Why Not Eat Meat?

"Has your mission come through? My mission is to collect as many rare materials as possible for constructing a Cross-Dimensional Channel in the future!"

Kakashi spoke.

"The Emperor wants me to pay more attention to myself in this world. If possible, we should exchange eyes and awaken the Eternal Mangekyo!"

Obito looked excited.

"Also... recruit talented people."

Kakashi glanced at Nagato.

"My mission is to capture Tailed Beasts."

Nagato spoke with a solemn expression.

"Nagato, according to the parallel-world information provided by the Emperor, we may currently be within the Land of Fire. Konoha Village is not far away."

"Although this is a parallel world, the two of us may still be easily discovered because of our identities. You once stayed in the Rain Village, so no one in Konoha should recognize you."

"You'll be responsible for gathering intelligence. Obito and I will first collect the materials needed to construct the Cross-Dimensional Channel."

Kakashi swept his eyes meaningfully over Nagato.

"Split up?"

Nagato had been thinking the same thing.

"Arrived in this world? Crossed dimensions? The Emperor? War? Communism?"

Jiraiya stood on a treetop, listening to the intermittent voices from afar, his pupils filled with shock.

He was very familiar with the spatial fluctuation that had accompanied the arrival of the three. Summoning a toad from Mount Myōboku felt exactly like that.

But they were from another world?

One was familiar, and two left a deep impression. One was Kakashi. He wasn't wearing his forehead protector, and both of his eyes were deep and profound. It was obvious that he wasn't Konoha's Copy Ninja, Kakashi!

The other was Nagato, the disciple he had taken in during the Second Shinobi World War, whom he had even regarded as the Child of Prophecy!

The last one seemed somewhat familiar, but unfortunately, he couldn't remember where he had seen him.

"He seems to be Minato's disciple, but wasn't that guy killed at Kannabi Bridge...?"

Jiraiya saw one of the three turn his gaze toward him, and his mind tensed.

"Sharingan!"

Fortunately, as one of the Legendary Sannin, Jiraiya had prepared himself in advance and avoided Obito's casual sweep.

Jiraiya's back was drenched in sweat as he gasped heavily.

"Someone from the Uchiha?"

His brows furrowed tightly.

Seeing that the three had already split into two groups, he gritted his teeth and created a Shadow Clone.

"You go after the other two!"

His own target was Nagato!

Of the three, he could tell that Nagato was the most hesitant and the most resistant to war!

Combined with their past companionship, he considered himself most familiar with Nagato!

But there was something even more important at hand!

Jiraiya summoned a small toad, stuffed the information he had just gathered into its mouth, and told it to deliver the message to the Third Hokage. Then he chased after Nagato in the direction he had left.

A town somewhere on the border of the Land of Fire.

Nagato didn't go to Konoha immediately. He wanted to understand this world properly.

"You're saying that ninjas are all trash? They made you wander homeless, and three Ninja Wars have already broken out in just a few decades because of profit?"

Nagato chatted with a drunken man in a tavern.

"Why didn't someone step forward to lead everyone in forming a nation and distributing resources fairly?"

The man glanced at Nagato disdainfully.

"As expected of a young fellow. Let's not talk about anything else—just take the simplest example. You're from the Land of Fire. If you were the ruler, would you give more resources to other countries? Wouldn't you all be thinking of securing benefits for your own country?"

Nagato thought of Uchiha Senju. He treated everyone equally, whether they were from the Water Province or the Fire Province. He never favored any one region.

Because of this, he often heard people complaining at school. They said that since Uchiha Senju was from the Land of Fire, why did he still take such good care of people from other countries? He should have demoted them to slaves or increased their taxes, making things easier for them.

Many people cursed Uchiha Senju in private, saying that he was cruel to his fellow countrymen and completely ignored the ties of blood.

"Then couldn't each country elect one person? After that, resources could be distributed evenly according to need."

The people nearby burst into even louder laughter when they heard this.

"Guess what the Five Kage are for?"

"Do you think the five Kage never talked before starting a war? Didn't they all fight because the distribution of benefits was uneven? My strength is greater than yours, so why should I listen to you?"

The people nearby drank and laughed, no longer paying Nagato any attention.

At that moment, Nagato remembered what the Emperor had said.

"The Shinobi Village System is the cancer of the world!"

Looking at the people beside him, he hesitated, wanting to speak but stopping himself.

Walking along the border between the Land of Fire and the Land of Rivers, he looked at the muddy, potholed road, and his mood turned foul as well.

One had to know that in the Empire, let alone the roads between provinces, even those between villages were solidly paved by Earth Release ninjas.

Countless people in the Empire wanted to return to the era when shinobi villages and the Daimyo jointly governed the country.

To them, that was a romantic and beautiful era.

The consciousness and bonds between people were like raging flames, burning without end.

In that era, even two people without any blood ties could sacrifice themselves for each other.

Neither the Kage nor the Daimyo could act with unchecked power. They cooperated with each other, and the nation flourished.

Everyone was free and happy, the air itself was sweet, and the entire nation wasn't oppressive like the Empire, where everyone was under such immense pressure that they broke down, while countless people worked themselves to death and wanted to commit suicide.

He had once imagined himself as one of them.

But now that he stood on this land, he fell into deep self-doubt.

In the distance, countless people had sallow faces. Each carried a small bundle, their eyes filled with numbness toward life.

They looked as though they were fleeing a disaster.

Who exactly had said that this was a romantic and beautiful era?

Nagato wanted to ask what these people were doing, but after merely glancing at him in his clean clothes and elegant bearing, they frowned and quickened their pace.

With no other choice, he bought some food and gave it to them before finally getting a response.

They were fleeing a disaster.

The Land of Rivers lay between the Land of Wind to the west and the Land of Fire to the east.

A sandstorm that came only once in a decade had swept over from the Land of Wind. The country was also suffering from a severe drought year after year, and most of the people in the Land of Rivers had gone an entire year without harvesting a single grain. With famine descending, they had no choice but to move toward the Land of Fire.

Nagato furrowed his brows tightly, completely unable to understand.

Why was this Land of Rivers so utterly defenseless?

When the sandstorm came, hadn't anyone predicted the disaster in advance with prophecy or Weather Ninjas?

Why had no one stopped it the moment the sandstorm appeared? Something that could be easily dealt with by just ten Wind Release Jonin—how had it become so complicated?

What did a drought year after year even mean?

If you suffered from constant drought, you could simply send out a thousand Water Release ninjas and easily fill an entire river!

If you wanted a permanent solution, you could also have several hundred Earth Release ninjas work day and night to tunnel underground and draw out the groundwater!

Why had such a simple matter been made so complicated? Tens of thousands of people were fleeing the country, and no one was doing anything?

What were the leaders of the Land of Rivers doing?

"Are your leaders incompetent? You could ask Water Release ninjas to fill the rivers, Earth Release ninjas to dig wells where you live, and Wind Release ninjas to blow away the sandstorms!"