Pffft...
A faint but clear sound of tearing cloth rang out.
Crimson blood, warm with life, gushed out, slowly trickling down the cold, dark blade of the scythe, dripping onto the soil and blooming into a dark red stain.
Drip... drip...
Drip, drip, and another drip.
The scarlet blood didn't spurt violently but slowly, silently, and persistently spread from his chest, soaking and dyeing the fabric of his clothes.
"Why?"
Hanzo's hand, gripping the scythe, trembled, but not from fear. All his strength, all his will, was poured into this action; the tip of the blade had already sunk into his chest.
But he couldn't push it in any further.
Nagato, at some point, had raised his hand towards him, and Universal Pull had clamped down on Hanzo's arm.
The man who wanted to die was trying to stab himself further, but the man who should have wanted him dead the most was stopping him.
Hyuga Kawa silently watched this scene, only glancing out of the corner of his eye at Obito, who was hiding in the corner, and subtly shifted his stance.
"Do you want to do it yourself?"
Hanzo looked up at those cold eyes, clutching the dark scythe handle tightly, and said in a deep voice, "Your enemy is right in front of you. Don't you want revenge?"
Konan stood rigidly in place. Her face, which had been cold with hatred, froze. She stared intently at the scythe that Hanzo had plunged into his own chest, watching as the crescent-shaped blade gradually became stained with dazzling blood...
"I still can't forgive you, as expected."
Nagato's voice was like grinding rusted gears. The transcendent indifference of "God" solidified in his Rinnegan eyes cracked open, revealing a tiny fissure.
Beneath the fissure was scorching magma, anger and denial that almost burned through all reason—those were human emotions.
"If I could, I'd kill you with my own hands right now. I feel my body trembling, completely unable to stop!" Nagato's suppressed voice seemed squeezed through clenched teeth.
"Then why aren't you doing it?!"
Hanzo's expression was equally grim as iron. He challenged, "Don't tell me you still believe in Yahiko's naive fantasy of 'mutual understanding bringing peace'!"
"I willingly entrusted my life and the Hidden Rain Village to you precisely because I knew you would achieve peace by seizing Tailed Beasts, developing forbidden jutsus, and bringing fear to other nations!"
In Hanzo's view, Nagato's plan was a realistic and feasible path, and even in Hyuga Kawa's eyes, it was the same.
Yahiko and Jiraiya were both idealists. They felt guilt about harming others and hoped for mutual understanding among people to naturally resolve conflicts. Both had grand dreams but lacked sufficient power.
The former had died in his naive fantasy. The latter also realized his helplessness and could only pin his hopes on the elusive 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 simply believed that each generation had its own task, so he used overwhelming power to end the chaotic era, establish a new order, and hoped for future generations.
Although his descendants didn't live up to his expectations, still instigating wars after his death, it was still better than the Warring States Period, where almost all children went to battle at five or six years old, and the average age was less than thirty.
Of course, this was true for the great nations, while the small nations, which became sacrifices, suffered even more than during the Warring States Period. When those five war machines clashed, only the small nations caught in between were crushed into blood and flesh.
Naruto had the ideals of an idealist but acted like a realist. He believed that mutual understanding and forgiveness could end the endless hatred between nations.
But he knelt, begging the Fourth Raikage not to execute Sasuke, who had abducted Killer B, and spoke arrogantly, pleading, "I don't want the Hidden Cloud and Konoha to kill each other because of Sasuke." The Fourth Raikage's retort, "It's not too late to forgive me after I kill Sasuke," left him speechless.
Later, peace was only achieved through overwhelming power, but that world remained unchanged; after Naruto's death, the ninja world would still repeat its mistakes.
Hanzo, having witnessed countless wars and deaths, naturally understood this. He and the later Sasuke Uchiha were both realists.
They rationally realized that the ninja world, having undergone several wars, was already filled with hatred, and mutual understanding and forgiveness between people were impossible. So, they aimed to directly use overwhelming power to end conflicts, establish a new order, and rule the entire ninja world.
This wasn't an end, but a new beginning.
"As long as you can create the so-called Tailed Beast Weapons, gaining the power to instantly destroy a country, you can make those who crave war fear you and hold back!"
Hanzo said in a deep voice, "Although this cannot bring true peace, if such peace can be maintained for several generations, and those who harbored hatred due to war die off, there will be hope to establish a new peaceful order and change the status quo!"
Even if a new peaceful order couldn't be established, at least decades of peace could be achieved.
That would be enough!
Even the once incredibly powerful Hashirama Senju, due to his naive underestimation of human desires, only maintained twenty years of peace!
Decades of peace—if Nagato could achieve that, Hanzo would willingly die and entrust the Hidden Rain Village to Nagato.
But...
"Tell me!" Hanzo stared fixedly at Nagato, demanding, "What are you hesitating about now?"
"You tell me first." Nagato's voice turned into a more terrifying rasp. "Do you regret it?"
"..."
Upon hearing this, Hanzo's movement seemed to stutter for a moment. He subconsciously licked his chapped lips.
After killing Yahiko and the Akatsuki, whenever he saw the Hidden Rain Village with no successor, he naturally felt regret. He would also imagine if he hadn't killed Yahiko, but had kept him by his side and mentored him, would there still be hope for peace in the Hidden Rain Village after his death.
At that time, he indeed had many choices, but under Danzo's inducement and his fear of death, he chose the most wrong option.
Hanzo knew this in his heart, but he wouldn't say these words.
He only wanted Nagato to completely abandon his illusions about the great nations.
"No regrets."
His gaze passed through the distorted air before him, looking into Nagato's inhuman eyes. He didn't fear that terrifying power and said coldly, "I can tell you, even if I had to choose again right now, I would still kill Yahiko and you all."
"Because the naive Akatsuki would only drag the Land of Rain into the abyss. Yahiko's so-called negotiations would never gain any great nation's understanding or peace. A Hidden Rain Village that loses its will to fight and shows weakness will only become pigs and dogs to be butchered by the great nations!"
"The reason I am here is only because I believe that you, with those eyes, can lead the Hidden Rain Village to a new future, and bring peace to the Land of Rain. That is all."
Konan's tightly clenched fists began to tremble again, but she felt an inexplicable sense of powerlessness and despair.
Because she knew Hanzo was right.
The naive girl she once was had died in the rainy night of that day.
"You really should die."
Nagato's tone was no longer angry, returning to that familiar coldness, and chilling ocular power surged forth.
Konan's throat moved, as if trying to utter a single sound, but only a suppressed, suffocating gasp escaped.
However, the sound that came next was not the sound of a blade piercing flesh.
Clang!