The rain was falling harder again.
Traces of the battle on the ground were slowly being washed away, fading little by little. Yet to hope that nature alone could erase all signs of what had happened here… that would take years. The transformations wrought by Earth Release on the terrain were not so easily undone.
"Why didn't you chase them?"
Konan stood at the edge of a fissure, gazing downward as she asked.
"That man Akaishi is strong. In Iwagakure he's known as the Third Tsuchikage's right hand. For me to fight him to a draw was already the limit of what I could do. Even if I gave chase, to be honest, I couldn't guarantee I'd be able to keep him here. Worse, I might have stumbled into a trap of theirs."
Kyoichi's voice echoed up from deep within the fissure.
"…Earlier you were prepared to face this whole Iwa force on your own."
Konan reminded him flatly.
"Haha."
His laughter rose from below, followed by an explanation:
"That was before I realized it would be the Tsuchikage's right hand himself coming. I thought it'd just be like before — ANBU, maybe more of them than usual at most."
"…I see."
Konan narrowed her eyes slightly, but said no more.
Still, she didn't quite believe him. Her instincts told her he still had some trump card he hadn't revealed. But she didn't press; she wasn't curious about Kyoichi's secrets. Her reminder had simply been out of habit — to strike thoroughly, without leaving roots behind.
Years of struggling against Amegakure's shinobi had shaped Akatsuki's methods, making them as sharp and ruthless as those Ame-nin.
Fortunately, Yahiko remained as cheerful and reliable as ever, untouched by cruelty.
It was precisely because of him that Konan and Nagato had not been wholly consumed by the harshness of the Land of Rain, managing to hold fast to their ideals through the years. The danger was that they placed all their hope, all their light, on Yahiko alone. Should anything happen to him…
They would surely break.
Just as in the original history — Yahiko's death drove Nagato and Konan into darkness, down the path of "making the world know pain" under Obito's manipulation.
"Konan, your spoils."
Kyoichi emerged from the fissure, dragging with him the corpse of a spiky-haired Iwa-nin.
It was the Demolition Unit member who had died at Konan's hands.
Earlier, when Kyoichi unleashed Tearing Earth Turning Palm, the body had fallen into the rift. With the enemy retreating in haste, they hadn't reclaimed it — or perhaps couldn't. If Akaishi had been willing to trade one or two more of his men's lives, he might have managed to take the corpse, bearer of the Explosion Release kekkei genkai, with him.
But Akaishi wasn't that kind of commander.
He could accept his men dying in battle, but he would never gamble their lives for a corpse, no matter what bloodline it carried. To him, the dead should give way to the living, not the other way around.
This wasn't a secret in Iwagakure. As the Tsuchikage's arm, Akaishi had been observed and studied by many. His ways were straightforward, never fond of subterfuge. Though he once commanded the ANBU, it hadn't suited his nature at all.
And so, for all these reasons, the corpse — carrier of Explosion Release — was abandoned. Kyoichi unearthed it and offered it to Konan.
By shinobi custom, whoever struck the killing blow was entitled to the spoils — corpse included. Even though Kyoichi hadn't seen it directly, the mangled body made it clear enough: this Demolition Unit shinobi had tried to unleash Explosion Release against Konan… only to be blown to pieces himself.
A miserable fate.
And Konan was no stranger to explosions. In the future, her Paper God Technique would unleash six hundred billion explosive tags, disguised as an ocean, nearly killing Uchiha Obito.
By comparison, today's victim was nothing more than her testing her blade.
"I'll take it."
Konan accepted the corpse without hesitation. Producing a storage scroll, she sealed away the ruined body. She had no interest in Explosion Release itself, and Akatsuki lacked the means to research bloodline limits anyway.
But the corpse had value on the black market. Though the man was only a tokubetsu jōnin, being a member of the Demolition Unit with Explosion Release would fetch a premium. At the very least, it could sell for ten million ryō — perhaps more, depending on the seller's tongue.
"Our finances have never been good. Selling this corpse will help ease the organization's troubles."
Konan explained almost apologetically after sealing it away.
If not for Akatsuki's need for money, she'd have had no interest in taking such a thing.
"We're in the same boat. The Koeda Clan is flat broke too. We left all our assets behind in Iwagakure — barely managed to bring out anything liquid at all. Feeding and housing more than two hundred people eats money like water. If not for Dazen secretly transferring some clan assets beforehand, we'd all be starving by now."
Kyoichi sighed, sharing the same plight.
While he and Konan found unexpected camaraderie in shared hardship, reinforcements finally arrived.
"Konan, are you alright?"
Yahiko, soaked by the downpour, rushed to the front, with Seinosuke close behind.
"I'm fine, Yahiko. The Iwa-nin have already been repelled."
Konan smiled at him as he came.
"Phew… good. That's good."
Seeing her unharmed, Yahiko let out a heavy breath of relief.
"Kyoichi, you've really grown strong, haven't you?"
Seinosuke arrived a little later, far less anxious than Yahiko, and gave Kyoichi a measuring look. His praise, however, carried a faintly mocking tone.
"Of course. I'm still growing, after all."
Kyoichi didn't mind his sharp tongue. Today, he had gained another high-level Earth Release technique he hadn't mastered before — his mood was plenty good.