"It's a good thing not to be bound by hatred. Hatred in the mind might seem to give people motivation, but it also easily makes them lose their minds.
I'm not asking you, Nagato, to rekindle your hatred, but that doesn't mean you should completely let go of it."
Bai Mo said, and Nagato and Konan listened intently.
"If we don't let go of hatred, but also can't rekindle it, then what should we do?"
Konan voiced the confusion in both their hearts.
"Nagato as an individual can let go of hatred, but as the leader of the Akatsuki Organization, the Village Head of Amegakure, and the representative of the Land of Rain, he cannot forget hatred.
Forgetting hatred will only make others think we are weak and easily bullied, and they might even turn around and say we were the ones who instigated the chaos."
Bai Mo's gaze turned to Konan, and he offered an explanation,
"When we show enough strength that Konoha has no choice but to take us seriously, that is when this 'hatred' will bear fruit.
Konoha is accustomed to portraying itself as the absolutely righteous party. If it were pure revenge, they would instead be invigorated and united.
Conversely, if we proactively let go of hatred and only ask for some 'compensation'.
If they don't agree, then they become the ones who proactively rekindle the chains of hatred."
"Don't look at me like that. Haven't you noticed how much the foundation of Amegakure lags behind the Five Great Shinobi Villages?
There's no Ninja Academy, and even if one were built, there wouldn't be many ninjutsu to teach.
That Hanzo guy, the Fire Release that injured Nagato's leg was from exploding tags. The rest was all thanks to his poison sacs and summoning beasts."
When Bai Mo said this, Nagato and Konan exchanged glances, feeling a bit ashamed.
It wasn't that they had never thought of these things.
It was precisely because they had once thought that way.
"...No wonder you, Bai Mo, can become the future leader of Amegakure, their hope."
Konan sighed softly.
After experiencing so much darkness, she and Nagato had almost forgotten their original intention.
Didn't they establish Akatsuki precisely to lead this country towards light, to bring peace and stability?
Wasn't it so that children like they were in their youth wouldn't have to endure hunger and survive by stealing?
After killing Hanzo, Nagato did bring peace to Amegakure, but it was only a rigid, static peace.
Essentially, it only used Amegakure and the Land of Rain as consumables to keep the Akatsuki Organization running.
He didn't treat the people of Amegakure as his companions.
"If you, Advisor, hadn't appeared, would we have put the cart before the horse and gone down a path of no return?"
Nagato listened to Bai Mo's words, also fell silent for a moment, and then looked up to ask.
——Nagato asked about what would happen in the future.
This was one of the rare times he proactively inquired about future events.
Before this, Nagato hadn't even asked Bai Mo who the Konoha ninja was that had defeated him and then tricked him.
"Something like that, but in the end, you entrusted Amegakure to the future Seventh Hokage, and Konan gave up staying in Konoha to return to Amegakure as its leader.
Regardless of the outcome for now, at least the original intention was rekindled."
Bai Mo nodded slightly.
"...Tell me one thing."
"Hm?"
"I said, tell me one wrong thing I did, otherwise I'm afraid I'll forget again."
Konan bit her lower lip, staring intently at Bai Mo.
"Uh, for example, when Nagato's Animal Path was gone, you sent a Chūnin from the village who admired and worshipped you on an S-rank mission to die, and then retrieved the body to make it into the Animal Path."
"..."
Konan's face turned pale, and she took a step back.
Perhaps the original Konan wouldn't have felt any psychological burden when doing this, only thinking it was a "necessary sacrifice."
But the current Konan, influenced by Bai Mo, had just rekindled her original intention. Hearing that she had done such a thing, she instantly thought of her childhood, adolescence, and young adulthood experiences.
She had not only killed a comrade, a disciple, a follower, but also killed her former self.
"Nagato, can you go back by yourself?"
While Konan was immersed in painful memories, Bai Mo turned and asked Nagato.
"Yes, I've recovered almost completely."
Nagato nodded.
Though his legs were inconvenient, Nagato could float using the abilities of the Deva Path.
So, when Yakushi Kabuto controlled the Edo Tensei Nagato during the Fourth Great Ninja War and complained about Nagato's crippled legs and lack of mobility, he really just didn't know how to operate him.
"Then, Sister Konan, it's time to go. Let's rescue our comrades."
Bai Mo's feet left the ground, and he floated gently in mid-air, extending his hand to Konan.
Konan came back to herself, took Bai Mo's hand, and the two flew into the sky.
The Land of Rain, as a battleground during the Fourth Great Ninja War, was sandwiched between six countries, including the three great nations of Wind, Earth, and Fire.
The target, Iwagakure in the Land of Earth, was adjacent to the Land of Rain, and the distance was not far.
Konan and Bai Mo continued talking in the sky on their way to Iwagakure.
Konan maintained her Dance of the Shikigami. As long as she wasn't attacked, simple flight didn't consume much chakra.
But Bai Mo stated that even a small consumption was still a consumption, so he held Konan's hand, and the New Moon's ability covered them, taking Konan along to fly by gravity conversion.
Konan continued their previous conversation, curious about what Bai Mo wanted to get from Konoha.
"Flying Thunder God, or Flying Thunder Formation.
From Amegakure to the Land of Waves, and how we're going to Iwagakure now, both can save a lot of time and effort.
All that's needed is to set up a jutsu formula in each place."
"I don't know about Flying Thunder Formation, but the Flying Thunder God jutsu formula, unless you're at Six Paths level, will exist permanently, like a silver tattoo."
"..."
"I didn't expect you, Sister Konan, to know what that is. Jiraiya's 'emperor uncles' really are tirelessly corrupting people."
Bai Mo sighed.
"What? I don't know!"
The silent Konan heard this and quickly denied it.
"Then why don't you ask?"
"When you mentioned Flying Thunder God, I thought of our junior disciple, Minato Namikaze, Nagato's and mine.
Teacher Jiraiya once mentioned the 'Child of Prophecy' to us.
He initially believed Nagato was the Child of Prophecy, and after we went missing, he must have considered Minato Namikaze, who showed his talent during the Third Great Ninja War, to be the Child of Prophecy.
But now Minato Namikaze is also dead..."
Konan's words held some emotion.
"'Child of Prophecy' and such, Sister Konan, you should just forget about it."
Bai Mo shook his head with a smile.
"Hm? Why? Isn't that the prophecy of the Mount Myōboku toad sage?"
Konan was confused.
"That Gamamaru probably didn't fully recover after the Infinite Tsukuyomi in ancient times and was still groggy.
Ōtsutsuki Hagoromo too.
And what about the green-eyed boy who calls out the names of the nine Tailed Beasts, what Child of Prophecy.
The prophecy from one person and one toad, the former passed down for thousands of years.
And what's the result?
The prophecy came true, and there wasn't even twenty years of peace. It's simply a joke."
At this point, Bai Mo tightened his grip on Konan's hand: "Remember, destiny is in our own hands. There has never been any savior, no Child of Prophecy!"
....
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