In the central district of Iwagakure.
The smoke drifting across the sky slowly sank, covering the battered ground with another layer of dust.
Four black-cloaked figures lay scattered across the ground, their bodies embedded in the earth, as if a giant had pounded them into it with his fists.
"Ōnoki..."
"From today onward, there will be no more Land of Earth or Iwagakure..."
Deva Path Pain gripped a black rod in his hand, then viciously hurled it at Ōnoki's back as he lay facedown on the ground.
Thud!
The sharp black rod pierced straight into Ōnoki's lower back.
"Ah!"
Ōnoki groaned. His face was covered in blood and grime, but he stubbornly lifted his head to look at the culprit who had destroyed Iwagakure.
"Great nations... wage war to bring about peace..."
"Not... to kill!"
Ōnoki's eyes were beginning to glaze over, but he still spoke in a firm voice, whether to convince his enemy or deceive himself.
"You've proven yourselves great nations, yet you take yourselves for the stars of the world and, in the name of peace, wreak senseless slaughter..."
"You're nothing more than fools chasing peace... Either you kill, or you're killed. War is what links those two things together, and war... inevitably brings death and suffering."
Dust also coated Deva Path Pain's black cloak. He casually brushed it off and stated his beliefs as if they were obvious.
"Hah!"
"Those who dare... disrupt the balance of the Ninja World..."
"This so-called... peace of yours..."
"Will bring... endless war and death to the Ninja World!"
Ōnoki braced himself with his thin arms and struggled to raise his upper body. When he finished speaking, he spat out a mouthful of blood.
"Ridiculous!"
"Your narrow-minded, self-righteous sense of justice is no different from what I've done to your village