Naruto: Bloodline Limit

"It wasn't you? Really not you? Tell me, who is responsible for Nagato's death, if it's not you?" While Konan knew that what Ryoha said was true, she couldn't think of anyone else with the ability to kill him. Besides Ryoha, who else could possibly do it? Maybe Tsunade?

"Don't look at me like that. The last time, that kid ran away faster than a rabbit, and I couldn't catch him. Since Ryoha is planning to kill him in three weeks, there's no point in me trying to do it now," Tsunade flatly denied.

"I think I know who did it," Ryoha had a sudden revelation. He recalled that the masked man had lost an eye while protecting himself from Ryoha, and it didn't make sense for him to weaken his combat abilities further by going after Nagato. The only explanation was that Nagato had depleted his body beyond repair.

His body wouldn't hold up for another month until the final battle, and it appeared he had taken his own life, in a way, by partnering with Sasuke. They likely attacked Nagato together, with Sasuke using his Eternal Mangekyo Sharingan. Sasuke and Nagato had pushed themselves to their limits, with Nagato near death, making it easier for them to take him down.

"What's better than seeing it with your own eyes?" Ignoring Konan's struggles, Ryoha used his Space-Time Jutsu to instantly appear in front of Sasuke, and with a single punch, he knocked the masked man out of the way.

"What do you want?" Sasuke immediately opened his changed Sharingan, confirming it was the Eternal Mangekyo Sharingan.

"Putting on those eyes doesn't make you any less useless," Ryoha sneered.

"Don't underestimate me. Times have changed. With my eye techniques..." Sasuke hadn't even had the chance to use his new eyes' powers when his eyes glazed over, revealing that the Eternal Mangekyo Sharingan wasn't enough to overcome Ryoha.

"Tell me, what happened to Pain Nagato?" Ryoha immediately trapped Sasuke in a genjutsu, and under the gaze of a furious Konan, Sasuke quickly recounted the events of that day. It confirmed Ryoha's suspicions. With his lost eye, the masked man had significantly diminished power, while Nagato was near the end of his strength. Sasuke and the masked man worked together, and even though Nagato couldn't unleash his usual strength, he dealt a final blow to Sasuke, severely injuring him.

In the end, the masked man modified Sasuke's body, making it similar to his and to Zetsu's, where even a lost arm could be regenerated, just as it did back when the Fourth Hokage's Rasengan destroyed one of his arms. Thanks to the masked man's care, Sasuke quickly recovered.

"You scum! I'm going to kill you! You're just as dirty as your family!" Konan, filled with rage, unleashed her most powerful jutsu to try to kill Sasuke. However, at that moment, the recovered masked man absorbed Sasuke into a different dimension and made his escape.

"Dammit, why didn't you stop them?" Konan was starting to lose her composure, unable to process what had just happened. She pointed at Ryoha and yelled at him.

"Why should I have stopped them? One less Pain is one less source of fun. Did you expect me to kill them so soon? Besides, he had a score to settle with us. Even if the masked man didn't kill him, I would have. If he's unlucky enough to not make it three more weeks, that's his problem," Ryoha responded coldly. He showed no sympathy, and he was being entirely pragmatic.

Konan finally realized that Ryoha was right. Nagato had opposed them from the beginning, and his death, while unfortunate, wasn't something they could have prevented. In fact, Ryoha had no reason to hold back the masked man and Sasuke when he was planning to kill Nagato himself. The only reason he had allowed them to do it was to make the final battle more exciting.

Konan's brain was overloaded, and she fell to her knees and sobbed. 

"Why... Why are you crying? Ever since you made the naive choice to change the Ninja World when you were just children, your fate was sealed. You've been exploited by others from the moment you were born, especially Nagato. The Sharingan he received from Madara on his deathbed was a symbol of that exploitation. If he hadn't walked down this path, his life might have been spared, but the path he chose was one of incredible danger.

Your dreams of changing the Ninja World are idealistic, but not realistic. Do you think it's as simple as pursuing and achieving them? Do you think it's like a child's game? You've paid a heavy price, but you still don't understand, do you?

It's not that Danzo or Hanzo the Salamander were ruthless, it's that your existence threatened their interests, and you weren't strong enough to withstand their actions while still acting defiantly. Achieving such goals without paying a price is a true miracle."

Ryoha was disdainful of Nagato and the Akatsuki's goals. He believed that they were unrealistic and impossible to achieve without absolute power to back them up. Nagato's death was a result of his choices, and his pursuit of those goals had ultimately cost him his life.

"Am I... Was everything I did wrong? Nagato, why didn't you listen to me? Why did you get involved with him? If you had just listened to me, if you hadn't gone to provoke him, maybe we would be working together now, and we would already see the day when peace would come to the Ninja World. Why would you choose to be with someone like Hanzo, a conspirator, over listening to me?" Konan was now deeply conflicted and filled with remorse. She had loved Nagato, and his death was different from her earlier sacrifices. His death was not an act of selflessness but a result of his choices, and he had been killed by their ally when he was at his weakest. It was a different kind of loss and guilt.