Starting with the Uchiha clan, they began cultivating demonic arts.

Chapter 171 Madara Uchiha's Base

Upon arriving at Mount Myōboku, Konan and Yahiko finally saw Nagato, as well as the ancient and enormous Great Toad Sage.

There was no need to say anything more; the mere presence of the Great Toad Sage, with his enormous size and terrifying chakra, was enough to intimidate the trio, making them all obediently behave themselves.

In the time that followed, Nagato was taken by Fukasaku and Shima, two toads who had mastered Sage Mode, to train in Sage Mode. Konan and Yahiko also learned about the toads of Mount Myōboku from Jiraiya and learned how to summon these toads and coordinate them with their own ninjutsu system.

The toads of Mount Myōboku have many uses, making them the most versatile among the three holy lands. Whether it's direct combat, sealing, concealment, or reconnaissance, they can handle it all, greatly compensating for the shortcomings of Konan and Yahiko.

But the one who has truly made the most progress is still Nagato Uzumaki!

Nagato possessed the Sage Body of the Uzumaki clan; otherwise, he wouldn't have been able to withstand the strain of the Rinnegan. It can be said that in terms of Sage Mode talent, Nagato was far superior to Jiraiya, almost on par with Hashirama Senju back then.

Furthermore, although the Rinnegan squeezed out Nagato's chakra, this eye, which condensed the highest level of Yin-Yang Release, actually greatly helped Nagato train in Sage Mode.

In the original story, Madara Uchiha easily seized the Sage Chakra from Hashirama Senju, which was definitely inseparable from the help of his Rinnegan, thus demonstrating the effectiveness of the Rinnegan.

In three months, Nagato Uzumaki was able to easily enter Sage Mode. Nourished by Sage Chakra, his original Sage Body was even closer to perfect. Even in normal condition, his ability to withstand the Rinnegan had increased significantly.

Nagato Uzumaki was unable to unleash the power of the Rinnegan, so under the current circumstances, as long as Nagato's physical endurance increased, his strength would naturally grow.

Even in his normal state, Nagato Uzumaki can now use some standard-type ninjutsu like Shinra Tensei and Bansho Ten'in without consuming his life force.

If he enters Sage Mode, Nagato Uzumaki can even unleash one or two large-scale Rinnegan ninjutsu such as Super Shinra Tensei or Chibaku Tensei without taking any damage!

On this basis, by further consuming life force to enhance it, the power that erupted was even close to that of Madara Uchiha with the Rinnegan—of course, even if Nagato Uzumaki's physical condition had improved a lot, he would probably only be able to unleash one or two ninjutsu before being drained dry.

The stronger the ninjutsu, the more life force it extracts. For example, when Nagato Uzumaki used the smallest version of Chibaku Tensei, about half of it was chakra and the other half was his life force.

Now, in his desperate state, he can use the Heavenly Obstruction Star, which also uses half chakra and half life force—but the Heavenly Obstruction Star requires seven or eight times the chakra of a small Earth Explosion Star, and naturally consumes the same amount of life force.

However, ninjas never refuse these desperate ninjutsu attacks. Many times, if they risk their lives, they can survive, but if they don't, they'll be killed on the spot.

Although Mount Myōboku was somewhat using Nagato and his two companions as cannon fodder, it was also very generous in teaching them ninjutsu and providing them with contractual assistance. It can be said that in a short period of time, the trio, especially Nagato, had been completely transformed and surpassed his strongest period in the original work.

When Jiraiya returned to the Land of Rain with his three disciples using the Summoning Jutsu, the four of them were filled with confidence.

Having witnessed Nagato's displayed strength, Jiraiya even felt that the God of Shinobi and the Asura of the Shinobi World back then were probably only this strong! With Nagato's help, dealing with a mere Uchiha would be a piece of cake.

"Lord Nagato, Lord Yahiko, Lord Konan, you're finally back!"

Just as the four returned to the Land of Rain, the Akatsuki organization received news that the ninja Black Zetsu, disguised as a human, had found them.

"My lords, you would never guess what happened after you left."

Yahiko, who had returned to the ninja world, tilted his head, glanced at the gesticulating ninja in front of him, and said:

"Alright, Fei, stop beating around the bush, what happened?"

"Great news, great news! Leaders, we have discovered a legendary secret base of ninjas."

As he spoke, the ninja named Tobi glanced at Jiraiya, who chuckled and stretched.

"Ugh, I'm getting sick of eating insect feasts from Mount Myoboku every day lately... I'm going to go find a restaurant and enjoy a real feast!"

Upon hearing the words "insect feast," Yahiko and the other two turned pale. Although Jiraiya had made up an excuse to leave, the food at Mount Myōboku... could only be described as being rich in protein and very nutritious.

After a while, the three of them snapped out of their reverie about the insect feast and turned their attention back to the ninja named Afei:

"Alright, now that Jiraiya-sensei is gone, you can tell me whose secret base they discovered!"

Ah Fei chuckled and said:

"The three leaders would never have imagined that while we were excavating the underground base, we discovered a secret base left behind long ago—it was actually the secret base left by the legendary Uchiha Madara!"

"Uchiha Madara? Why would he leave a base in the Land of Grass? I don't recall the Uchiha clan ever coming to the Land of Grass?"

The most learned of the three, Yahiko, frowned, finding something odd. Tobi shrugged.

"We're not entirely sure about that either, but we did find a lot of ninjutsu scrolls there, and even some strange white artificial humans. According to our inquiries, it was indeed Madara Uchiha's secret base, and he even stayed there five or six years ago!"

"It's becoming increasingly unbelievable. Everyone knows that Madara Uchiha has been dead for decades..."

Yahiko shook his head, looking incredulous. Although he hadn't attended much school when he was young, he had heard of the final battle between Madara Uchiha and Hashirama Senju at the Valley of the End!

How could a person who has been dead for decades suddenly appear in the Land of Grass a few years ago?

"Oh, Lord Yahiko, who cares whether he's Uchiha Madara or not? Let's go study the ninjutsu in those bases first! The ninjutsu there are all very advanced. According to our assessment, even the weakest one is at least a B-rank ninjutsu, and there are seven or eight S-rank ninjutsu!"

"And those white androids are also quite peculiar, possessing incredibly strong vitality; some can even use Wood Release!"

Seven or eight S-rank ninjutsu, and an artificial human using Wood Release? How come this is getting more and more outrageous? Yahiko looked at the gleeful Tobi and seriously suspected that someone had used genjutsu on him.

But Tobi is, after all, the fourth-ranked ninja in the Akatsuki organization. He's a Jonin with decent strength, so his genjutsu shouldn't be that powerful, right? Could what he said be true?

The three of them, Yahiko and his companions, were half-believing and half-doubting, but they followed Afei and soon arrived at the so-called secret base.

The base was built 30 meters underground. As soon as they entered, Nagato and his two companions frowned and showed displeasure.

On the stone table in the base, there were some oddly shaped pieces of meat, and on the rock wall, there were some Sharingan eyes that had been dug out and placed in glass containers.

"Is this human experimentation? The three-tomoe Sharingan... Could it really be related to Madara Uchiha?"

Seeing the contents of this secret base, Yahiko actually believed Tobi's words. Even if the owner of this base wasn't Madara Uchiha, he should have had close ties with the Uchiha clan.

Over the years, the Sharingan of the Uchiha clan has rarely been leaked out. The vast majority of them have been absorbed by the clan. Originally, the Root clan also secretly collected some, but now that the Root clan has been destroyed, it is hard to imagine that there are so many Sharingan outside the Uchiha clan.

Moreover, they can't be ordinary Uchiha; they have to be at least an elder or something to collect so many three-tomoe Sharingan.

Just as the three were touring the base, suddenly, several white figures emerged from underground:

"Oh dear, someone's here again!"

"Is this a group visit? Do they even know what it feels like to poop?"

"Look at that red-haired man's eyes, isn't that Madara-sama's Rinnegan?"

What?!

The three of them turned around and looked at the white figure that had suddenly appeared, their faces filled with astonishment.

Firstly, these strange white figures had a very subtle aura; they were more like plants than humans. Even though Nagato and his two companions were not easy to deal with, they did not detect their presence at first.

Secondly, it's also about the issue these strange white men were discussing... Is the Rinnegan related to Madara Uchiha?

"What are you guys talking about?! The Rinnegan is related to Madara Uchiha?"

When it came to the issue of Nagato's Rinnegan, the one who reacted the most was not Nagato, but Yahiko. He immediately appeared in front of several white figures and asked with a frown.

"Ah, he must be Madara's successor! That's why Madara gave him the Rinnegan."

"It's a pity that Lord Madara is already dead, so there's no way to continue teaching him."

"What exactly happened?!"

Yahiko grabbed a white-clad figure and asked impatiently.

"Uh... here's the thing..."

A slightly more serious and intelligent-looking white-haired oddball began to explain to the trio.

"After the battle at the Valley of the End, Madara Uchiha faked his death using a secret technique to deceive Hashirama Senju, but he was also seriously injured and had to have Hashirama Senju's flesh implanted to recover from his injuries."

"After a long period of time, having fused with Hashirama Senju's flesh and blood, Lord Madara obtained powerful Yang Release chakra, which fused with his own Mangekyou Sharingan, awakening the most powerful Rinnegan!"

"Unfortunately, Madara was already old at that time, and the Rinnegan was too much of a burden for him. With no other choice, Madara had to transplant these eyes to his successor."

"Originally, Lord Madara planned to teach his successor after he came of age, but unfortunately, before the plan could even begin, Lord Madara was approached by a descendant named Uchiha Tou and then killed."

"Well……"

After hearing this, the three of them looked at each other in bewilderment. They had initially suspected some kind of conspiracy, but the last sentence took a sharp turn, which made their already heavy mood a little awkward.

Although these white-haired monsters claimed that Madara Uchiha considered Nagato his successor, Nagato and his two companions were no three-year-olds. They had been through so much in the ninja world and had even founded the Akatsuki, the second largest organization in the Land of Rain. They were no longer novice.

Madara Uchiha's actions, no matter how you look at them, are full of conspiracy. The Rinnegan he left for Nagato was probably not just to make Nagato his successor, but also had other purposes and backup plans.

But in the end... Madara Uchiha didn't get to carry out any of his plans before that Uchiha Tou came knocking on his door and killed him. It was a complete failure.

After calming himself down a bit, Yahiko looked at Nagato and asked:

"Nagato, do you think these strange people are telling the truth?"

Nagato gently touched her eyelids, paused for a moment, and nodded somewhat dejectedly.

"I believe what these strange people say. My Rinnegan... is indeed very strange. If it was originally a transplanted eye, then it can explain a lot of things."

In fact, Nagato was aware of many of the problems with the Rinnegan. For example, he had difficulty developing the potential within the Rinnegan and even had to sacrifice his life to fully unleash its power. Furthermore, his Rinnegan could only be opened but not closed, which was completely different from other eye-type bloodline limits.

However, the Rinnegan had become a legend a thousand years ago, and no one had ever awakened it in all these years. Because it was an isolated case, Nagato attributed it to the special nature of the Rinnegan.

In retrospect, this really isn't a problem with the Rinnegan. If we explain it by the fact that the Rinnegan itself is transplanted, it makes more sense.

In the ninja world, there have been many cases of transplanting special eyes. However, those who receive transplants usually find it difficult to fully realize the potential of their eyes. Furthermore, after the transplant, the eyes remain open and consume a large amount of chakra, which is very similar to Nagato's current state.

With this comparison, Nagato naturally understood. As for why he didn't have the memories of the Rinnegan transplant—given his age when he awakened the Rinnegan, his memories had been tampered with, making it impossible to detect.

Yahiko glanced at Nagato and slowly spoke:

"Nagato, don't be discouraged yet. We can't be completely certain that these eyes belong to Uchiha Madara. You white guys, do you have any other evidence?"

"As for evidence, Lord Madara has done a lot of research on the Rinnegan; you can go and take a look!"

(End of this chapter)