Chapter 35: Konan's Rain Village Journal
Though in many people's eyes, Hyuga Kiyonari was a deeply thoughtful good person.
But if he answered himself, he'd probably say: "I'm just an ordinary person."
Just like how he actually had the ability to help Uzumaki Naruto improve his situation, but he hadn't gone deep into it—only during that day's brief encounter, he'd shared some money and a mask.
In others' eyes, that was standing up for Naruto.
In his own view, it was just finding a hundred ryo while out, and Naruto happening to witness it—so he split it fifty-fifty. Nothing more.
Of course, he could also not split with Naruto, but there was no need.
Just like handling the Uchiha problem—the same applied.
Hyuga Kiyonari didn't need to personally charge into battle, just move his lips or hide backstage writing scripts. His life principle had already been told to Tsunade: "Just that I happen to have that ability." Both matters were, for him, merely lifting a finger—things he wanted to do.
He never felt special, nor would he brand himself with words like "good person."
He also had his selfish desires. Even... wanted to do some bad things.
The Cloud delegation returning to the Cloud Village would take at least three to four days. Today had nearly passed, meaning Tsunade had less than three days left for preparation.
She was in a rush, so tonight... many people probably wouldn't sleep well.
As for Hyuga Kiyonari, he was contemplating another problem.
Before today, he hadn't anticipated Konoha would make such major moves. His original plan targeting the Hyuga main family was having Tsunade cooperate with Hinata to suppress these old people's delusions.
But now, methods could be more aggressive. After all, the contradiction between branch and main families wasn't as simple as "dividing inheritance."
Additionally, he could plant a seed in the shinobi world in advance. Even if unexpected situations arose, nothing would attract more attention than "Konoha and Cloud Village confrontation."
...
Rain fell as always.
As if the sky had an irreparable hole, endlessly pouring cold rain onto the earth. Rainwater drummed on rooftops, producing a monotonous, sustained lullaby.
WHOOSH!!!
Konan landed at the corridor's end, folding her paper wings before stepping inside. This tower was Akatsuki's core, the Land of Rain's core, and also... her current home.
Right now, exhaustion filled her face.
Nagato's body wasn't particularly healthy. As Akatsuki and the Rain Village's actual administrator, she needed to handle countless tedious affairs daily. New member profiles and recruitment, intelligence compilation, village fund and resource allocation, coordinating Akatsuki and Rain ninja missions...
Konan didn't possess tremendous power. All she could do was share Nagato's burden as much as possible, letting him focus on implementing that grand plan.
Realize Yahiko's dream.
Click—
Konan pushed open her room door.
The room wasn't large, furnishings very simple. A bed, a desk, a wardrobe—nothing more. The walls were cold steel material without any decoration. Outside the window, rainwater flowed down the glass, blurring the outer world.
She closed the door and released a long breath.
"Finally can rest."
Though this village wasn't large, troublesome matters were plentiful. She also had to process intelligence Zetsu sent—like Konoha and the Cloud Village's recent conflict. Of course, what gave her the biggest headache were those two newly joined members.
Kakuzu and Orochimaru.
Kakuzu was relatively manageable. He was obsessed with money. Just assign Akatsuki's financial work to him and he'd complete it conscientiously. In a sense, this actually saved Konan considerable worry—at least she no longer had to fret over the organization's every expenditure.
Good news complete. The bad news?
Probably that Kakuzu frequently killed his partners, then sent them to underground exchange stations for bounties. For every new member she recruited, Kakuzu killed one. Qualified rogue ninja weren't so easy to find. Looking at it this way, her workload actually hadn't decreased—just transferred.
As for Orochimaru... every time Konan thought of him, disgust surged in her heart.
Not that she held grudges about past events, but because every time Orochimaru looked at Pain, his eyes filled with greed. His reason for joining Akatsuki was singular—waiting for opportunities to seize the Rinnegan.
Moreover, his experiments required massive funding. Each time Orochimaru came to Konan for money, he'd quote astronomical figures.
More troublesome still—Kakuzu deeply detested this.
In Kakuzu's view, Orochimaru was a spendthrift who only burned money. Those so-called "human experiments" and "forbidden jutsu research" were, to Kakuzu's eyes, meaningless wasteful behavior. He only wanted to save money, absolutely unwilling to give Orochimaru any.
So the two argued every few days, or fought.
But two immortal monsters fighting never produced results. They could stab each other, set fires... but only wasted time and energy. In the end, she still had to clean up.
Konan walked to the wardrobe, removing the signature black robe with red clouds, revealing the inner purple bodysuit.
This was special material clothing with excellent waterproofing. In the perpetually rainy Land of Rain, such clothing was essential. Wearing only ordinary clothes, within ten minutes they'd be completely soaked. Wet fabric clinging to skin—that cold, sticky feeling no one would like.
The purple fabric tightly wrapped her body, outlining graceful curves—slender and proportionate, displaying mature feminine charm.
She walked to the desk, preparing to organize today's received intelligence. But the instant her gaze fell on the desktop, her entire body froze.
On the desk lay an unfamiliar black notebook.
That notebook just lay quietly at the desktop's center. The cover was pure black without any decoration or text. It looked very ordinary—like some cheap notebook from any bookstore.
But the problem was—it shouldn't be here!
Konan's expression changed instantly. Paper-like cracks appeared on her body's surface.
This was her unique jutsu—Dance of the Shikigami—allowing her to transform her body into countless paper-like fragments. In this state, she could ignore physical damage, very useful when facing ambushes and assassinations. This technique represented a lesson learned.
Next, Konan began checking the room's barrier status. But moments later, her face showed astonishment.
All protective measures remained untriggered, yet the notebook had indeed appeared on the desk. This meant the other party's stealth ability far exceeded her understanding.
Who could it be?
Konan rapidly filtered possible suspects through her mind.
First thought—Zetsu.
That two-faced guy possessed special abilities, could merge into ground and walls, traveling freely underground like a ghost. If it were him, avoiding all protective measures was indeed possible.
But why would Zetsu do this?
Another possibility—that masked man calling himself "Uchiha Madara." He wielded space-time ninjutsu. But similarly, he also had no reason to do such things.
Konan decided to step forward and open the notebook. On the title page, neat handwriting formed a line:
"Rain Village Journal, the time is... thirty years in the future?!"
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