TheNarutoseries has given viewers plenty of plot twists and surprising revelations, and perhaps the most perplexing of these was the revelation of theAkatsuki’s Eye of the Moon Plan, also known as Project Tsuki no Me. Many know this plan as the Akatsuki sole motive from the time of the organization’s initiation, yet in actuality, this was never the Akatsuki’s goal for collecting the Tailed Beasts.
Since Obito was the only one who knew of the end-game plan, the rest of the Akatsuki’s members were fed an entirely different goal – one that Nagato had initiated. Nagato always had his own motives for collecting the Tailed Beasts, though this was eventually sidelined after his defeat during the Hidden Leaf’s invasion, with Obito taking over the Akatsuki altogether. However, it’s still worth exploring Nagato’s initialplan for the Tailed Beast, especially considering how it was compelling enough to get every member of the Akatsuki on board.
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Developing a Forbidden Jutsu
Since Nagato was completely unaware of the grand scheme of things and his manipulation at the hands of Obito, his motives forcollecting all the Tailed Beastslied entirely elsewhere. In essence, Nagato wished to achieve world peace and to end the cycle of war and hatred, though his methods of achieving this goal became rather twisted. It initially seemed that he wanted to gain an unfathomable amount of power to become a god of sorts, forcing every single nation into submission and ending war and hatred altogether.
However, Nagato’s plan was far from the notion of submission, as he wanted to develop a forbidden jutsu that could annihilate nations in an instant. Given the destructive capabilities of the Ten-Tails, it’s more than likely that he could have formed a similar weapon using his Rinnegan andthe Six Path powers, giving way to a technique that could essentially end all of humanity.
One would imagine that creating such a weapon indicates that Nagato would use it on the Five Great Nations and force them to experience pain and anguish. However, Nagato’s plans were far from it as he called himself a pacifist deity, meaning he did not intend to use the destructive weapon himself. He reveals the actual reason inhis fight with Jiraiya, disclosing the truth to him before killing him.
Distributing the Jutsu Between the Five Great Nations
Nagato’s plan had already seemed quite absurd, with the next part of his scheme becoming all the more obscure. He never wished to use the Tailed Beast weapon himself, rather he intended to distribute the weapon among the Five Great Nations, allowing each nation to wield enough power to destroy one another in an instant. Nagato wanted each nation to experience pain at the hands of one another, similar to what they did to the Hidden Rain Village.
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He believed that once they experienced what theHidden Rain had gone through, only then they would mature and realize the futility of war and hatred. Knowing the power-hungry nature of these nations, Nagato knew that they would be quick to accept the forbidden jutsu, promptly using it on one another in a bid to become the strongest nation. The plan seems similar to what Hashirama Senju did when he divided the Tailed Beasts among the five nations, ensuring that no nation would invade one another knowing they all hold such immense power.
Implications of Nagato’s Plan
Nagato’s plan is rather risky as it has the potential to go either way, be it the end of all wars due to mutually assured destruction or the end of the world due to the cataclysmicdestruction of the forbidden jutsu. In a way, Nagato’s plan is quite similar to the nuclear weapons in the real world, as these weapons of mass destruction are what ensured that another world war would never take place. Mutually assured destruction deterred nations from invading one another, and while the risk of an apocalyptic end always loomed over, it never came about due to mutual destruction.
Nagato’s plan could have served him in a similar way, as it would have barred each nation from ever invading one another, knowing that each one possessed a weapon that could wipe the other in an instant. However, Nagato’s goal was never deterrence, as he wanted the nations to use the forbidden jutsu to destroy each other, in-turn realizing what pain and anguish is – resulting in war and hatred ceasing altogether. It’s still unlikely that Nagato’s plan would have been executed the way he wanted to, as the events ofthe Fourth Great Ninja Warclearly portrayed that the chances of an alliance between the nations was still possible, even if each one possessed a jutsu capable of mass destruction.
