Chapter 169: Akatsuki's Vision for Peace, Birth of the Rasengan!
A carriage filled with suppressed laughter slowly made its way homeward.
Passing through hills, plains, canyons, and streams—
Atop a distant cliff, watching the boy's journey home, Yahiko withdrew his gaze and flashed his companions a bright smile.
"Just as I expected—he came here for exactly this reason!"
"He succeeded!"
"He brought this brief peace to the Land of Rain, which has wept for so long."
Nagato frowned, calmly analyzing the situation.
"However, Yahiko, the alliance between Sunagakure and Iwagakure still went through. Once Iwagakure finishes its conflict with Kirigakure—"
"This place will become a true slaughterhouse!"
"It'll become the most chaotic and brutal battlefield in the entire shinobi world!"
"This peace is temporary, false—like the calm before a storm!"
Yahiko nodded, a flash of seriousness crossing his eyes.
"That's right. But there's no denying it—Uchiha Tsukasa killing Ebizō did rewrite the course of this war and indirectly saved the Land of Rain."
"Sunagakure withdrew from the Rain Country's borders, and the scale of fighting between both sides gradually decreased."
"He bought us more time!"
"So—"
"Now it's time for us to take action!"
Wearing a black cloak, her light blue hair styled in a bun and adorned with a white paper flower, Konan paused for a moment before suddenly asking:
"Yahiko, what should we do?"
She pursed her lips. Despite her deep trust in Yahiko, the moment their ideals would become reality—combined with the difficulties Akatsuki had faced recently—still left her feeling uncertain.
Even just expanding the organization and recruiting members was already giving them major headaches.
"Our mission is to use words to help people understand each other, to stop war, and help those who are enemies find common ground."
"That's too difficult."
"The shinobi wounded by war are filled only with anger and hatred."
Yahiko shook his head, smiling calmly.
"Konan, you're right."
He chuckled softly, then looked up, his eyes blazing with determination.
"But you must understand—our goal isn't to save the entire world, nor is it to make everyone in the world understand each other."
"We act for the peace of the Land of Rain."
"When women are still weeping, when children are still starving, when men are still fleeing across the land—"
"When there's still a lost child crying in the streets;"
"When there's still a broken soul, consumed by hatred and waiting for battle, wandering through this weeping land—"
"We must continue to fight! Continue to act!"
"We're not trying to convince those filled with hatred to give up revenge—that's unrealistic."
"What we truly need to do is..."
"To gather these wandering strays, these nameless rogue shinobi, these ambitious souls obsessed with revenge—those who already understand what pain truly is—and make them realize one thing:"
"We don't want others to suffer the same pain we have!"
"We act for this purpose!"
Yahiko looked at his companions in black cloaks standing behind him, and a brilliant smile spread across his face.
At this moment, there were already dozens of people at his side!
Then he turned back, continuing to watch the carriage and the boy disappear into the distance. After they vanished from sight, he looked at Nagato standing to his right.
His eyes were filled with expectation.
Empathy—this was Yahiko's philosophy.
He stood on firm ground—with his companions, for his country—accurately understanding himself and the situation, taking concrete and realistic actions, each step incredibly solid.
All for the sake of one day truly building a genuine Bridge of Peace!
His mission was to become a pillar supporting that bridge!
And now, in his eyes, two people had the potential to achieve this: Nagato, who inherited the Sage's Eyes, and Uchiha Tsukasa, who fought tirelessly and consistently used his actions to prevent war!
His battles in the Land of Hot Water brought peace to that region!
Now, his battles in the Land of Rain had also brought peace here!
Where would he go to fight next?!
Yahiko didn't know.
But he offered the young man about to embark on his journey a heartfelt blessing from Akatsuki—
"Have a safe journey!"
The carriage moved slowly along the path, finally stopping at an abandoned village to rest.
Since the fighting had eased and there were no urgent missions, Minato's team—including Tsukasa—didn't rush back to the village but proceeded at a leisurely pace.
At this moment, Tsukasa and Namikaze Minato were leaning against a haystack, gazing at the sky.
The three genin were chopping wood and boiling water, preparing for a meal.
Tsukasa wanted to help, but was quickly stopped by Nohara Rin's incredibly gentle words: "You're still recovering, Tsukasa-san~"
This ultimately earned him a barrage of envious and jealous glares from Obito.
Unable to work, Tsukasa could only lie there with Minato.
Since leaving camp, Namikaze Minato had seemed preoccupied.
Tsukasa could roughly guess what he was thinking about.
According to what he knew, to stop the Suna-Iwa alliance, Jiraiya had led a team to infiltrate the Land of Earth, attempting to disrupt the alliance agreement. They were eventually intercepted by Iwagakure's jinchūriki—the Four-Tails Rōshi and the Five-Tails Han.
Minato had been part of that strike team assembled by Jiraiya.
After witnessing the terrifying power of the Tailed Beast Bomb and the jinchūriki—power beyond human comprehension—he couldn't stop thinking about Kushina, another jinchūriki.
The thought of that terrifying monster residing within Kushina kept Minato in a daze.
He lay back against the haystack, raising his hand toward the sun.
A wave of fear washed over him, as if the dazzling orb in the sky was a Tailed Beast Bomb hurtling toward him.
What should he do?
How could a human possibly counter such power?
Minato's hand trembled involuntarily, rotating slightly around the sun.
Suddenly, his eyes lit up!
A surge of intensely rotating chakra appeared in his palm!
Tsukasa knew that Minato was conceiving a new technique, and he would soon witness the birth of the legendary jutsu—the Rasengan.
However, he had no interest in interfering.
In fact, his own mind was in turmoil.
He'd encountered so many things recently, one after another, with no time to catch his breath.
Initially, he'd recklessly courted death under the influence of his insurance policy.
Later, under Orochimaru's guidance and others' influence, he'd made increasingly suicidal moves.
Now, the plot had taken a complete turn: Ebizō was dead, Sunagakure had lost, and Iwagakure had been dragged into a protracted war by Kirigakure.
It felt as if the entire world had suddenly become completely unfamiliar to him.
In this unfamiliar world, insurance fraud was definitely out of the question, and he could no longer be certain whether the future would be good or bad.
The only path left for him seemed to be what Orochimaru had told him: to recklessly push himself to the limit, endlessly fighting and unleashing forbidden techniques to artificially inflate his combat power—that seemed relatively more reliable.
But could he really do it?
Without Indra and Ashura's chakra, he couldn't claim the protagonist's role. The seemingly viable path to Six Paths level through the Rinnegan was under Old Man Madara's nose, and the cunning Black Zetsu lurked even deeper in the shadows.
Without the Rinnegan and the Gedō Mazō, could he possibly achieve Six Paths level by simply stacking jutsu?
Would that even work?
Tsukasa felt utterly exhausted, increasingly weary and lost.
Gazing at the boundless blue sky, he thought: To hell with it—I'll just take it one step at a time!
He cleared his mind, wanting only to enjoy this moment of peace.
However—
At that moment, Tsukasa's eyelids twitched as he suddenly felt a heart-stopping chakra fluctuation beside him!
He abruptly turned his head—
And saw a violent, unstable, intensely bright blue sphere of light rapidly expanding before him!
The next instant—
Tsukasa's eyes widened in shock.
"Oh shit!"
End of Chapter 169
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