Hearing this, everyone present was truly stunned. They had just witnessed firsthand how terrifying the Rinnegan was—those bizarre abilities that were almost impossible to guard against. If Hoshiyomi hadn't provided intelligence in advance, there was no way they would have won this war so easily.
Now, hearing Nagato say he intended to simply give the Rinnegan to Naruto, even someone as thick-skinned as Might Guy looked at Naruto with undisguised envy.
Even Minato, for a brief moment, felt his resolve waver. He almost wanted Naruto to accept those eyes—if Naruto possessed the Rinnegan, wouldn't he no longer have to worry about his son's safety?
As everyone's gazes turned toward him, Naruto awkwardly took a couple of steps back, scratched his head, and laughed sheepishly.
"I get how badly you want to see peace happen, really. But giving away your eyes isn't necessary, right? If you really want to do that, you could give them to Konan-nee instead.
"Suddenly talking about transplanting someone else's eyes is kind of overwhelming, you know? And just like Jiraiya-sensei wrote in his book—peace is something you're supposed to achieve through your own strength."
At those words, everyone present felt their blood pressure spike. This was the legendary Rinnegan—and he just refused it like that.
But on second thought… wasn't this exactly what Naruto would do? This kind of unexpected, straightforward integrity was precisely Naruto's charm.
Minato also came back to his senses. A father knows his son best—Naruto's choice was entirely understandable to him. More than that, Minato felt proud of the decision his son had made.
That confidence and righteousness—he truly was the son of Namikaze Minato.
Hearing Naruto reject him so decisively, the Deva Path showed a somewhat helpless smile and turned to Jiraiya.
"Sensei, now I'm one hundred percent certain. Naruto is the true Child of Prophecy."
He then turned back to Naruto.
"Since you're unwilling to transplant my eyes, I won't force the issue. However, I still hope you will come and retrieve them.
"The power of these eyes is far too dangerous. To prevent anyone from coveting them after my death, they should be placed in Konoha's custody.
"I'm no longer able to move freely, so I'll wait for you there. My real body is hidden in a forest ten kilometers to the east. I'll guide you to my true body next."
Hearing this, the Konoha shinobi exchanged glances, temptation flickering in their eyes. The Rinnegan's power was simply too overwhelming and too strange—even they felt immense pressure when facing it.
If those eyes were to fall into the wrong hands, it would undoubtedly spell disaster for the shinobi world. Just as Nagato said, for the sake of peace itself, they had to find the Rinnegan and either destroy it or seal it away.
Seeing that everyone had agreed, the Deva Path no longer hesitated. Supporting himself with difficulty, he led the group toward Nagato's real body.
The group rushed toward Nagato's location—but midway through, the Deva Path's expression suddenly changed.
He abruptly turned around and unleashed a powerful Shinra Tensei at everyone present.
The attack came without any warning. Even Hoshiyomi failed to react in time, and together with Naruto and the others, was blasted away by the repulsive force.
Everyone scrambled up from the ground in disarray, glaring angrily and warily at the Deva Path standing rigidly in the distance. Their eyes were filled with vigilance and hostility. Konan, too, stared at him in disbelief, unable to understand why he would suddenly attack.
Could it be that even at this point… Nagato still intended to fight to the bitter end?
Just as everyone was at a loss as to what was going on, the Deva Path spoke with great difficulty:
"This is bad. Someone arrived at my true body before you did. Those two guys are from Akatsuki—that Shinra Tensei just now was Black Zetsu controlling my body and ordering me to release it!
"Naruto, you all need to hurry! Get there as fast as possible and destroy the Rinnegan. You absolutely cannot let the Rinnegan fall into—"
Before the Deva Path could finish his sentence, he suddenly froze, as if a machine had lost power, stopping abruptly. After a brief pause, he spoke again—but this time, both his voice and expression had completely changed.
"Hehehe… that was close. Nagato almost succeeded. But escaping my control isn't that easy."
As he spoke, the Deva Path turned stiffly and stared straight at Hoshiyomi.
"Gekko Hoshiyomi, this time you won't be able to stop me."
With that, the Deva Path raised his hand again, clearly preparing to use Chō Shinra Tensei.
Hoshiyomi's expression changed drastically. Minato and the others were still nearby—he absolutely could not allow the Deva Path to use that technique. The moment the thought crossed his mind, Hoshiyomi immediately activated Dance of the Startling Swan.
He appeared instantly behind the Deva Path and, with a single slash, cut the Deva Path cleanly in two.
Even so, the Deva Path stared at Hoshiyomi and spoke his final words:
"What a shame. But even so, it doesn't matter. Lord Madara's revival is already inevitable. No one can stop the Eye of the Moon Plan anymore."
Looking at the Deva Path's lifeless corpse, Hoshiyomi's face turned ashen.
He had forgotten about this.
In the original story, Madara had transplanted the Rinnegan into Nagato precisely so Nagato would use the Rinne Rebirth technique to revive him and carry out the Eye of the Moon Plan.
However, in the original timeline, Black Zetsu and Obito were busy brainwashing Sasuke when Nagato recklessly invaded Konoha and used Rinne Rebirth to revive the villagers who had died during the invasion. That forced Black Zetsu and the others to turn instead to Edo Tensei.
Now, due to Hoshiyomi's butterfly effect, the Uchiha clan was not wiped out, Sasuke never defected, and Obito never joined Black Zetsu. Ironically, this gave Black Zetsu the perfect opportunity to carry out the original plan.
Hoshiyomi knew all too well how terrifying Black Zetsu was. In the original story, even Obito—who had become a pseudo Ten-Tails Jinchūriki—was unable to resist Black Zetsu's possession, let alone a dying Nagato.
Thinking of this, Hoshiyomi no longer had time to worry about Naruto and the others. With a flick of his sword-finger, he released the Grass Long Sword, Kusanagi Blade from his back and leapt onto it, racing at full speed toward Nagato's hiding place.
Just as he was about to reach Nagato, an invisible yet overwhelmingly massive chakra wave surged toward him from nearby.
The sheer weight of this chakra was enough to make not only Hoshiyomi's expression change, but also Naruto and the others, who felt its pressure as well.
Under everyone's stunned gazes, a gigantic spectral image of the King of Hell appeared. As it opened its mouth, a pale green soul emerged, circling briefly in the air before plunging downward.
Seeing this, Hoshiyomi's expression changed completely.
He was still one step too late.
...
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