"Konan, when the time comes, you will be the Angel—the true angel of Amegakure."
"?" Konan frowned slightly at those absurd words. Although the villagers had always called her Lady Angel, she had never confirmed or denied it. After all, she did not believe she possessed such rare qualities as mercy and kindness.
Yet when she looked closely, Kagami did not seem to be joking.
"No!" Pain said coldly. His voice was not loud, but his tone allowed no doubt.
Kagami had long expected Pain's attitude. He was in no hurry to explain and instead asked, "What do you think is needed to achieve peace? Absolute strength? Of course, if we ignore how long it can be maintained, that does count as one method. But unfortunately, with your current strength, you cannot accomplish that, can you?"
Hearing this, Pain did not understand why Kagami had suddenly brought up such a question. But the strength of the people who had appeared recently had clearly surpassed anything he had expected. Thinking of how he had once called himself a "God," yet now lacked strength befitting a God, those words seemed like nothing more than a joke.
Pain's silence at that moment was like tacit permission for Kagami to continue.
Kagami went on, "In fact, this is a rare opportunity. Didn't you want to become a God? People cannot truly empathize with or understand one another, but there may be a way to make them follow rules from the bottom of their hearts. Those who break the rules will naturally be rejected. When most people follow the rules, a relative false peace will take shape."
Pain sneered. "Whatever method you are talking about, without absolute strength, do you think they will listen?"
"Nothing is absolute. You can treat it as a small attempt.