To help someone to the very end, like seeing a Buddha to the Western Paradise, Jin simply took care of Nagato's burnt legs as well. With some good rest, he would be able to walk normally again in a while.
Back at the base, after temporarily settling Yahiko in a safe room, Nagato and Konan called all personnel currently at the base. Together, they announced the devastating news that their leader, Yahiko, had been ambushed by Hanzou and was now unconscious.
With his poisonous plot exposed, Hanzou and the Akatsuki Organization were clearly locked in a death feud. To prevent further complications, Hanzou would undoubtedly gather his subordinates as quickly as possible to attack the Akatsuki Organization, aiming to annihilate them completely and leave no survivors.
Therefore, Nagato's first order upon returning was to dismiss members who lacked sufficient strength, to prevent them from dying in vain in the upcoming conflict.
Moreover, from now on, he would save the Ninja World in a different way—by forcefully maintaining peace in the Ninja World with the Rinnegan, which both Yahiko and Jin had placed their hopes on.
Companions who could not accept the change in the organization's philosophy could also leave now.
After explaining this, half-coercively and half-persuasively, more than half of the members still refused to leave, emphasizing that they had long since disregarded their own lives and deaths, and that they would stand and fall with the Akatsuki in this life.
As for whether they could accept Nagato's new philosophy?
Why couldn't they?
Of course they could!
The first leader, Yahiko, advocated for kindness and mutual understanding, and was a big brother whom every Akatsuki member deeply admired. Yet, he was so cruelly betrayed by Hanzou, and might never wake up again.
The second leader, Nagato, in order to save the two leaders, Yahiko and Konan, was also severely injured and barely managed to escape with people. He must have used some life-draining technique to become the unrecognizable state he was in now.
Seeing all of this, didn't everyone feel hatred? Didn't they want revenge?
Facts spoke louder than words. This desperate crisis proved that the Akatsuki Organization used to be too kind!
The Ninja World was full of scheming, corrupt individuals. They couldn't be too lenient with those heartless scoundrels!
They must strike hard!
If they subdued all their enemies, then naturally everyone would be willing to sit down and listen to them preach peace!
Nagato couldn't refute this lengthy logic at all, and everyone was fearless, so he had no choice but to respect each person's wishes and agree to let them stay and fight alongside him.
Konan and Kyusuke were still in the room, looking after Yahiko, helping him wash his body, change into clean clothes, and carefully placing him in dry and fresh bedding.
Kyusuke looked at their leader, who had been drinking and celebrating with everyone just last night, now lying unresponsive in bed, likely never to wake up. His nose tingled with emotion, and he wiped away tears while cursing Hanzou, calling him an shameless old man.
Then, remembering that the organization now needed various intelligence, he quickly summoned his summoning beast to assist with the defenses.
Konan sat on a stool in a daze. The shock of the past few hours was too great; she simply didn't have the mental energy to overthink, so she just emptied her mind for self-protection.
"Lying like this, his body will probably waste away in about a month~"
As the cheerful reminder came, Konan startled awake, turning to see Jin leaning casually against the doorframe, his right index finger still pointing at the unconscious Yahiko on the bed.
"Taking care of someone who is in a coma for a long time is an extremely troublesome matter."
Konan quickly stood up straight and asked, "Th-then what should I do to make Yahiko better?"
"What can you do? Of course, you have to help him move his body every day, massage his muscles, feed him, bathe him, wipe him down, and even take him out to sunbathe..."
Jin walked into the room and plopped down on the edge of the bed, counting on his fingers one by one. In the end, he felt there were too many things and simply waved his hand, giving up on counting.
"In short, it's about trying to maintain sufficient exercise and nutrition for him. It's super troublesome, I tell you~"
"It's alright, I'll do it."
Both of them looked towards the doorway. Nagato slowly wheeled himself in, his expression firm, as if he had made some sort of decision.
"I will use Chakra-conducting metal to control Yahiko's body, allowing him to 'live on' as the leader of Akatsuki, just like a normal person."
Konan said nothing, but Jin shot him a disapproving glance: "Are you sure? This will consume a lot of Chakra and life force, you know."
"I'm sorry, Jin, I know this is a very selfish idea."
Nagato looked at Jin with an apologetic gaze and explained, "Since Yahiko placed his hope in the Rinnegan, then I will let him use these eyes to personally forge peace in the Ninja World."
Hearing this, Jin rolled his eyes behind his mask in exasperation.
-- Everyone in the Ninja World is a pervert, seriously!
-- Treating a close friend's body like a puppet, controlling him to mimic a normal human's life and battles, it looks strange no matter how you slice it.
-- If Yahiko ever wakes up, won't you guys really feel awkward?
"It is indeed very selfish, Nagato~"
Complaining softly, Jin came before Nagato, hands on his hips, then succumbed to the latter's determined gaze, shrugging helplessly.
"Alright, alright... But you should still take it easy. I don't want to wait for the next Six Paths Sage reincarnation to grow up again."
Nagato's brows relaxed a little upon receiving support, and he let out a long breath, saying, "Thank you, Jin."
...Leaving the Akatsuki base, Jin continuously used Body Flicker Technique to jump to the surveillance spot from yesterday, standing behind the rock pillar and impatiently stomping his foot a few times.
"Idiot, where are you?"
"I'm here!"
A root white zetsu emerged from underground, grinning as he handed Jin a small scroll, proudly taking credit for himself.
"Look, this is what we confiscated from a summoning beast rat earlier! It would have been troublesome if it had gotten through!"
Jin unrolled the scroll and read it quickly, finding that it was indeed the message regarding the movements of the Konoha Anbu, just like in the original timeline.
If Kyusuke had received the intelligence, he would have realized something was wrong and chased after Yahiko and Nagato, preventing the meeting.
At that point, Jin would have had no choice but to strike first and eliminate them all, just like Obito in the original timeline.
-- Kyusuke, you rascal, why aren't you thanking White Zetsu?
Playing a meme expressionlessly in his mind, Jin raised his hand and burned the scroll to ashes with Black Flame, completely destroying the last trace.
"Hmm, well done. I won't turn you into soup for now."
He offered a rare genuine compliment, then gave the other party a new task: "Take a few more White Zetsu to monitor Hanzou and see when he plans to attack Akatsuki."
"Understood!"
White Zetsu happily raised his right hand, feeling fortunate to have avoided being cooked.
After all, it didn't know if it would die after being cooked, so it was best not to be cooked if possible.
"I'm off—"
White Zetsu's cheerful voice abruptly cut off as it completely submerged underground, presumably because its brain was not capable of speaking while simultaneously activating the Mayfly Technique.
Jin thought to himself that it was a good thing he wasn't obsessive-compulsive, otherwise, not hearing that last trailing sound would probably keep him awake all night.