"What do you know."
Temujin snorted coldly. "All of this is for our goal. To create a world without conflict, a world where everyone can coexist peacefully, unavoidable sacrifices are necessary."
"Unavoidable sacrifices?"
Temari's eyes widened, thinking of the heavily damaged villages in the Land of Wind under their attack. She immediately became furious.
"What do you mean, unavoidable sacrifices?"
Naruto was stunned, then thought of a shocking possibility. "Those people, are they your comrades?"
"That's right, they are my comrades."
When he said this, Temujin hesitated slightly, but quickly became firm. "Everyone is striving for this great goal. Even sacrificing themselves, they do not hesitate."
"Damn it!"
How could Naruto possibly agree with his statement? "What kind of peace is achieved by sacrificing comrades? That's not real peace!"
"I will never acknowledge your methods!"
Naruto wasn't the only one angry.
The others' gazes towards Temujin, and Haido and the three female knights behind him, were full of gravity.
Especially Konan, who had personally experienced the cruelty of war and longed even more for peace.
But she knew very well that sacrificing comrades would not bring real peace, only more killing.
Looking at these people, she suddenly felt a strong sense of déjà vu.
It was like looking at the current Akatsuki.
It was just that these people's power was far too weak compared to the Akatsuki.
'A bunch of delusional fools.'
Konan shook her head. Suddenly, her gaze fell on Haido, unmoved behind Temujin.
This man gave her a strange feeling.
His smiling face looked very jarring, as if it completely contradicted his heart, making her feel a sense of incongruity.
'Probably, this kid has been deceived, right?'
She quickly realized this.
But it had nothing to do with her. Just some unlucky fool from somewhere.
He had already been completely fooled.
He had completely lost the ability to discern.
"You just said your ideal is to create a utopia without conflict?"
Takumi stopped Naruto, who wanted to say more, and stepped forward.
"That's right."
Temujin said. "I know you possess great power and also know about the Gelel Stones. If you agree with our philosophy, we very much welcome you to become our comrade."
"Comrade?"
A trace of mockery appeared on Takumi's face. "Locked up in a sphere like them?"
"They just contributed their power for the ideal!"
Temujin frowned and shouted, as if insulted by Takumi's words. "They had to do this to gain the power to realize the ideal."
"It seems you really don't understand anything."
Takumi shook his head, his gaze towards Temujin now full of pity, as if looking at a fool.
"What's with that look?"
Temujin frowned deeply. Takumi's gaze made him very uncomfortable and also made him feel uneasy.
Although he didn't know why he felt uneasy.
He glanced back at Haido, and seeing Haido's usual smile, his heart immediately became firm again.
"Let me tell you a story about an organization I know."
Takumi didn't answer Temujin's question, but instead narrated in a calm tone.
"More than ten years ago, there were three children who lost their families in the chaos of war."
Hearing this, Konan's body shook violently. She looked at Takumi in disbelief.
She couldn't understand how Takumi knew this history about them.
"They depended on each other, avoiding the chaos of war, surviving precariously on wild vegetables and mushrooms gathered from the mountains."
"Their leader had an ideal: to create a world without war."
"Oh?"
Temujin's eyes lit up. "There's also..."
He was about to say "comrade", but suddenly saw Takumi's gaze towards him change.
He didn't feel any killing intent.
But his intuition told him that if he continued, he would probably die horribly.
He involuntarily shrank back, not finishing his sentence.
Seeing that Temujin was no longer interrupting, Takumi continued his story.
"Having personally experienced the cruelty of war, the three of them deeply desired true peace."
Takumi's voice slowly flowed into everyone's ears, taking them back to that era of war and chaos.
Konan's eyes even saw the difficult scenes from the early days of establishing the Akatsuki with Nagato and Yahiko.
They were hardworking back then, but their hearts were happy.
Because they knew they were walking on the right path.
However, everything was ultimately destroyed.
Yahiko died, Nagato's personality changed drastically, and the Akatsuki, after the joining of the man claiming to be Madara, had deviated from its original purpose.
Yahiko had never expected to achieve peace through war.
But now Nagato had forgotten this important point.
Looking up at the man speaking eloquently before her, the shock in her heart at his knowledge of these things had disappeared, replaced by the resonance of being acknowledged.
'Even an outsider knows our former will.'
'Nagato, when will you finally wake up?'
She turned her head, looking at the operating camera, and suddenly understood something.
Before entering, what Takumi had said about his true intentions was probably for this moment.
Now, she knew Takumi's true thoughts.
'Nagato, I wonder if you can wake up because of this?'
At this moment, she made a decision.
Carrying a beautiful expectation in her heart.
While Konan's thoughts were racing, Takumi's story had only just begun.
Everyone was immersed in it, no one rashly interrupted.
Nor dared to interrupt.
Otherwise, one intimidating glance from Takumi would make anyone's hair stand on end.
Takumi's invisible deterrence was not to be underestimated.
"So, they established an organization, taking in war orphans like themselves."
"They stole money and food from those greedy nobles to relieve the ordinary people displaced by the war."
"Soon, they gathered a large number of like-minded comrades. They lived very difficultly every day, but never regretted their decision."
"Eventually, they grew into a force that could not be ignored in the area. The people they helped supported them, hoping they would lead them."
"And this also led to the final tragedy."
Saying this, Takumi paused, as if thinking about how to continue.
In fact, he had gotten carried away and almost couldn't stop.
If he continued, he would have to talk about how Danzo teamed up with Hanzo the Salamander to harm the Akatsuki.
Fortunately, he stopped in time, avoiding saying it.
Although he would definitely use pseudonyms and not let the young ones who hadn't grown yet know about Konoha's darkness,
How could Konan, who had experienced it, not know who he was talking about?
At that point, she would most likely lose control.
After all, Yahiko's death could be completely attributed to these two people.
Hanzo had already died at Nagato's hands.
But Danzo had been hiding in Konoha and never went out, so Nagato never had a chance to kill him.
Konan's hatred for Danzo was no less than Nagato's.
Yahiko was her childhood friend!
After a slight pause, facing everyone's expectant gazes, Takumi continued. "They failed, because of the greed of some despicable villains."
"But it doesn't matter. I will inherit their true will and strive to bring peace to this world."
"But my methods will definitely be different from yours."
Saying this, Takumi's gaze towards Temujin and the others became sharp. "Fools who don't even know how to cherish their comrades are not qualified to talk about any so-called utopia!"
These words made Konan feel extremely moved, but her gaze towards Takumi became a bit strange.
'Our Akatsuki still existed, and he was talking about inheriting our true will here?'
But on second thought, Konan felt Takumi's words seemed not wrong.
The Akatsuki's true will had vanished with Yahiko's death. Although Nagato had become the leader, his will had been distorted. He wasn't implementing Yahiko's original will, but was seeking revenge for Yahiko.