Chapter 573: The End of the War

Nagato looked toward the shinobi of the Shinobi Village Alliance.

Perhaps because Nagato and Nagasawa had stopped fighting, they also settled down, and Obito no longer continued using the powers of the Gravity-Gravity Fruit to suppress them.

The shinobi of the Shinobi Village Alliance were also looking at Nagato.

Everyone was a shinobi with sharp eyes and ears. Nagato and Nagasawa had not deliberately lowered their voices or avoided being overheard, so everyone had heard their conversation.

Looking at the anticipation on the faces of the Shinobi Alliance shinobi, Nagato suddenly understood something.

If it were truly possible to resolve disputes through meetings as Nagasawa had said, with all the nations of the shinobi world discussing matters together, that would also be a very good thing.

’If it were Yahiko, he would definitely be very happy and agree immediately.’ Nagato thought to himself.

Yahiko had created the Akatsuki for the sake of peace. The reason he later developed their shinobi forces was because he discovered that nobody would listen to mere words. You had to have strength.

If war could have been replaced with meetings from the beginning, this would probably have been the ideal situation in Yahiko’s heart.

’I seem to have walked very, very far down the wrong path...’ Nagato looked at the faces of the Shinobi Alliance and admitted a fact that he knew but had been unwilling to acknowledge.

When he was young, he lacked knowledge and only moved forward based on his emotions, gradually going astray.

But later, Nagato actually came into contact with and learned many things. Starting from taking control of the Amegakure, and especially after the Hikari Shinobi Village began laying out its plans across the shinobi world, he not only learned, but also put what he learned into practice.

He had established a shinobi village from nothing, and not just one. He had allied with most of the small shinobi villages in the shinobi world. This was not something that could be accomplished with just a few words.

Perhaps when Nagato was carrying out his plan, he already knew that his so-called "plan to bring true peace to the shinobi world" wasn’t really that peaceful.

He always treated himself as a god, making choices for people in their place and forcing people to make choices.

He decorated his actions with the most beautiful decoration of all: "for humanity’s eternal peace."

But was that really the truth? Perhaps he was simply acting out of hatred, because even now he still remembered the sight of Yahiko dying in his arms that night, and he still remembered his parents being killed by Konoha shinobi.

’Did I want to start a war so that the world could experience suffering for the sake of peace, or did I start a war simply so that the world could experience suffering?’ Nagato shook his head. Actually, he was neither.

He wanted revenge against the world, because his life had suffered too much hardship. His parents had been killed, and his brother had committed suicide in his arms.

World peace was also something he wanted. It was not only Yahiko’s dream anymore; it was now his dream as well.

"I’m sorry, Yahiko. In the end, I still failed to accomplish anything and only became a sinner who started a war." Nagato muttered to himself.

Even though he had wanted to control the impact of the war and had ordered the shinobi forces not to harass civilians.

But war itself had a huge impact on a country, let alone a war that swept across the entire shinobi world.

Moreover, he could order them not to harass civilians, but could he order his troops not to kill the enemy on the battlefield?

Every shinobi who died also had their own family, whether they were from the enemy side or their own side.

In the end, he had become the very person he had once hated most, and the person Yahiko had once hated most.

In the end, Nagato nodded and agreed to Nagasawa’s proposal.

This was one of the few ways to make amends.

Nagasawa also sighed inwardly. This really was a world where strength was respected. If you didn’t beat someone up badly enough, they simply wouldn’t understand.

Give them a brutal beating, and perhaps they would suddenly figure things out.

Obito was like this, and Nagato was the same. No matter how nicely you talked to them, they simply wouldn’t listen. You had to beat them up badly, the kind of beating that left them half-dead, and after the beating they would instantly have an epiphany.

Next, Nagato used special means to notify the Akatsuki and the small shinobi villages that had joined the Shinobi Village Alliance, ordering them to cease all actions and stop the war.

Nagato’s sudden ceasefire order left many people dumbfounded. The leaders of the small shinobi villages and the Akatsuki members were all quite confused.

Hadn’t the fighting just started? How had it already stopped?

Especially the forces of the Land of Sea. Their ships hadn’t even reached the Land of Water yet when Nagato’s ceasefire order arrived.

They had literally ended before they even started fighting.

However, because Nagato had tremendous prestige, not many people objected. Only the Grass Shinobi leader kept questioning Nagato.

"Lord Yahiko, what are you doing? We should strike while the iron is hot and wipe out the Five Great Nations in one fell swoop, achieving the great unity of the shinobi world." The Grass Shinobi leader was extremely unwilling to accept this.

Iwagakure had already been defeated by them, and the ambitions of their predecessors were about to be realized. How could they simply stop fighting?

"Does the Grass Shinobi want to betray the alliance?" Nagato did not give the Grass Shinobi leader a good look.

He couldn’t defeat Nagasawa, but couldn’t he deal with a mere Grass Shinobi leader?

The Grass Shinobi leader instantly fell silent. Although he was really anxious, he knew that this matter ultimately had nothing to do with the Grass Shinobi.

On the surface, it was the Hikari Shinobi and Grass Shinobi allied forces that had defeated Iwagakure. In reality, the victors were neither the Hikari Shinobi nor the Grass Shinobi. The only victor was Nagato.

Without Nagato, even if the Hikari Shinobi and Grass Shinobi joined forces, they would only be throwing their lives away. They had no chance of victory.

But Nagato alone could beat up all of Iwagakure. Without the Hikari Shinobi and Grass Shinobi forces, it would only require a little more effort.

Forced into the situation, the Grass Shinobi leader could only obey Nagato’s orders, even though he was unwilling.

Of course, despite his outward compliance, the Grass Shinobi leader cursed Nagato plenty in his heart, constantly using all kinds of colorful shinobi-world profanity.

Nagasawa also notified all five major shinobi villages, telling them to cease the fighting and not take action.

Nagasawa’s prestige among the Five Great Nations was even higher than Nagato’s prestige among the small shinobi villages, so his words naturally carried great weight.

After discovering that the enemy had truly ceased fighting, the Five Great Shinobi Villages also listened to Nagasawa and did not launch another attack.

For a time, the shinobi world, which had become extremely lively because of the approaching great war, suddenly fell silent, making many civilians feel as though it wasn’t real. The war had actually ended so quickly.

Nagato, Nagasawa, and Obito walked through the forest.

"If you had listened to what I said two years ago, this wouldn’t have happened today." Obito shook his head and said.

Even though the final result had gone in the direction Nagasawa had described, Nagato’s final outcome was still unlikely to be very good.

The scale of this war was enough for it to be called the "Fourth Shinobi World War."

As the initiator of this great war, regardless of what Nagato’s purpose had been, the wrong he had committed could not be erased.

It was the same for him. Even if he now did good deeds every day, helped elderly women cross the street whenever he saw them, and desperately tried to make amends to the families of his victims.

None of this could make the mistakes he had committed disappear, because the people he had killed could never come back to life.

Obito had a very clear understanding of this. He was a sinner.

If one day the relatives or descendants of those he had killed came to seek revenge, Obito would calmly accept death. He would only regret that he had only one life and could only allow one person to take revenge.

Nagato said nothing. At this point, there was no meaning in talking about these things.

Nagasawa smiled and gave Obito a hard knock on the head, nearly knocking him senseless. "You make it sound as though you listened to me when I first caught you."

A trace of embarrassment appeared on Obito’s face. Lecturing others felt great, but being lectured himself was unpleasant.

"What will my ending be?" Nagato looked at Nagasawa.

"That isn’t for me to decide. It’s for you and the people who were harmed in the war to decide." Nagasawa answered.

Nagato was different from Obito that time. Nagato had started a war that swept across the entire shinobi world, even though Nagasawa had extinguished it right at the beginning.

But Nagato’s actions had still brought a huge impact to the shinobi world.

From Nagasawa’s own subjective perspective, he might not kill Nagato, but instead make Nagato undergo reform through labor.

Because Nagato’s strength was quite impressive. Aside from Nagasawa, currently only Might Guy with the Eight Gates open had a chance of defeating Nagato. The others would not be Nagato’s opponents.

This starry sky was not safe. Beneath the beautiful galaxy were many hidden dangers. Who knew when an Otsutsuki might come looking for trouble? Therefore, the existence of powerful individuals was very necessary.

In front of powerhouses at the level of the Otsutsuki, numbers truly lost their meaning. Quality was instead more important.

However, this time Nagasawa definitely wouldn’t decide Nagato’s final punishment according to his own subjective wishes. He would also have to consider everyone’s thoughts, as well as Nagato’s own.

"The victims and myself?" Nagato looked up at the sky.

If he remembered correctly, the Rinnegan had an ability that could revive people. Although there were some limitations, fortunately, it was still very early, so there was enough time. Everyone who had died because of this war could be revived.

There were many people who could live. It was enough for him alone to die.

......

"Damn Fujiwara Nagasawa, what kind of monster just popped out of nowhere!" After Black Zetsu escaped from the country where the battlefield was located, he crazily cursed Nagasawa.

How difficult was it for the Rinnegan to appear? Aside from the Sage of Six Paths, after thousands of years of planning again and again, Black Zetsu had ultimately only managed to make Madara awaken the Rinnegan, and that was when Madara was about to die.

No, now he also had to add Nagato.

Counting Nagato’s Six-Tomoe Rinnegan, Black Zetsu had lost three Rinnegan this time.

Even Black Zetsu, the ultimate schemer, couldn’t hold it together anymore and continuously used all kinds of words to send friendly greetings to Nagasawa.

But Black Zetsu was ultimately a thousand-year-old schemer. After venting for a while, he stopped because he knew that this was meaningless.

His most urgent task now was to think about his next course of action.

"I can’t go to Konoha again before Fujiwara Nagasawa dies, but if I don’t go to Konoha, it will be difficult to obtain information about the Uchiha clan and select suitable candidates..." Black Zetsu began thinking.

The Rinnegan wasn’t something that just any Tom, Dick, or Harry could awaken. It required an extraordinarily talented genius, a super genius among one-in-ten-thousand geniuses.

But if he couldn’t enter Konoha, many things would become inconvenient for Black Zetsu.

Even more troublesome was that Nagasawa knew of Black Zetsu’s existence. Even if Black Zetsu didn’t go to Konoha, he still had to be careful that Konoha shinobi didn’t come looking for him.

The more Black Zetsu thought about it, the more he felt that he would be unable to move an inch in the future shinobi world.

’How about hiding for a hundred years and coming out after Fujiwara Nagasawa dies?’ Black Zetsu came up with an idea.

As Kaguya’s creation, Black Zetsu had a very long lifespan. A hundred-year human lifespan wasn’t very long in front of Black Zetsu.

But after thinking about it, Black Zetsu still felt that he couldn’t simply hide without doing anything.

Nagasawa had displayed too many unreasonable and mysterious aspects all along.

Black Zetsu even felt that it wasn’t he who was in the dark while Nagasawa was in the light, but rather that Nagasawa was in the dark while he was in the light.

Nagasawa knew his origins, knew his plans, knew everything about him, while he didn’t know the source of Nagasawa’s information or how Nagasawa had obtained such strength.

At first, Nagasawa was merely a powerful individual whose strength was extraordinary. In a short period of time, Nagasawa had developed into an existence capable of easily defeating even Nagato with the Six-Tomoe Rinnegan.

If he did nothing and hid away, perhaps one day Nagasawa would find him. Who knew what methods Nagasawa would use then?

"That Chakra technology company might be able to become a very good pawn." Black Zetsu thought for a while and decided to go to the Land of Snow.

Although Black Zetsu couldn’t conduct scientific research, he hadn’t wasted more than a thousand years of his life. His vision was extremely sharp. The new era would be the era of Scientific Ninja Tools.

And the Chakra technology company, as the earliest developer of Scientific Ninja Tools, held a pivotal position in the development of Scientific Ninja Tools.

If he could control the core technical personnel of the Chakra technology company, it might make his plans for the new era much more convenient.

Black Zetsu had extremely strong initiative. He quickly arrived at the Land of Snow, preparing to begin planning his next moves.

But something Black Zetsu hadn’t expected happened.

His aura-concealment technique, which had always been successful and even Fujiwara Nagasawa had been unable to see through, was actually discovered.

It was a man who looked extremely elegant. He wore a white haori, with red neck and wrist guards around his neck and wrists. His fingernails were black, a red belt was tied around his waist, and red earrings hung from his ears.

The man simply reached out and grabbed Black Zetsu, who had come to investigate the situation.

"What a dense traitor’s aura." Isshiki sensed the nature of Black Zetsu, and a trace of astonishment appeared on his usually elegant face.

’How is this possible? Even Fujiwara Nagasawa couldn’t discover me.’ Black Zetsu, caught in Isshiki’s hand and unable to resist, was even more dumbfounded.

He hadn’t even sensed how strong this person was. Why could he discover him?

And what was this traitor’s aura?

What Black Zetsu didn’t know was that although Isshiki’s strength was now less than one-tenth of its former level, he was ultimately an Otsutsuki whose status was even higher than Kaguya’s. Black Zetsu was merely showing off the abilities Kaguya had given him in front of Isshiki, completely unaware that he was displaying his limited knowledge before an expert.

"You are a creation of that traitor Kaguya, aren’t you?" Isshiki said calmly.

Hearing Isshiki suddenly call out his mother’s name, Black Zetsu’s heart tightened, and he pretended to be confused as he said, "What Kaguya? The person who created me was Uchiha Madara."

Black Zetsu was already speechless. He had just learned that Nagasawa knew his entire background, and now he had encountered someone else who knew of his mother’s existence, someone who could even clearly understand the relationship between him and his mother.

Was this some kind of joke? Even Hamura had become a figure in mythology, yet there was still someone who knew about his mother.

Black Zetsu really wanted to sleep for a hundred years right where he stood. The waters of the current shinobi world were too deep. He couldn’t handle them.