Chapter 204
"Why... why are you doing this?" Naruto glared at Pain, anger flickering in his eyes.
"You have hatred in your heart, but that doesn't concern me. Only through hatred can we move toward peace..." Pain's voice remained distant, calm, like a divine judgment passed from the heavens.
"No way! Real peace doesn't come from this!" Naruto growled, teeth clenched. This was insane. Was this the kind of peace Pain wanted to bring? He would never accept it.
"Then what is your goal?" Pain asked, showing a trace of curiosity.
"To defeat you—and then bring true peace to the ninja world!" Naruto declared with firm resolve, though it would've sounded more convincing if he weren't pinned down under Pain's foot.
"Is that so? That's quite something. This is justice! But you Konoha shinobi, who destroyed my home, killed my friends, and wiped out my village... You have no right to speak of peace and justice." Pain's tone was flat, like he was recounting the weather—not genocide.
"What... what's going on...?" Naruto's eyes faltered. There was something in Pain's words... something that made him waver.
"The Land of Fire and Konoha are already too powerful. To maintain their wealth, they wage war on other nations. They have to take from others to keep themselves from starving. But it's always the small nations, the small villages like ours, that get turned into battlefields."
"Every time a war breaks out, our land is trampled, devastated. The great nations emerge from these wars stronger, more stable... but we're left with only pain. You and I share the same dream—peace, just like Jiraiya-sensei envisioned. There's no difference between us. We're both fighting for our own version of justice. The justice you fight for as a Konoha ninja... is no different from mine."
Watching his two students clash over the nature of peace, Jiraiya felt a storm of emotions inside.
"The pain of losing those you love—it's the same no matter who you are. You and I, we both carry that pain. We fight for justice... but justice fueled by revenge only breeds more hatred."