When Konan saw the corpses, each one having died in an extremely gruesome manner, her originally somewhat rosy face could not help but pale significantly.
All six Paths of Pain had been 'wiped out' and defeated, yet the other party looked like he only had slightly dirty clothes.
The gap was ridiculously large. In Konan's impression, Pain was already very, very strong, so strong that it was difficult to find an opponent in the ninja world. Yet, facing Uchiha Ryun, he was defeated so thoroughly.
"Oh, right. Their eyes were dug out by my teacher. He took those eyes, saying he wanted to conduct research." Ryun casually said as he rubbed his nose.
Orochimaru forced him to work, so today he would let Orochimaru take the blame.
'Teacher... Orochimaru? What a perverse guy.' Konan cursed inwardly, but on the surface, she put on a very agreeable demeanor.
"Gone is gone. Consider the eyes as their compensation."
The corpses missing a pair of eyes could still be repaired by Nagato, it would just require consuming more Rinnegan pupil power.
Konan used her Paper Style to wrap all six corpses. Then, she turned to Ryun to say goodbye.
"Ryun kun. Today, our Akatsuki organization came here without any ill intent. We mainly just wanted to visit you. We didn't expect things to turn out like this." Konan said with an apologetic expression.
"Your purpose is already known to me. There's no need for you to dwell on it, Little Konan." Ryun waved his hand dismissively.
He hadn't had a fight in a long time. Today was a rare chance to stretch his muscles, and it felt pretty good.
Hearing Ryun's form of address, a faint blush reappeared on Konan's cheeks.
This guy was clearly about the same age as her. Calling her 'Little Konan' made her feel like she was being treated like a child. But, she didn't dislike or hate this feeling.
Perhaps because Ryun had once saved her personally while disguised as 'Lily', Konan felt an inexplicable fondness for him as soon as she saw him in the heavy rain. This fondness still existed even now.
"Since you know our purpose, I wonder if... in the future... we can still cooperate? For peace." Konan asked tentatively.
"Peace. Peace is good. I am someone who loves peace the most." Ryun again became evasive, recycling the nonsense he fed Nagato and applying it to Konan.
"Mhmm. We know. You have always been dedicated to maintaining world peace. The fact that the ninja world had those ten years of peace was entirely thanks to you." Konan quickly nodded and spoke pleasantries.
"..."
Upon hearing this, Ryun couldn't help but rub his nose again. Was he really that great? How come he didn't know?
In the past, he was either fighting and burying people, or on his way to fight and bury people. He had stirred the entire ninja world into a chaotic mess. How did he suddenly transform into someone who 'maintains world peace'?
"You carry the heavy burden of peace on your shoulders. Our Akatsuki organization understands this clearly, so we thought we could help share some of that pressure." Konan's voice carried a certain magnetism, and her eyes were clear and sincere.
These words actually made the thick skinned guy feel a little embarrassed.
"I'm not as good as you say." Ryun scratched his head and laughed awkwardly.
If Nagato had spoken like this from the start, even if Ryun really wanted to fight, he probably wouldn't have had the heart to hit them so hard.
"It's not just me who thinks so. In the eyes of many small countries, you yourself are a symbol of peace."
"Stop. If you keep talking, I'll forget my own surname." Ryun hurriedly waved his hand to stop Konan.
"It's getting late. I need to return to the village to handle official duties. I won't keep you here in Otogakure to rest."
"Mhmm, I should be on my way too." Konan nodded understandingly, the white paper wings on her back spreading out again.
"Goodbye, Ryun kun."
"Goodbye." Ryun waved his hand casually in farewell.
Watching Konan fly away gradually with the six paper coffins, the thoughts in Ryun's eyes quickly receded as he turned around.
"Shadow-sama, shall we return to the village now?" The Anbu captain asked.
"Mhmm. Does anyone want a ride back? If so, gather close." Ryun glanced at the few men and said with a smile.
A moment later, their figures suddenly appeared in the garden of the Shadow's residence.
"Go. Do not spread word of today's events. Handle it downplaying its significance." Ryun dismissed them and walked towards the villa by himself.
"Yes."
After this incident, Ryun reckoned Nagato would likely accelerate his plans to capture the other four Tailed Beasts.
Akatsuki had been laid bare before him. The time for Uchiha Obito to appear and deliver his eyes was probably not far off.
After returning home, Ryun first deactivated the various high level defensive barriers. After briefly reassuring Kushina and her daughter, he walked into a training room by himself.
He took out all the fake Rinnegan eyes dug from the Six Paths of Pain.
"The Rinnegan pupil power contained within these eyes, I wonder if it can make my left eye evolve and reopen the Mangekyo Sharingan."
Ryun looked at himself in the mirror. At this moment, his left eye was just an ordinary Three Tomoe, while his right eye was the crimson and sinister Mangekyo.
Back then, he used his left eye to perform 'Izanagi', which caused the left eye to go completely blind. But it was precisely at that special moment, right after witnessing Asuka's death, that he awakened the Mangekyo Sharingan.
The awakening of the Mangekyo and the initial awakening of the Sage Body could not restore sight to the blinded left eye.
He once thought the left eye was permanently crippled, and that only by absorbing a pair of Mangekyo Sharingan, or by needing to awaken the ultimate Rinnegan, could he break that curse of blindness, just like Uchiha Madara.
However, Madara had used an Eternal Mangekyo eye to perform 'Izanagi', which was very different from Ryun's situation. After all, the Eternal Eye itself had the property of never going blind.
Fortunately, he successfully found Loulan. After years of baptism and accumulation by the Dragon Vein's energy, he finally welcomed the full awakening of his Sage Body.
Actually, by this point his physique was no longer just a Hashirama-style Sage Body. The bloodline of his Sage Eye was also very dense. The Dragon Vein not only enhanced his physique, but also enhanced his eyes.
Stimulated by both the Dragon Vein and the Sage Body, the vision in his left eye had fully recovered. Even the Three Tomoe Sharingan had returned to its original state.
Ryun had awakened the Mangekyo after his left eye went blind. Therefore, he always believed that his left eye might not actually be the Mangekyo. Because from beginning to end, he could only sense a very special, strange pupil power within his left eye, but could not discover any ocular jutsu. He couldn't even attempt to make his left eye take on a spiral pattern.
No ocular jutsu, no spiral pattern. Therefore, Ryun believed his left eye lagged a step behind his right eye, and to this day remained merely an ordinary Three Tomoe Sharingan.
Today, he collected all the eyes of the Six Paths of Pain precisely to test whether he could use the high level pupil power of the Rinnegan to forcibly force the low level Three Tomoe to evolve. He didn't dare hope for evolution into an Eternal Eye, but just going up one small level would be good.
Obito's pair of eyes were crucial for him to attain the Rinnegan. Before that, he must ensure his own eyes are a pair of Mangekyo Sharingan, not like now with a left eye Three Tomoe and a right eye Mangekyo.