This puppeteer is a bit... well...

Chapter 248 Nagato and Konan (Part 2)

Amegakure was indeed destroyed by Sunagakure's chakra cannon, a fact that Konan witnessed firsthand from the Kaminari Castle.

But Nagato said that Amegakure was destroyed because of his wish... Konan didn't understand, but she could vaguely understand it. That feeling of not quite understanding made her wonder.

"Did Yahiko die at the hands of Sunagakure?"

Nagato asked again.

Konan didn't know what Nagato's intention was in asking that question, but after hesitating for a moment, she nodded, "Yes."

"No, he died because of Hanzo's ambition!"

"Did you die at the hands of Sunagakure?"

Nagato asked again, and this time, Konan finally understood.

"No, I died as a result of Madara's scheme."

"Wrong, you died because of Madara's long-cherished wish!"

Unexpectedly, Nagato once again rejected Konan's answer.

He explained, "Madara never intended to kill anyone unrelated to him. You were just a stepping stone to fulfill his long-cherished wish, so he plotted to harm you, just like this Amegakure."

I had no intention of harming anyone or any village; I was simply caught in the crossfire while trying to fulfill my long-cherished wish.

So that's how it is, so that's how it is, so that's how it is...

Looking at Nagato, whose expression was calm but whose tone carried a hint of madness, Konan had a sudden realization and felt heartbroken for what Nagato had done.

Because it was a thorny path.

"Konan, you ask me why, knowing Madara Uchiha was orchestrating everything, I still willingly became his pawn, helping him complete his plan..." Nagato looked at the little girl before him, the emotions rising in his heart gradually fading away. "Because, I want to create a world where tragedy will never happen again!"

The deaths of Konan and Yahiko caused Nagato immense grief.

He regretted it more than once, wishing he could have done XX back then.

However, when he realized that Madara Uchiha was behind Konan's death, and when he recalled what Ryuji had told him about Yahiko's actions—that they weren't about protecting peace, but rather about facilitating Hanzo's invasion of the Land of Iron—he understood...

All tragedies stem from the desires of the human heart.

If everyone's desires cannot be satisfied, then there will be disputes, struggles, and wars. And wars will affect the innocent, causing all sorts of tragedies.

If the root of the problem cannot be eradicated, then even if he saved Yahiko and Konan back then, similar things will happen again. Will he be able to save them again and again then?

No.

Even with his current level of power, Nagato is well aware that there are many things in the world that are beyond his control.

Therefore, the only solution is to eradicate the root cause of all problems.

Human desires are insatiable, and he does not have the ability to satisfy everyone's desires, so he can only suppress them.

The only thing that can suppress human desires is absolute force.

Therefore, he needs the power of the tailed beasts and needs to become a god who can suppress all wars.

"Xiao Nan, if you try to stop me, I'll kill you too!"

Nagato gazed intently at the girl before him.

……

Floating continent.

To the east, at the cliff edge.

The elite squad of the allied forces who infiltrated the city of machines used their chakra to attach themselves to it and remained motionless.

"Kakashi, how much longer?" Obito asked in a low voice.

"Wait a little longer!"

"What are you waiting for?"

"Wait for the Sand Village ninjas to come out of the city and meet the enemy," Kakashi said calmly.

"Are you crazy? They have such high walls, why would they come out of the city to fight instead of defending them?"

Upon hearing this, the other team members also looked over.

Kakashi remained calm and said indifferently, "It definitely will."

"Can you explain why?" Nakaji asked.

"Phew~"

Seeing that no one trusted him, Kakashi couldn't help but sigh and said, "In the past five years, the various ninja villages have not only spent all their savings on building the Sky City, but even the daimyo's finances have gone into deficit... Just one Sky City has caused this much trouble, what about the Mechanical Castle?"

"Although the specialties of the Land of Wind are very popular in the ninja world and the daimyo is very rich, they have also launched a water recycling system throughout the country. Even with subsidies from real estate development plans, it is impossible for them to have any money left after building the mechanical city and mass-producing puppets."

"That makes sense, but what does that have to do with whether they will come out of the city to fight?" Obito still didn't understand.

Upon hearing this, Kakashi rolled his eyes as usual.

Shisui, who was standing nearby, couldn't help but laugh and said, "Because they're out of money, they want to avoid government spending, so they definitely don't want to fight in a city where buildings are easily damaged."

"I see!" Obito suddenly realized. "Although we don't know the distribution of the enemy's forces inside the city, as long as the main force goes out of the city to meet the enemy, the probability of us encountering the enemy will be greatly reduced."

"That's it!" Kakashi nodded and instructed, "So everyone, conserve your energy. When the people of Sunagakure come out of the city to meet us, Obito will use Kamui to lead us to infiltrate the castle."

"Leave it to me!"

……

On the battlefield, the Allied Shinobi Forces charged toward the Mechanized Castle amidst deafening roars, and finally reached the foot of the castle walls after suffering heavy casualties.

Due to the angle, neither the Gatling gun nor the electromagnetic railgun could reach this point. Apart from the golden man who was previously pushed here by the Third Hokage, they are temporarily safe.

"One golden statue can't stop all of us! Charge and capture the walls of the mechanical city!"

The Third Raikage roared and charged up the city wall first.

The others followed suit, attaching their chakra to their feet and running straight up the wall.

The walls of the Mechanical City were hundreds of meters high and over a hundred miles wide. The Allied Shinobi Forces ran on them like ants. When the golden statues that the Third Hokage had ordered earlier saw this, they turned around and slapped the walls as if they were insects. A large number of them fell off the walls with each slap, leaving a lot of bloodstains on them.

"Hurry up, everyone. As long as we rush in and engage the enemy in close combat, this big guy will be too afraid of accidentally hurting us to chase after us."

Seeing the heavy casualties, Jiraiya couldn't help but speak up to boost morale.

These words were very effective; everyone nearby who heard them became extremely alert and sped up their run.

The ninja was very fast; he could climb a hundred meters in just a few seconds.

But they had only climbed halfway up when a series of ten-meter-wide axes rained down from above, like car windshield wipers sweeping from left to right, bringing up patches of blood and flesh. Even a Shadow-level expert... These axes weighed nearly ten tons and slid down from a height of fifty meters using the principle of a pendulum. Their force was so strong that even a Shadow-level expert could not withstand them head-on and could only jump away from the city wall to avoid them, being forcibly forced to fall.

The Third and Fourth Raikage, who were able to withstand the attack, were not injured, but were still knocked down by the immense force.

Then, countless metal flower buds flew out from the city wall.

As the flower buds bloomed, countless steel needles shot downwards like a rain of petals, taking away one vibrant life after another.

Taking over the mechanical city won't be that easy.

(End of this chapter)