Seeing Nagato fall into thought, Itachi continued, "It looks like you haven't considered what comes after your plan!"
"Granted... everything you've done really has been for peace, but... your thinking is far too shallow!"
As someone suffering from terminal delusions of grandeur and obsessive paranoia, Nagato naturally refused to agree with Itachi.
"Perhaps you're right, and I haven't thought my plan through thoroughly enough. But... I still believe that people who have never experienced pain cannot understand how precious peace is!"
Itachi shook his head, then looked at Pain with pity.
"No... you're wrong. More than seventy percent of the people in the Shinobi World are already suffering the pain you speak of!"
"Do you think they've come to appreciate how precious peace is?"
"All those people think about every day is how to survive, how to earn enough for a day's food. Some don't even have the chance to earn their food. All they can do is wait to starve to death!"
"War may not have taken their lives, but... this world hasn't given them any room to live, either!"
At that point, Itachi fixed his eyes on Pain and Konan. "Doesn't that count as pain?"
Growing emotional, Itachi unconsciously activated his Mangekyō Sharingan.
Naturally... the Mangekyō Sharingan had practically no effect on Pain. But... Itachi's words shook Nagato, who was controlling him, to his core.
The reason was simple... Nagato, Konan, and Yahiko had all experienced what Itachi described.
Back before they met Jiraiya, the three of them had been ordinary civilian children.
His own eyes might have possessed some unusual power, but... Konan and Yahiko really had been civilian children, not ninja.
Three lonely children with no one to rely on, thinking every day about how to survive, how to find food, and how to escape