Konoha Crush Plan 1

The ripples in Pain's Rinnegan seemed to tighten slightly, though his face remained impassive.

He was silent for several seconds. Then a cold, cutting scoff echoed through the empty hall.

"Save the Shinobi World?" Pain's voice dripped with scorn. "Orochimaru, who's obsessed with Forbidden Techniques, has betrayed everyone, and cares for nothing but his own greed? The future Shinobi World needs scum like him to save it?"

He slowly raised a hand, as if to grasp the illusory Canopy Screen before him.

"What a bitter joke! When did the word 'hero' become so cheap that even someone like Orochimaru could lay claim to it?"

His words cut like shards of ice. "It's an insult to everyone who truly gave their lives for their beliefs!"

Konan's expression remained calm. She had long since grown used to the way Nagato spoke.

She added evenly, "If it weren't so absurd and embarrassing, why would the arrogant leaders of the Five Great Nations agree to erase this part of history and bury Orochimaru's achievements?"

"They still care so much about saving face that they'd rather weave lies than admit they were saved by someone they themselves called 'evil.'"

Pain snorted. A light that seemed to see through everything, yet despise it all, moved through his Rinnegan. He had seen through the hypocrisy of the Five Great Nations long ago.

But now, his urge to kill Orochimaru seemed to have given way to curiosity.

"Tell Deidara and Sasori to stop hunting Orochimaru," Pain ordered suddenly. His voice had regained the calm of a god looking down on all living things. "There's no need to waste our people on a mere traitor."

He turned toward the endless curtain of rain outside the window, as though gazing through time at that uncertain future.

"I'd like to see