No Right to Choose

Nagato gazed into the distance, an uncontrollable thought churning in his heart.

If every ninja village in this world could be like the Konohagakure before me... how wonderful would that be?

Of course, the "Konoha" he envisioned specifically referred to the village under the leadership of the Fourth Hokage, Minato Namikaze.

Though Nagato had never personally experienced the legendary era created by the First, Hashirama Senju, and the Second, Tobirama Senju.

The vitality and relative openness displayed by Konoha under Minato Namikaze allowed him to see another possibility for the ninja village system.

However, Konoha had not always been like this.

When he recalled the period when the Third Hokage, Hiruzen Sarutobi, held power, a shadow passed through Nagato's eyes.

Especially whenever the figure named Shimura Danzō surfaced in his mind, a bone-deep hatred nearly burst from his chest.

It was precisely during those years that Danzō and Root's methods had inflicted indelible trauma and tragedy upon Nagato's life, becoming the eternal source of pain and fury in his heart.

Nagato shook his head painfully, driving that overly idealistic vision from his mind.

He knew it was nothing more than an unattainable wish.

Although Konoha's absolute strength now maintained a superficial peace among the Five Great Nations and their ninja villages, and the flames of war seemed to have temporarily subsided amid the struggles of the great powers.

Beneath the curtain of that "peace" lay an entirely different reality.

In the lands of small nations and minor ninja villages overshadowed by the great powers, conflict and war had never truly ceased for even a moment.

It was simply that these weak entities neither dared nor possessed the ability to touch upon the boundaries of interest held by the Five Great Nations and the Five Great Ninja Villages in this world