"Was this the power of Konoha Ninja and Otsutsuki Toneri?"
Hidden in the distance, Konan and Nagato could not help gasping inwardly, the latter's face especially full of bitterness.
As the former bearer of the Rinnegan, Nagato had once possessed such strength. He had single-handedly fought six Kage-level fighters from Konoha Shinobi Village before finally choosing to withdraw.
But that power had come at a price. He had lost a great deal of his life force, and his Rinnegan had been taken from him.
The two sides currently fighting, however, clearly possessed that power themselves. The price they had to pay was negligible, and they might grow even stronger in the future.
Otsutsuki Toneri, in particular, looked like a boy who had only just graduated from the Ninja Academy.
Was the Ōtsutsuki Clan really that absurd, or was he older than he looked?
Thinking back now, Nagato found his former claim to godhood laughable. The shinobi world was full of ninja stronger than him, all hiding in the shadows and watching him make a fool of himself.
Perhaps his acquisition of the Rinnegan had itself been a conspiracy, nothing more than a game played by someone stronger.
Otherwise, why would he, whose mother was from the Uzumaki Clan and whose father was merely an ordinary man, have developed the legendary Sage's Eye? Surely he was not actually the Child of Prophecy that his teacher Jiraiya had spoken of.
Still, the Sage of Six Paths must have belonged to the Ōtsutsuki Clan, the same clan as that boy.
And Oto Uchiha, who had once fought him, must also have been evolving toward becoming an Otsutsuki...
After losing his Rinnegan, Nagato had also lost his arrogant disregard for everyone else. He had begun relying on his mind rather than brute force.
Just