HTP: Ch. 74

The rain in Ame never stopped. Steel towers pierced through the clouds, gleaming coldly under the endless downpour.

On the streets, cloaked ninjas moved silently through the shadows. In the bars, the cheerful voices of off-duty adults echoed, while children ran and played beneath the eaves. Further away, massive pipes spewed steam, merging with the misty rain.

Ame was no longer what it used to be. Ever since Nagato took control, the village's entire aesthetic had grown increasingly cyber-ninja, powered by the technology he summoned through the Rinnegan. Atop the tallest tower, the outline of Tendō gradually became visible. The ripples of the Rinnegan glimmered faintly in the curtain of rain.

"You're here," he said without turning around, his voice blending with the sound of rain.

Paper slips, like white butterflies, gathered in the rain, it was Konan.

"Still watching over the village?"

Tendō's gaze passed through the rainfall. The dim yellow lights shining through windows looked like fireflies drifting on a black sea.

"I am leaving this village."

Through Yahiko's eyes, Nagato had always watched over and protected this small, suffering nation together with Konan.

But now, Konoha was about to lead an army to destroy all this beauty, just like they had done over a decade ago when they were still young. But this time, the three of them were no longer powerless.

Konan followed his gaze to the lights of Ame and said, "If what Black Zetsu said is true… then things are very bad."

Not long ago, Black Zetsu had brought this news and proposed working with Akatsuki again.

Tendō didn't respond immediately.

After a while, he finally said, "A god is invincible."

With the Rinnegan, Nagato didn't believe he could lose.

Konan, slightly uneasy, said, "But… if the battle happens here in Ame, everything may be destroyed."

She was different from Yahiko and Nagato. Back when the three of them were together, she followed Yahiko. After Yahiko's death, she followed Nagato.

If Nagato said fight, they fought.

If Nagato said surrender, they surrendered.

In other words, the seemingly Konan didn't actually have grand ambitions of her own.

Yahiko and Nagato were also different.

Yahiko truly inherited Jiraiya's will. His motto was to achieve peace through dialogue, and his dream was to lead Ame out of war so everyone could live in peace.

Nagato, however, was far more complicated. From childhood, he bore deep hatred toward Konoha. Later, after meeting Jiraiya, he also carried a great debt of gratitude. His heart was a knot of conflicting emotions, too tangled to explain. This inner conflict finally erupted when Yahiko died.

He chose to carry on Yahiko's dream, transforming Yahiko's body into Tendō to continue the mission he could not finish. Later, the ambitious Obito, disguised as Madara, took advantage of Yahiko's ideals to twist the original Akatsuki into its current form. But a peaceful Ame had been the trio's original dream. If that peace were to come at the cost of sacrificing Ame itself, would it still hold meaning?

Was peace without Ame even peace at all?

Within the tower, Nagato, who shared his senses with Tendō, couldn't help but ponder this. Finally, he and Tendō spoke together, "Since Ame has already been exposed, let's step forward together."

He intended to rule this ninja village openly, as a god.

Konan nodded. "Alright."

"We can't let Obito and Black Zetsu return to Akatsuki."

Ever since expelling Obito and Black Zetsu, even though he lost a crucial intelligence officer, Nagato's mind had only grown clearer.

"Sasori's network of spies is more than enough to compensate for Black Zetsu's intelligence work. As for that Obito, he was completely useless. According to Sasori's intel, he couldn't even defeat Kakashi. Looking back now, when Obito first approached me posing as 'Madara,' it must have been with ill intent. That was during the time of the Fourth Hokage. He clearly didn't die on the battlefield, yet was out there playing ghost."

And another crucial point: Itachi and Kisame were actually Konoha operatives, both of them had been recruited by Obito.

Konan, who had been quietly listening, couldn't help but frown at this. "To think we were deceived for so long."

So weak, yet still had the nerve to pretend to be some mastermind, ridiculous.

"That Black Zetsu was way too enthusiastic about our tailed beast collection plan. It was just too suspicious."

Thinking back to what Deidara said during a hologram meeting before their fallout with Black Zetsu, Konan nodded in agreement. "True. That guy's always been shady. We don't even know where he came from. Maybe he's the real hidden mastermind."

Beside her, Tendō gave a slight nod and continued, "No matter what, we need greater power to protect Ame. Konan, I plan to absorb some tailed beast chakra to heal my real body."

"That's great, Nagato! You've finally come around."

Konan immediately showed a look of delight.

Nagato had long lived in the shadow of Yahiko's death. He ruled Ame and Akatsuki under Yahiko's identity, planning to use Yahiko's corpse to enforce a nuclear-scale peace. But again, Nagato's ideals were not entirely his own, he had borrowed Yahiko's. Whenever his own goals clashed with Yahiko's ideals, the priority began to shift.

Now, under the pressure of defending Ame, he had finally pulled himself together. His real body had to be strengthened, it couldn't remain Pain's weakness. Because Pain couldn't lose. If he did, everything Yahiko left behind would vanish like a dream.

"We must protect Ame first."

---

"I don't agree!"

Jiraiya slammed his palm on the Hokage's desk, splashing tea out of the cup. He was yelling at the man on the other side of the desk. The moment he received word about the plan to attack Ame, he rushed to the Hokage's office to protest.

If Nagato and the others were to launch an attack on Konoha, he might be able to do what had to be done, even kill them if necessary. But to lead a large force in a preemptive strike against Ame… his deep-rooted hatred of war surged up again, and the targets were Nagato and Konan, no less.

"Let me talk to Nagato again! There has to be a way to resolve this!"

Hiruzen couldn't help but feel speechless. He had no choice but to press a button on his desk. One of the walls in the office rotated, revealing a massive LED screen.

On-screen was a devastated Kumo, reduced to rubble, a scene of utter tragedy.

"Look at these images. Wake up. They're no longer the kids you remember."

Jiraiya had already heard about Kumo's destruction at the hands of Akatsuki, but seeing it with his own eyes hit differently.

He fell silent.

Everything that had been in Kumo was now gone. The casualties were catastrophic. Not only had the village's ninja forces been annihilated, but even among the civilians, few had survived.

If this were to happen to Konoha… That thought alone sent a chill down Jiraiya's spine.

How had it come to this? he couldn't help but ask himself. Then came the guilt, it was his own failure for not guiding them better.