"Long time no see, Yoru bro."
Inside the dark cave, torches flickered against the walls.
Yahiko remained as talkative as ever, laughing loudly as he enthusiastically recounted everything he had experienced during this time.
Yoru listened with a faint smile, but his gaze was fixed on another silent child.
Red hair.
His eyes were completely hidden beneath his long bangs.
Uzumaki Nagato.
History was constantly being changed—
Yet it also had a way of correcting itself.
Even though Yoru had taken Konan away, Yahiko had still met Nagato.
"Ah, Yoru bro, let me introduce you," Yahiko said with a grin as he noticed Yoru's attention.
"This is my new companion, Nagato. He's also a war orphan."
Nagato shrank back slightly, trembling.
Especially after seeing the Konoha headband on Yoru's forehead, fear filled his eyes.
His parents—
Had died at the hands of shinobi wearing that very symbol.
However, things were slightly different from the original timeline.
Because of the immense pressure Yoru had placed on the Rain front, many Rain shinobi had suffered mental breakdowns.
To prevent information from leaking, some deserters had begun killing civilians in their own homes before fleeing.
Nagato's parents—
Had been killed by three Rain deserters.
"So he doesn't even know he's from the Uzumaki clan…" Yoru thought silently after hearing Yahiko's explanation.
That made sense.
After the fall of the Uzumaki clan, the few survivors had scattered across the world, hiding their identities.
The Rinnegan…
Yoru's gaze sharpened slightly.
Even through Nagato's thick red hair, he could almost see those hidden eyes.
The terrifying eyes of the Sage of Six Paths.
Nagato's Rinnegan had been implanted by Uchiha Madara.
With the powerful physique of the Uzumaki clan, Nagato was the perfect vessel.
Then—
Yoru's eyes flickered.
His Observation Haki spread outward, scanning the surroundings.
But he found nothing.
"Hm? Not here?"
He frowned slightly.
He hadn't detected the presence of the one he was searching for—
Zetsu.
One body, two forms.
White Zetsu, born from humans trapped in the Infinite Tsukuyomi.
Black Zetsu—
The true mastermind of the ninja world.
The will of Kaguya Ōtsutsuki.
In a sense—
Her third son.
It was Zetsu who had orchestrated the chaos of the entire ninja world.
He had altered the Uchiha clan's stone tablet, pushing Madara down an extreme path.
What was once a shared dream of peace between Uchiha Madara and Senju Hashirama—
Had been twisted into a warped ideal.
The Infinite Tsukuyomi.
A false peace born from illusion.
But in reality—
It was a forbidden technique meant to revive Kaguya.
Driven by this distorted belief, Madara turned against his closest friend, Hashirama.
In the end, Hashirama died not long after, and Madara survived only barely.
Konoha lost both of its pillars.
The other great nations, once obedient, began to harbor ambitions.
The First Great Ninja War erupted.
After that war, the Second Hokage, Senju Tobirama, died.
The Kage of the other great nations also fell.
The seeds of hatred were planted across every village.
Due to uneven resource distribution, the Second Great Ninja War followed.
And the Third—
Was merely a continuation of that cycle.
Later, the Uchiha clan, influenced by the altered tablet, came to believe they were a cursed clan.
That only by killing their closest companions could they awaken the Mangekyō Sharingan.
And that to obtain the Eternal Mangekyō—
They had to transplant the eyes of their closest kin.
But in truth—
All of this was Zetsu's manipulation.
The Mangekyō Sharingan was born from extreme emotional trauma when a three-tomoe Sharingan reached its limit.
As for the true method of obtaining the Eternal Mangekyō—
It had long been buried and lost.
Because of these lies, generations of Uchiha leaders came to believe their blood was tainted.
And the only solution—
Was the Infinite Tsukuyomi.
Zetsu guided them step by step—
Until the Uchiha clan was eventually destroyed.
This was his revenge.
His mother, Kaguya, had been sealed by the Sage of Six Paths.
So he incited conflict between the reincarnations of Indra and Asura—
Forcing them to fight endlessly.
Their descendants—
The Uchiha and Senju clans—
Were nearly wiped out because of his schemes.
And in the end, during the Fourth Great Ninja War—
Kaguya was revived.
Though Zetsu was ultimately destroyed and Kaguya sealed once more—
No one could deny his terror.
He had manipulated events for decades—
Dragging the ninja world back into chaos.
"Yoru bro, Nagato also longs deeply for peace."
Yahiko's voice pulled Yoru out of his thoughts.
"I told him about you. Your ideas… he really admires you."
Back then, when Yoru had been with Konan and Yahiko, he hadn't just taught them ninjutsu.
One of the main reasons Konan had completely fallen for him—
And Yahiko had come to worship him—
Was because of the ideas he shared.
A vision of harmonious peace.
Something that people living in war couldn't help but long for.
Konan believed—
That Yoru, the man she loved most, could bring eternal peace to this world.
Yahiko had taken Yoru's ideals as his guiding principle, striving to realize that vision himself.
And after meeting Nagato—
Yahiko's words had reignited hope in the boy's broken heart.
Nagato wanted to see it too—
What true peace looked like.
At first, he had simply been curious about the "Yoru bro" Yahiko kept mentioning.
But gradually—
Curiosity turned into admiration.
"This must be a great man…" Nagato thought silently, watching Yahiko speak with reverence.
Yoru's expression turned slightly strange.
To him, those "peace theories" were just ideas anyone from another world could easily come up with.
Yet somehow—
They had earned Nagato's admiration.
Something about that felt… a little off.
At this moment, Nagato clasped his hands in front of his chest.
Even through his hidden eyes—
That deep admiration could still be felt.
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