Xia Yan had no idea that, in Nagato's eyes, he was already a godlike being as well.
Still less did he know that Nagato was now "playing the fool" and acting as a double agent with Black Zetsu. All one could say was that a world with Xia Yan in it had become far too fantastical.
Even if Xia Yan knew, though, he probably would not care too much. Of course, that indifference only applied to Nagato's thoughts; he would still care about the changes in Nagato.
Having read the original story, he knew very well how terrifying Nagato could be once his body recovered.
Being able to use all the Rinnegan's basic abilities by himself was already an enormous change!
Even the basic abilities of eyes like the Rinnegan were beyond an ordinary person's imagination. The Super Shinra Tensei that had flattened Konoha still lingered in Xia Yan's mind.
And he had used separate bodies when dealing with Konoha, bodies that were inherently disadvantaged when receiving chakra.
Even with black rods formed through Yin-Yang Release, chakra was still lost during transmission.
Yet he had still flattened all of Konoha. Had his real body come instead, he probably could have wiped out Konoha's hundred thousand or so people single-handedly.
Rather than leaving so many people unharmed, as he had in the original story.
After asking Orochimaru about the experiments' progress and chatting for a while, Xia Yan left the Secret Base.
Naturally, he did not forget to give Kabuto some encouragement. What puzzled him was that he had originally expected the boy to fear him.
At the very least, Kabuto should not have treated him pleasantly. After all, Xia Yan had replaced Danzo and disrupted Kabuto's peaceful life.
To his surprise, however, the boy acted exactly as though he were