Iwagakure camp.
The atmosphere was equally oppressive.
"Damn it! You didn't even ask who the other party was!"
An Iwa Jonin was roaring, facing several injured ninjas who stood before him, heads bowed, looking utterly aggrieved.
"He wouldn't say, and I was out of strength at the ti, then he knocked out."
"I only saw what looked like a black-haired brat."
"His dical Ninjutsu is very great, and his eyes seem to be blue?"
"..."
Similar to the Konoha camp, Iwa ninjas were also analyzing Haruki's identity.
"No forehead protector? Black hair? Blue eyes?"
Kitsuchi, the overall commander of the Land of Grass front line, listened to the report, his rugged brows tightly knit.
There were too many black-haired, blue-eyed ninjas in the Ninja World, countless, in fact. It was hard to find soone based solely on these few physical characteristics.
However, while there were many black-haired, blue-eyed ninjas, there weren't many black-haired, blue-eyed young ninjas with superb dical Ninjutsu.
"Continue the investigation." Kitsuchi ordered.
"Send out more reconnaissance teams, focusing on the peripheral areas of the battlefield. If you encounter that dical ninja again, try to capture him."
"If you can't capture him alive, at least find out his true identity."
...
On the other side.
Haruki was completely unaware of having sparked speculation and concern from Iwagakure and Konoha. Even if he knew, he wouldn't care.
Haruki, Nagato, and Aoki were all sound asleep in a simple inn room.
Ti moved into the afternoon.
The scorching sunlight pierced through the clouds above the small town, spilling onto the windowpanes of a simple eatery.
The air inside the shop was murky, filled with the mixed scent of cheap food and stale tobacco.
Haruki and the two others, now awake, ca to the town's only eatery to find food. The three sat around a creaky wooden table in a corner, eating the simple food before them.
Haruki sipped slowly from a bowl of vegetable soup that had almost no trace of oil, finding it tasteless.
What was the point of living if one had to eat this stuff?
He looked at Aoki opposite him. Aoki's face was still pale, with deep shadows under his eyes, as if he hadn't escaped the gloom of the previous night.
Haruki then looked at Nagato, who was sitting beside him. Nagato's Rinnegan seed even deeper than before. Much of that persistent sense of timidity on him had disappeared.
Nagato chewed on a hard piece of flatbread, his red bangs falling. Noticing Haruki's gaze, he looked up blankly, staring at Haruki.
"Haruki?"
Haruki smiled at Nagato and asked with concern, "Did you rest well?"
Nagato nodded. "Yes."
Aoki's food in front of him was almost untouched. His brows were tightly furrowed, his gaze sotis drifting to the desolate street outside the window, and sotis seeming to fall into a deep contemplation.
There were only three custors in the eatery: them.
A numb, heavy silence enveloped everything.
Haruki vaguely felt that Aoki wanted to say sothing, but he was hesitating.
"This war is truly endless..." Aoki suddenly let out a helpless groan.
Haruki and Nagato both looked at him. Nagato's Rinnegan was calm, with an invisible scrutiny.
Aoki didn't look at them, his gaze still hollowly fixed on the window, as if speaking to the air, "I've seen too many scenes like yesterday's."
"Iwagakure and Konoha, Sunagakure and Konoha, Sunagakure and Iwagakure, Konoha and Kumogakure..."
"Between great nations, between small nations... fighting back and forth, today you kill , tomorrow I kill you."
"Hatred is like weeds. Burn one crop, and after the next rain, it grows wildly again, stronger than before."
Aoki's voice carried a nearly desperate mockery. He stretched out his hands, supporting his forehead, his palms covering his reddened eyes. Last night's battlefield had reawakened his painful mories.
"Comrades I drank with yesterday beco cold, incomplete pieces of flesh on the ground today, that feeling is too unbearable."
His palms remained over his eyes.
In the shadows unseen by Haruki and Nagato, Aoki's eyes were bloodshot, swirling with pain.
Aoki's chest heaved violently a few tis. He struggled to calm his breathing, his voice sinking again, but more suppressed. "I've had enough, I've truly had enough. I've had enough of this aningless slaughter."
"Fighting for protection is just a joke. It's an excuse they use to make us kill each other on the battlefield."
"We think we're fighting for protection, but in reality, we're fighting for other people's desires and interests."
"As long as people have desires, interests, and hatred, war will never stop. Never."
Aoki's words were like heavy stones, thrown into the silent air.
A long silence.
Nagato remained silent. He only looked at Haruki.
Haruki raised an eyebrow, looking at the extrely emotional Aoki.
Let's guess what Aoki is going to say next.
After an unknown amount of ti, Nagato finally finished chewing the hard flatbread in his hand.
Aoki's heavy breathing gradually cald. He lowered his hands that had been covering the upper half of his face. He looked up, his gaze earnestly focused on Haruki's face. His eyes were incredibly complex. There was pain, a desperate resolve, and also hope.
"Haruki." Aoki's voice was unusually hoarse.
Haruki smiled at Aoki. "What is it?"
Aoki swallowed hard and said with difficulty, "If... I an if, in this world, there exists a thod—a thod that can achieve true eternal peace and happiness without sacrificing anyone..."
"Would you be willing to try it?"
Haruki: "..."
He guessed right.
He looked at Aoki with curiosity. Undoubtedly, Aoki must have been brainwashed by Madara or Black Zetsu. Although he didn't know the exact process, he must have been deceived.
However, for Madara and Black Zetsu to send Aoki to brainwash him, they thought too highly of Aoki, didn't they?
Of course, besides thinking highly of Aoki, they also thought very little of his intelligence.
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