"My intelligence, for some reason, was completely known to him. He seemed to know all the abilities of the Six Paths, and every attack was just right, hitting my weak points directly. I could not even force him to use his full strength." Nagato said dejectedly.
"How is that possible. Your intelligence. Even I, as your closest person, do not necessarily know all of it. Moreover, you never leave survivors in your fights. How could he possibly know your intelligence." Konan said with an incredulous expression.
"I also do not understand why it is like this. Although it is hard to believe, the fact is just so." Nagato's face was full of helplessness.
Once the intelligence on the Six Paths' abilities is known by the opponent, the threat posed by the Paths of Pain would be greatly reduced. Facing an opponent like Uchiha Ryun, of course the defeat would be unsurprising.
"I was too naive."
After a long time, Nagato let out a faint sigh.
He thought that he and Uchiha Ryun shared the same ideals, and that by being sincere, he could probably recruit him. He never expected that the other person simply looked down on him.
Nagato thought he had experienced pain and grown up. But essentially, his mentality as an 'idealist' had not changed much. Otherwise, he would not have been fooled by Uchiha Obito, and later talked into sacrificing himself to save others by Naruto Uzumaki's 'Talk no Jutsu'.
Ryun was a thorough realist. He and Nagato, Konan, and the others were simply not the same kind of people. Even if one day they had the chance to stand together, it would absolutely be Ryun's will that dominated the group.
"After all, he is the War God recognized by the entire ninja world. Relying solely on the Paths of Pain to defeat him was indeed very difficult." Konan offered a slight comfort.
"Yes. After we return, our plan to hunt the Tailed Beasts must be accelerated. We can no longer delay because of trivial matters." Nagato said with a serious expression.
Ryun's humiliating words still echoed in his ears. Without stuffing all the remaining four Tailed Beasts into the Gedo Statue, he did not have the qualification to discuss cooperation with Ryun.
"Alright."
Konan nodded somewhat helplessly, agreeing to this decision. Then she volunteered.
"I will go retrieve the Paths of Pain's bodies. We cannot let Yahiko fall into the hands of Otogakure."
"Do not." Nagato hurriedly stopped her.
"He might still be there. If you go, not only might you not recover the bodies, but you might also end up captured yourself."
Faced with Nagato's warning, Konan could not help but smile freely.
"Back then, I pulled him inside to shelter from the rain. The mighty Dragon Lord probably would not go so far as to make things difficult for a weak woman like me."
After saying this, Konan decisively turned and left. Watching her retreating back, Nagato opened his mouth, but could not say anything to stop her, and could only let her go and try.
If she could recover the bodies, it would of course be good. Nagato himself could use the abilities of the Naraka Path. As long as the six bodies were retrieved, he would not have to expend great effort to rebuild the Paths of Pain later.
On the battlefield outside Otogakure, after Ryun defeated the Six Paths of Pain, he did not leave immediately. Instead, he dug out all twelve eyeballs from the corpses.
These eyeballs were not the real Rinnegan, but each contained the ocular power of the Rinnegan. The ocular power would not dissipate for a short time. Ryun wanted to dig out these eyes to conduct some experiments.
At this moment, he did not have the thought of using the Black Receiver rods to trace the 'connection line' and go find Nagato.
If he wanted to kill that red-haired guy, he could have done it thirteen years ago.
Just after Ryun finished packaging and sealing all the eyeballs, several Rain-nin jonin arrived belatedly.
"Shadow-sama."
The few people were all shocked by the surrounding battle scene.
This area was originally an environmentally serene mountainous area. Now, it was surrounded by giant craters, with mountains collapsed and earth split, already reduced to a desolate wasteland.
"Hmm." Ryun casually nodded towards them.
"Shadow-sama, are you alright. Was it you fighting the enemy just now."
The Anbu captain looked around vigilantly. Apart from the six corpses, there were no other humanoid living creatures nearby.
"I am fine. The enemies have all been killed by me. You can just act as if this never happened." Ryun waved his hand and said.
"Yes."
The few people nodded in unison in agreement.
As they were speaking, Konan also flew over from the sky at this time.
The several Otogakure jonin all drew their weapons and stood ready for battle.
But Ryun pressed his palm down at this moment, signaling them not to act yet.
"Greetings, Dragon Lord-sama."
Konan quickly landed in front of Ryun, put away her paper wings, and took the initiative to bow to him.
"Yo. Isn't this Konan."
Ryun smiled and greeted the newcomer.
"Many years no see. Little sister Konan's beautiful appearance is even more outstanding than before."
Faced with this slightly flirtatious greeting, Konan was first stunned for a moment, then this ice-cold beauty actually rarely showed a shy feminine demeanor.
Putting aside their respective positions for now, it had been thirteen years since that one encounter. Ryun could actually still remember her name, which truly made her feel somewhat flattered.
"Brother Ryun, you have a good memory. But I remember back then your eyes were covered with a black cloth. You should not have been able to see my appearance, right." Konan rarely joked with a smile.
"When I was leaving back then, I clearly reminded you all that I was not blind." Ryun's expression showed some helplessness.
"Hehe."
Konan first covered her mouth and laughed, then gently nodded in agreement.
"Yes, you did say that back then."
Ryun was already famous throughout the world thirteen years ago. Their little group of small figures did not recognize the true god had descended, and actually said many unpleasant things about him behind his back.
When many years later they learned that the so-called Ryun was actually Uchiha Ryun, those who had refuted Ryun back then were almost scared into having heart attacks.
With the strength Ryun possessed at that time, if he wanted, he could easily have destroyed their Akatsuki organization. Yet he was still willing to sit down with them, and even earnestly explained his ideals for peace to them.
Such a heroic figure, in Konan's view, was worthy of admiration.
The reason why Nagato had a conflict with Ryun, she guessed, was probably because Nagato said something arrogant, or was too eager to prove himself, thus causing Ryun to become displeased, leading to the fight between them.
Otherwise, with the Dragon Lord's cultivation and magnanimity, how could he possibly want to determine superiority with the Six Paths of Pain upon meeting.
Ryun did not know Konan's thoughts. Seeing her staring at him wordlessly for a long time, Ryun could not help but ask.
"Are you here to collect their bodies."
"Yes. They are all members of the Akatsuki organization, and my companions. I cannot just leave them. Please allow me to take their bodies back." Konan said, slightly nervous.
For some reason, she suddenly felt afraid that this man would refuse her request.
However, her nervousness did not last long. Ryun's next words made her breathe a long sigh of relief.
"You can take them away. These guys came to my door on their own initiative and were disrespectful to me. Do not blame me for hitting too hard and killing them."
Hearing this, Konan's face immediately showed an expression of 'as expected'. In her heart, she thought even more.
'So it was indeed Nagato who offended him. If only I had insisted on coming with the Paths of Pain. If everyone could have talked properly, things would not have escalated to this point.'
"It is fine. They offended you, it is their fault. I apologize to you on their behalf."
Konan hurriedly accompanied with a smile and bowed in apology. She wanted to do her best to restore the relationship between them, and at the same time felt somewhat resentful that Nagato was too impulsive.
Obviously, Brother Ryun is very easy to talk to. How could this still lead to a breakdown and a fight.