"I… don't… feel… tired…"
As Naraku spoke, a line of blood traced his lips, slowly dripping down his jaw and into the soil.
Even though his body ached intensely, he merely suppressed the pain into an almost imperceptible tremor, hidden within his ragged breaths.
"I'm sorry… Aunt Mikoto… for making you… sad again… It's… all my fault…"
"There's no need to apologize, Naraku. I know you've always been a responsible child."
Mikoto used a handkerchief to carefully wipe away the specks of blood on Naraku's face, forcing herself not to look into his vacant eyes, and managed a smile.
"You tried so hard to protect Konoha… Naraku is my little hero."
Fatigue, like a tidal wave, gradually swallowed the last shred of his consciousness. Before Naraku fell unconscious, he made one last request to Mikoto.
"Please… don't tell… Kakashi… don't let him… know…"
"Okay, I won't let him know."
Mikoto nodded solemnly, agreeing. Only then did the young man in her arms relax, close his eyes, and fall asleep with his cheek pressed against her soft abdomen.
"Jin, Uchiha Naraku seems to be fine for now, doesn't he?"
Black Zetsu turned his small, soybean-sized eyes to Jin, as if asking him what to do now.
"I'm not in a hurry, why are you?" Jin waved his hand casually, with an inexplicable composure that suggested everything was under control. "Look at him, how much longer can he possibly live?"
Black Zetsu silently wriggled to the side and explained, "After all, that body will belong to you eventually, so I'm just worried if he breaks it…"
"No matter what, as soon as I return, that body will heal. And…"
Jin suddenly grinned, a smile full of undisguised malice blooming on his face.
"Don't you find it amusing to toy with that naive fellow, Uchiha Naraku?"
"His desperate struggles, running around for those Konoha ants, are simply hilarious~"
He looked at Black Zetsu with gently curved brows, but the madness flickering in his eyes made even the latter feel a chill.
"Anyway, the body will be mine sooner or later. For now, I'd like him to live a bit longer, so I can torment him a few more times."
"Every time I see that guy in agony, I feel so happy~"
Black Zetsu silently recoiled, not doubting that if conditions allowed, Jin would probably cut off the main personality's fingers himself just to hear his screams.
When Naraku woke up in his mental world, he learned from the System that the war between Konoha and Sunagakure had completely ended two days prior.
Sunagakure was defeated and forced to sign a non-aggression treaty with Konoha, along with a series of compensation clauses, withdrawing from the Land of Fire territory and forbidden to re-enter.
In the short term, Sunagakure would not, and could not, participate in the Third Great Ninja War again.
Konoha's war pressure was significantly reduced as a result.
Naraku: System, how do you know all this so clearly? Didn't we agree to watch the anime together? You actually snuck ahead and watched it without me…
The System was speechless at its host's abstract memeing.
"Many people came to visit you during this time, and these messages were mentioned by them."
Naraku: That's more like it.
The System, perhaps not wanting to continue playing along with his abstraction, directly opened the video website, clicked to refresh the anime directory, and sure enough, more than a dozen new episodes appeared.
—
In the episode after Hanzou and the Sunagakure envoy's secret talks, the opening scene showed Jin finding Nagato to reveal information, and the latter immediately decided to act after dark.
After this, the animator, using the Hidden Rain Village as the main perspective, presented a fairly detailed account of the Akatsuki Organization's nocturnal assault on the Village and the purging of its high-ranking officials.
Throughout Akatsuki's takeover of Amegakure, Jin did not appear again, and the fact that Yahiko became the Deva Path and his body was controlled by Nagato was kept secret throughout.
Presumably, the animator wanted to deliver a big twist to the audience later on.
As for the death of Hanzou, the "Ninja World Demigod," it was briefly mentioned in the anime.
The audience only saw several people standing in front of his corpse; after confirming he showed no signs of life, they all left the chaotic room.
[Bro, Eternal Day's intelligence system is too broken]
[Isn't that obvious? Someone already guessed that Jin moves freely in several major Ninja Villages, let alone a small Village like Amegakure]
[The mastermind vibe is getting stronger, Lord Jin~]
[Yes, do it! Woohoo!]
[Akatsuki Organization: You didn't listen when I spoke nicely, now you know how to cry? Too late!]
[Cry? Crying also has to be timed!!]
[You have to be strong yourself to forge iron; only with enough strength can you talk about dreams]
[Akatsuki: In the past, I was soft-hearted, but now let me show you what a beast that has shed too many moral shackles looks like! Open!!!]
[Damn, Hanzou is gone just like that? Such a weakling~]
[No wonder Jiraiya and Jin both said the Rinnegan was the savior; if it can instantly defeat someone of Hanzou's level, who else would save the world?]
[Akatsuki has grown so much overnight, finally showing some of that decisive spirit]
[Yes, even our ancestors from the Spring and Autumn and Sengoku periods knew that mere compromise is useless. If you want peace, you can only fight. Win the fight, and peace will naturally follow.]
Nagato was overwhelmed in Hanzou's office, while Jin leisurely joked around, tallying how much more work the former had to do.
His gloating expression made many office worker viewers clench their fists.
Nagato, burying his head like an ostrich, chose to surrender. Jin replenished his lost Chakra and then laid out the solutions, greatly boosting the audience's favorability towards him.
When Jin spoke of the Daimyo with utter disrespect, the bullet comments erupted in cheers.
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