Inside the shrine, the ceremonial procedures were carried out one by one.
The purification ritual, the recitation of prayers, the exchange of nuptial cups... finally, it reached the final stage: the offering of the Tamagushi.
Candy brought two sprigs wrapped in white paper and handed them to Ryou and Tsunade in turn.
Ryou and Tsunade walked before the statue of the God Indra, becoming husband and wife under the god's witness.
Candy said to Tsunade, "Senju Tsunade, under the witness of the God Indra, you shall become the wife of Uchiha Ryou."
"From this day forward, you shall discard the Senju surname and be incorporated into the Uchiha Clan. Henceforth, you shall be known as Uchiha Tsunade!"
Tsunade shouted, "I refuse! I am a member of the Senju Clan for all my lives, a Ninja of Konoha. I will never become an Uchiha!"
Ryūzetsu was stunned. "Teacher, Lady Tsunade is unwilling. Isn't Ryou-sama just kidnapping a bride?"
Chizu covered her face, feeling somewhat embarrassed to even attend this wedding.
This wasn't a normal wedding process; its essence was a bandit chief snatching a wife for his mountain stronghold.
Candy ignored her and continued reciting the prayers.
So what if you're unwilling? This is how our Uchiha Clan does things.
What's wrong? You're not satisfied?
The guests attending the ceremony didn't dare jump out and call this coercion or intimidation.
Madara sat on the right with his legs crossed, watching boredly. Madara had already grown tired of the tedious procedures from before.
Seeing Tsunade's unwillingness now actually made Madara happy.
He loved seeing the Senju Clan unhappy.
During the Warring States Period, whenever the Senju took action, the Uchiha would follow suit.
If someone hired Ninjas from the Senju Clan, the opposing camp would hire the Uchiha.
If the Senju held a celebration, the Uchiha would hold a funeral.
If the Senju wanted to retreat, the Uchiha would block them until they were lost rather than let them leave.
In any case, as long as it was something that made the Senju Clan unhappy, the Uchiha would rush to do it... Nagato also had a gatekeeping Ninja Cat leading the way for Jiraiya.
The master and disciple didn't have much of a chance to reminisce about their bond.
Nagato could see that Jiraiya had entered Amegakure with the resolve to die. He tried his best to persuade Jiraiya to leave, but how could Jiraiya ever leave?
A person's third stage of growth is when, after realizing some things are neither right nor wrong, they still firmly do what they believe in and take responsibility for it.
Along the way, Nagato recounted everything that had happened to them after Jiraiya left the Land of Rain.
When he spoke of the Akatsuki the three of them founded, and their approach of achieving understanding through dialogue to build a bridge of peace, Jiraiya was full of pride.
Wasn't this why he had stayed behind to take care of Nagato and the other two in the first place?
Jiraiya always believed that love could make people set aside their hatred.
Ah— If everyone just gives a little love, the world will become a beautiful place.
Then he spoke of the cooperation with Hanzo of Amegakure.
Nagato and Yahiko had both misplaced their trust in Hanzo. They thought he was a hero who protected his country and secured independence and peace for the Land of Rain amidst the Great Nations.
In reality, the aging Hanzo had become a vulgar man obsessed with power.
He had long since conspired with Danzo to eliminate the Akatsuki... In the end, Yahiko was driven to his death by Hanzo and Danzo, and most members of the Akatsuki were killed by Root and Amegakure's Anbu.
The Akatsuki failed. The Akatsuki that aimed to build a bridge of peace through dialogue had perished.
"..."
Jiraiya fell into a deep silence. Danzo was a Ninja of Konoha, and Root was an organization of Konoha.
No matter how wicked Danzo was, he was still the Hokage's Assistant.
Furthermore, Danzo had acted to prevent the Rinnegan from falling into Madara's hands.
For the sake of Konoha, was he wrong?
At that time, Minato had also stood by Danzo's side. Was he also wrong?
None of them were wrong, and Nagato and his friends weren't wrong either.
If anyone is to blame, blame this damned fate!
Perhaps, from the beginning, he shouldn't have... Nagato looked at Jiraiya: "Jiraiya-sensei, Yahiko loved peace. He swore to bring peace to the entire world, yet he died in the midst of conflict."
"Looking back, we were somewhat naive to think we could build a bridge of hope toward world peace through communication between people."
"Pride, envy, wrath, lust... the affairs of the world all revolve around the word 'profit'."
"The world bustles for profit; the world clamors for gain."
"If we want everyone to stop fighting, if we want this world to become peaceful, our greatest enemy is the human heart."
Jiraiya felt that Nagato had changed. The old Nagato was introverted and wouldn't say much when speaking to people.
The current Nagato actually said so much in one breath; it seemed Yahiko's death had been a massive blow to him.
Jiraiya also noticed that Nagato's eyes were light brown; those were Yahiko's eyes.
Had Nagato transplanted Yahiko's eyes, using his eyes to look at the path ahead?
Nagato then asked, "Jiraiya-sensei, you've already heard about Uchiha Madara's Eye of the Moon Plan, right?"
Jiraiya nodded, then immediately realized that Nagato seemed to believe the solution to the Ninja world's curse lay within a dream.
"Nagato, the Eye of the Moon Plan is not the way. An illusory peace will always be illusory."
Nagato shook his head. "Uchiha Madara has shown me the world of the Infinite Tsukuyomi. It is an extremely real world. In that world, my parents are still alive."
"Yahiko is there too. I have family, I have friends, and everyone lives in a beautiful world."
"Most importantly..."
Konan would become his wife, and he would have a beautiful, happy family.
The current Nagato couldn't even protect Konan. The evil Ryou wasn't satisfied even after getting Lady Tsunade.
He was still eyeing his Konan.
Nagato was completely despondent regarding this world.
"Nagato—"
Jiraiya wanted to say something to persuade him, but Nagato interrupted him.
"Jiraiya-sensei, more words are useless. We used to act according to your ideals, and that's why Yahiko died."
"That weak, indecisive Nagato is also dead. The Akatsuki will now follow Uchiha Madara to forge a perfect world."
Fukasaku sighed. "Little Jiraiya, say no more. There's a saying: do not urge others to be kind without having suffered their pain."
"Little Nagato's experiences have led him to follow Uchiha Madara."
"Little Jiraiya, if one day everything you cherish were destroyed, would you still hold onto hope for this cold world?"
"..."
Jiraiya said nothing. Hidden in the shadows, Minato thought of Kushina.
If Kushina died, Minato didn't know if he would still have the courage to live in this world.
Just as Nagato said, there was a world where he could continue to live happily with Kushina.
Naruto would grow up under their care and become a healthy person.
If he experienced that world, Minato might also become a believer of Madara!
Because they still possessed something, they rejected the Infinite Tsukuyomi. But when everything is lost, perhaps one becomes a puppet of a beautiful dream.
The Ninja Cat leading the way finally reacted and suddenly hissed, "Damn it, you guys are here to ruin the General's wedding!"
Shima performed a hand seal on the Ninja Cat, and the cat immediately fell to the ground, fast asleep.
Nagato led Jiraiya toward the main hall. Everyone they encountered along the way was a Jonin.
No, they were all cats with the rank of Jonin.
Shima cast genjutsu, putting these Ninja Cats to sleep one by one.
Nagato pointed to the gates of the main hall and said, "Jiraiya-sensei, I'm working for Uchiha Madara now. I can only take you this far!"
Jiraiya nodded. "Thank you, Nagato! But you should still have a little more hope for reality. You still have Konan by your side."
Nagato said sorrowfully, "Jiraiya-sensei, that beast Uchiha Ryou was even planning to marry Konan as well this morning."
Jiraiya shouted, "That brat! He wants to take both my first love and my student, does he? He's picking on me alone! This is truly unbearable!"
"Sage Fukasaku, Sage Shima, let's go! We're going to crash the wedding!"
"Good! Little Ryou is being far too outrageous. We have to show him a thing or two."
Jiraiya stepped toward the Indra Shrine, seemingly walking onto a path of One Goes Without Return.