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Midorima had relied on Garaga and Kako to cross the sea at the fastest possible speed. The moment he set foot on the island, he immediately noticed something was wrong. However, because the dense fog severely limited his Instant Movement technique, he was forced to sprint on foot, which slowed his progress considerably. Fortunately, he had not taken any wrong turns along the way. Just as the two sides had reached their tense, unyielding standoff, Midorima arrived in the nick of time.
Konan had never held a favorable opinion of Midorima. Upon hearing his words, she merely fixed him with a baleful, white-eyed glare. "I have nothing to say to you."
"She won't cooperate. Let's just kill her and be done with it. As for Uchiha Madara... this island is only so large. There's no way we can't track him down," the Raikage growled, his eyes boring into Konan.
The Tsuchikage remained silent, though his expression was equally grim.
Midorima chose not to acknowledge the Raikage's suggestion. Instead, he continued speaking directly to Konan. "Is what you're doing now really what Yahiko and the others would have wanted?"
Konan, who had been bristling with fury, suddenly went rigid. Her eyes flew wide, and her long cloak billowed upward, dissolving into sheet after sheet of paper. "Don't you dare pretend you understood Yahiko and Nagato! You think you're qualified to lecture me?!"
The other shinobi, seeing the escalation, immediately began forming hand seals. A full-scale confrontation seemed imminent.
"Qualified? Let me ask you something. I was framed by you people. I was branded the murderer of the Mizukage by the Hidden Mist Village, hunted across the entire shinobi world, and nearly killed. Who do you think was responsible for that? Did I ever wrong any of you? Tell me, how were the crimes you committed against me any different from the atrocities committed by the people you despise? Konan, don't be such a hypocrite!" Midorima's voice was sharp and cutting.
Despite Konan's visible rage, he did not react with excessive aggression. Partly because the physically and mentally exhausted Konan posed little genuine threat to him, and partly because he was confident he could subdue her even if she did try to attack.
"So what? Sometimes, 'necessary sacrifices' are unavoidable," Konan retorted.
"Oh? So, in your eyes, I was one of these so-called 'necessary sacrifices'?" Midorima was both infuriated and amused by the absurdity of her logic.
"No. Anyone can become a 'necessary sacrifice'—even the Akatsuki. It's just that, in order to achieve our dream, we couldn't afford to die too soon," Konan declared. She spread her arms wide, and the chakra-formed paper sheets around her shot outward like a storm of kunai.
"I told you, there's no point reasoning with someone like her."
The Raikage slammed his fists together, Lightning Release chakra crackling across his entire body. In the blink of an eye, he had closed the distance to within two or three meters of Konan. The paper sheets surrounding her rapidly stacked together, forming a thick wall to shield her.
"Useless defense!"
With a thunderous roar, the Raikage punched straight through the paper wall. His gaze swept towards Konan—only to find her already restrained, her throat held firmly in someone's grip.
"Midorima..." The Raikage stared at the man standing just a short distance away, a chill running down his spine. He had not even sensed Midorima move, and yet, in that instant, Midorima had already subdued Konan.
Unbelievably fast... The thought flashed through the Raikage's mind.
"Kill me, then!" Konan spat through gritted teeth.
"I'm not someone who takes pleasure in killing," Midorima replied. He released his grip and let Konan drop to the ground. "I know what the Akatsuki's dream is. You want to 'end' all wars. To bring lasting peace to the shinobi world. But have you ever stopped to consider that war cannot be eliminated?"
"That's impossible. As long as we obtain the tailed beasts—"
"Then you'll use their power to develop an overwhelmingly devastating jutsu, force the world to witness the horrors of war, and thereby instill a deep, primal fear of war in the hearts of all people, correct?"
"And what if that's exactly our plan?" Konan's hands moved subtly behind her back, ready to launch another assault the moment Midorima let his guard down.
"Naive... utterly, hopelessly idiotic," Midorima said, shaking his head. "You've forgotten that the one thing humans excel at above all else is forgetting. Even if the Akatsuki's plan succeeded—even if the Five Great Shinobi Villages and the entire world were paralyzed with fear of this new jutsu—what about ten years from now? Twenty years? A hundred years? Once all those who witnessed that terror have died off, and a new generation rises that never experienced it firsthand, will they still cower before a fear they've only heard about in stories? The Third Great Ninja War erupted not long after the Second. Fear? The pain of losing loved ones? In the face of human greed, they are worth absolutely nothing."
"The outbreak of war inevitably produces a flood of orphans. You three were merely some of them. Just as you schemed against the Hidden Mist Village and slaughtered thousands of its shinobi—those people had children too. They had families. Your atrocities orphaned their children, planting the seeds of hatred in their hearts. When those seeds take root and sprout, they will see you as their sworn enemies, and they will repeat everything you have done."
"They will die," Konan said, her guard still raised, terrified that Midorima might seize her throat again.
"But war will erupt once more. Hatred may intensify or subside, but it never truly vanishes. The idea of eliminating war forever, once and for all, is a fantasy. It can never be done," Midorima stated.
Konan's lips parted, as though she wanted to argue. But no words came. Finally, she clenched her teeth and demanded, "So what are you suggesting? That we simply stand by and watch wars break out over and over again while our loved ones die?"
"War will never cease to exist. But it can be delayed. The intervals between wars can be stretched. An entire generation might live out their lives without ever witnessing a single conflict. For that generation, if war never touches their lives, then it is, for all practical purposes, as though war has ceased to exist."
"Can such a thing truly be achieved?!" Konan felt a faint stirring of hope, but her years of bitter experience with the Great Shinobi Villages made her deeply wary of Midorima's words.
"There is a chance," Midorima nodded. "But it requires the effort of every single person."
The probability of a hundred years passing without war was small. But in the world of shinobi, a ninja's lifespan was often tragically short. From birth to death, many would never have to witness the horrors of war.
Konan's tightly clenched fists began to loosen. She was just about to press for more details when, suddenly, a colossal boom echoed from behind her. The sound rolled across the sky, reverberating endlessly. She spun around, staring towards the source of the noise. The words caught in her throat, and she could not utter a single sound. The other shinobi also turned to look, their expressions frozen in shock.
A gigantic, spectral figure had materialized in the distance. Its brilliant, fiery-red glow blazed through the fog, making it impossible to ignore.
"Susanoo..." Midorima murmured. "A crimson Susanoo... That's Uchiha Itachi!"
"Itachi?! You're saying Itachi is over there?!" Tsunade demanded urgently.
Midorima nodded, though his heart was heavy with complicated emotions. He did not know why Uchiha Itachi had chosen this moment to unleash his Susanoo. But one thing was certain: Itachi's target was not the Allied Shinobi Forces. Yet would the others—Tsunade included—see it that way?
"That brat?!" The Raikage's brow furrowed deeply. "Lady Tsunade, the rogue ninja of the Hidden Leaf should be your responsibility, shouldn't they? If you can't bring yourselves to do it, I'll gladly handle the matter myself."
Midorima shook his head subtly. Given the Raikage's current battered condition and limited strength, he was unlikely to be a match for Uchiha Itachi. Neither the Susanoo nor the Amaterasu would be something the Raikage could handle with ease.
He was just about to stop the Raikage when Kakashi's voice rang out in alarm: "Wait! Everyone! We... we're surrounded!"
The shinobi immediately scanned their surroundings. One after another, pale white figures emerged from the mist, stretching as far as the eye could see, with no end in sight.
Midorima's brow furrowed deeply, and he gritted his teeth. "This... it's the White Zetsu army. Obito has already begun his move..."