Nagato's Change

"Ho... ho... how many?"

Jiraiya sucked in a cold breath and nearly stumbled off his feet.

"Where we come from, the so-called students basically mean Genin. You heard that right: two million Genin."

Jiraiya could no longer sit still. He paced back and forth, cold sweat pouring down his forehead.

"Impossible! Absolutely impossible!"

Two million Genin? Are you kidding me?

Jiraiya had never imagined how fertile people could be when they had no worries about food or drink for twenty years. It would not be an exaggeration to call it explosive population growth.

Their world had a total population of roughly three hundred million. The Land of Fire had only about fifty million, and because of the prolonged wars and instability, its population had barely grown.

That world has ten million newborns alone?

In other words, they could produce a Land of Fire every three years?

And those ninjas...

It had to be known that ever since Sage of Six Paths founded Ninshu, only his Ninshu descendants had elemental Chakra. Ordinary people did not. How could there be millions of Genin, along with so many Chunin and Jonin?

Jiraiya did not know that everyone in a world touched by the God Tree possessed Chakra within their bodies. It simply had not been activated. The Imperial Body Refining Method used within the Empire could perfectly control the Chakra in their bodies, although they could not use elemental transformations.

"There's nothing impossible about it. Just because you can't do something doesn't mean no one else can."

"Jiraiya, you can't imagine the Empire's prosperity. Join us! If you persuade the Hidden Leaf Village, the Empire's advance won't be stained with too much blood."

The reason Nagato had revealed the number and foundation of the Empire's ninjas was to make Jiraiya give up resisting.

During this brief journey, Nagato had also realized that this variant of his master truly yearned for peace to descend, but he had chosen the wrong method.

Nagato did not want the two worlds to truly become rivers of blood and clash in warfare.

It was a lie that he had no feelings for the Empire. The only person he had hated before was the Emperor, but after this journey, he had already understood and corrected his own attitude.

It was better to endure short-term pain than long-term suffering. The Emperor's vision was exceedingly far-sighted!

The reason he had told Jiraiya so much was also because he still retained a measure of kindness in his heart. He did not want too many people in this world to die because of foolish resistance.

Jiraiya stared at Nagato in disbelief.

"You mean... you'll ultimately attack us for the sake of your Empire?"

Nagato sighed and nodded.

"Your world is too dark. Your common people need to be liberated. They need freedom and dignity."

Hearing Nagato's arrogant, judgmental words, Jiraiya finally stopped concealing his disappointment.

"I will not betray the Hidden Leaf Village. Since you've already made your decision, then we'll meet on the battlefield!"

"Our Hidden Leaf ninjas will protect our homeland. Even if we die on the battlefield, we will never utter a word of surrender!"

With that, Jiraiya turned around.

"Nagato... I misjudged you. You're not as kind as I imagined. Since you want to bring disaster to this world, don't blame me when we cross blades the next time we meet..."

Watching Jiraiya's figure gradually disappear into the horizon, Nagato sighed.

After witnessing this world's errors, Nagato understood that the Shinobi Village System and the Imperial System could never coexist. The Empire's conquest would not stop because of him, and he no longer wanted to stop the Empire either.

Although Jiraiya had been the first guide Nagato encountered after arriving in this world and had given him countless pieces of information along the way, the two of them had ultimately still taken opposing sides.

"Slaves of the old days... why do you cling so stubbornly to a flawed system instead of changing it?"

Nagato's heart was filled with regret.

Nagato glanced over the ground, which was now a complete mess with only a group of commoners cleaning it up, and let out a heavy sigh.

"I shouldn't have meddled in this."

He landed on the ground. Seeing the young woman who had been abused into unconsciousness, Nagato infused some gentle Chakra into her body to keep her alive.

After glancing at the several portly Daimyo, Nagato formed hand seals.

"Dead Demon Consuming Seal—Modified!"

In a world invisible to the few men, the Death God tore out the souls beneath them and then sliced them away with a single stroke.

Furthermore, the modified Dead Demon Consuming Seal would no longer absorb the caster's soul. Instead, it absorbed a large portion of their life force.

Thus, these Daimyo completely lost the ability to sire children.

Only after finishing all this did Nagato disappear from the area.

His current destination was... the Valley of the End!

Far away, Jiraiya, who had already left the area, hurried home to personally discuss the matter of the parallel universe with the Third Hokage.

He had not expected to encounter Root ninjas here.

Jiraiya swept an displeased glance over them.

If I hadn't left Nagato, would I have run into them just now?

"Jiraiya, this is a handwritten letter from Danzo. He instructed you to open it personally."

The Root ninja bowed to Jiraiya, then respectfully presented the letter with both hands.

Jiraiya opened the letter, then shook his head.

"Nagato has already left the Land of Fire, and the people we have here aren't enough to stop him."

In fact, they could still catch up to him if they pursued him now, but after everything he had experienced over the past few days, Jiraiya was not yet willing to attack him.

Besides, if he joined forces with Root, and Nagato truly fell into their hands, the consequences...

Jiraiya chose to evade the matter.

He glanced toward where Nagato had gone and murmured, "This is the last thing I can do for you..."

Year 7 of the Hidden Leaf Village, Valley of the End.

Madara Uchiha and Hashirama Senju stood facing each other atop their respective statues.

Madara intended to fake his death in order to obtain Hashirama's cells and complete the Eye of the Moon Plan.

Just as the two were fighting fiercely, a group of Shadow Clones descended from the sky.

"Uh... what year is this?"

"Hashirama, who is he?"

"Madara! I was about to ask you the same thing! Who is he?"

"Sorry... wrong way..."

Bang...

Orochimaru's Shadow Clone transformed into a cloud of white smoke and vanished.

Within the Empire.

Because of the cross-world transmission, Orochimaru could not receive the memories of his alternate-world clones. However, they had agreed that if several Shadow Clones dispersed together, it would mean they had failed.

Without a doubt, the attempt to alter the coordinate positioning had failed again.

"Damn it!"

Orochimaru pounded on the one-way transmission gate.

"Without a stable transmission channel, changing the coordinates even slightly changes the year and time as well. Damn it!"

A figure appeared there, and Orochimaru hurriedly bowed.

"Lord Senju!"

Senju nodded.

"How did it go? You still can't contact them?"

Orochimaru lowered his head in shame.

"Yes... I'm doing my best... The space over there seems to have been sealed, but changing the coordinates sends us to a different timeline, so..."

Senju had no intention of blaming Orochimaru. He helped him up and comforted him, "Give them some time. You don't need to put so much pressure on yourself either. At least the timelines on both sides match. Letting them stay there a little longer to gain experience isn't a bad thing."

Faced with Lord Senju's consolation, Orochimaru felt even more ashamed.

"I've been doing everything I can to find a way to change the coordinates without crossing through time. I can finish it within three months at most!"