Three days later.
The Land of Rain.
Jin stood atop a barren ridge, staring at the oppressive blanket of dark clouds that swallowed the sky whole.
Just days ago, sunlight had stretched endlessly across the horizon.
But the moment he crossed into the Land of Rain, the world changed.
The sun vanished.
Heavy clouds pressed low.
Moist air clung to the skin.
Rain threatened at every breath.
This country was named for a reason.
It rained here endlessly—year after year—rarely touched by sunlight.
Bordering the great powers of Fire, Earth, and Wind, the Land of Rain was doomed to become a battlefield every time war broke out.
Its people had done nothing.
And yet they bore everything.
War after war carved through their fields, their homes, their lives.
Peace here was never more than a rumor.
The rain felt less like weather—
And more like the heavens mourning a nation that never stopped suffering.
Jin exhaled slowly.
For the first time, he truly understood men like Hanzo—and later, Nagato.
In the original story, events were told from Konoha's perspective.
Other nations existed only in passing.
But standing here—
This suffering was real.
Hanzo of the Salamander had grown up amid endless war.
After witnessing the devastation of his homeland, he resolved to change it.
To protect the Land of Rain.
But how?
No matter how much Rain developed internally, it would always be crushed whenever the great nations fought.
So Hanzo chose the only path he believed remained.
He declared Rain's sovereignty by force.
He challenged Fire, Earth, and Wind alike.
He wanted them to recognize Rain's voice.
To fear it.
To respect it.
But he was no God of Shinobi.
Under the pressure of three great nations, he failed.
Rain remained what it had always been—
A victim.
If Hanzo had possessed the power of Hashirama Senju, perhaps things would have been different.
Nagato's ambition surpassed even Hanzo's.
He did not seek peace for Rain alone—
He sought peace for the entire shinobi world.
From Jin's outsider perspective—
Nagato's philosophy was far more grounded than Naruto's abstract ideal of mutual understanding.
Nagato believed in deterrence through absolute force.
Crush one nation so completely—
That no one would dare wage war again.
In truth, wasn't that the foundation of the One Country, One Village system?
When the villages were first formed, Hashirama—at Tobirama's urging—distributed the Tailed Beasts among nations.
It was meant to create balance through fear.
Nagato was simply inheriting that logic.
But Tailed Beasts were not absolute.
There were shinobi who could challenge them.
Hashirama himself had subdued the Nine-Tails like a household pet.
Over time, Tailed Beasts became conventional weapons.
So Nagato refined the idea.
Gather them all.
Create a weapon capable of annihilating a nation in a single strike.
If he had succeeded—
The world might indeed have entered a long era of stability.
Naruto's path, by contrast—
Offered no concrete structure.
Just unwavering belief in understanding.
Idealistic.
Inspiring.
But dangerously intangible.
Nagato's flaw was not his method.
It was his conviction.
His faith rested less on logic—
And more on his attachment to Yahiko.
Doubt lingered deep within him.
That doubt was exploited.
In the end, he was swayed.
The road to peace collapsed halfway.
As for Madara and Obito—
Their philosophy was even simpler.
If you cannot eliminate conflict—
Eliminate humanity.
No people.
No war.
Flawless logic.
Unacceptable cost.
Better a flawed life than a perfect void.
So their path was doomed from the start.
Jin's eyes burned like twin flames.
He would tear open the clouds over this country.
He would bring light.
Not just here.
Everywhere.
No grand justification.
No noble proclamation.
He simply chose to.
Once, he had considered himself nothing more than a beast of burden.
Yet someone had once called him the rising sun.
Now—
He had the chance to shine.
And he would not waste it.
He pulled a map from his pouch, confirming his position as his mind calculated rapidly.
Sunagakure had withdrawn.
Konoha and Iwagakure still maintained camps within Rain, locked in tense standoffs.
Though large-scale battles had ceased, daily skirmishes continued.
Reconnaissance squads clashed constantly.
Amegakure monitored them both.
Sometimes, they were dragged into the fighting.
Meanwhile—
Yahiko, Nagato, and Konan's Akatsuki remained active on the front lines, urging ceasefires.
The country was chaos.
Rogue ninja.
Bandits.
Opportunists flooding in to pillage.
"A mess," Jin muttered softly.
"But the priority remains the same."
"Find Danzō."
All visible factions were easy to locate.
Only Danzō Shimura moved in the dark.
To stabilize Rain—
He had to drag the shadow into the light.
Unfortunately, Danzō's operation was covert.
Root operatives bore the Cursed Tongue Eradication Seal.
Information was scarce.
Jin's network had barely confirmed that Danzō had left Konoha.
Pinpointing his location would be nearly impossible.
Jin folded the map.
"…Then I'll wait in Amegakure."
If Danzō was here to manipulate Hanzo—
He would eventually show himself.
And when he did—
Jin would be ready.
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