Since the "nuclear peace" was brought to Iwagakure by Allen, the entire shinobi world had lapsed into a bizarre state of tranquility and silence.
While the other four Great Nations spent the following days launching joint pursuits and purges of radical Nen users, they all, by unspoken agreement, filtered out the "source of the calamity" himself.
They had no choice.
It wasn't that they didn't want to eliminate Allen; they were simply too terrified by the sheer power of the nuclear explosion to make a move. Whether it was the Daimyos and nobles or the hidden villages, the ruling class could not hide in the shadows like a clandestine illegal organization. They had to stand in the light, visible to the commoners they ruled, to maintain their authority.
This meant they remained perpetually under the threat of a nuclear warhead.
Until a solution was found, no one dared to act rashly. No one was willing to gamble with their own lives or the lives of their families and friends. Suddenly, Great Villages like the Sand, Leaf, Cloud, and Mist began pouring resources into the study of Sealing Jutsu, desperately seeking a way to seal an explosion in an instant.
Simultaneously, Allen's title as the "World's Most Dangerous Individual" was set in stone.
Vengeful survivors hunted by the various hidden villages traveled thousands of miles to the Land of Rice Fields to join Otogakure. They came just to catch a glimpse of the young man who had brought such violent upheaval to the world, and to ask how they might overthrow the existing order and send the Daimyos, nobles, and shinobi villages to hell.
Regrettably, Allen had zero interest in these people; he never once showed his face. Instead, Orochimaru and Kabuto utilized their unique abilities to quietly carry out their own shady dealings.
"Allen, do you really intend to just let them do whatever they want?" Neji frowned, watching the crowds entering and exiting the laboratories.
As the possessor of the Byakugan, he had assisted in Orochimaru's research more than once and knew exactly how horrific the secret chambers deep underground truly were.
Allen, however, merely countered with a question: "Are those people there of their own free will, or are they being coerced?"
"It seems... they are volunteers." Neji paused, soon adopting a pensive expression.
Indeed. The people participating in Orochimaru's human experimentation and modification were not forced; they were there by choice. After all, these modifications allowed those who could not refine chakra to obtain the dual powers of a shinobi and a Nen user, power that would be used in the fight against the Great Villages.
"Exactly. They are volunteers, so what reason do I have to interfere? I've said it before: people must take responsibility for their own actions and choices. If you make a choice, you must be prepared to pay the price. Besides, do you think the Great Nations don't know that Otogakure has essentially become a training base for the resistance? No, they know. They simply don't dare to attack because I am here. Otherwise, this place would have been leveled long ago," Allen explained nonchalantly.
In truth, he wasn't blind to the fact that Orochimaru was using his deterrent power to achieve ulterior motives. He also understood that the Daimyos, nobles, and hidden villages were all desperate to kill him. If he wished, he could spark a full-scale revolution at any time, sweeping the Great Nations and the lurking Akatsuki into the dustbin of history.
But the question was: what comes after?
How does one build an administrative system in a society with such extremely backwards ideology and consciousness? How could he ensure the system functioned effectively, rather than succumbing to the irony of "the dragon slayer becoming the dragon"?
Political, economic, and social issues were far too complex, a waste of energy and brain cells. Thus, Allen preferred to simply sow the seeds and let the commoners of this world decide their own path. As for himself, he was better suited to the simple, raw pursuit of individual strength. That was a clear objective, unlike the bottomless pit of nation-building, once you jump in, you can never climb out.
"I don't understand. Since you know all of this, why not take the initiative?" Neji asked, deeply confused.
"Take the initiative? Against whom? The remaining four Great Nations?" Allen shook his head with a smile. "No. The Leaf, Cloud, Mist, and Sand were never our enemies, at least, not the primary ones."
"Then who is our enemy? The Akatsuki organization Orochimaru mentioned?" Neji pressed on, impatient.
"The Akatsuki is merely a tool manipulated by a mastermind in the shadows. Even the one controlling it is being fooled and deceived by an even greater shadow. Our enemy is the legendary mother of the Sage of the Six Paths, the source and progenitor of all chakra in this world..."
Allen didn't sugarcoat it; he stated his target directly.
In his eyes, the entire plot of Naruto could be summarized as a "massive game of Russian nesting dolls." Black Zetsu manipulated and deceived Madara Uchiha; Madara manipulated and deceived Obito Uchiha; and Obito, in turn, manipulated and deceived Nagato and the Akatsuki.
What's truly miraculous is that this chain of deception didn't collapse sooner. Especially Nagato, who styled himself a god yet was led by the nose by such simple, laughable lies. It was hard to tell if he was just dense or if he truly believed raw military force alone could maintain world peace. Moreover, with his shattered body, even if he succeeded, how many years could he have maintained it? Once the "God" died, the Akatsuki would splinter in minutes, and the Great Nations would go right back to war.
Then there was Obito, a madman who flipped from one extreme to another simply because a childhood crush died. Seeking revenge on the Mist was one thing, but how does murdering your own teacher and his wife make sense? Furthermore, his crush, Rin, actually loved Kakashi... The "friend-zone" energy was off the charts.
In short, every time Allen tried to rationally analyze these characters, he found that the "logic" of people in this world was fundamentally broken. They lacked basic logical concepts, let alone rational thought. Whether it was Nagato, Obito, or Madara, they were essentially lunatics venting their inner frustrations. They didn't care about making life better for the people; they just wanted to brute-force the world into the shape they desired.
Selfish. Arrogant. Ignorant.
But the terrifying part was that these madmen possessed immense power and were proactive in their insanity, steadfastly believing their own ideologies were the only truth.