What exactly is the Rinnegan? The manga explains it clearly.
Mostly what the Great Toad Sage said lined up with that too, although he never mentioned the Six Paths of Pain. After all, the ultimate power of the Rinnegan truly belonged to someone like the Sage of Six Paths. Pain's version was merely a puppet creation by Nagato, who couldn't move freely himself.
Some classifications were still mentioned though.
But honestly, none of that mattered much now.
The key point was that the Great Toad Sage had solved a problem Akaba had been troubled about for quite some time—how should he explain to Konoha that he knew about the Rinnegan?
Before this, it had been a headache. Not anymore.
The new Pot Man, the Great Toad Sage, had taken the fall!
That trip had really been close though—he almost thought his cover was blown. Luckily, the Great Toad Sage hadn't seen him in his dream; otherwise, he would've certainly been exposed.
Come to think of it, why did the Great Toad Sage dream about Madara still being alive? Was that how the manga ended?
Then again, he also mentioned that the changes he caused had indeed altered the dream itself.
Previously, Akaba was surprised precisely because of this.
Now that he was back in Konoha and his thoughts had settled, he started thinking more clearly. Perhaps the Great Toad Sage's dreams had become chaotic—some parts were remnants of the original timeline's future, while others were fragmented glimpses from after Akaba entered the scene.
In short, even the Great Toad Sage himself might be completely confused. Particularly seeing Madara alive with the Rinnegan in the dream, he must've been freaking out inside, fearing Madara might actually release Kaguya.
That old toad wasn't exactly a stand-up guy.
Back in ancient times, he sent the Sage of Six Paths off to battle Kaguya, then later used Naruto as a champion against Madara and Kaguya. Either way, if they won, glory came to him.
Like now, whether or not Akaba could pull it off, having said what he'd said, if Akaba defeats Madara, credit goes to him.
If he fails… well, there's always the Child of the Prophecy.
The only benefit of visiting Mount Myoboku was getting a wealth of intelligence without having to worry about where it came from.
Back at the manga shop, Akaba took a glance inside—the young workers had already completed today's updates and compiled everything ready to deliver to Izumi Yamano.
Today's update marked the full conclusion of the "Saving Gaara" arc.
At the story's end, Black Zetsu and another key character, Tobi, showed up again in dramatic fashion. This part of the plot will probably frustrate Black Zetsu greatly.
Speaking of which, Black Zetsu probably wants to kill himself right now.
Thought Akaba to himself.
Seconds later, he teleported using [Flying Thunder God] directly to the Hokage Tower, reporting everything to The First.
Concerned over Madara and Black Zetsu, The First was already losing hair due to stress. Akaba hoped delivering confirmation of Madara's survival could somehow relieve the man's stress-induced hair loss.
Not surprisingly though,
After hearing the definite news about Madara, The First looked even more worried. For a moment, it seemed as if a few more strands fell from his forehead.
Tragic!
Soon after, Danzo arrived.
Of course, by then Akaba had already left, leaving The First to relay the message from the Toad Sage.
After discussing everything, Danzo also instantly became deeply troubled.
Madara was not only still alive but had even awakened the Rinnegan. He saw the beginning clearly, but never guessed how things would end.
Land of Water.
Black Zetsu had gone through endless hardships just to get hold of these updates. Now, sitting alone in a cave corner, he silently began reading them.
On the other side, Madara, who had finished his training for the day, was also reading a manga.
The aura around him became increasingly natural. The integration of Hashirama's cells with his body had begun accelerating. Through refining Six Paths Chakra, his eyes seemed to undergo some subtle changes as well.
However, these changes were minimal and had not yet reached the level of the Rinnegan.
He turned each page slowly.
After a while, Madara finished reading two volumes—five chapters' worth of updates—and fell into thought.
What was that thing?
A massive Demonic Statue; each time it gathered a Bijū, it gained another eye. What if it combined with the Rinnegan?
He pondered for a few seconds before asking, "Do you know what that Demonic Statue is?"
"No idea. Back then I only had the Eternal Kaleidoscope Sharingan without ever seeing the Rinnegan. But one thing is certain—it must be one of the abilities of the Rinnegan."
Black Zetsu answered flawlessly.
He had fully assumed the role of "Indra's spirit." After all, as Indra himself, how would he ever have known about the Rinnegan's powers?
Madara frowned slightly.
Though unsure what Black Zetsu was thinking, he could "feel" that Black Zetsu was lying.
This guy definitely knew something but had been hiding the truth from him all along.
Madara secretly sneered but didn't expose the lie. Instead, he calmly flipped back a few pages in the manga, glanced at it again, and asked, "That 'Jue' inside was you, right?"
"Yeah, that kid knows my appearance and some of my abilities."
Black Zetsu nodded.
Madara gave a slight nod.
Now he understood.
No wonder he moved locations—he should've figured this old fox could still track him due to possessing extremely strong sensing ability.
He'd have to watch out for that ability in the future.
From the start, he studied both volumes meticulously, almost as if they were a guidebook revealing everything about "Black Zetsu."
Black Zetsu sat quietly in a corner, appearing calm while reading the manga, yet deep inside, he was cursing furiously, adding yet another grudge against Akaba.
After rereading it, he found something odd and couldn't help asking again, "If even you don't know about the Rinnegan's powers, how come that brat knows so much?"
"I'm not sure either. Perhaps it has something to do with a certain Toad near the Sage of Six Paths."
Even Black Zetsu himself didn't fully understand this.
In theory, the Rinnegan should have been a closely guarded secret. Back then, after sealing Kaguya, the Sage of Six Paths rarely used it. Therefore, apart from the limited records etched onto the Uchiha Stone Tablet, no detailed knowledge of the Rinnegan's true abilities should have existed in the world.
Therefore, that kid must have known someone involved in sealing Kaguya—apart from the Otsutsuki Clan on the moon, the only other possibility was that damned Toad.
"The Six Paths' Toad?"
"Exactly. The Six Paths and the Toad were very close. Back then, my failure to inherit the Sage of Six Paths' legacy was inseparable from that Toad. If it hadn't died, it would have surely passed down its legacy."
Black Zetsu spoke indifferently, yet traces of resentment lingered within his tone.
"I see. So your inheritance was taken away by an animal? How shameful, huh, Jue?"
Madara stood up, returned the manga he'd finished reading to Black Zetsu, and casually mocked.
Black Zetsu appeared extremely angry.
But his tone of voice was just pretense. As for facial expressions—
His entire body was pitch black, making it impossible to discern any expression changes. Yet from intuition alone, Madara determined that this fellow had lied again.
Black Zetsu knew full well that Madara wouldn't trust him anytime soon, so he didn't really care whether Madara believed him or not. To him, the events were real enough because they had genuinely happened to Indra.
Two sly old foxes were playing their usual game of mutual deception—and loving every second of it.
After a brief chat, Madara received another updated chapter detailing the battle between Chiyo, Sakura, and Sasori.
He skimmed through it and snorted in contempt.
Puppets?
Such boring gimmicks—no matter how many or how powerful they were, they couldn't withstand even one punch from Susanoo, let alone Hashirama Senju.
After finishing it, he mocked, "Crap like this? Seriously, is this worth the effort to control?"
"Every man has his limits. The Hokage in Konoha isn't dead yet. If you don't stir up chaos, your current condition might lead to an unfavorable outcome if you face him directly."
Black Zetsu replied.
"It may not be the case once I awaken the Rinnegan."
After saying that, Madara tossed away the page and returned to continue refining Six Paths Chakra.
He felt he was nearly ready—most likely within two days, he would have refined enough Six Paths Chakra to activate the Rinnegan.
Even for Black Zetsu, there remained at least a day's delay before obtaining new manga chapters.
Of course.
The same applied to Sunagakure Village.
For Suna, this chapter's content stirred up complex emotions.
On one hand, the manga once again portrayed Suna negatively.
Their supposedly powerful Third Kazekage had been turned by Chiyo's grandson into a human puppet—forced to work for others even after death. It seemed even more tragic than what happened to the Fourth Kazekage (Rasa).
On the other hand, techniques like [Crimson Secret Technique] and [Self-Born Reincarnation] presented significant strategic value for Suna's development. Especially [Crimson Secret Technique]—if they could research and develop a technique capable of modifying oneself to such a level, perhaps their Puppet Technique could evolve to a whole new stage.
Most importantly, Suna already had a suitable candidate for such transformation—the Second Kazekage, Shamon.
Therefore, the office once again became the center for discussing the manga.
Sankai was utterly desperate.
Meanwhile, just as they finished reading Chiyo and Sasori's latest chapter update, Fire Country simultaneously released its newest updates.
Naruto Chapter 10, One Piece Chapter 20.
Additionally, Mito Uzumaki and Jiraiya also posted updates.
Konoha's higher-ups no longer paid attention to these manga updates; all they kept murmuring about were topics like Madara, Black Zetsu, and the Rinnegan.
Of course, some individuals still cared.
For instance, the Uchiha Clan.
The Mangekyo Sharingan finally reappeared—but what upset the Uchiha was that this legendary eye had awakened in someone outside their clan.
An outsider possessed the Mangekyo.
The Mangekyo Sharingan, revered as "legendary" within the Uchiha Clan—only four members had ever awakened it to date.
Some secretly hoped this event might prompt new eyes to awaken within the clan, but clearly, they were just daydreaming.
Not just any story can cause that kind of awakening.
In reality, fewer and fewer Uchiha had managed to awaken new eyes lately—it was like a creative block.
This wasn't unusual. People naturally differ in emotional sensitivity. Different stories moved different people. Even witnessing a massacre-level tragedy wasn't enough to unlock their eyes—so how could a mere outsider having the Mangekyo possibly matter?
After all, it was merely part of a fictional story. Nothing like that had ever occurred in reality.
Well, Kamui...
Its ability is indeed impressive—it's a rare spatial power.
As a result, many comments about Kakashi appeared on the forums. Meanwhile, with One Piece continuously releasing new chapters, its popularity had clearly risen significantly.
Leaving everything else aside, the mere appearance of Skypiea stirred many lurkers to leave their thoughts on the discussion boards.
But for now, the One Piece storyline had only reached the prologue of the Skypiea arc. The island's powers and unique traits hadn't been fully revealed yet. Once today's draft in Akaba's hands was completed, the story would just be reaching the point where Luffy and his crew started facing obstacles and trials.
The real excitement would come later, with Enel's entrance.
By dusk, the village elders seemed to have finally finished their endless arguing. Whether they actually achieved anything remained unknown to Akaba for now. All he knew was that Danzo's first action upon returning to Anbu was to immediately send someone to summon him.
With the Flying Thunder God mark, getting to Anbu headquarters didn't take much time at all.
Within just a few minutes, he arrived at Danzo's office.
Danzo looked particularly grim and gloomy—Akaba hadn't seen such an expression on him since his "manga version" days.
"Sensei, how did the village's discussions go?"
"Mitokado Homura… actually proposed reestablishing Root? Training a group of elite ninja who don't fear death? What nonsense! If Madara truly awakens the Rinnegan, what use would those fearless elite ninja be? Just sending them off to die?"
After closing the door, Danzo ranted furiously.
Root?
Mitokado Homura?
Akaba's expression turned odd as he recalled the content he updated today.
Since Gaara's arc had already ended, the upcoming story would return to focusing on Naruto and Sasuke. As a result, Danzo and Sai would naturally reappear as well.
Originally, this section wasn't changed by him, but if Mitokado Homura suggested rebuilding Root…
Mwahahaha!
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