Five days later.
Wrapped in a black cloak, Kaguya Rei returned to the town near the ruins of Uzushiogakure with a weary expression.
In the past few days, he'd trekked across most of the Land of Whirlpools, searching for the optional mission's "Uzumaki descendant," while also purging infamous bands of rogue shinobi.
Without noticing, he'd raised his Dark Harvest stacks from 30—the count he'd had after defeating Konoha's ANBU squad—to 379.
He also consumed the soul fragment of an ANBU from the Shimura clan, raising Dark Harvest's stacking cap to 999 and pushing its soul-strength amplification into the second tier.
From that angle alone, this mission had been massively profitable.
Even if he'd failed the first optional objective due to Minato's timely arrival and missed a chance to draw a secondary rune—
He still came out ahead.
The regret was that he found zero leads about any Uzumaki survivor during his grind.
After rereading the mission requirements several times, he decided to try one last thing before returning home to join the war against Konoha.
He'd return to Uzushiogakure itself and see if luck turned.
After all, his battle with Konoha's ANBU had happened here.
Maybe the trigger was here too.
With that thought, Rei stepped into the clan land of the Uzumaki—an extinct shinobi village that, in the original story, barely appeared at all except for a single mention of a Noh-mask hall storing Shinigami masks.
The battle in the forest outside hadn't heavily affected these rarely visited ruins. A few outer buildings that had already been rotting had collapsed from the shockwaves, but everything else remained frozen in the shape it had been when the Uzumaki were annihilated.
Walking through a dead village was naturally oppressive.
But Rei had lived fifteen years in Kirigakure. The constant pressure had forged steel nerves in him.
Even when a black-cloaked figure flickered past a ruin at the edge of his vision, he didn't feel fear—
…Wait.
A black-cloaked figure?
Rei snapped out of his distraction and chased immediately.
He was fast.
The other figure was fast too.
They darted across the western ruins and into the more open eastern area, finally stopping before the collapsed remains of a tall structure.
"Hm? You're not attacking?" The red-haired young man in a black cloak turned in surprise when Rei stopped twenty meters away. "You were chasing so hard I thought you were up to something."
"Not really." Rei kept his voice level. "I just saw someone here and wanted to know who."
Then he saw the man's face.
And his lungs nearly forgot how to work.
Because in the left eye socket not hidden by his long bangs—
Was a pale purple eye, its pupil surrounded by concentric rings.
The Rinnegan.
Nagato.
By Rei's memory of the timeline, Nagato shouldn't have lost Yahiko yet. He should still be the boy who believed in his friend's dream and thought peace could be built with something other than violence.
But—
Running into a healthy, uninjured, peak-condition Nagato without preparation?
That was enough to make any "future-aware" transmigrator feel their heart stop.
…You piece of trash system.
The Uzumaki descendant you wanted me to find—
Don't tell me it's Nagato himself?
Damn it.
Nagato wasn't Minato, a "scraping master" lacking decisive offense.
Nagato's attacks could kill.
Rei cursed internally and raced through how to speak without triggering hostility—
But before he could, Nagato spoke first.
"Kaguya clan… Shikotsumyaku." Nagato's voice was calm. "Are you a shinobi of Kirigakure?"
"Yes." Rei forced himself to relax, quietly retracting the bone blade that had started to slip from his palm. "I'm tracking down traitors from my village… and you? With that hair—are you an Uzumaki descendant?"
"Me?" Nagato considered, then nodded lightly. "You could say that. Though this 'homeland'… it's my first time here."
"Are you planning to rebuild Uzushiogakure?" Rei's eyes narrowed. "With those eyes—Rinnegan?"
Nagato paused, then shook his head with faint helplessness.
"I'm not."
"I came because Kirigakure and Konoha are about to erupt into a new war. My comrades mentioned someone saw a fierce battle near these ruins, so I decided on impulse to come see the homeland I'd never visited."
"And unsurprisingly… this place is also a tragic land, trampled by war and ambition until all it can do is weep blood."
Then Nagato's tone shifted.
"Can you answer me something, shinobi of Kirigakure?"
"I'll decide whether to answer based on how sharp your question is, Uzumaki—"
"No." Nagato cut him off and tapped the forehead protector at his brow with his thumb, pride and certainty in his voice. "I'm not 'some Uzumaki.' I'm Nagato. From Amegakure's organization—Akatsuki."
"Akatsuki…"
Hearing the future boss who would one day try to rule the world with "nuclear deterrence" say that name with the proud voice of a youth—Akatsuki not yet wearing red clouds—
Rei's expression turned complicated.
"Kaguya Rei. Kirigakure's Kaguya Rei."
Nagato's hidden caution eased slightly. He inhaled, then asked seriously:
"Rei… right?"
"My question is…"
"In your opinion… how long until this war ends?"
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