On his way to Ichiraku Ramen, Rorin noticed many ninja patrolling around the village.
"They're probably guarding against any backup plan Nagato might have left behind," Rorin muttered softly.
Before long, he arrived at the ramen shop. Lifting the curtain, he saw two familiar backs.
Jiraiya and Naruto Uzumaki were sitting together, slurping down their ramen.
"Teuchi-san, get me a bowl of ramen too!" Rorin called out.
Hearing this, Naruto Uzumaki and Jiraiya paused mid-bite, noodles still hanging from their mouths, and turned to look.
"What a coincidence, Naruto, greasy old man!" Rorin waved and greeted them.
Naruto quickly swallowed his noodles and shot to his feet.
"Rorin, where did you go earlier? We couldn't find you anywhere—we were worried sick!"
Jiraiya nodded in agreement.
Rorin wore an awkward smile, thinking to himself: Worried sick? You two look pretty busy devouring ramen.
"After the battle, I took care of some personal matters," Rorin explained briefly, then pulled out a bench and sat down.
"Did you kill that Pain?" Jiraiya asked quietly.
Rorin nodded slowly. "More or less. You know it yourself, old man—he was already dead to begin with."
Jiraiya fell silent. Memories of taking care of the three children in the Hidden Rain Village surfaced, and he sighed, shaking his head.
Before long, Rorin's ramen was served, and the three of them ate quietly.
Since Naruto and Jiraiya had started earlier, they finished their bowls quickly.
After draining the broth, the two stood up, paid, and bid farewell to Rorin.
Just as they were about to step out of Ichiraku Ramen, Jiraiya paused, turned back, and looked at Rorin.
"Bone kid, there's something I should tell you in advance."
Rorin stopped slurping his noodles and looked at him, puzzled, waiting for him to continue.
Jiraiya scratched the back of his head awkwardly.
"I heard this from Kakashi. Since the battle took place inside the village, accidents were inevitable…"
A bad feeling rose in Rorin's chest as he stared blankly at Jiraiya.
"One of the Pain bodies specialized in Summoning Jutsu. It summoned a lot of creatures that rampaged through the village, destroying buildings. Among them was…"
A quarter of an hour later, Rorin stood alone in front of a pile of ruins, his eyes vacant.
The cold night wind swept past, as if piercing straight into his heart.
"Damn it! Nagato! Pay me back for my beloved bathroom!" Rorin screamed inwardly.
Lowering his head, he realized there was nothing he could do. He'd just have to arrange a new place tomorrow.
With nowhere to stay that night, Rorin used Flying Thunder God to return to his secret cave in the Land of Fire.
Bored out of his mind, he lay on a stone bed and recalled the system map from earlier, pulling it up again.
Staring at the glowing markers, he communicated with the system.
'System, since the Rinnegan originally belonged to Uchiha Madara, can your tracking function locate where Madara's corpse is now?'
[Sorry, host. The tracking function can only locate identical items. It cannot find the original owner of an item.]
'I see… what a pity. Otherwise, I could've found Madara's corpse and studied it.'
Rorin shook his head regretfully. Then, by chance, he noticed a "Next Page" option in the bottom-right corner of the map interface.
'System, what's this next page? Could it be that someone else also has the Rinnegan?'
[Host, that is the map you obtained earlier from scanning the Byakugan.]
'Oh, I see!'
Speaking of the Byakugan, Rorin remembered that on the moon there was Ōtsutsuki Toneri—and a Tenseigan as well.
"It wouldn't be bad if I could go to the moon," Rorin muttered.
With nothing better to do, he pulled up the distribution map of the Byakugan.
"Huh? Why is there a highlighted Byakugan near the Village Hidden in the Mist? What a coincidence," Rorin said curiously.
[Host, that highlighted Byakugan corresponds to the last of the three coordinates you discovered when you went near the Village Hidden in the Mist to seize a Byakugan.]
Rorin's eyes lit up. Back then, he had discovered Ao at the second coordinate, so he hadn't paid attention to the last one.
'System, has this coordinate always stayed near the Village Hidden in the Mist? It never returned to the Hidden Leaf Village?'
[Yes, host. Based on the movement records in the map function, it has always been active near the Village Hidden in the Mist.]
Good heavens, this was a huge discovery. Could it be that when Ao took the Byakugan from the Hyūga main family, he actually took a pair—and had the other transplanted into someone else?
But that didn't make sense. If he had both eyes, why wouldn't he transplant both?
Something didn't add up. But since that coordinate had stayed near the Village Hidden in the Mist for so many years without returning to the Hidden Leaf Village…
A slight smile appeared on Rorin's lips. If it happened to be a perfect pair of Byakugan, he wouldn't have to settle for just one.
To be honest, a single Byakugan was inconvenient. When he used it, he couldn't close his left eye, which caused visual imbalance and constant discomfort.
Before, he had no better solution and had to make do. But now… there seemed to be another opportunity.
Even if the person was from the Hyūga main family, they hadn't returned to the Hidden Leaf Village for so long—this might still be workable.
Rorin nodded slightly, planning to investigate again after some time.
In a good mood, just before going to sleep, he suddenly felt the urge to revisit Jiraiya's "research material gathering" process from earlier.
The night grew deep, and all was silent.
In a small valley piled with scattered rocks, Uchiha Obito sat calmly atop a hill, gazing at the moon in silence.
A rustling sound broke the quiet.
"What's the result? Was the Nine-Tails captured successfully?" Obito asked indifferently.
"It's hard to believe, but Pain was defeated—by an unknown young man," Zetsu said in a low voice.
Obito's eyes flickered. "Defeated? Who was it?"
"The same Kaguya Rorin who interfered with our capture of the One-Tail and captured Hidan."
"Nagato didn't go all out, did he? Otherwise, how could he have lost?"
Obito spoke calmly, clearly unconvinced that Nagato had truly been defeated.
It was likely because he himself hadn't gone all out when capturing the Eight-Tails earlier, so Nagato hadn't either.
Zetsu slowly shook his head. "Nagato used Planetary Devastation, and still couldn't trap that guy."
At the mention of Planetary Devastation, a trace of hatred flashed unconsciously in Black Zetsu's eyes.
Obito froze for a moment, then fell into silence.