Chapter 75: The Weight of Ideals (Patreon)

Thwick…

A faint, clear sound, like cloth tearing.

Warm, crimson blood, carrying the heat of life, gushed forth. It flowed along the cold, black sickle blade, dripping onto the earth below, blooming into dark red stains.

Plip… plip… plip…

One drop, another, and another. The scarlet blood did not spray violently but seeped slowly, silently, and stubbornly from the chest, saturating and dyeing the fabric a deep red.

"Why…?"

The hand gripping the sickle trembled, but not from fear. Every ounce of his strength, his will, was poured into this motion. The blade tip had already pierced his chest. But it could go no further.

Unbeknownst to him, Nagato had raised a hand. The Banshō Ten'in (Universal Pull) held Hanzō's arm fast. The man who wished to die was trying to drive the blade deeper into his own heart, but the one who should have most desired his death was preventing it.

Hyūga Kumokawa silently watched this scene, only flicking a glance at the Spiral Zetsu hiding in the corner, subtly shifting his own stance.

"Do you wish to do it yourself?"

Hanzō looked up, meeting those cold eyes. He clutched the black sickle handle tightly, his voice heavy. "Your enemy is right before you. Do you not seek revenge?"

Konan stood rigidly in place. Her face, once frozen with hatred, was now stiff. She stared fixedly at the sickle that Hanzō had driven into his own chest, watching the crescent blade gradually soak in that blinding red…

"I... I still cannot forgive you."

Nagato's voice grated like rusted gears. In his Rinnegan, the transcendent, cold detachment of a "God" cracked, revealing a fine fissure. Beneath that fissure was searing magma—anger and denial so intense it threatened to burn through all reason. It was a human emotion.

"If I could… I would kill you with my own hands right now. The thought makes my body tremble uncontrollably!" Nagato's voice was suppressed, squeezed from between clenched teeth.

"Then why don't you act?!"

Hanzō's expression was equally grim, hard as iron. He demanded, "Don't tell me you still believe in that naïve fantasy Yahiko spoke of—'mutual understanding bringing peace'!"

"It is because I learned of your plan to seize the Tailed Beasts, develop forbidden techniques, and bring peace to other nations through fear that I am willing to entrust my life and Amegakure to you!"

In Hanzō's eyes, Nagato's plan was a pragmatic, viable path. Even in the eyes of Hyūga Kumokawa beside him, it held merit.

Yahiko and Jiraiya were both idealists, burdened by guilt over harming others, hoping for mutual understanding to naturally resolve conflicts. Both possessed grand dreams but lacked sufficient power to realize them. The former had already died by his naive ideals. The latter understood his own powerlessness and could only place his hopes on the nebulous "Child of Prophecy."

Hashirama Senju stood somewhere between an idealist and a realist. He hoped for mutual understanding but didn't fantasize that everyone could achieve it. He believed in each generation doing its part. Thus, he used overwhelming power to end the Era of Warring States and establish a new order, hoping future generations would carry it forward. Though his descendants didn't live up to his hopes, and wars continued after his death, it was still better than the Warring States period where children as young as five or six went to battlefields, and the average lifespan was under thirty.

Of course, this applied to the Great Nations. The small nations caught in the crossfire, sacrificed, had it even worse than during the Warring States period. When those five war machines clashed, it was only the small nations caught in the middle that were ground to pulp.

Then there was Naruto Uzumaki, who possessed an idealist's heart but performed a realist's deeds. He believed mutual understanding and forgiveness between people could end the endless hatred between nations. But even he knelt, begging the Fourth Raikage not to execute Sasuke Uchiha for kidnapping Killer B, uttering the arrogant plea, "I don't want a war between the Cloud and the Leaf over Sasuke."

He was left speechless by the Raikage's retort: "After I kill Sasuke, you can forgive me then."

In the end, Naruto still achieved peace through overwhelming power. But that world remained fundamentally unchanged. After Naruto's death, the shinobi world would inevitably repeat the cycle.

Having witnessed countless wars and deaths, Hanzō understood this clearly. He was a realist. They rationally recognized that the shinobi world, after numerous wars, was saturated with hatred. True mutual understanding and forgiveness between people were impossible. Therefore, they sought to use overwhelming force to end the strife, establish a new order, and rule the entire shinobi world.

This was not an end, but a new beginning.

"As long as you can create those so-called 'Tailed Beast Weapons,' obtain the power to instantly destroy a nation, you can force those who thirst for war to hesitate out of fear!"

Hanzō's voice was grave. "This may not bring true peace. But if such a peace can be maintained for several generations, allowing those who harbor hatred from past wars to die out, then there is hope to establish a new, peaceful order and change the status quo!"

Even if a new peaceful order couldn't be built, at least several decades of peace could be achieved. That would be enough! Even the immensely powerful Hashirama, due to his naivety in underestimating human desire, only maintained peace for about twenty years!

Several decades of peace… if Nagato could achieve that, Hanzō was willing to die, to hand Amegakure over to him.

But…

"Tell me!" Hanzō's gaze bore into Nagato. "What are you hesitating about now?"

"You tell me first." Nagato's voice became a more terrifying rasp. "Have you ever felt regret?"

"..."

At the question, Hanzō's movement seemed to stutter for an instant. He unconsciously licked his dry, cracked lips.

After killing Yahiko and crushing the Akatsuki, whenever he saw Amegakure with no worthy successor, of course, he felt regret. He would imagine: if he hadn't killed Yahiko, but taken him under his wing for guidance, would there still be hope for Amegakure's peace after his death? He had indeed had many choices back then. But under Danzō's manipulation and the fear of his own death, he had chosen the worst one.

Hanzō knew this in his heart. But these words, he would not speak. He only wanted Nagato to abandon all illusions about the Great Nations completely.

"No regret."

His gaze passed through the distorted air before him, meeting those inhuman eyes of Nagato. He did not flinch from the terrifying power within them, his voice cold. "I can tell you this: even if I had to choose again now, I would still kill Yahiko and all of you."

"Because the naive, fantasy-driven Akatsuki would only drag the Land of Rain into the abyss. Yahiko's so-called 'negotiations' would never gain understanding or peace from any Great Nation. An Amegakure that loses its will to fight and shows weakness would only become livestock for the Great Nations to slaughter!"

"The reason I am here now is solely because I believe you, possessing those eyes, can lead Amegakure to a new future. You can bring peace to the Land of Rain. That is all."

Konan's tightly clenched fists began to tremble again, but she felt a strange sense of powerlessness and despair. Because she knew Hanzō was right. That naive girl had died on that rainy night long ago.

"You truly deserve to die."

Nagato's tone was no longer angry. It returned to that familiar, chilling indifference. A sinister, surging ocular power emanated from him.

Konan's throat moved, as if trying to form a syllable, but only a stifled, suffocated breath escaped. But the sound that followed was not the sound of a blade piercing flesh.

Clang!