Ninjas dedicate their lives to war, always fighting for their own village and country, never caring for others, seizing and plundering again and again.
What is taken is taken back, and what is taken back is stolen again. The hatred born from this endless cycle never ceases. Nations wage wars, villages battle villages. Blood and lives weave an inescapable loop.
The innocent dragged into these wars are beyond counting. Minato knew this well, even his own hands were stained with the blood of innocents for the sake of his village. And the number of enemies he had killed in battle was countless.
Different stances lead to different actions.
For Minato, his village and his comrades were what mattered most. For their sake, his heart was cold when he struck down enemies.
For Konan, it had been Yahiko and Nagato. For the sake of their dream world, they had stopped at nothing. Many innocents were caught in their schemes. To collect the Tailed Beasts, they hadn't even spared infants.
In every heart, there is a scale—measuring weight, weighing loss and gain.
Nagato had his lofty ideals. He strove for them, and in the end even gave his life. Yet Minato felt no pity. So as he listened to Konan's grief-stricken words and saw her devastated expression, he remained unmoved.
He too wished for peace in the shinobi world. In truth, everyone longed for peace. Without war, far fewer would die. But that did not excuse Nagato and Konan's attack on Konoha. In that assault, how many of his comrades perished? That was an unerasable fact.
By reason and by justice, Konan, as an accomplice, ought to pay for the dead of the village. The only reason Minato did not kill her was because a living Konan was more valuable than a dead one.
"If peace could be achieved simply by seizing others' lives at will, there would be no wars at all." Minato looked at her. His voice carried no mockery, yet the meaning within inevitably cut at the worthlessness of her grief.
Konan had no rebuttal. Why had they believed they could act with such certainty? It went back to that rainstorm, when Yahiko died, when they realized the harshness of reality.
Sacrificing the few for the sake of peace for the many, is that right or wrong? How can it be judged?
Perhaps it was not they who were wrong, but the world itself.
Those of different stances live as if in different worlds—unable to connect, unable to understand one another. Unless there was a single gate between them. A gate that could be called peace.
After a moment of silence, Minato looked at Konan, still weeping soundlessly, and said evenly:
"Perhaps the timing is cruel, but right now, I have many questions I must ask you."
Konan lifted her eyes, her tone cold: "You saved me for this, didn't you? To extract information?"
They were enemies. That Minato had saved her so suddenly was beyond anyone's expectation. Why he had done it was hardly a mystery.
At her words, Minato paused briefly, then nodded.
He had come to the Land of Rain with Konan as his target, alive or dead didn't matter, as long as she was brought back.
But circumstances had shifted. He had risked everything to wrest her from Ye Zi's blade, for one reason: to obtain the most complete intelligence in the shortest time.
So her guess was not wrong.
A bitter smile flickered on Konan's face. If she had any reason left to keep living, it was revenge for Nagato and Yahiko. Konoha wanted information from her. She had the chance to cooperate, and she would give it freely.
Since she could no longer realize their dream world, then at least she could see that man destroyed.
Her smile faded. Grief lingered, but in her eyes now burned a cold, lethal hatred.
"Anything you want to know, if I can answer, I will not hold back. I'll tell you everything I know."
From that moment, her resolve was clear: she would not let Ye Zi go unpunished.
Minato's heart lifted slightly. If Konan was willing to cooperate this thoroughly, it was the best outcome.
"Your comrade was not—" He began to clarify that Nagato had not been killed by Konoha. Though he felt Nagato deserved his fate, he thought such a clarification might win more of Konan's trust.
But she cut him off.
"I know. Nagato was killed by Ye Zi. That is precisely why I am willing to cooperate." Her eyes were icy as she spoke his name.
Meeting her frozen gaze, Minato gave a small nod. Setting aside his last bit of rations, he asked calmly:
"First... what was the purpose of collecting the Tailed Beasts?"
He did not need every detail now. A few key questions would suffice. The full debrief would be back in the village. But he would not take her words at face value, due process was necessary.
The first question: what did they intend to do once all the Tailed Beasts were gathered?
"As long as all the Tailed Beasts are sealed within the Demonic Statue of the Outer Path, it becomes the Ten Tails, the ultimate weapon of war, against which nothing can stand."
At Minato's question, an image of Nagato surfaced in Konan's mind. Her eyes dimmed as she continued:
"Our intention was peace. To force it upon the shinobi world, we needed a weapon so fearsome that every village would submit. That weapon… was the Ten Tails."
"What is the Demonic Statue? And the Ten Tails?" Minato's chest tightened. From the words alone, he could guess the Ten Tails was some fusion of the nine beasts. But he had no true concept of it.
"The Demonic Statue is the husk left after the Ten Tails had its chakra stripped away. By sealing the nine beasts' chakra back into it, the Ten Tails is reborn. You already know how terrifying a single Tailed Beast is. Imagine all nine combined. That is the Ten Tails."
Imagine? It was beyond imagination. If it was as she said, then it was truly horrific.
Minato gave a strained smile, then asked: "And Ye Zi, his goals aligned with yours?"
"They were not the same. But this plan… you could say it was brought about by him." Konan's face hardened.
Minato swallowed his surprise, forcing calm as he pressed: "To control the Ten Tails… one must possess the Rinnegan, correct?"
At that, Konan looked at him with shock. After a long pause, she nodded slowly. "Yes."
"So it is…" Minato fell silent. He recalled Ye Zi's forces, filled with transplanted Sharingan. Ye Zi had taken both the Demonic Statue and Nagato's body. The conclusion was obvious: Ye Zi intended to control the Ten Tails. Which meant he would seek to transplant the Rinnegan.
After a long pause, Minato's tone deepened. "Rest for three hours. Then we depart immediately, back to Konoha as quickly as possible."
He would extract the rest of the information back in the village.
But already, with just a handful of questions, Minato realized bringing Konan back alive was the wisest decision he had made.
Even now, he understood, her importance could not be overstated.
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Currently on Chapter 609 - Dead Gods and a Serpent