The heavy iron door shut behind them, completely sealing off the light and sounds from outside.
This was the Akatsuki's most heavily guarded chamber.
Even more secretive than the one where they had just met Chiya, the air itself seemed frozen, disturbed only by the heavy sound of three heartbeats and quiet breathing.
Yahiko was the first to break the suffocating silence.
He walked over to Nagato and looked into his eyes. There was no pressure in his gaze, only the unwavering faith and gentle strength that had always been there.
His voice was soft, as though afraid of disturbing his friend's chaotic thoughts.
"Nagato, look at me. Think carefully. About these eyes... was there ever anything unusual in your earliest memories? Even the smallest fragment? Is it really possible for a transplant like that to leave no trace at all?"
Leaning against the cold wall, Nagato slowly slid down until he was sitting on the floor.
He buried both hands in his orange hair, pressing hard against his throbbing temples.
His unfocused Rinnegan stared blankly at the ground as he desperately searched through the shattered fragments of his memories.
"I don't know... Yahiko, I really don't know..."
Nagato's voice was filled with pain and confusion, even carrying a faint sob.
"That part of my memory is too blurry... All I remember is the overwhelming grief after losing my parents... hunger... cold... and endless fear. My eyes... I think it was around that time... When I finally came to my senses, they were already like this... I always believed... believed that unbearable sorrow and rage had changed them..."
He suddenly looked up, the ripples in his Rinnegan trembling violently with doubt and inner turmoil.
"If... if Lord Chiya is right... if they were transplanted... then the power I believed in all these years, the suffering brought by the destiny I thought these eyes carried, and the path they led me down..."
"...Was everything a lie from the very beginning? Am I nothing more than... a chosen vessel?"
The realization was enough to crush him.
Watching the uneasy and shaken Nagato, Konan turned toward Yahiko with determined eyes.
"I know this is difficult to accept. But... perhaps we should believe Lord Chiya."
Seeing both Yahiko and Nagato look at her, she took a deep breath and continued.
"Think back. If Lord Chiya hadn't appeared that night, we probably would have died in those ruins during the rainstorm."
"He gave us food, helped us survive, and never once asked about our past or our secrets."
"When he left, he even gave us supplies and basic ninjutsu scrolls. Those were what allowed us to survive and grow stronger."
"He... he has no reason to come back after all these years and deceive us with such an outrageous lie. What would he or Konoha possibly gain from it?"
Her words awakened memories long buried.
That helping hand in their darkest days had been one of the few lights in their hopeless past.
Yahiko fell silent.
Conflict was written across his resolute face.
He trusted his companions, and he had never forgotten the kindness Chiya had shown them.
But this concerned the very foundation of Nagato's existence, and perhaps the future of the entire Akatsuki.
He couldn't afford to act recklessly.
"Konan makes a good point."
Yahiko finally spoke, his voice low.
"Based on everything we've experienced, it's difficult for us to doubt Lord Chiya... or rather, Lord Hokage's character."
"But..."
His expression sharpened again.
"The truth behind the Rinnegan is simply too unbelievable. We can't, and shouldn't, accept it based solely on his words."
"This concerns the very foundation of your existence, Nagato."
Looking back at his friend, his voice became gentle yet firm once more.
"Nagato, how much do you actually know about that Demonic Statue of the Outer Path? What does it feel like to summon it? What's the cost?"
Nagato's body trembled almost imperceptibly.
A trace of fear crossed his face, as though he had recalled an unbearable memory.
Closing his eyes, he answered in a dry voice.
"I can feel it... somewhere deep within another space. There's an enormous... evil connection between it and these eyes."
"Summoning it requires unimaginable amounts of chakra."
"As for what it can actually do... I have no idea."
"I only know that it's extremely dangerous and contains terrifying destructive power."
Until now, Nagato had never even considered summoning it himself.
The chamber fell silent once again.
Looking at her two companions, Konan pressed her lips together before proposing a compromise.
"Maybe... we don't have to decide immediately whether to summon the statue."
"We could ask Lord Chiya..."
"If there's another way to prove it."
"To prove that the Rinnegan... wasn't something Nagato was born with."
"He knows so many hidden truths. Perhaps he has other evidence... or another way to verify it."
Yahiko's eyes lit up.
That was undoubtedly the safer approach.
Turning toward Nagato, he asked, "What do you think? Let's meet Lord Hokage once more and ask him directly for proof."
"If he can provide convincing evidence, then we'll decide what to do next."
"But if he can't..."
Yahiko's gaze darkened.
"Then we'll have to reconsider his true intentions."
Nagato took a deep breath, doing his best to calm the turbulent chakra within him along with his chaotic emotions.
He nodded.
His voice remained hoarse, but now carried a trace of resolve.
"...Alright."
"We'll ask him."
"I need to know... the truth."
After reaching an agreement, the three of them steadied themselves before making their way to the guest room where Chiya's group was temporarily resting.
After knocking and entering, Konan stepped forward as their representative.
She gave a respectful bow before looking directly into Chiya's calm, unreadable eyes.
"Lord Chiya, forgive us for disturbing you again."
"The news you brought us is simply too shocking. It concerns the very foundation of Nagato's existence."
"It's not that we don't trust you, but regarding the Rinnegan..."
"Do you have any other evidence?"
"Something that can directly prove these eyes were never Nagato's from birth?"
"The idea of them being transplanted is simply... too difficult for him to accept right away."
Her tone was sincere, though a hint of nervousness remained beneath it.
Chiya's gaze swept across the three of them before finally settling on Nagato's Rinnegan, which were filled with confusion and determination.
Rather than showing the slightest impatience at their doubts, he simply nodded in understanding.
"Your caution is reasonable."
His voice remained calm and steady.
"A matter of this importance shouldn't rest on my words alone."
"There is proof."
The three of them immediately focused their full attention on him.
"Within Konoha, beneath the main hall of the Uchiha Clan's Naka Shrine, there is an ancient stone tablet preserved in secret."
Chiya spoke slowly, his voice carrying the weight of history.
"It is said to have been left behind by the Sage of Six Paths himself."
"It is written in a unique script that ordinary people cannot decipher."
"The key to reading it is the Sharingan... the more advanced Mangekyō Sharingan... and ultimately..."
"The Rinnegan."
"The tablet records not only the origin of chakra and the secrets of Ninshu, but also the true origin of the Rinnegan and the conditions required to awaken it."
His eyes grew deeper.
"It clearly states that the Rinnegan is not a bloodline limit that can naturally be born."
"It is the product of Indra's and Asura's chakra merging to awaken the power of the Sage of Six Paths."
"As for someone being born with the Rinnegan..."
"...Unless they are the Sage of Six Paths himself reincarnated, it is absolutely impossible."
"Nagato."
"You can see it for yourself."
"Use your own eyes to read it."
"The truth written upon that tablet will give you your answer."
A stone tablet left behind by the Sage of Six Paths...
The true origin of the Rinnegan...
A tablet that only the Rinnegan could fully decipher...
Each revelation struck the three of them like another heavy blow.
Yahiko and Konan turned toward Nagato.
His pupils trembled violently, clearly shaken by phrases such as "left behind by the Sage of Six Paths" and "can be read with the Rinnegan."
If such a tablet truly existed, its authority would be beyond question.
"The... Uchiha Clan's stone tablet..."
Nagato muttered to himself.
His Rinnegan flickered with complicated emotions.
There was doubt.
There was fear.
But above all else...
There was an overwhelming desire to verify the truth.
Yahiko drew a deep breath before exchanging determined looks with both Nagato and Konan.
Turning back toward Chiya, he spoke solemnly.
"Lord Chiya, we're willing to go to Konoha and see that tablet with our own eyes."
Chiya nodded.
"Very well but this concerns Uchiha Madara's life, death, and the fate of the ninja world."
"We must finish this as quickly as possible."
"Not a single word can leak out."
"Traveling by ordinary means is too slow and far too risky."
He turned toward Obito.
"Obito."
Obito immediately understood.
Stepping forward, he activated the Mangekyō Sharingan in his right eye, its strange pattern slowly beginning to spin.
"Everyone, relax."
"Don't resist."
Chiya instructed the three of them.
The next moment, the space around Yahiko, Nagato, and Konan twisted violently.
Their vision blurred as an overwhelming force pulled at their bodies.
In an instant, the room around them disappeared.
They found themselves inside a strange gray world filled with enormous cubic pillars.
The Kamui Dimension.
At almost the same moment, Chiya placed a hand on Minato's shoulder.
His vast chakra poured into Minato like a raging flood.
Minato let out a muffled grunt.
His sensory perception expanded without limit.
The Flying Thunder God markers that normally required careful concentration to detect now shone as brightly as blazing torches in the darkness.
Every marker scattered throughout the Land of Fire and Konoha was now crystal clear in his mind.
"Let's go."
Chiya spoke quietly.
Minato's eyes sharpened.
Grabbing Chiya with one hand and Obito with the other, he pushed the Flying Thunder God Technique to its absolute limit.
Whoosh!
Their figures blurred instantly.
At a speed far beyond Minato's normal limits, they tore through space, performing a series of ultra-long-range teleportation jumps toward Konoha.
Each flash crossed distances that would have taken ordinary shinobi several hours to travel.
In less than ten minutes, after countless long-distance jumps, Minato finally arrived in Konoha with Chiya and Obito at a hidden Flying Thunder God marker.
His face had turned slightly pale.
Even with Chiya's unfathomable chakra supporting him, repeatedly using the Flying Thunder God Technique at its limit placed an enormous burden on him.
Chiya, however, looked completely unaffected.
"To Naka Shrine."
Without wasting another second, the three of them vanished.
Moments later, they appeared inside the heavily guarded main hall of Naka Shrine deep within the Uchiha Clan compound.
The ancient shrine was solemn and dignified, faintly scented with incense.
After forming several hand seals, Chiya caused the floor to slide open silently, revealing a stone staircase leading underground.
It was a passage he had previously arranged for others to construct.
"Obito," Chiya said.
Standing nearby, Obito immediately understood.
His right eye focused once again.
Inside the Kamui Dimension, Yahiko, Nagato, and Konan were still cautiously examining the unfamiliar world around them when space twisted once more.
An instant later, they were expelled from the dimension, their feet landing firmly on solid ground.
After recovering from the brief dizziness, the three of them quickly steadied themselves and cautiously surveyed their surroundings.
Before them lay an ancient underground chamber built in the traditional style of the Uchiha Clan.
The air was cool, and the walls were engraved with the Uchiha fan crest.
At the center of the chamber stood an enormous ancient stone tablet that radiated the weight of countless years.
Its surface was covered with mysterious symbols that none of them could recognize, emitting an ancient and enigmatic aura.
"So this is... beneath Naka Shrine?"
Konan asked softly, unable to take her eyes off the stone tablet.
Yahiko and Nagato were equally captivated.
Especially Nagato.
The instant his Rinnegan fell upon the tablet, the ripples within his eyes began trembling violently.
A deep resonance, born from the very power of his eyes, emerged on its own.
"That's it."
Chiya's voice echoed through the chamber, breaking the silence.
"Nagato."
"Read it with your own eyes."
"The answer is written there."
Taking a deep breath, Nagato slowly walked toward the stone tablet that seemed to hold secrets buried for a thousand years.
Under Yahiko's and Konan's anxious gazes, he slowly raised his head and focused his Rinnegan upon the mysterious symbols.
The next moment, the incomprehensible writing that looked like meaningless script to Yahiko and Konan suddenly rippled like flowing water within Nagato's vision.
The ancient symbols rearranged themselves...
They came alive...
And transformed into a torrent of knowledge that poured directly into his mind.
The origin of the world...
The birth of chakra...
The Sage of Six Paths and his sons...
The true nature of the Sharingan and the Rinnegan...
And...
The ultimate genjutsu that would engulf the entire world...
The Infinite Tsukuyomi.
The immense, undeniable truth of history crashed over Nagato like an unstoppable tidal wave, washing away every last trace of hope and doubt.
His body shook violently.
His face turned deathly pale as he staggered backward, barely able to remain standing.
"Nagato!"
Yahiko and Konan rushed forward to support him.
Nagato suddenly lifted his head.
His Rinnegan were filled with unprecedented shock, agony, fury...
And complete understanding.
Looking at Yahiko and Konan, his voice cracked beneath the overwhelming emotions.
"It's true..."
"It's all true!!"
"The tablet... it clearly says..."
"The Rinnegan..."
"...is born from the union of Indra's and Asura's power."
"For ordinary ninjas... there is no such thing as being born with the Rinnegan."
"No one is naturally born with the Rinnegan."
"It really was true all along."
"The one behind everything... really did treat me as nothing more than a vessel."
"And that Eye of the Moon Plan..."
"The Infinite Tsukuyomi..."
"It's all real!!"
The final truth fell like an irreversible verdict.
Supporting the nearly collapsing Nagato, Yahiko and Konan looked at the mixture of despair and clarity on his face.
At last, they understood.
Every single word Chiya had spoken...
Had been the cruel truth.
Only Nagato's suppressed, pained breathing echoed through the chamber, along with the suffocating weight of the truth that now hung in the air.
Seeing this, Chiya remained unhurried.
With a quiet glance, he signaled Obito and Minato before silently leaving the chamber.