At the very top of the administrative building, piercing through the dim, misty sky,
it was like a gaunt giant draped in a gray overcoat, silently watching over this land.
This was the highest point in all of Dawn City, and also where the bell was rung at daybreak.
And the one responsible for ringing that bell was Dawn, which lifted the veil of night.
Click!
The door to the top floor of the administrative building was pushed open, stirring up a chaotic gust of air as Nagato entered in black clothes, holding a black umbrella.
This floor was already filled with figures dressed uniformly in black. They wore white masks and radiated a cold, murderous air.
Although the rooftop seemed packed with people, there was not the slightest bit of noise. Only footsteps and the rustling of clothing could be heard, along with the occasional hushed discussion.
Even in silence, a single glance was enough for them to divide their tasks with perfect understanding.
They were like black owls, rushing between different people's funerals.
Even when they saw Nagato enter, they showed no reaction.
Nagato did not mind in the slightest. He walked into the room at an unhurried pace, then headed straight for the washroom.
After bolting the door and checking the lock to make sure no one could suddenly barge in, Nagato finally leaned wearily against it. One hand covered his waist while the other removed his clothes.
The clothes beneath his trench coat were soaked with cold sweat. After peeling away the blood-stained bandages layer by layer, he revealed a scabbed wound on his lower right abdomen that had split open again.
Nagato clenched a towel between his teeth, reached into the cabinet for the first-aid kit without looking back, took several deep breaths, then suddenly tensed up and carefully wiped the wound with an alcohol-soaked cotton ball through gritted teeth.
"Mmgh!!"
The instant pain nearly drained all strength from his body, and his vision abruptly went black. It took half a minute before it gradually returned.
Only after the wound stopped bleeding did he apply the special ointment, press gauze over it, and wrap it with bandages.
"Damn it!"
Nagato ground his teeth and narrowed his eyes as he muttered, "That kind of guy still managed to leave me in such a sorry state."
He had assumed the man codenamed "Owl" was merely a support-type fighter. He had not expected the other man's sensory abilities to be strong enough to detect him when he suddenly appeared behind him.
In the end, just as his brother had said meaningfully earlier,
that last desperate counterattack before death had still wounded him.
The massive secretion of adrenaline had prevented him from feeling pain at the time, but once his taut nerves relaxed, the pain came back with a vengeance.
"Phew!"
Nagato exhaled irritably, brushed his sweat-soaked red hair back, lowered his head to untie the black bandage over his eyes, then closed them and raised his face toward the washroom mirror.
A moment later, his trembling eyelids slowly opened, and his entire bearing changed in an instant.
What kind of eyes were those?!
Purple circular patterns spiraled inward across his irises. Under the light, they seemed to squirm faintly along with the contraction of his pupils, while a drifting purple glimmer flickered in their depths like ghost fire.
They possessed an eerie, seductive beauty, yet were also filled with a deep and evil aura that stirred instinctive discomfort.
"..."
The mirror reflected those aggressive purple eyes, and those eyes reflected Nagato's pale face. An uncontrollable trace of disgust rose on his face.
The more his sensory abilities developed, the more clearly he could sense the sinister nature of those eyes. The Chakra within them carried an utterly nauseating presence.
That foul aura bore no resemblance whatsoever to his own, and he could even feel his Chakra being contaminated in reverse.
Because of this, Nagato believed even more firmly in the excuse Yun Chuan had seemingly mentioned in passing.
—These truly were a pair of "cursed" eyes!
According to the original course of events, he should have met Jiraiya-sensei, who had been searching for the Child of Prophecy, and been regarded as the hope for peace.
But unlike the original development, Yun Chuan had found Nagato first.
Jiraiya-sensei had not placed expectations of saving the world on him because of these eyes. Nor had he regarded these eyes as anything remarkable, much less treated them as a lifeline after Yahiko's death.
Without Jiraiya-sensei planting preconceived notions in his mind, and with the Uzumaki Clan's innate sensory ability powerful enough to judge whether someone was lying by sensing their Chakra,
Nagato easily discovered the abnormality of these eyes, and through his memories, detected even more unsettling details.
He had once briefly sensed the feeling of being watched, but it had vanished almost instantly, so quickly that he had even wondered whether it had been an illusion.
"...It doesn't matter."
He slowly closed his eyes, retied the black bandage, and said softly, "They're just a pair of eyes, that's all!"
If so, then he would not use them.
Nagato's lowered face was completely indifferent. His words sounded like he was talking to himself, yet also like he was lecturing the reflection in the mirror.
What mattered most now was getting himself back into shape.
He had to meet the "relative" his brother had mentioned.
"A pair of cursed eyes? You suspect they can negatively affect their owner's mental state?"
Looking at the conclusion given in the report by the "Psychiatrist," Yahiko knitted his thick brows tightly together and asked in a low voice, "Can something that terrifying really exist?"
Besides Nagato, this report documented a total of thirty people.
Of course, everyone besides Nagato was anonymous.
"That Psychiatrist is someone with a special and rare talent."
Yun Chuan tapped the table and casually explained, "Her main task is to serve as Dawn's 'psychologist,' observing and evaluating the mental states of Dawn members through conversation and contact."
These thirty people were the most typical examples. Their issues were emotional instability, nightmares, and bloodlust.
Yun Chuan was not particularly surprised by the results.
After all, even children under the age of ten had several lives on their hands. Even Konoha had team leaders protect junior Ninja while they killed mountain bandits.
Fugaku Uchiha had even gone so far as to bring his three-year-old son to the battlefield, making him witness people slaughtering and hating one another in war.
When Itachi asked why strangers who had never met each other would engage in such meaningless slaughter, Fugaku matter-of-factly answered that it was not a conflict between people, but a conflict between nations.
Yes, that was right.
Every country seemed to have endless reasons, and every country seemed to have endless demands.
Resources, hatred, politics, population, environment...
As long as people existed, they would have demands. Once they had demands, desires would grow, squeezing the living space of others.
Yet instead of finding ways to make the pie bigger, they fought to the death over that tiny piece of cake...
Of course, Yun Chuan held no resentment toward Ninja. He merely regretted their deaths. If they became tools in his hands, they could have created much greater value.
Endless wars, unceasing conflicts year after year.
Human lives were like scattered snowflakes, turning into fragmented mist amid the flames of war.
They did not even need to be touched before melting into heaven and earth.
In an environment as war-torn as the Ninja world, combined with such cruel and bloody education, it would have been strange if these people, raised as executioners since childhood, had not developed psychological distortions.
By comparison, Yun Chuan attached great importance to Dawn's mental state.
What he wanted was military strength—people who could still serve as instructors after retirement—not a group of numb killing machines that could only rot away at home once the war ended.
Without the mindset to control great power, they were nothing but savage madmen running amok.
After several rounds of counseling from the Psychiatrist, the psychological issues among Dawn's members had eased considerably.
"Sigh."
Thinking of this, Yun Chuan sighed with a headache and murmured, "When all is said and done, military restructuring and educational reform are still necessary..."
If one wanted to completely reform a country's intellectual climate, institutions would always be the ultimate issue that could not be ignored.
Aside from funding provided by the Lord, a Ninja village's major economic pillar was its so-called mission quotas.
Ninja actually earned money by completing hired missions, while the Ninja village merely acted as a platform that took a cut.
That entirely mission-based employment model was essentially nothing more than a mercenary organization.
Yet during wartime, the reason for gathering those "mercenaries" became the so-called "country and homeland."
It was a complete hodgepodge. How did it resemble the highest military defense institution in any way?
"Oh, right, Boss."
Yahiko looked up from the report and asked Yun Chuan curiously, "Is that 'Psychiatrist' still in the city?"
"...Her?"
Yun Chuan came back to himself, looked out the window, and smiled as he shook his head. His gaze turned northeast as he said calmly, "I sent her to the Land of Lightning to carry out an important mission."
"I told her that studying medicine couldn't save the Land of Rain, nor could it save the Ninja world."
Rumble rumble!!
At the same time, atop a towering mountain shrouded in clouds and mist, Kumogakure was awakened by thunder carried on a white serpent streaking across the sky.
"Achoo!"
In a hospital ward in Kumogakure, a young woman wearing glasses sneezed.
"Doctor?" The man sitting before her instinctively showed concern.
His dark face was painted with deep-blue diamond-shaped markings. His half-white, half-green hair looked especially strange, and his entire body radiated a visible air of confusion.
"Don't worry, Fukai." The woman waved her hand, returning to her usual gentle demeanor. She looked at him with a slight smile. "Let's continue our previous topic."
"Does becoming a Jinchuriki make you feel miserable?"
Before you continue