Chapter 167: Nagato, How Do You Maintain Peace?

Yamanaka Chujiu curled his lip and said, "Winning is impossible."

"Whether it is Nagato or the Pain Deva Path he controls, both are powerful combat forces that transcend the Shadow-level. If I were to compete with him in Ninjutsu or Taijutsu, I certainly wouldn't be able to hold on for even a single move; I would be killed instantly."

"However, his spirit has a flaw, a massive flaw."

"I can use the medium of emotions to directly attack his spirit and soul, striking at his most vulnerable side."

"But with my current power, the most I can do is force him into extreme weakness and drive him out of the Land of Fire; I cannot do more than that."

Orochimaru flicked his tongue out, licking to the left, then to the right, clearly unable to control the shock in his heart.

【Isn't this kid busy with the work of the Hokage? How could he have grown so fast and become so strong?】

【Could it be that he can also grow stronger while signing documents?】

Of course, it is impossible to become stronger just by signing documents, but Yamanaka Chujiu's Mind Severing Realm is capable of constructing threads of faith, accepting Faith Power, and strengthening his Soul Power.

In the process of reversing the decline of Konohagakure and developing the village's economy and people's livelihood, thousands of civilian families were saved by him from a living hell and regained hope.

The villagers of Konoha at this time were still quite simple; although they had the bad habit of ignoring status and bullying all children equally, they still possessed a basic sense of gratitude.

They would not, because they had been saved, turn around and hate Yamanaka Chujiu for appearing too late and failing to stop them from falling into the abyss of suffering.

The villagers of Konoha devoutly thanked Yamanaka Chujiu, and many among them developed true faith because of this.

Besides the saved villagers of Konoha, the feelings of the Konoha Ninja toward Yamanaka Chujiu were even more intense.

Because he made Konohagakure flourish, allowing the Konoha Ninja to hold their heads high and feel the sensation of looking down upon the entire Ninja World as in the era of the First Hokage.

Even those Konoha Rogue Ninja who opposed Orochimaru and Yamanaka Chujiu, rescued the Fire Daimyo, and threw themselves under Tsunade's command, many of them sincerely believed in Yamanaka Chujiu.

They even thought that after overthrowing the Fifth Hokage Orochimaru and pushing Lady Tsunade to become the Sixth Hokage, they would let Yamanaka Chujiu serve as Hokage Assistant to continue leading Konohagakure toward a new prosperity.

Yamanaka Chujiu had been in power for three years, accumulating an unknown number of such Shallow Believers; his spiritual influence had grown day by day and was long since incomparable to the past.

The Pain Deva Path defeated Jiraiya in a few moves and destroyed half of the Valley of the End with a single strike, demonstrating the terrifying combat power to wipe out a village single-handedly.

When he said he would make the entire Ninja World feel terror and create a new peace amidst that terror, everyone fell silent in extreme shock and fear.

Jiraiya could neither reason with him nor defeat him in battle, so he could only shut his mouth.

Tsunade had self-awareness; she could usually pin Jiraiya down and force Orochimaru to back off, but that was due to the influence of their classmate friendship, not because her strength surpassed her two old classmates.

Quite the contrary, she was truly not as strong as Jiraiya or Orochimaru.

Encountering an enemy like the Pain Deva Path, who could defeat even Jiraiya with ease, she would not recklessly rush up and add to everyone's trouble.

Just then, Yamanaka Chujiu walked out from the crowd: "Nagato, the suffering you have encountered is real, and your original intention to save the Ninja World and create peace has not changed; I am deeply moved."

"But I must say, the path you are walking is wrong—it is wrong at the very root."

The Pain Deva Path turned his head abruptly, his Rinnegan staring fixedly at Yamanaka Chujiu.

This sentence, "You are wrong," was like a sharp dagger, precisely piercing Nagato's paranoia and opening up his self-doubt.

One must know that Nagato was not essentially a strong person, nor was he a leader with foresight and grand ideals.

He was merely attracted by Yahiko's ideals and heavily struck by Yahiko's failure and sacrifice, thus stubbornly picking up his dear friend's ideals and obsessively believing that by doing the exact opposite of his dear friend, he could realize his dear friend's ideals.

To put it plainly, it was the fear of death, the sorrow for the death of his dear friend, and the hatred for his own cowardice and weakness, all twisted together to form a plan that was difficult for ordinary people to understand and lacked any theory or logic of its own.

Nagato was human and had normal reason; deep down, he actually knew that he was likely wrong, but he was unwilling to admit it, much less listen to others say he was wrong.

Therefore, this one sentence from Yamanaka Chujiu, aided by the feedback of the Mind Severing Realm and the projection of Thought Threads, smashed directly into Nagato's heart, thoroughly triggering his fear of his own mistakes.

But the first reaction to fear was not to retreat, not to admit fault, but anger!

【How can you expose me?】

【You say I am wrong, then what should I do? And what can I do?】

【I am not wrong; if I kill you, then I am not wrong.】

【Kill you!】

【Kill!!】

Nagato's heart went from fear to anger in an instant, and from that anger, killing intent was born; pushed by the power of the Rinnegan, the killing intent condensed directly into real, tangible pressure, weighing down on everyone's hearts.

Countless wandering ninja, samurai, Konoha Ninja, Konoha Rogue Ninja, and Mist Ninja all felt unable to breathe, and some even had their legs go weak, collapsing directly to the ground.

But Yamanaka Chujiu was not affected in the slightest.

Even though the Pain Deva Path was staring at him fixedly and the majority of the substantial killing intent was pressing directly upon him, he still stood as straight as a pine, his expression calm and indifferent.

In the depths of his eyes, there was no fear, only the clarity of one who understands the world and the confidence of having seen completely through Nagato.

He looked directly into the hollow Rinnegan of the Deva Path, and through the Rinnegan puppet, projected his gaze into Nagato's heart, saying in a calm tone: "Nagato, you are right about many things."

"Gentleness, bonds, kindness, and compromise cannot eliminate a chaotic world; only absolute force can thoroughly end war."

"You use your powerful strength to make the entire Ninja World feel terror and set rules for everyone, which can make the ambitious people of this age restrain their greed; this is an indisputable merit."

"But I believe that the deterrence of violence is merely a prerequisite for creating peace, and by no means the foundation for maintaining it."

"You rely on the Six Paths Power to suppress all directions and rely on fear to bind conflict; that is no problem."

"But I ask you, after the deterrence, once peace descends, how do you maintain that peace?"

The killing intent of the Pain Deva Path dissipated.

Nagato did not expect Yamanaka Chujiu to reason with him, and to do so with logic that "deeply resonated with his heart."

He discovered that the actual ruler of Konohagakure actually agreed with him, understood him, and clearly expressed his own thoughts, even stating them more thoroughly and persuasively than he himself had.

More importantly, Yamanaka Chujiu had also asked about the future plan that Nagato had ideas about but had not fully thought through.

Nagato said excitedly: "I will, in the capacity of a god, set rules for the Ninja World; those who dare to start a war will die first!"

"People are all afraid of death; as long as those who start wars know they will surely die, they will not dare to do it."

"In this way, peace can be maintained for a long time..."

"Wrong!"