Nagato's phantom image was filled with fanaticism. He viewed the world through the lens of his own painful experiences, genuinely believing that only when everyone could personally feel suffering would the world welcome true peace.
Looking at Nagato, who was immersed in his ideal and unable to extricate himself, Jiraiya's eyes were filled with disappointment, mixed with deep guilt and self-reproach.
Since the early days, when he taught Nagato, Yahiko, and Konan, Jiraiya had already noticed Nagato's sensitivity and intelligence. Even then, having just lost his family, Nagato often pondered and questioned why people fought.
However, wrapped in the warmth of friendship and mentorship, Nagato's thoughts were generally positive and constructive.
Jiraiya knew that the way Nagato's ideology had evolved was closely related to his experiences over the years. Seeing the Child of Prophecy, whom he believed could change the chaotic environment of the ninja world, grow into this state, Jiraiya felt it was because he hadn't been a qualified teacher.
He failed to guide these children onto the right path.
Therefore, seeing Nagato's current state, Jiraiya's self-reproach was even greater than his disappointment in Nagato.
Ending killing with killing...
Ultimately, the peace Nagato idealized had failed to escape the ninja world's cyclical fate.
Jiraiya's gaze darkened. Looking at the fanatic phantom of Nagato, he spoke:
"Throughout the long history of the ninja world, the most tragic period was the Warring States Era."
"Every ninja living during that period must have experienced the 'suffering' you speak of, correct?"
"To bring tranquility back to the world, the Senju Clan and the Uchiha Clan joined forces to establish the ninja village system."
"As the political structure of the Land of Fire stabilized, more and more clans recognized the importance of peace and subsequently united to establish different villages."
"It wasn't until then that the cruel Warring States Era was brought to an end."
"However, shortly after the establishment of the ninja village system, the world once again plunged into war..."
"Due to the existence of the village system, which allowed clans to complement each other's strengths, ninjas could exert greater power on the battlefield, making the scale of these wars far greater than the previous 'wars between clans.'"
"It was a system intended to bring peace to the world, yet it made the world more chaotic. Nagato, no, Pain, why do you think this is?"
Even now, Jiraiya still wished to correct Nagato's thinking and was making an effort to do so.
Nagato was born in Amegakure and did not have the opportunity to study the history of the ninja world during his youth. Although he later became Jiraiya's disciple, Nagato's understanding of the world was still shallow and limited.
Faced with Jiraiya's question, Nagato remained silent. After a brief period of contemplation, he attributed the cause to the brutality and centralized power of the ninja villages:
"That is because the ninja of the Five Great Nations are selfish and cruel. And the Daimyō of the Five Great Nations want to snatch benefits from other countries, which leads to national wars."
"Our Amegakure is the battlefield for the Five Great Nations' gambles, a witness to your sins!"
After killing Hanzō the Salamander, Nagato, as the supreme leader of this country, was doing everything possible to build up Amegakure. Although there were factors related to his own plan, the greater reason was that he was inherently a part of Amegakure.
Nagato harbored deep affection for his country.
This love for his country naturally led to hatred for the Five Great Nations in Nagato's heart. He felt that the existence of the Five Great Nations was responsible for the extremely harsh living conditions of the Uchiha in their early years.
Nagato's words were not fundamentally wrong, as the harsh living environment in Amegakure in the early days was indeed caused by the mutual conquests of the Five Great Nations.
Therefore, faced with Nagato's accusation, Jiraiya was unsure how to refute him.
Should he apologize?
How could that be? From his standpoint, why would he need to apologize to a small country? Unable to find a counter-argument, Jiraiya naturally had to continue his own line of reasoning:
"Nagato, according to your understanding, if war still occurred after the establishment of the ninja villages, wasn't it because, as time passed, people in the world forgot the 'suffering' the Warring States Era brought them?"
"If Amegakure found itself immersed in war, wasn't it because the ninja of Amegakure forgot the suffering of war?"
"Just like you now..."
"You, who recklessly seeks to ignite a great war, haven't you forgotten the pain that war inflicted upon you?"
"Your argument essentially says... that the innocent civilians caught in the crossfire deserved it? Because they 'forgot'!"
Jiraiya's logic was sharp, and Nagato followed his reasoning, a slight look of surprise appearing in his eyes.
"Nagato, the suffering that war brings to people has always existed, and everyone remembers it."
"However... war does not cease because of it."
"The essence of war is the struggle for survival resources."
"Amegakure has developed well under your leadership. In my opinion, it's developing much better than during Hanzō the Salamander's era."
"Seeing Amegakure's current development, I can roughly guess where the wealth Akatsuki obtained by attacking those currency exchanges was used."
"I mention this not to criticize you, but just to tell you that Amegakure's development was gained through 'warfare,' wasn't it?"
"If this world truly wants to achieve peace, your methods won't work...."
"As long as people are worried about their livelihoods, conflict will not stop."
"It is only when resources become sufficient for everyone to lead a prosperous life that war might cease."
Jiraiya's mind was actually quite muddled. In his conversation with Nagato, he vaguely understood the root cause of human conflict, but at times, he couldn't find the precise words to express his thoughts, so he could only speak vaguely, hitting here and there.
On one hand, Jiraiya wanted to prove that the essence of war was the struggle for living resources; on the other hand, he also wanted to prove that Nagato's idea couldn't bring true peace to the world.
However, after a burst of brainstorming, Jiraiya realized a terrifying fact: if, as Nagato envisioned, a superweapon were used to eliminate half the world's population, perhaps the survivors wouldn't have to worry about survival resources, and the world might indeed achieve peace...
It was the emergence of this terrifying thought in Jiraiya's mind that caused his previous speech to lack focus.
The fundamental reason was that Jiraiya's own contemplation on the "topic" of peace was not thorough enough.
Is it purely to seize survival resources? It doesn't seem that absolute, does it?
The Cloud Ninja live well, but didn't the Raikage still send subordinates worldwide to collect and plunder Kekkai Genkai?
The Sand Ninja's living environment is indeed harsh, but the reason for starting a war was the disappearance of the Kazekage.
Konoha ninjas live quite prosperously, yet have internal conflicts and struggles ever stopped?
Ultimately, there are simply too many things that can cause strife between people.
Wealth, power, pride, women, land, and so on and so forth...
How could all of this be explained in just a few words?
At least, in Hyuga Shinichi's view, "world peace" was fundamentally a false proposition.
As long as human beings have desires, and as long as there are people who will go to any length to fulfill those desires, the struggles in this world will never cease.
He wouldn't contemplate "world peace" like Jiraiya and Nagato. Discussing such things was neither practical nor substantial.
It was nothing more than idealists imagining a utopia in their minds and then desperately searching for a way to reach it.
But reality is cruel. Hyuga Shinichi didn't believe a utopia existed in this world, nor did he believe that humans would ever be free from the entanglement of desire.
Therefore, from the very beginning, the path to achieving world peace was nonexistent.
Where there are people, there is conflict. Even if humans went extinct, the animals and plants would still struggle.
What drives Hyuga Shinichi's actions is never "world peace," but "himself."
He must live, and his cherished family and comrades must also live. For the sake of this "living," he strives to train, becomes a ninja, accepts the Fourth Hokage's mission, and appears here.
From beginning to end, Hyuga Shinichi was uninterested in the conversation between Jiraiya and Nagato.
No matter what Nagato's intentions were, if they threatened Shin'ichi's survival, he was an enemy.
"Jiraiya-sama, after all that discussion, is there a conclusion?"
"Do these enemies pose a threat to Konoha?"
"If there's no threat, we leave; if there is, we kill them."
"Does making a quick decision cause you distress?"
Hyuga Shinichi didn't want to listen to Jiraiya and Nagato's rhetoric about "war" and "peace" anymore. It was too abstract, and he didn't remember Jiraiya being such an impractical person.
Shin'ichi vaguely recalled that after Orochimaru invaded Konoha and killed the Third Hokage, Jiraiya brought Naruto to find Tsunade, hoping she would return to the village as Hokage.
When Tsunade was agonizing over whether to agree to Orochimaru's offer to heal his arms in exchange for resurrecting her loved one and brother, Jiraiya explicitly showed killing intent toward her.
At that time, Jiraiya said... "If you become a threat to Konoha, I will kill you, Tsunade."
Hmm... now that is a good ninja nurtured by the Will of Fire!
Ranting about "peace" and "war" was too illusory for a Konoha ninja influenced by the Will of Fire.
Shinichi's urging suddenly cleared Jiraiya's mind. His encounter with Nagato had inadvertently made him reminisce about the ideals he held in his youth, and his desire to correct Nagato's ideology had brought forth many new thoughts.
However, in reality, Jiraiya had no "choice."
He was a person of Konoha, one of the Sannin. His secret crush, comrades, teacher, and disciples all lived in Konoha.
Even if Nagato told him today that sacrificing Konoha could bring world peace, Jiraiya could never choose to sacrifice Konoha.
Call him hypocritical or say he had a double standard, but this was the choice Jiraiya was bound to make.
Since protecting Konoha was Jiraiya's inevitable choice, then Nagato, who posed a threat to Konoha, could not be allowed to live, and the Akatsuki, who posed a threat to Konoha, could not be allowed to survive. That was all there was to it.
On this basis, anything more was just dressing up "protecting Konoha" in a veneer of "morality" and "justice."
Shinichi's prompting elicited a soft sigh from Jiraiya. Clearly, at this moment, he had made his decision.
Seeing Jiraiya's expression solidify, Hyuga Shinichi flickered beside him and said softly:
"Leave this place to me, Jiraiya-sama. You go and deal with the person above."
As he spoke, Hyuga Shinichi pointed toward the small window high up on the tower. He had no intention of taking over the task of killing Nagato, intending to let Jiraiya handle the resolution himself.
Glancing at Konan and Nagato's phantom image, Jiraiya looked sideways at Hyuga Shin'ichi, who had appeared beside him, and finally nodded.
Immediately after, Jiraiya in Sage Mode pushed off with his legs and soared toward the small window on the middle section of the iron tower.
Seeing this, Konan, in mid-air, released white arrow rain, attempting to intercept Jiraiya. However, in the next instant, Hyuga Shinichi appeared in the air behind Jiraiya. He spread his hands, revealing a Flying Thunder God kunai in his palm before Konan and Nagato's clone.
Concurrently, a shuriken shot out from an unknown angle, heading directly for Konan's face.
In mid-air, Hyuga Shinichi quickly formed hand signs. A complex pattern, similar to a sealing jutsu, suddenly appeared in the void ahead. Simultaneously, just as the arrow rain struck, the space distorted, and the arrows were directly absorbed by the alternate dimension, vanishing without a trace.
"What is that?"
Konan seemed to be seeing someone perform the Flying Thunder God Technique for the first time. She hurriedly tilted her head to dodge the incoming kunai, only to be met by the white arrow rain that had warped back from the alternate dimension.
"!!!"
The large-scale attack gave Konan nowhere to hide. The torrent of arrows pierced through Konan's body. It was unclear if the Dance of the Shikigami truly immunized her against physical attacks, but the arrows Konan herself had created passed right through her body.
Although they left some marks on Konan's "body," judging by her relaxed demeanor, they certainly caused her no harm.
The failed attack brought a rare look of solemnity to Konan's face.
The Flying Thunder God Technique....
She now knew what jutsu Hyuga Shin'ichi was using, and she already planned her counter-strategy for the subsequent fight.
Without Shinichi realizing it, the arrows he had just diverted using the Flying Thunder God Technique—the ones that passed through Konan's body—did not fall into the burning toad oil and get incinerated. Instead, they silently disappeared into the blazing flames.
To deal with this kind of enemy, Konan was already preparing to use her ultimate move, intending to make Shin'ichi feel the same profound suffering she and Nagato had endured!
If you want to read more, join my Patreon/kazama677
I will drop 1 bonus chapter for every 50 Power Stones