Naruto: Fate System

Several kilometers away from Akatsuki, Black Zetsu and Danzō finally surfaced after swimming underground for a long time.

The moment Danzō emerged, he collapsed to his knees, gasping for air. His wounds had worsened, with many splitting open further. Blood seeped into the muddy ground beneath him.

This pathetic man... but I still need him, Black Zetsu thought, watching him struggle for breath.

After catching his breath for a while, Danzō rasped, "Who are you?"

Black Zetsu remained silent for a long moment, barely suppressing the urge to slap Danzō and curse him for being useless.

"You don't need to know who I am. All you need to know is that we share a common goal."

As the sun dipped below the horizon, bringing a close to the long day, he had no choice but to admit: today's confrontation was an absolute defeat for him.

Akatsuki had taken full control of the Land of Rain, Nagato hadn't succumbed to darkness as planned, and he had even lost two White Zetsu clones.

Two clones—amounting to a third of his underground reserves.

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Shin was also reviewing and reflecting on the day's strategic moves. He sat cross-legged in a quiet corner of the base, pieces of paper scattered around him detailing various battle formations and strategies.

Although the day ended with a satisfying outcome, the journey was fraught with danger and uncertainty.

The most crucial move he made was launching a preemptive strike, catching Hanzō and Danzō off guard before they could finalize their alliance. This prevented their forces from converging and gave him the upper hand.

However, one of his subsequent moves didn't yield the desired result—bringing both Nagato and Kakuzu along with him.

His intent was to use Kakuzu's ability to sense hearts as bait, hoping to locate and seal Black Zetsu and White Zetsu.

Unfortunately, plans often go awry. Had this gambit succeeded, it could have ended the saga of the Infinite Tsukuyomi then and there.

Instead, Black Zetsu seized an opportunity to counterattack with a move of his own—unexpectedly swapping positions to create chaos.

Leaving Yahiko behind had been a reluctant decision. The conversation. He was too stubborn, refusing to initiate war, and as the former leader of Akatsuki, his influence affected morale and command.

Leaving him at the base was meant to utilize his remaining utility, but it nearly resulted in disaster.

However, in the end, Shin narrowly turned the tables by exploiting his opponent's greed.

Black Zetsu was too ambitious. Instead of killing Yahiko outright, he aimed to parasitize him using White Zetsu. At the time, Shin wasn't aware that Black Zetsu's hand had been forced.

Unlike the original timeline, Nagato now had more emotional ties, not just to Yahiko. Black Zetsu feared that killing Yahiko alone wouldn't be enough to corrupt Nagato. His plan was to parasitize Yahiko, manipulate events to frame Shin, and alienate Nagato completely.

But this gave Shin a chance to counter. Having trained sealing techniques tirelessly for a month, hehad developed the Triple Phase Seal specifically to seal White Zetsu.

In the end, Black Zetsu's greed backfired spectacularly. Not only did he fail to kill Yahiko, but he also lost two White Zetsu clones in one fell swoop.

Though Yahiko remained unconscious, the infusion of White Zetsu had healed his physical injuries, putting his body out of immediate danger. The remaining challenge was extracting White Zetsu's consciousness and soul from Yahiko. If successful, not only would he survive, but he might even grow stronger.

By nightfall, the surviving Akatsuki members used earth jutsu to repair some of the damage to their base. The sound of stone being reshaped filled the place. The rain that had poured all day stopped, and the skies above the Land of Rain finally cleared.

Stars peeked through the clouds, a rare sight in the Land of Rain that felt like a sign of changing times.

That night, Shin didn't rush back to the northern frontlines. Instead, he stayed at the base, helping treat the wounded and organizing repairs.

He worked through the night, taking only a brief nap at dawn.

The next morning, as he prepared to leave, Kaori approached him with a weary but hesitant expression. Dark circles under her eyes revealed she hadn't slept either, spending the night tending to the injured.

"What's wrong? You don't need to be so reserved with me," Shin reassured her, noting how she twisted the hem of her shirt nervously.

Encouraged, Kaori mustered her courage. "Could you… please check on Nagato again? Something still seems off with him. I... I don't know how to comfort him."

"I feel so useless..."

Her head drooped, her voice filled with self-blame. Such a soft personality made it no surprise that she had been bullied in Kusa.

Hearing this, he gently approached her, wiping the tears from her cheeks. The gesture made Kaori blush deeply.

"It's okay, Kaori. Take me to Nagato—I'll help persuade him. Don't blame yourself. Yesterday, you were our greatest hero."

"Without you, we would've been doomed."

"Really?"

"Absolutely." Shin's response was firm. After all, he had seen the original story.

Without Kaori, everyone but Konan would have died.

Others only saw Shin's dramatic move to knock sense into Nagato, but they didn't know how close Nagato had been to completing a dangerous jutsu—a summoning of the Gedo Statue.

The Rinnegan had tried to manipulate Nagato into summoning its component, nearly recreating the tragedy of the original timeline.

Luckily, this world's Nagato had far more bonds than in the original story. The familial love tethering him briefly suppressed the Rinnegan's control, giving Shin a chance to intervene. But it was Kaori's cry that had broken through first, reaching Nagato when nothing else could.

Thus, Shin's gratitude to Kaori was genuine. He watched her face brighten at his words, like a flower finally catching sunlight after days of rain.

Saving her in the past and crafting a new identity for her had become the most pivotal step in altering fate and seizing victory against the odds.

But she didn't know this. Faced with Shin's heartfelt gratitude, her heart raced.

This was the first time she had received such sincere appreciation, respect, and acknowledgment after years of neglect in Kusa.

For a fleeting moment, she thought, If only I could have met Shin and Akatsuki sooner...

"Come," he said softly. "Let's go help Nagato together."

He followed Kaori into a temporarily repaired room where Konan was also present.

Nagato was curled up on the bed near the window, hugging his knees, appearing fragile and helpless. 

"I am calm! I'm not being manipulated! These are my own thoughts! If we want peace, the world must first experience pain! Otherwise, people will never understand us!"

Kaori turned her head, looking helpless and exhausted as she glanced at Shin, explaining, "He didn't sleep all night, thinking it over, and ended up like this this morning. None of us could convince him."

Seriously? You stayed up all night and came up with this? Shin fought the urge to roll his eyes. Some things never changed, even across different timelines.

But compared to the original, this Nagato seemed less extreme and fanatical. Though still stubbornly fixated, at least he hadn't gone berserk and declared himself a god on a whim.

At this point, Konan also looked at Shin with a pleading expression. "Shin, please try to persuade Nagato—"

However, before she could finish her sentence, Shin stepped forward. The floorboards creaked under his sudden advance as he grabbed Nagato by the collar, lifting him up before smashing his forehead against Nagato's.

Thunk!

Konan's remaining words stuck in her throat, and she gave a resigned smile but didn't step forward to intervene. She'd seen enough of Shin's methods by now to know that sometimes his harsh approach worked where gentleness failed.

Nagato saw stars for a while before regaining his senses.

"Feel any clearer now?"

"I…" Nagato touched his forehead gingerly, where a red mark was already forming.

Can I dare to say no? he looked at Shin pitifully.

"You experience a setback and want the whole world to suffer alongside you? What did the world ever do to you? What does the world owe you?"

Shin unleashed a barrage of rhetorical questions, leaving Nagato speechless. "Yesterday, you saw who your enemy was. That man is Danzō. Your enemy is right there."

He jabbed a finger toward the direction of Konoha for emphasis. "Instead of going after him for revenge and making him pay the price, you choose to target innocent people and blame the whole world? What is wrong with you? Did last night's rain soak into your brain?"

Nagato was stunned by the scolding. "But I'm doing this for peace…"

Shin burst into laughter. "Peace? Do you think peace is some kind of miracle cure or universal solution?"

"What?" Nagato looked at him, bewildered.

For as long as he could remember, both Yahiko and Jiraiya had regarded peace as the ultimate goal. Influenced by them, he had also come to deeply believe in peace.

But now, Shin's words completely shattered his worldview.

"If a world's order collapses, morality disintegrates, evildoers face no consequences for their actions. Those who've experienced suffering simply pass their pain onto the innocent, and kind-hearted, ordinary people bear the brunt of the world's malice—"

"Then what's the point of achieving peace in such a world? That's nothing but a rotten world, a prison disguised as peace."

Behind them, Kaori shifted uncomfortably, but remained silent. Even Konan's paper butterfly had settled, as if afraid to disturb him.

Shin's relentless questioning struck at the core of Nagato's 'peace through pain' philosophy. Peace achieved through intimidation came at the cost of suppressing human nature. Without a proper and just system to guide and reform, such peace built on brutality would only cause deeper harm.

Nagato was completely stunned, silenced by Shin's arguments. His hands trembled slightly against his knees.

"Have you forgotten Akatsuki's slogan? We fight for a bright and beautiful future. Not just for some ridiculous notion of peace."

"What is beauty? A world where innocents aren't implicated—that's beautiful. A world where evildoers face consequences—that's beautiful." And a world where I die of old age—that's beautiful.

"If those who commit crimes always get away unscathed, and those with power only vent their pain on the innocent, who would respect the rules of Akatsuki in the long run?"

Nagato's expression shifted repeatedly, his face twisted in confusion and frustration. He wanted to argue but couldn't find the words.

After a long pause, during which only the sound of distant rain could be heard, he finally pulled out some scraps of old teachings from his memory to bolster himself.

"But…won't indulging in revenge lead to an endless spiral of hatred?"

"That must've been something Jiraiya taught you years ago, right?"

Nagato nodded weakly, like a child caught repeating something they didn't fully understand.

Shin had guessed it. After all, this notion of a 'spiral of hatred' was identical to the ideology Naruto would later uphold in the original story. And it stemmed from the same source.

In the future plotline, Naruto also prattled on about the spiral of hatred, even going so far as to kneel before the Fourth Raikage during the Five Kage Summit, begging him not to take revenge on Sasuke.

At the time, Naruto mistakenly believed Sasuke had killed the Raikage's close friend, Killer B. Although it turned out to be a misunderstanding, that scene had left a particularly negative impression on Shin.

What spiral of hatred? It's nonsense!

"Breaking the spiral of hatred is easy. You're a living example yourself, aren't you?"

"Me?" Nagato pointed at himself blankly.

"Yes, you." Shin nodded, his eyes fixed on Nagato.

"You're from the Uzumaki clan. How many people from your clan still remember the hatred of Uzushio's destruction and the genocide?"

"In a few years, this ninja world probably won't even remember that your clan existed. What spiral of hatred are you even talking about?"

These words deeply stung Nagato, but they also jolted his waterlogged mind awake.

"You see," Shin spread his hands, his tone as indifferent as could be while uttering the most shocking words.

"The great ninja villages already showed you how to break the spiral of hatred years ago—just annihilate everyone who holds a grudge. After a few years, all spirals of hatred will fade into nothingness."

Hiss—

The room was filled with the sound of everyone sucking in their breath. Contributing to global warming in the ninja world.

Standing a little further away, Kaori couldn't help tugging at Konan's sleeve and whispered, "Shin said he fights for a better future, but then talks about killing all enemies. Isn't that a bit contradictory?"

Konan gave a resigned but calm smile, as if she were long used to it. "That's just the way he is." A man who walks the path between light and shadow, but always moving forward, leaving corpses of his enemies along the path.

This was the kind of person he was—hard to classify as good or evil, walking the fine line between right and wrong.

A man with lofty ideals who would stop at nothing to achieve them—a true Machiavellian strategist. But at the same time, a leader worthy of her and everyone's allegiance.

Nagato was still struggling. "But won't this just lead to more conflict?"

By this point, Shin was already getting up. The floorboards creaked under his feet as he turned to leave. As he reached the doorway, he said, "So what?"

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