I Am Uchiha Jin!

Yahiko's face alternated between green and white. He wanted to refute Hanzō the Salamander's words, yet he had no idea where to begin.

Yahiko's background had limited his understanding, and his life of constant wandering as a child had left him with no opportunity to encounter more things.

Although Yahiko had met Jiraiya, who was a fairly decent teacher, the young Jiraiya might not even have found his own path at the time. Besides, he had only taught Yahiko's Trio for three years; no one could expect him to impart much cultural knowledge to Yahiko.

The fact that Yahiko had reached this point through his own experiences was already quite remarkable.

Seeing this, Hanzō the Salamander comforted him. "Yahiko, there's no need to belittle yourself. If you continue following your current ideas, you may still be able to bring the Land of Rain a period of peace."

"Back then, I also wanted those great nations to hear the voice of the Land of Rain. When communication proved useless, I wanted them to see the Land of Rain's strength instead."

Yahiko's heart stirred at those words. He asked, "Lord Hanzō, do you mean when you declared war on the Three Great Nations of Fire, Earth, and Wind at the same time?"

Hanzō the Salamander nodded. "The Land of Rain is a small nation. Those great nations never took us seriously! I also knew that the Land of Rain could not possibly contend with the Three Great Nations of Fire, Earth, and Wind!"

"But I declared war on them anyway!"

"All so I could win the Land of Rain a chance to speak with them as equals!"

"Unfortunately, I failed!"

Yahiko fell silent.

His own ideas had actually only been born after he saw what Hanzō the Salamander had done.

Hanzō the Salamander had come close to succeeding back then. Unfortunately, his strength had still been insufficient.

"Lord... Lord Hanzō, is there truly no real peace in this world?"

As Yahiko remained silent, Nagato suddenly spoke from the side.

Compared to Yahiko, Nagato's "ambition" was actually greater.

Because of the Rinnegan, Jiraiya had added quite a bit of personal instruction for Nagato, this suspected Child of Destiny, when he taught them.

Yahiko was more practical. Perhaps his sights were still limited to the Land of Rain, while Nagato had set his eyes high and far, upon the entire world.

Hanzō the Salamander smiled at that. "If you want the answer, you must first understand the essence of war."

The essence of war?

Yahiko's Trio immediately perked up, staring intently at Hanzō the Salamander.

To them, this was an extremely complicated question. There were countless causes of war, some of them baffling and impossible to grasp. They simply could not understand them.

They wanted to hear Hanzō the Salamander's perspective.

Hanzō the Salamander did not keep them in suspense. "No matter the excuse for starting a war, no matter the reason behind it, in the end, it is nothing more than a struggle for interests!"

"A struggle for interests?!"

"That's right, a struggle for interests!" Hanzō the Salamander nodded, then asked, "Have you ever watched Animal World?"

Yahiko looked confused. "Animal World? What is that?"

Hanzō the Salamander froze. He had gotten carried away and failed to stop himself, so he had misspoken.

But after only a moment, Hanzō the Salamander explained, "A book that studies the habits of animals!"

Yahiko shook his head. "We've never heard of that book."

Hanzō the Salamander smiled. "It's rather obscure. After all, very few people are interested in the lives of animals, so it's normal that you haven't read it!"

"But humans are merely more complex animals. Thus, the habits of those animals can quite directly reflect many problems within human society!"

"Take war, for example!"

After a pause, Hanzō the Salamander continued, "On a vast grassland, many predators live together—lions, cheetahs, leopards, hyenas, and the like. They all survive by hunting herbivores such as cattle and sheep!"

"They compete and fight one another. When they encounter the other side's young, they kill them without hesitation!"

"Nor does this happen only between different species. Even within the same species, they attack descendants that do not share their bloodline!"

"This has been the case for thousands upon thousands of years!"

"Do you know why?"

Yahiko furrowed his eyebrows. He vaguely sensed something, but it was as though a layer of fog stood between him and the answer, preventing him from seeing clearly.

Nagato hesitated before saying, "Because of interests?"

"Correct!" Hanzō the Salamander smiled and nodded. "Because the grass on that grassland is fixed, the number of cattle and sheep it can support is also fixed!"

"And if the cattle and sheep are fixed, then naturally the number of predators they can sustain is fixed as well!"

"If there were no conflict, the ever-growing number of predators would eventually devour all the cattle and sheep, then perish themselves!"

"They fight one another and kill each other's young only to reduce their competitors, allowing themselves and their descendants to survive better! That creates an ecological balance!"

"By the same logic, if we treat this world as an enormous grassland, compare cattle and sheep to various resources, and compare every nation to predators, then wars between nations become easy to understand!"

"Just like the Second Shinobi World War that began because of me. In the end, I was merely fighting for the Land of Rain's interests!"

Yahiko's Trio turned deathly pale, their eyes filled with confusion.

Hanzō the Salamander's words were simple and easy to understand. The three of them had seen the essence of war quite clearly.

But precisely because of that, their convictions began to waver.

When survival itself was at stake, conflict was simply unavoidable!

When everyone was on the verge of being unable to survive, what could mutual understanding possibly accomplish?

Have everyone embrace each other and die together?

No! Absolutely not!

Even beasts fought to survive. How could humans, who possessed more greed and desire than beasts, possibly stop fighting?

If conflict could not be avoided, then where could true peace possibly come from?

All their previous efforts seemed to have been nothing but futile labor!

That so-called mutual understanding leading to peace was nothing more than bullshit!

Hanzō the Salamander took in every reaction from Yahiko's Trio and smiled. "What's wrong? Has the cruel reality struck you that hard?"

Yahiko gave a bitter smile. "Sorry, but this result is indeed hard to accept."

Hanzō the Salamander said, "Actually, once you find the problem, finding a way to solve it becomes much easier!"

Yahiko's Trio's eyes lit up at once!

Yahiko asked, "Lord Hanzō, are you saying you found a way to resolve conflict?"

Hanzō the Salamander nodded. "Given enough time, you may also find your own paths. But before that, would you like to hear my thoughts?"

"Of course!"

Yahiko's Trio answered without hesitation.

"Hm..." Hanzō the Salamander pondered for a moment. "Then before that, let me formally introduce myself first!"

As Hanzō the Salamander spoke, his eyes turned scarlet and his expression became vacant!

A figure stepped out from the shadow behind Hanzō the Salamander and spoke amid the horrified gazes of Yahiko's Trio.

"I am Uchiha Jin. It's a pleasure to meet you!"