On the way back, Nagato escorted eight Sand Ninja prisoners by himself. The remaining bodies had already been buried where they fell.
The reason he kept these eight prisoners was not only because Taro and the others opposed killing captives, but also because he wanted to use the Human Path's abilities to obtain more useful intelligence from the Sand Ninja.
While Nagato interrogated the Sand Ninja, Taro and the others began discussing him.
The subject of their discussion was Nagato, whose temperament had changed drastically. His every action made him seem like a completely different person, with no trace of his former weakness or timidity.
Yet no matter how they discussed it, they could not explain Nagato's abnormality. They could only suppress their doubts.
Taro and the others' actions did not escape Nagato's perception. After hearing what they had discussed, Nagato sighed softly. He recalled something Uzumaki Menma had once told him: "Nagato, you're too extreme."
That was true. Akatsuki was too extreme.
From trusting others without reservation to stubbornly trusting no one at all, Akatsuki had seemingly never been normal.
It was not as though he had never considered setting Akatsuki on the right path. But if Akatsuki became like the other great nations and shinobi villages, would it still be the Akatsuki Yahiko had founded? It would be nothing more than another version of the Five Great Shinobi Villages.
Yet Menma's suggestion was also immensely tempting to him... leaving him unsure of what choice to make.
After returning to their temporary base, Nagato obtained the intelligence he wanted.
They were currently in the middle of the Third Shinobi World War. Because Sunagakure had been faring poorly in the war, it had sent people into the Land of Rain to stir up conflict, intending to drag the strictly neutral