Chapter 425: Peace
Six figures. Twelve Rinnegan eyes without exception gazed at that eternally unchanging fox mask before them.
The sound of wind and rain froze in this moment.
Naruto spoke again. "Everyone else, return to base."
His gaze swept across his allies.
"The Akatsuki prisoners are yours to guard. Kakuzu, these people still have use for us."
As his words fell, the air beside him split open without warning into a deep, pitch-black portal—Yomotsu Hirasaka.
Hearing this, Kakuzu's gaze couldn't help but sweep across the seemingly calm sea surface beneath his feet once more. If not for the many eyes watching, he'd almost want to prostrate himself and carefully examine every inch of seawater.
Though he didn't know what method the leader or that new Mangekyo Sharingan Uchiha had used to "erase" it—those layers upon layers of hundreds of billions of explosive tags beneath the sea surface were seared deep into his money-loving soul.
If he could recover them... even just a portion... no, even just knowing their final whereabouts...
His heart convulsed violently from desire for such vast wealth. But Kakuzu also understood the principle: don't ask what you shouldn't, don't think what you shouldn't. The leader's orders—he could only obey.
However, Menma's next words made his green eyes light up.
"...I'll bring the things back later. No need to worry about losses."
These words were sweeter than any music to Kakuzu's ears!
He immediately straightened his back, responding respectfully. "Yes! Understood!"
He began moving, one hand grabbing the still-cursing but immobilized Hidan, the other scooping up the unconscious Suigetsu Hozuki, striding toward that pitch-black portal.
Uchiha Shisui, Momochi Zabuza, and Haku also carried the subdued Juzo Biwa and Raiga Kurosuki along with their ninja blades, entering the portal one by one.
Everyone's presence completely vanished from the rain-shrouded sea.
At this moment, only a few individuals remained on the empty and oppressive sea surface.
Uzumaki Naruto (Menma).
Uchiha Satsuki (identity concealed).
The Six Paths of Pain (Nagato's puppets).
And Konan, her mind disturbed, her memories confused.
Silence pressed on everyone's chest. Only the ceaseless storm beat against the sea surface and remaining ice crystals, producing a monotonous and cold background sound.
The first to break this deathly silence was the Animal Path among the Six Paths of Pain. Expressionless, he raised both hands and rapidly formed seals.
"Summoning Jutsu!"
BANG! BANG! BANG!
White smoke exploded! Three massive creatures as large as small mountains, radiating ferocious chakra auras, thunderously descended!
The Cerberus—three ferocious heads simultaneously releasing low growls. The Giant Rhino—covered in thick armor like rock, its horn gleaming coldly. The Wild Bull—snorting white vapor from its nostrils, horns aimed at the enemy, ready to charge.
Each was a war beast capable of creating chaos and destruction on the battlefield.
Facing the intimidation of these three massive creatures, Satsuki's eyes showed no fluctuation whatsoever. She raised her right hand.
"Sage Art: Lightning Erosion."
In her whispered words, a type of black lightning distinctly different from ordinary Lightning Release condensed in her palm—as deep as night. This wasn't natural lightning. It mixed with natural energy from Mount Myoboku, its nature fundamentally altered—this was a unique sage technique Satsuki had independently developed by combining Sage Mode with her Lightning Release talent.
BOOM!
With a light shake of her wrist, the black lightning precisely struck the three giant beasts charging forward.
The instant the black lightning contacted the beasts' bodies, it quietly "seeped" inside. Immediately after, those massive bodies began rapidly "melting" and "dissipating" from the struck areas.
Like sand sculptures blown by wind—flesh, bone, fur, even the chakra within their bodies began collapsing and annihilating from the energy structure level.
In just two or three seconds, the three enormous summoning beasts completely transformed into drifts of black-gray embers that scattered in the wind and rain.
Sage Art: Lightning Erosion—converting natural energy into black Lightning Release containing "decomposition" principles. It produced no high temperature, impact, or paralysis effects. Its essence was to make contacted matter and energy "silently erased" from their foundational existence.
Tendo Pain raised his arm, palm aimed at Satsuki who'd just finished her sage technique and seemed unable to defend.
"Universal Pull."
A powerful gravitational field instantly formed, attempting to forcibly drag Satsuki's body toward him!
However.
"Almighty Push."
Another voice rang out simultaneously with Tendo's activation. The one speaking this technique wasn't Tendo, but Menma standing beside Satsuki.
BOOM!
Invisible repulsive force erupted with Menma at the center, domineering as it collided with the gravitational field Tendo released. Two completely opposite yet equally space and gravity-related forces violently clashed and canceled each other in midair, ultimately annihilating simultaneously.
Tendo Pain's puppet face—belonging to Yahiko's corpse—still maintained absolute indifference, but those Rinnegan eyes locked firmly onto Menma.
Corpses couldn't produce more vivid expressions, but Nagato controlling from behind must have experienced massive internal turmoil.
"...What's going on?" Tendo's voice was steady but carried bone-chilling interrogation. "Why... can you use this technique?"
Almighty Push and Universal Pull—these were the Rinnegan's basic yet core ocular techniques, symbols of "divine" authority! How could this guy possibly use them?!
The Star Eye, besides granting Naruto two kekkei mora, had also fully inherited the Rinnegan's basic ninjutsu. Naruto had successively developed them over recent years.
Menma didn't directly answer, "gazing back" at Tendo.
"The power you take pride in, that you view as proof of divinity... is merely a race's basic ability."
"Even the legendary Sage of Six Paths, in essence, was nothing more than that race's mixed-blood descendant."
"You're trying to create peace by inflicting pain upon the world. Setting aside whether this method is right or wrong, even if your plan succeeded—peace forced under absolute deterrence, spawned by fear..."
"How long do you think it could last?"
"This world, even after ending the long Warring States period and initially establishing the shinobi village system, still erupted into three successive world wars spanning the entire shinobi world after the First Hokage's death."
"Hatred spawns hatred. Pain breeds new pain. Your envisioned 'ultimate deterrence' might bring temporary silence, but as long as human desires, fears, hatreds, and barriers remain, war will inevitably reignite."
"The peace the First Hokage tried to create through 'Tailed Beast balance' and the 'one country, one village' system has already failed. Everything we're doing now is merely attempting to continue down that path he never completed or that died midway... in a more thorough, perhaps more brutal manner, searching for new possibilities."
Tendo Pain fell silent. Nagato certainly understood—he couldn't give the world permanent peace.
He'd never intended to execute that Moon's Eye Plan that would drag the entire world into illusion. Deep in his heart, he knew clearly that the limit of what he could envision was perhaps only using the Rinnegan and Tailed Beast weapons' absolute deterrence to forcibly secure a relatively long breathing period without large-scale war for this wounded world.
One hundred years...
This number lingered in his mind. One hundred years without any world-spanning war.
In this shinobi world's history of constant conflict, this was an unprecedented luxury. For this, he was willing to become an asura.
Menma seemed to see through the thoughts beneath this silence. He shook his head gently.
"Nagato, let's end this quickly."
"I won't take your life. After this battle... I hope you can calm down and listen to my explanation of everything."
As his words fell, he slowly raised his right hand. Above his palm, countless tiny energy particles gleaming with starlight appeared from nowhere.
This time, what he invoked was no longer the scorching power of the sun or the freezing power of stillness.
It was stellar chakra from that planet in the solar system possessing magnificent rings, symbolizing "order," "binding," and "weight"—Saturn.
"Rasengan: Ringed Star."