Chapter 191: The Great War Begins

Land of Rain, Akatsuki headquarters.

After eight years of development, the Land of Rain has almost completely become the territory of the Akatsuki, and even the Rain Ninja Village established by Hanzo of the Salamander must now avoid its sharp edge.

Fortunately, most of the Akatsuki's business is actually conducted within the Five Great Nations, which is why the Rain Ninja Village still has a path to survival and hasn't been pushed to the point of bankruptcy by the Akatsuki.

At this moment, the Akatsuki headquarters has far exceeded the scale of eight years ago, having even been built into a small city, with a scope even larger than the original Five Great Shinobi Villages.

Of course, it certainly cannot compare to the current Five Great Shinobi Villages—the current Five Great Shinobi Villages only remain villages in name; in reality, each ninja village is equivalent to a large city and has developed into a warlord model.

Even the Akatsuki, which is nominally closer to a public welfare organization, now shows signs of becoming a warlord, and this does not even shift according to Nagato's will, but is rather a spontaneous clustering effect from the bottom up.

When there were only dozens or hundreds of people, the Akatsuki could operate by relying on ideals, but now that it has become a large organization of tens of thousands, it is impossible to rely entirely on so-called ideals.

The void trembled, and Nagato, with an indifferent look in his eyes, walked out. Looking at the city-sized ninja village before him, a trace of a smile appeared on his face.

"It is time to let the world feel pain... Since I am playing the role of Nagato now, I naturally have to find a ninja village to carry some rice!"

In fact, as an organization of tens of thousands, the number of Jonin in the Akatsuki now approaches one hundred, but the Akatsuki's reach is very broad, and nearly half of the ninjas are operating in other countries.

A moment later, Nagato and Konan walked into the conference room one after another. The gazes of a group of Jonin swept toward the two, especially the gazes toward Nagato, which were filled with awe.

When this Nagato puppet walked into the city where the Akatsuki was located, the expressions in the eyes of those Akatsuki ninjas looking at him were also varied; some were excited, some were in awe, and some were worshipful. Just by glancing at them, Uchiha Feiyu had a clear idea of Nagato's status within the Akatsuki.

The conference hall in the center of the Akatsuki has a large round table; perhaps to better reflect fairness, this round table was used as a tool for meeting discussions.

However, there are also two veterans of the Akatsuki among them who know the situation when Uchiha Feiyu attacked the Akatsuki base back then. Although Uchiha Feiyu did not take action against them at that time, the aftermath of his battle with Nagato had already caused the Akatsuki to suffer its most serious losses in history.

"A few days ago, according to the intelligence received, I finally found that Uchiha who would bring disaster to the world in the prophecy, and I have already finished him off."

These Jonin are very clear that the reason an organization as purely idealistic as the Akatsuki could develop to its current state is not because of anything else, but entirely because of Nagato's own incomparably powerful strength.

A group of Akatsuki Jonin looked at each other. Most of these people joined the Akatsuki in the later stages. They did know that Nagato had been hunting down a certain Uchiha, but they had never discovered the other party's tracks, and they knew absolutely nothing about what kind of person Uchiha Feiyu was or what kind of strength he possessed.

"Nagato, you're back."

Generally speaking, the ratio of Jonin to ordinary ninjas in a ninja village is about 1 to 100. Even though all ninja villages have undergone large-scale expansion in recent years because they have been accepting geniuses from among the commoners, this figure has not changed much.

As for Uchiha Feiyu's battle record, most of it was carried out in secret. Even though he snatched away all the jinchuriki of the Five Great Shinobi Villages, the Five Great Shinobi Villages did not publicize it openly, so although these people knew Uchiha Feiyu was strong, they didn't have a great idea of just how strong he was.

A few sheets of paper drifted down from the sky. Konan, with white paper wings, descended from the sky and looked at Nagato. She wiped the corner of her eye lightly, and the look in her eyes as she watched Nagato was very complex.

Nagato, who walked into the room, glanced at everyone's gazes, stood at one side of the round table, and said indifferently:

When Nagato and Yahiko set up the round table, the Akatsuki was not exactly penniless, but it was clean and simple. The entire organization added up to only a hundred or so people, and as for Jonin, there were only the three of them. At that time, they could never have imagined that the Akatsuki would develop to this extent, and they even felt that this table was too big.

At this moment, the round table was already full of ninjas, and it even looked a bit crowded. Although the round table was very large, the number of Akatsuki Jonin was now too high, with at least 50 Jonin sitting around the table.

Nagato looked at Konan with a smile on his lips, which made Konan slightly dazed. Afterward, she came back to her senses and nodded very seriously:

"I understand, Nagato. I will gather them immediately."

Many Akatsuki ninjas have already come to see Nagato as the modern-day Senju Hashirama, feeling that he can completely change this era. The only thing they are somewhat dissatisfied with is that this guy Nagato's personality is even more naive than Senju Hashirama's.

"Yes, I am back. Konan, help me gather all the Jonin of the Akatsuki. I have something very important to tell them."

Unlike those ordinary ninjas, Jonin have more extensive experience, and beyond ideals, they also consider reality more.

Some of the Jonin who joined the Akatsuki did so because of Nagato's goal of yearning for peace, but more of them were worshipful of Nagato's powerful strength.

However, compared to other ninja villages, because of its own needs, those ordinary ninjas with weak strength account for the vast majority—from this point of view, the number of Akatsuki Jonin is actually far from qualified. If it were really at the same ratio as a normal ninja village, even blowing up the large round table probably wouldn't be enough.

Just from this point, these two Akatsuki members also know how powerful that Uchiha Feiyu was—at the very least, he was a powerful ninja capable of contending with Nagato.

"That's great, Lord Nagato! The grudge of the Akatsuki from back then has finally been avenged today!"

"Without Uchiha Feiyu, Lord Nagato, you are now the rightful strongest person in the Ninja World!"

"By the way, Lord Nagato, what about the tailed beasts that Uchiha Feiyu snatched away? Are the tailed beasts of the nine great ninja villages now also here with you, Lord Nagato?"

Tailed beasts!? Hearing this, the Akatsuki Jonin who were still somewhat dismissive and felt that this was making a mountain out of a molehill suddenly became serious.

Although these Jonin who joined the Akatsuki later were not very clear about some of the most confidential news, they had heard a little bit about the fact that the tailed beast jinchuriki of the Five Great Shinobi Villages had all been snatched away by one person, though they could not confirm whether it was true or false.

Hearing it now, that Uchiha did not seem to be an ordinary person; ordinary ninjas could not possibly wipe out all the jinchuriki of the Five Great Shinobi Villages in one go!

"Uchiha... is he actually that powerful?"

"Although those guys with Sharingan who think they're so high and mighty are indeed quite strong, they aren't that powerful, right?"

"That was no ordinary Uchiha. Our Akatsuki was once attacked by him... No, it couldn't even be called an attack; just the aftermath of his battle with Lord Nagato was enough to cause us heavy losses!"

"What!? Someone was actually able to fight Lord Nagato?"

"Yes... the ruins of our Akatsuki's former base were actually the product of that great battle."

With the discussions, the Jonin present also learned of Uchiha Feiyu's strength and the grudge between him and the Akatsuki, knowing that this time Nagato had truly eliminated a major threat.

"Alright, stop discussing it. The matter is in the past."

Nagato waved his hand, and the ninjas below immediately stopped talking and all looked at Nagato. After a moment of silence, Nagato said:

"Since we have already eliminated Uchiha Feiyu, that major threat, the next period should be a time for the Akatsuki's development... If you all have any thoughts, feel free to speak up."

A period of development for the Akatsuki?! A few Jonin with simpler personalities were a bit puzzled and spoke up:

"We should just continue to develop according to our previous model. In the current Ninja World, there are no major wars, and even the aftereffect caused by the original Universal Chakra Plan has been completely suppressed by us. From here on, even if we don't do anything, the entire Ninja World will only develop better and better!"

However, more ninjas were silent. Some rather ambitious Jonin were signaling to each other with their eyes, their hearts faintly burning with fervor.

In the past, these Jonin had also probed, hoping that Nagato would "take a step further," but in the end, they were all firmly rejected by Nagato. However, now, things seemed a bit different.

Some ninjas who were more knowledgeable about the history of the Ninja World even associated Uzumaki Nagato and Uchiha Feiyu with Senju Hashirama and Madara Uchiha. The formation of the pattern of the Five Great Shinobi Villages and the First Shinobi World War had a great deal to do with the union and division of Senju Hashirama and Madara Uchiha.

Looking at it now, Uzumaki Nagato, this contemporary Senju Hashirama, has directly killed Uchiha Feiyu, this Madara Uchiha; doesn't that mean the entire Ninja World is now his alone?

Thinking even deeper, having just finished off the only opponent capable of contending with him, he began to ask about the Akatsuki's development policy... This boss of the Akatsuki seems to have also become unwilling to remain lonely.

However, although they thought a lot in their hearts, these ninjas did not speak up, but finally focused their gazes on Nagato. Those gazes vaguely carried excitement, anticipation, fear, and various other emotions.

And Uzumaki Nagato lived up to expectations and spoke, saying things that were completely different from the past:

"What you said is very good. The current Ninja World is indeed peaceful, but the key is, how long can this peace be maintained?"

"As everyone knows, when the First Hokage was alive, the entire Ninja World was also very peaceful, but as soon as he passed away, the Five Great Shinobi Villages immediately launched the First Shinobi World War, and within a mere thirty or forty years, they fought three Ninja World Wars in succession!"

"If one day, I am no longer here... will the current peaceful form of the Ninja World suddenly collapse?"

Once these words were spoken, those few simple Jonin from the beginning were instantly dumbfounded and speechless.

The average lifespan of these ninja in the Ninja World is only thirty or forty years, and with several Ninja World Wars occurring in succession, the entire Ninja World has not seen more than 30 years of peace in these past few centuries; this has also made all ninja relatively shortsighted—because these people simply cannot imagine what a hundred years of peace would actually be like!

Nagato said that if he could maintain peace while alive, what would happen after he died? To these few simple-minded ninja, being able to maintain peace while alive was already good enough; as for after death? That would just have to be left to fate.

However, there are very few simple-minded people among the Jonin; if not exactly ambitious, most are at least extremely eager for advancement. At this moment, a Jonin with one blind eye had a look of excitement on his face and spoke up:

"Lord Nagato, I have a way to allow the Ninja World to enjoy long-lasting peace!"

"As long as the Five Great Nations of the Ninja World are merged into one country, and the Five Great Shinobi Villages and our Akatsuki organization become one single ninja village, then wouldn't there be no need for everyone to fight each other anymore, and wouldn't permanent peace arrive?"

As soon as these words were spoken, it was as if a bomb had been dropped into muddy water; all the ninja began to discuss it heatedly:

"This plan is not bad; as long as the Ninja World is unified, at least for the next hundred years, there shouldn't be any war in this world!"

"How can this be? Isn't our Akatsuki organization a peaceful organization? Annexing other ninja villages and nations completely contradicts the principles of our Akatsuki organization!"

"For the sake of long-lasting peace, some sacrifices will always be needed. The current sacrifices will all become the cornerstone of future peace!"

"Heh, when the Five Great Shinobi Villages launched the Ninja World Wars in the past, they all said the same thing!"

"Do you really think Lord Nagato would be the same as those ninja from the Five Great Shinobi Villages? With Lord Nagato's power, wanting to conquer the Five Great Shinobi Villages is easy."

"The principle of our Akatsuki organization is to use dialogue and communication, not to obtain peace through violence!"

"The era is different now! There is no one left who can oppose our Akatsuki organization!"

The voices of the ninja below grew louder and louder. A powerful pressure erupted from Nagato's Rinnegan without hesitation; the terrifying pressure made all the Jonin feel a tremor, and they all immediately shut their mouths one by one.

Staring with a pair of purple Six-Tomoe Rinnegan, Nagato's gaze swept across all the Jonin. Every Jonin who met his eyes felt their hearts tremble, and they all lowered their heads one by one.

The ninja below became quiet, and only then did Nagato nod:

"What you have all said makes a lot of sense. If we want permanent peace, unification is indeed a good method."

"As for violating the principles of the Akatsuki organization... you must understand that the most essential goal the Akatsuki organization pursues is peace. As for whether this peace is achieved through dialogue or through violence, there is no difference."

(End of chapter)