"From today on, you're a member of the Akatsuki. For now, you'll be partnered with Konan."
"Of course, you've only just begun your probation. You won't receive an official code name yet."
With that, Pain flicked a ring into Aoike's hand. It had no characters engraved on it and looked like a blank ring.
As a symbol of his status and a means of communication, it made Pain's attitude clear.
Afterward, Pain quickly left to study tactics against Madara.
Aoike stretched, and the joints he hadn't moved in ages creaked as they loosened up.
Thanks to his powerful physique, injuries that might have left an ordinary person bedridden for half a year had healed enough for Aoike to begin light training after just two months.
The original angel of the Akatsuki began teaching him.
At that very moment, Sasuke was still training in Konoha, Naruto was still trying to earn everyone's recognition, Danzo was plotting to claim the Hokage Position in the shadows, and the aging Sarutobi was content with the illusion of peace.
Only the toads in their dreams sensed the unease stirred up by Aoike.
Year after year passed.
By the time Aoike turned twelve, he was gradually making his presence felt on the stage of the Ninja World.
After setting up warning traps in the surrounding area, Aoike leaned back against Konan and slowly relaxed.
Over the past few years, Aoike's strength had improved by leaps and bounds. Even without using the Tenseigan, his normal abilities were already on par with a village's Kage.
As he experimented, his ordinary chakra mode was no longer limited to changing his form. Though he'd only developed the beginnings of a chakra cloak, his ninjutsu had become far more destructive.
In simple terms, it gave him a slight boost to his defense and a major boost to his attack.
After its second awakening, the Tenseigan's abilities had nearly all been honed to their limits.
He'd also discovered that his Fire Release was far more powerful than anyone else's. Once amplified by his chakra mode, its heat rivaled Scorch Release.
Combining Uchiha swordsmanship with techniques from anime, he continued to develop all kinds of novel Fire Release Ninjutsu.
As Aoike sorted through his abilities, Konan's cool voice broke the silence.
"Aoike, do you really think Pain's... No, the Akatsuki's dream can't come true?"
At her words, Aoike turned his head slightly, looking surprised at the woman who'd always tried to get him to accept the Akatsuki's ideals.
After two years together, he'd grown to trust Konan and Nagato more. Besides, they'd laid nearly all their secrets bare when they first met.
Nagato was grooming Aoike to succeed him, after all. There weren't many normal people in the Akatsuki.
Aoike turned his head. The dim campfire cast its glow across his profile.
Human desire knew no bounds. Setting aside whether gathering the Tailed Beasts would go smoothly, even succeeding would only be like drinking poison to quench one's thirst.
Even when Hashirama Senju was alive, people had tried to assassinate him. What chance did the Akatsuki have, armed with a weapon capable of destroying everything?
Those countries might be intimidated for a while, but once they recovered, they'd covet the power of the Tailed Beasts again. Then would come another cycle of competing interests, war, hatred... an endless loop.
While Hashirama Senju lived, his strength had kept the entire Ninja World in check. But after his death, all that had built up quickly erupted.
It wasn't realistic to think that the Tailed Beasts alone could keep the entire Ninja World in check for long.
Unless they gathered the Tailed Beasts and immediately went to war with the Ninja World, people would keep testing the limits, provoking conflicts, and trying to seize or destroy the strongest weapon of war in the Ninja World.
The thing ninjas excelled at most was dirty work.
"Gathering the Tailed Beasts should only be the beginning, not the end."
"The bloodshed and darkness of the Ninja World are driven by human desire. From the time ninjas first appeared until now, the world has become like a dilapidated house. It's been rotting for far too long."
Ninjas possessed absolute power, yet submitted to the so-called daimyo. Most of the resources they acquired came from missions and funding from the daimyo.
The daimyo were all related to one another. They relied on the ninja villages, but were wary of them, too.
To put it bluntly, feudal lords squeezed the people dry, then tossed a couple of bones to the dogs so they wouldn't starve—but wouldn't be full, either.
And most ninja villages couldn't produce enough to support themselves...
"Creating a relatively peaceful world requires more than power. It also requires change."
Konan stared at Aoike, stunned. His unfamiliar words were shaking her worldview.
Ever since the Senju and the Uchiha joined forces to establish Konoha, and the system of ninja villages serving nations was passed down, everyone had believed it was perfect.
If the ninja villages had expanded their sense of scale from a clan to a village, then Aoike was thinking in terms of the entire Ninja World!
There was no helping it. The way resources were distributed across this world's map was bizarre.
Desert, mountains, forests, cliffs, islands—each region was sharply divided from the next.
You had abundant resources while I had nothing, and the natural environment couldn't be changed. There was no such thing as cooperation for mutual benefit here. Everyone had carried on the habit of fighting and killing.
Only the fighting had shifted from clashes between ninja clans to clashes between ninja villages.
Konan spent much of that night thinking. The Akatsuki's original goal had been to bring people to understand one another and thereby achieve world peace, but they'd failed because they hadn't truly understood the darkness of the world.
Then Pain had emerged, determined to make the world feel pain so that it would no longer dare to start wars.
But Aoike was right. If the entire world was only ever held down by force, sooner or later there would be an even more violent backlash. When it was all over, the Ninja World would still be the same world that devoured people.
Without a transformation forged in blood and fire, all their efforts would be in vain!
Once she understood this, Konan no longer hesitated. At dawn, after finishing their mission, she grabbed Aoike and flew back to the Land of Rain.