I decided to check out the situation before making a choice, so I used my godly powers to locate Utakata and flew over with my crow body.
Flying was pretty fast, so it only took me a couple of hours to arrive at my destination. Which turned out to be a small boat heading towards the Land of Fire.
Kakuzu didn't have his Akatsuki robe on, only wearing a pair of tattered pants, I also couldn't spot any of his masks, did he lose them all?
But the thing that made me internally curse was who I saw standing on the prow of the ship, staring directly at my crow form.
Pain.
He noticed me before I even saw him, now he was just standing on the prow of the boat, I wondered if he put effort into looking cool or if he just did it naturally, any normal person would have just sat down.
That did mean fighting wasn't an option, I didn't have enough DP to fight Pain.
He didn't react in any way, he just stared at me without moving.
Eh, I did want to sow some discord in Akatsuki, so might as well talk with him.
I flew closer until I was above the front of the boat and transformed into my Ayumu form, landing on the water right in front of them.
"Hello there!" I said cheerfully. "What an interesting pair of people to find in the middle of the ocean."
Both of them were silent for a moment, before Pain finally spoke up. "What are you?"
Ah, another person who noticed my lack of Chakra, I really should make a body with Chakra to prevent this, this is the third person that realized that, although with Kazuo it was what I wanted.
"Rude of you to not introduce yourself before asking others about themselves, don't you think?" I asked teasingly.
"I am known as Pain," He stated, completely ignoring my request. "What are you? You have no Chakra, no soul, and yet you exist in this world."
Oh, I forgot, the Rinnegan could interact with souls. Actually, now that I think about it, he had three techniques that could, The Naraka Path which allowed him to summon the King of Hell, The Human Path, which allows him to extract a person's soul from their body, and the Outer Path, which lets him resurrect people.
Man, those eyes were fucking overpowered.
"Me? I am just a humble watcher, who was very interested in why you captured that young man in the boat." I answered casually. "But now that I've seen those eyes, I can guess what your goal is."
Pain stared at me silently, he was not someone who would play along with my needling.
Sadly for him, I am a god.
So instead of letting the awkward silence get to me, I let my Ayumu body stand there, in the middle of the ocean. It took about five minutes before Kakuzu spoke up, apparently unable to hold himself back anymore.
"Well, boy?" He asked impatiently. "Do you know why we kidnapped him?"
Thank you Kakuzu, I knew I could rely on you.
"Yes, while you could be trying to just steal the power of the Tailed Beasts, there is only one thing a Rinnegan user could truly want." I said dramatically. "The resurrection of the Ten-Tails."
Pain had a small but noticeable reaction to that, he had no fucking idea of what I was talking about, after all.
"That is not my goal," He denied immediately. "You are mistaken."
"Oh? Then please enlighten this humble watcher on what you are planning?" I was playing a dangerous game here, since if he really wanted to, he could destroy the Capital in a few seconds with his Almighty Push, and while it wouldn't kill me, it would leave me in a very vulnerable state.
"My goal is to obtain enough power to create peace," Pain stated simply. His voice was completely steady, as if he believed every word he said.
"And how do you plan to accomplish that?" I asked curiously. "Gathering the Tailed Beast isn't going to bring about peace."
He looked at me for a moment before answering. I was tempted to use my DP to look at the real Pain, I bet Nagato had funner expressions than this puppet. "I will show the world pain, true suffering on a scale never seen before."
"I will create a weapon so powerful that war will become too horrible to contemplate," Pain continued. "Once they forget, the weapon will be used again, a cycle of peace and reminders of pain."
Honestly, hearing it in person made it both more reasonable and paradoxically more insane. Yeah, wars would stop for a while after a massive catastrophe, but wiping out a large portion of people every few decades to make everyone play nice was a bit extreme.
"Ah, fear as a deterrent from violence." I summarized. "Now, you wouldn't be trying to create this weapon by merging the Nine Tailed Beasts into a big statue, would you?"
Pain frowned slightly at my words but didn't answer.
"You see, there's an interesting tale about the Sage of Six Paths, who split the Chakra of the Ten-Tails into Nine Beasts." I spoke like a storyteller, waving my hands around animatedly. "And he sealed the body in the moon, and only the one who bears the Sage's eyes can release the body again."
Pain didn't interrupt, or blast me away, which meant he was interested in what I had to say.
"I also know the conditions to create a Rinnegan, want to hear them?" I asked innocently.
I saw Pain tense up ever so slightly, this was actually kinda fun, just dangling secrets in front of him until he bites.
"Speak, watcher." He ordered.
"You see, you need the Inheritors of the Sun and Moon, the Sage's Sons, their Chakras combined with each other in one body," I spoke with fake cheerfulness. "The problem is, only one Inheritor can exist of each, the previous ones were pretty well known..."
"One was named Hashirama Senju. You might know that name, I heard he was very famous, the Inheritor of the Moon was named Madara Uchiha, you might know him as well. I already met the current Inheritors, and they are much less impressive."
At this point, I was too curious, so I spent a good amount of DP to locate and look at Nagato's face.
He was actually located... deep in the Ocean?
About 2 kilometers under the surface, inside a fleshy room. At his side stood Konan, who looked like she was listening intently to my conversation with Pain.
I had to spend some more DP looking at the outside of the room, how the fuck was he doing this.
Oh damn, that's a summon, he summoned a Giant Whale and is using it like a submarine. Damn, the Rinnegan was cool.
Back to Nagato, he was clearly angry about what I said, he was pretty smart, so he likely is on the right track about the 'Madara' that spoke to him.
"Anyways, the way to create a Rinnegan is simple. Be an Inheritor, implant the other Inheritors cells into yourself, if you are lucky, you get a Rinnegan, easy right?"
Yeah, that was basically it, I didn't think telling him about Indra and Asura would make much of a difference.
Nagato was having a mental battle right now, which was really funny to watch. Konan seemed worried about him, which only made it funnier.
"You know, now that I think about it, you are really weird Pain." I started suddenly. "You have a Rinnegan, but you aren't an Inheritor, which normally means that the Rinnegan would drain your vitality, but here you are, healthy as can be."
Nagato seemed to pause as he heard that, looking even more lost than before.
"Anyways, it's been nice chatting, but I think I overstayed my welcome," I spoke as I prepared to transform back into a crow. "Hope you found this information useful!"
I quickly left, before he could get his thoughts back together.
***
Nagato was utterly dumbfounded as he sat there, staring at the place where the entity had disappeared.
Konan watched him silently, waiting for her best friend to speak up.
"It seems we need to change our plans." He finally spoke up. "Either 'Madara' or this thing is lying, and if the former is true, then I must find out what Madara is hiding from me."
"How?" Konan asked. "Do you want to confront him?"
Nagato shook his head slightly. "No, that wouldn't work. Madara was confident no matter what, meaning he thinks he has everything accounted for, or simply doesn't fear his plans failing."
Nagato silently considered his options for a moment before speaking again.
"Use your paper clones to find out more, send some to Wave, send some elsewhere, and try to find out any information you can about The Rinnegan and the Sage."
Konan nodded in acknowledgment, she would always follow Nagato's wishes.
"As for me, I will continue with our current plan," Nagato announced. "Until we can either confirm or disprove this creature's words."
He ordered the Whale to continue back to the mainland, though he knew it would be difficult to ignore the revelations that had just occurred.
Oh, he almost forgot, he turned his Deva Path towards Kakuzu.
"Kakuzu, choose, true loyalty or death."
He couldn't risk Kakuzu spreading any of this if it was true.