Konoha: Starting with Sage Mode

Honestly, he really wanted to try out the power of the Rinnegan for himself.

However, the lesson of the past is right before his eyes. He had just infused Nagato with a gentle Yang Release Sage Chakra, giving his body a new vitality. But because he had forcibly used the power of the Rinnegan, his body had not yet recovered, and he would probably suffer from chronic illnesses in the future.

This is the price of forcibly using the power of the Rinnegan. His good foundation has been severely damaged. Without some fortuitous encounters in the future, it will be difficult for him to become as powerful as in the original story.

Therefore, while the power of the Rinnegan is indeed strong, it is also too domineering. Even Nagato, a descendant of the Uzumaki clan with the bloodline of the top Uzumaki clan, was almost drained dry. Although he is a sage, it is hard to guarantee that he will not be in trouble if he forcibly uses this power.

He remembered very clearly the emaciated appearance of Nagato in the original story.

This clearly shows that even though Nagato is now an adult and his strength is far greater than when he was a child, and the power of the Uzumaki clan's bloodline has been fully activated, using the power of the Rinnegan in battle still puts a huge burden on his body.

"Give me one of the eyes now, this is my final offer."

Seeing Kirito remain silent, Madara Uchiha immediately knew that he had once again successfully exploited Kirito's weakness, regained the initiative, and decisively pressed his advantage.

He is a professional at manipulating people's hearts. Even without being taught, he naturally learns it through experience. Especially in recent years, he has been hiding behind the scenes and secretly controlling the trends of the ninja world, which has made him more and more proficient in this skill.

Everyone has weaknesses, and this ridiculously powerful brat in front of us is no exception.

He was too young after all, and there were too many things he couldn't let go of, but that gave him the opportunity to become a general.

"This thing is the Rinnegan, right? Do you think I'm stupid to hand it over to you? I just witnessed its power, and it is indeed very powerful. Right now, just in my hands, I can feel an amazing power emanating from it. Do you think I would just hand it over so easily?"

As for your threats, they are too childish and low-level. Do you think that if I give them to you, you won't threaten me like that again in the future?

Don't overestimate yourself. Your threats have no effect on me because I know that someone as shameless as you won't let me off the hook even if I give in to your demands now. You have to do as I say, or we'll break up completely, and neither of us will want to have an easy time.

Seeing that Madara Uchiha was trying to push his luck, Kirito decisively exposed Madara's dirty thoughts on the spot and sneered.

Trying to talk about bottom lines with someone who has no bottom lines.

It's utterly ridiculous.

Scheming against a child, what kind of bottom line is that?

With his intentions exposed and unable to regain the initiative in the negotiations, Madara Uchiha's expression grew increasingly grim, and his anger accumulated to a certain point.

"Lord Madara, this kid is a loyal and righteous fellow. With Sakumo Hatake in our hands, we're not afraid of any tricks he might pull. The most important thing now is to safely retrieve the Rinnegan. If we lose the Rinnegan, Lord Madara's long-planned Eye of the Moon will fail, and all our previous efforts will be in vain. Moreover, the Rinnegan is extremely precious, and that kid will definitely not be willing to destroy it. He might even be tempted to try to master the power of the Rinnegan and then bring about his own destruction."

The Black Zetsu hidden in Madara Uchiha's sleeve knew Madara well. He noticed that Madara's emotions were not right and quickly tried to persuade him.

Madara Uchiha's emotions had been unstable for a long time, ever since he lost his important younger brother. The reason he now appears shrewd, calm, and experienced is because after Hashirama Senju's death, there was nothing in the ninja world that interested or concerned him.

In his eyes, everything was under his control. Even if there were some minor problems, he could easily erase them and let everything continue to develop according to his wishes.

But things are different recently. Madara Uchiha has finally encountered something that interests and concerns him, and he can't handle it as easily as he usually does. Now, the Rinnegan is being used as leverage against him by others. Black Zetsu is really worried that Madara Uchiha will suddenly go crazy.

It could live for a very long time, but it really doesn't want to miss out on this great opportunity.

It has taken it thousands of years to get to where it is now, a really long time, so long that it has become somewhat weary of it.

Black Zetsu's words came at the right time, and Madara Uchiha found them very reasonable, which finally temporarily quelled his anger.

Black Zetsu makes a lot of sense.

The power of the Rinnegan is incredibly tempting; this kid might very well try to control it.

He wasn't afraid of Kirito controlling the Rinnegan, because as the true owner of the Rinnegan, he knew very well how terrifying and domineering the power of the Rinnegan was. To truly unleash the power of the Rinnegan, one had to possess the power of the Sage of Six Paths.

"However, this kid has a tail inside him, so he might actually be able to unleash some of the power of the Rinnegan."

Madara Uchiha suddenly remembered that Kirito was the Jinchuriki of the One-Tailed Beast, and hesitated again.

In the end, he made a temporary concession for the sake of the Eye of the Moon Plan. He gave Kirito a deep look and said coldly, "You better not try anything funny. I'll be watching you closely."

As soon as he finished speaking, he turned and left with Black Zetsu.

"Phew, I finally managed to persuade this treacherous guy to back down. If I had actually fought him here, I would have been at a great disadvantage."

Kirito breathed a sigh of relief when he saw that Madara Uchiha had made a concession.

He then quickly and carefully put away the two Rinnegan eyes before turning his gaze to Nagato.

At this moment, Nagato's eyes were closed, but his sunken eyelids revealed that he had lost his eyes.

The next moment, he arrived in front of the corpse of a Rain Ninja who had just died. He used medical ninjutsu to remove the eyes from the man's body, then perfectly transplanted those eyes onto Nagato's body. Finally, he injected a gentle stream of Yang Release Sage Chakra into Nagato's body and gave him a special soldier's ration pill to help him recover quickly.

"Taking away your Rinnegan and replacing it with a new pair should be considered a complete change of your fate. These Rinnegan are ultimately a curse rather than a blessing for you. Now that you've lost your Rinnegan, I think that treacherous old man will let you go."

Kirito looked at Nagato, whose complexion had regained a hint of color, and sighed.

Then, he turned his head and looked at Yahiko and Konan lying on the ground not far away.

While talking to Madara Uchiha, he deliberately used the Blood Illusion Technique of the Blood Dragon Eye to pull everyone here into an illusion.

Therefore, apart from Nagato who had seen him once, no one else here knew what happened during his confrontation with Madara Uchiha, nor did they know that he had ever been there.

Kirito placed Nagato between Yahiko and Konan, and then left silently.

After a long while, the people in the underground shelter slowly woke up.

Meanwhile, on the ground, the Hidden Cloud Village had been completely routed. The Third Raikage, the Fourth Raikage, and Burubi, among others, gave up the struggle and chose to gather the fleeing forces as much as possible, with some of them covering the retreat of the others.

"The outcome is decided. Congratulations on successfully defeating Yunyin."

In the sky, Tsunade looked at the situation on the battlefield below and said to Hattori Masanari beside her with a complicated expression.

Without the support of Konoha's reinforcements, Amegakure defeated Kumogakure, something she never dared to imagine at first, but the man beside her accomplished this seemingly impossible task.

"What's there to congratulate? This isn't really a victory. After this battle, we in Amegakure don't know how long it will take to rebuild Amegakure. I bet many people will curse me for destroying Amegakure without permission."

Upon hearing this, Kirito smiled wryly.

"They will understand you; victory is the best answer."

Tsunade comforted her, while secretly breathing a sigh of relief herself.

It's really not a good thing that our neighbor is too strong. Amegakure has suffered heavy losses. Even with an outstanding ninja like Hattori Masashige, it will be impossible to recover in less than one or two decades.

After so much time has passed, Konoha is no longer afraid of Amegakure.

Furthermore, Kumogakure also suffered heavy losses this time. Presumably, as long as the Third Raikage hasn't lost his mind, he won't have any more designs on Konoha in the short term.

"Peace seems to be finally on its way."

Looking at the gradually clearing sky, Tsunade was filled with emotion as she thought about the impact this battle would have on the ninja world and Konoha.

She had originally planned to bring troops to support Amegakure and drive away Kumogakure, but she never expected it to end prematurely in this way.

But the fact that Konoha can achieve peace without further bloodshed is ultimately a great thing.

"Princess of Konoha, let's go down together. This victory should belong to us."

Kirito extended the invitation.

He was more worried about Tsunade's safety. Since he shared memories with his original body, he naturally knew that Madara Uchiha was nearby, and that the old schemer was probably still there.

Faced with Hattori Masanari's invitation, Tsunade naturally did not refuse and readily accepted Kirito's invitation to go down together to welcome the victory of this great battle.

On the other side, Madara Uchiha, disguised as an ordinary Amegakure ninja using the disguise technique of Tobi (White Zetsu), watched Tsunade and Hattori Masanari descend from the sky, a hint of regret flashing in his eyes.

After his negotiations with Kirito ended, he immediately conceived the idea of ​​kidnapping Tsunade to gain another bargaining chip.

Unfortunately, Hattori Masanari stayed by Tsunade's side the whole time, which prevented him from getting any opportunities.

It wasn't that he lacked confidence in kidnapping Tsunade from Hattori Masanari; it was just that he was worried that Tohsaka Kirito hadn't left either, and if he failed to capture Tsunade immediately, his Rinnegan might be in danger.

"Never mind, time is of the essence."

Seeing that Hattori Masanari had not left Tsunade's side for a long time, Madara Uchiha finally gave up on his spur-of-the-moment idea.

Chapter 249: Transplanting the Rinnegan

With the Rinnegan in hand, I'll rule the world?

When Madara Uchiha abandoned his idea of ​​kidnapping Tsunade, Kirito had already arrived at a small laboratory he had secretly built in the Land of Rain, and activated the sealing barrier inside to completely block out any external influences.

Kirito ultimately couldn't resist the allure of the Rinnegan and wanted to experience the power of those eyes firsthand.

More importantly, these eyes contain the power of Yin-Yang Release, which he can take the opportunity to learn more about it.

His Yin and Yang Escape techniques have both reached level 4, but he is still far from reaching level 5. Compared to the other five elemental escape techniques, it is more difficult for Yin and Yang Escape to reach level 5. Even 3 enhancement points are not enough to upgrade it.

In fact, when he had 5 enhancement points, his Yin Escape technique still didn't have a '+' suffix that could be enhanced.

This shows that breaking through to the fifth level in Yin and Yang Escape is extremely difficult.

This is understandable. Whether it's Yin Escape or Yang Escape, both of these escape techniques are related to the creation of life and death. Once you master both of these escape techniques to the extreme, it's equivalent to having the power of creation.

"It seems Nagato is truly plagued by misfortune. Even though I have taken the Rinnegan from him, the clues to change his fate have not yet appeared. Does this mean that Madara Uchiha has not given up his covetousness for him?"

Kirito temporarily shifted his attention away from the Rinnegan and said with a slight frown.

Since he killed Ebizo, he still has two enhancement points: one from killing Ebizo and the other from killing the Third Kazekage. These two characters did not appear frequently in the original story, and the enhancement points they provided were pitifully few.

He originally thought that by taking the Rinnegan from Nagato, he could change Nagato's fate and gain a lot of enhancement points, but he failed to achieve his goal.

"Alright, let's be more careful from now on. Nagato is indeed the best Rinnegan vessel for Madara Uchiha right now. Given his current physical condition, it's impossible for him to implant the Rinnegan in himself again. If he does, he'll die. And the Rinnegan isn't suitable for being sealed for a long time. It needs a suitable vessel to nurture it."

"There are very few people in the world who can serve as vessels for the Rinnegan. Madara Uchiha was already incredibly lucky to find Nagato, considering that the Uzumaki clan is already quite small in the ninja world, and those capable of withstanding the Rinnegan are even rarer."

Kirito quickly realized the reason for Nagato's tragic fate and sighed.

Sometimes, being too talented can be a bad thing; this is what is meant by "the heavens are jealous of talent."

At that moment, he thought of Kushina and Karin's mother, who were the two people he knew of who were most likely to serve as vessels for the Rinnegan.

If Madara Uchiha is unable to take Nagato from him, he will definitely choose a new vessel to avoid any unforeseen complications.

"There's a high chance he'll choose Kushina. First, Kushina is my junior sister, so I can use her to blackmail me. Second, Kushina has the Nine-Tails inside her. If he can control Kushina, it would be a win-win situation. It seems I'll have to stay in Konoha from now on. This guy has quite a few White Zetsu spies planted in Konoha. It's necessary to try to study how to break the White Zetsu's disguise technique."

Kirito felt a sudden sense of tension when he realized that Kushina might be targeted by Madara Uchiha.

For ordinary Kage-level shinobi, Konoha Village is indeed a den of dragons and tigers, but for Madara Uchiha, it was basically his backyard, where he could come and go as he pleased.

The Hidden Leaf Village is no longer the place where the God of Shinobi resides.

Time waits for no one, so Kirito refocused his attention on the Rinnegan.

Every time he met those eyes, he felt like he was being spied on.

These Sage Eyes, once possessed only by the Sage of Six Paths and Kaguya Otsutsuki in the ninja world, seem to have developed their own will and have discovered that this Sage has the potential to control them, and also yearn to obtain his power.

Just as forces are reciprocal, while he coveted the power of the Rinnegan, wasn't the Rinnegan also coveting his power?

Possessing power that doesn't belong to you will always come at a price, unless you can truly make the Rinnegan your own, just like the blood dragon eyes in his eye sockets that have been completely corrupted by your power.