Worried Konan

Kakuzu only wants to make money.

Deidara wants to show his art to the world.

Itachi is a double agent and so on.

Therefore, Menma's disinterest in his ideology of peace was quite normal.

Anyway, Pain just needs someone who can contribute to the process of collecting Tailed Beasts.

As for whether there will be any problems once the Nine Tailed Beasts are fully gathered?

Pain has never cared about that.

Once all the tailed beasts are collected, he can use the Gedo Statue to control their power.

With his Rinnegan, no one in the entire world will be able to oppose him.

What else will there be to worry about?

Konan said while leading Menma, "This is your room. Your clothes have been placed inside. You need to retrieve the Sky ring as soon as possible. That ring is a key tool for the Akatsuki members to communicate with each other."

Konan stopped at the door of a room.

"I'll get it as soon as possible." Menma slightly nodded.

Konan simply responded, "Mm."

Then, she turned around and left.

After walking into the room, Menma saw the Akatsuki uniform prepared for him.

A black cloak adorned with red clouds.

He tried it on and found that it fit him perfectly.

Menma was nearly 190 cm tall. He was much taller than Ryosuke.

Ryosuke's height was around 178 cm.

However, he was only 12 years old, and his body was developing rapidly.

Over the next few years, he would continue to grow. Reaching 190 cm wouldn't be a problem.

As for whether he could reach 2 meters?

That wasn't really necessary.

This is the world of Naruto, not the one piece world.

In this world, people with a height of 2-3 meters are rare.

At about 1.9 meters, he will already be considered tall enough.

"However, Nagato's Six Paths of Pain were a bit underwhelming. I expected something more interesting, but it turned out to be nothing special."

After changing into his new attire, Menma sat down, reflecting on his battle with the Six Paths of Pain.

He had been holding back the entire time.

Otherwise, he wouldn't have even needed to use the Susanoo at all.

His raw physical abilities alone would have been enough to crush all Six Paths of Pain.

After all, his taijutsu was already almost at the peak of super Kage-level.

Defeating the Six Paths of Pain would have been no problem.

'I'll leave a Wood Clone in the Akatsuki. I'm not used to living in this gloomy place.' Menma thought to himself.

He planned to let a clone play the role of Uchiha Menma.

Meanwhile, he himself planned to continue to live in Konoha.

After all, compared to the endlessly rainy Amegakure, he preferred the sunny weather of Konoha.

Not to mention, he had a few girlfriends waiting for him in Konoha.

Why would he waste his time in Amegakure?

Besides, one of his two main goals for joining the Akatsuki had already been achieved.

The next step was collecting Nagato's biological pheromone. He'd get to that in a few days. There was no rush.

As for collecting biopheromones from other Akatsuki members?

Most of them are constantly away on missions.

The only ones who mostly stay at the base are Nagato and Zetsu.

Konan's biopheromone could be gathered alongside Nagato's and it was just a bonus anyway.

As for the others, he could take his time. After all, it was just a few purple talent entries.

"I'll have to leave enough Chakra for the Wood Clone so it doesn't disappear anytime soon."

"In terms of strength, even though the Wood Clone isn't as strong as me, it's still at super Kage-level."

In Akatsuki, only Nagato was truly at the super Kage-level.

Itachi couldn't unleash his full power.

Even if the Wood clone had to face Nagato in a real battle, he wouldn't be afraid to take him on.

"Besides, even for tailed beast collection missions, the wood clone should be strong enough to handle it."

"Alright. I'll leave a Wood Clone, and I will return to Konoha."

Menma made his decision.

Meanwhile, Tobi, who had been acting goofy earlier, was now standing on a cliff outside Amegakure with Zetsu.

Zetsu worriedly asked, "That Uchiha Menma is too strong. Are you sure he won't be a problem?"

Zetsu looked at Obito with concern.

"Don't worry. I've already made plans for him. His strength will only benefit us." Obito replied confidently.

"But I do think the tailed beast collection plan is moving too slowly. Now that Nagato has someone like him, it's time to push things forward."

"You're thinking of starting the tailed beast collection early?" Zetsu asked in surprise.

"Let's wait a year. Then, we'll begin." Obito said.

"That works. I should prepare as well." Zetsu nodded.

After all, the sooner the tailed beasts are collected, the sooner he can free his mother.

"Go."

Obito nodded.

He watched as Zetsu sank into the ground and disappeared. Then, he gazed into the distance.

"Rin, it won't be long now. Just wait a little longer. We'll meet again soon!"

Inside the Akatsuki base

Menma left behind a Wood Clone.

After giving it 10% of his Chakra, the Wood clone used the Transformation Technique to take on Menma's appearance.

Menma instructed, "I'll leave this to you. I'll check in from time to time."

"If you meet other Akatsuki members, try to collect some of their biopheromones."

"Got it, main body. Leave it to me. I'll ensure that nothing will go wrong." The Wood clone replied.

Menma leisurely said, "It's fine. Even if something happens, it's okay."

Even if the clone was exposed, it didn't matter much.

"I'm heading out."

With that, Menma used the Flying Thunder God Technique and vanished.

After the main body left, the Wood Clone, now disguised as Menma sat cross-legged on the bed.

Meanwhile, the real body didn't actually return to Konoha right away.

Instead, he made his way toward the tower where Nagato was.

He used his Mangekyō Sharingan, and merged into his own shadow.

Then, he quickly began sneaking toward the top of the tower.

After a while, Ryosuke reached the target location.

Coincidentally, Konan had also come over to chat with Nagato at this time.

Ryosuke simply followed Konan and entered Nagato's secret hideout together.

Konan expressed her concerns, "Nagato, are you sure you want to keep that Uchiha Menma? He's too strong, and I'm worried that he'll threaten your position."

She had seen the battle between Menma and Six Paths of Pain before, and the strength Menma displayed was overwhelming.

He was almost on par with Nagato and Konan suspected Menma was even holding back.

His Susanoo had dispersed on its own, seemingly due to excessive pupil power consumption.

But what if that wasn't the case?

Besides!

From beginning to end, Menma had only used one Mangekyō pupil technique: Tsukuyomi.

What about his other Mangekyō pupil technique?

Why didn't he use it?

Konan was worried that Nagato might be in danger.

That's why she had come to warn him.

It would be best to remove Uchiha Menma from the Akatsuki.

"Konan, you underestimate the power of the Rinnegan."

Nagato sat on a chair and said.

His body was haggard and skeletal, like a mummified corpse.

This was the same Nagato who had once been an innocent child.

Who would have thought that he'd turn into this?

And it was all because of his Rinnegan. After all, these were not his own eyes.

Just look at Kakashi.

Kakashi's Sharingan was a Mangekyō, but he couldn't even use its full power.

He mostly relied on the basic Three-Tomoe Sharingan.

Even so, it had turned him from a legendary genius into a man plagued by chakra exhaustion.

And Nagato's eyes were Rinnegan that were a full two levels above the Mangekyō.

Even though he was an Uzumaki and had extraordinary vitality, Nagato's body had been ravaged because of these eyes.

If anyone else had the Rinnegan, they wouldn't even have survived.

Their life force would have been completely drained by the Rinnegan.

"But Nagato, your body..."

Konan looked at him worriedly.

Nagato interrupted her, "Don't worry. I can last a few more years. Once we gather all Nine Tailed Beasts, the Gedo Statue will restore my strength."

"As long as I can allow peace to last in the world, no matter the cost, it will be worth it!"

"This was Yahiko's dream. It's our dream, isn't it?"

Nagato looked at Konan. He knew she was worried about him.

But he couldn't stop.

If he did, how could he ever face Yahiko?

Hearing this, Konan fell silent.

She knew that Nagato was determined.

She had tried to dissuade him before.

Peace had always been Nagato's and Yahiko's dream.

But for Konan, the most important thing was simply being together.

If it meant they could live happily, she would abandon the dream.

But neither Yahiko nor Nagato were the type to give up.

They would sacrifice everything to make their dream a reality.

And Konan could only stand by them and support them.

Now that Yahiko was gone, she had to do everything to help Nagato achieve his dream even if this wasn't the life she wanted.

Just as Yahiko and Nagato were willing to die for their dream of peace, Konan was willing to give her all for them.

At this moment!

As the two spoke, they failed to notice that a shadow was slowly creeping towards Nagato.

"Almost there."

Ryosuke calculated the distance

Then suddenly!

He emerged from the shadows, reaching for a single red strand of hair.

Then, he quickly vanished with the Flying Thunder God Technique.

"Hmm?!"

Nagato's eyes darted towards a spot.

He had felt something just now.

But when he looked at that spot, there was nothing.

"What's wrong, Nagato?" Konan asked.

"Nothing." Nagato shook his head.

But deep down, he wondered if that was just his imagination.

Meanwhile, Ryosuke, who had teleported out of Amegakure, now stood somewhere in the Land of Fire.

"Whew! Nagato's perception is terrifying. As expected from an Uzumaki."

Ryosuke felt fortunate that he knew the Flying Thunder God Technique and had the shadow stealth ability.

Otherwise, stealing Nagato's hair would have been nearly impossible.

Even with Shino's talent entry that reduce his sense of presence by 1500% and White Zetsu's talent entry that increased his aura concealment ability, he had still almost been caught at the last second.

Uzumaki clansmen have very sharp senses.

But that didn't matter now because he had succeeded.

Nagato's frail body was his biggest weakness.

His hair often fell out, leaving countless strands of hair all over his seat.

If Ryosuke had needed to pluck one directly from his head, there was no way it would've worked so smoothly.

Now, with both Nagato and Obito's biological pheromones secured, it was time to convert then into talents entries.

Ryosuke had been waiting for this moment.

Whether it was Obito's Mangekyō or Nagato's legendary Rinnegan, he wanted them all.