaps there won't be any more disasters!"
That was right... after hearing Obito's spoilers, Nagato's first thought had been to destroy the Rinnegan.
Without the Rinnegan... no one would be able to control the Demonic Statue of the Outer Path, and the Ten-Tails wouldn't be revived.
Whatever Madara Uchiha and Obito Uchiha intended, without the Rinnegan and the Demonic Statue of the Outer Path, all their plans would go down the drain.
But Nagato still couldn't quite accept it.
Creating peace required power, and... all of Nagato's current power depended on this pair of Rinnegan. Without