Fishing

"The Chakra in your body can only sustain the energy consumed by that one last technique at most, after which you will have no chance of escape. So..."

You lost.

Sakura Haruno lowered her hand, a cold smile playing on her lips.

Magnificent icicles rise from the frozen sea, like a straight, giant tree.

The woman was imprisoned atop a pillar. Hard ice had grown up to her chest, locking her firmly in mid-air. The paper angel was pale, her smooth wings drooping limply; the scene was as poignant as a religious oil painting.

Sakura Haruno looked up at the scene.

Despite being in a difficult situation, Konan's eyes remained sharp as she pursed her lips and looked back at the girl defiantly.

So what?

The woman's voice was cold and indifferent, as if she didn't care about her own life or death.

She readily admitted her defeat.

In this battle, Konan initially gained the upper hand using Secret Technique. However, Sakura Haruno quickly regained her footing with her excellent counter-attacks. And then—

After that, Sakura completely gained the upper hand.

What appeared to be a fierce battle of evenly matched Ninjutsu, a clash of equals with no clear victor, turned into a nightmare for Konan, where she was completely overwhelmed and led by the nose. Sakura Haruno skillfully unleashed various Water Release and Ice Release, bombarding Konan relentlessly. In no time, Konan lost the initiative, struggling to defend and dodge the girl's relentless barrage of Ninjutsu, her stamina and Chakra rapidly declining at a dangerous pace.

By now, Konan's Chakra was completely depleted, and she had very little strength left.

She lost.

But so what?

"You knew you had no chance of winning long ago." Sakura Haruno narrowed her eyes slightly, her tone filled with doubt. "Why didn't you run? Why persist in a battle you were destined to lose? What were you persisting in?"

"... Why?" Konan sneered, "There's no need for a reason... because as a citizen of Five Great Nations, you'll never understand the suffering of those of us living in small countries, nor will you ever comprehend what we're holding onto!"

Sakura Haruno frowned slightly.

If being born in a time of war is a misfortune, then being born in a small country during a time of war is the worst of misfortunes. So Sakura Haruno is lucky; at least she has lived in a peaceful, large country for two lifetimes. The feeling of a country being destroyed and a family being destroyed only exists in history books.

The small country and its people, caught in the crossfire of the invasion by the Five Great Nations, are people from a different world than the ninjas of the Five Great Nations.

However, Konan's statement that Sakura Haruno couldn't understand this feeling is somewhat biased. After all, Sakura Haruno is a transmigrator, not simply a native. She has acquired far more information than the ninjas living in a near-feudal era, so at least... Sakura can understand to some extent what happened in those small countries.

In the past, on Earth, similar tragedies were constantly unfolding in small countries oppressed by powerful nations. A mere glance at the news would reveal reports of wars breaking out in regions and countries like China, resulting in the deaths of hundreds of civilians. The masterminds behind all this were none other than those few major powers. And sometimes, the lives lost in these regions didn't even generate as much buzz online as a fire in a famous building belonging to one of those major powers.

Human beings, the inherent flaws of human nature.

Sakura Haruno remained silent. The war between the Five Great Nations had caused many tragedies; this was their mistake. The emergence of "Akatsuki" was a backlash caused by this mistake.

But this doesn't mean Sakura Haruno should surrender to make up for these mistakes, or that the Five Great Nations should allow Akatsuki to run rampant in the world. Perhaps after resolving the Akatsuki issue, the entire Hokage world will reflect on this lesson, and humanity will only realize the preciousness of peace after suffering enough.

But now is definitely not the time to reflect on or examine anything.

During the battle, she had no energy to ponder these questions.

Whether you sympathize with her or not, she and Konan are now mortal enemies. What Sakura Haruno has to do is completely defeat her and her companions!

Konan took a deep breath and continued, "My country was destroyed in the war between your Five Great Nations. My parents were killed by the ninjas of your Five Great Nations. In the Land of Rain, there were tens of thousands of orphans like me, most of whom tragically died of hunger and cold in the winter... You have no idea what we went through!"

"So the three of you formed 'Akatsuki' to seek revenge against the Five Great Nations?"

"Quite the opposite." Konan raised her head dismissively, then said loudly, "Yahiko and Nagato are far more magnanimous than your Five Great Nations... They founded Akatsuki not to start wars, but to stop them and realize their dream of world peace!"

"Is that so?" Sakura Haruno chuckled, her smile brimming with sarcasm. "War profiteers dream of world peace... You wouldn't be trying to tell me that Akatsuki's acquisition of dangerous Jinchūriki is also for world peace, would you, Senior Sister?"

Konan was not provoked; instead, she calmly and indifferently looked back at the girl.

"You outsiders will never understand the will of God, nor the pain of the world..." she said calmly, "So no matter how powerful you are, you are nothing more than an innocent and naive little girl. Before God, the power you are so proud of is as insignificant as an ant!"

The girl's expression darkened slightly.

"The god you speak of is merely a possessor of the Rinnegan, a special Kekkei Genkai..." Sakura curled her lip in disdain. "Six Paths of Pain are nothing more than having peculiar abilities; stop pretending to be a god!"

Konan's calm expression finally changed. She was startled and her eyes widened!

"How could you know who it was?!"

Nagato's information was Akatsuki's top secret, always kept under tight control. How could it have been leaked?!

Is it Madara? Uchiha Itachi? Or someone else?

Knowing about Nagato but unaware that Konan recently practiced tactics specifically targeting Sakura Haruno suggests that she hasn't been in contact with them recently.

In an instant, her mind was in turmoil, filled with numerous suspicions—yet no matter how hard she racked her brains, she couldn't fathom that Sakura Haruno had actually traveled to the future of the original world and obtained Akatsuki's information from there...

This kind of foul was beyond Konan's imagination.

The Paper Angel steadied herself, suppressing the shock in her heart.

Even if the information was leaked, so what? A god is still a god.

Nagato is invincible! Even though the girl's strength far exceeded her expectations, Konan still had full confidence in Nagato; he would definitely defeat Sakura Haruno!

That's right, that's exactly it.

Thinking of this, Konan breathed a sigh of relief. The Paper Clone had just sent back a message that Pain had already set off. Considering the time, she had kept Sakura Haruno occupied for so long... Pain should have arrived long ago.

"Hmph... these things don't matter anymore."

As the woman spoke, the seriousness on her face vanished, replaced by a cold laugh.

Even though she had been beaten to the point of near collapse by Sakura Haruno, she looked at Sakura with a condescending gaze—as if Sakura Haruno were the loser.

Sakura Haruno stood straight on the sea not far away, her posture upright and graceful, motionless despite the turbulent waves. The sea was also quite strange; outside, the waves were turbulent, but where the girl stood, it was abruptly calm, with only shallow ripples pulsating, gently washing over Sakura's rounded toes, curling up bubbles, and playfully leaving a ring of lace-like foam on the girl's ankles.

The girl had been observing Konan's expression, from her momentary panic and shock to her regained composure and cold smile. Sakura smiled sweetly, as if she had already seen through her defeated opponent.

Looking at Yingying's confident eyes, Konan's heart suddenly skipped a beat.

For no apparent reason, a thought arose in her mind: Was Sakura Haruno really delayed for so long because she lacked a decisive means?

She didn't even activate Sage Mode... Could Sakura Haruno at full power ignore the Dance of the Shikigami and instantly kill him?

Furthermore, since Akatsuki's information has already been leaked, wouldn't Sakura Haruno know that Nagato would definitely come to rescue her?

The Paper Angel's smile froze, her eyes lowered, and her face turned deathly pale.

No wonder this battle was so awkward...

Konan finally realized that while she was trying her best to stall for time and keep Sakura Haruno in suspense, Sakura was also playing along, putting on a good show to lure Six Paths of Pain out.

Who exactly hooked whom?

"Judging from your expression just now," Sakura Haruno's voice suddenly rang out, "Pain must be almost here."

Konan suddenly looked up and saw the girl standing far away, her beautiful light green eyes looking at her with amusement.

"So..."

She raised her right hand.

The girl's fair arm pointed straight at Konan, her five fingers spread wide.

"The bait is useless then."