Hokage Office.
Reanimated Minato 2 looked at Konan, his brows drawing together.
Yes.
Through the memories shared by his other self, he knew she belonged to Akatsuki—and that she was the person its leader, Nagato, trusted most.
More importantly...
Konan was telling the truth. She really was one of his teacher Jiraiya's disciples!
In the other world, Konan had indeed defected to Konoha. But the circumstances in the two worlds were different, and Reanimated Minato 2 could not understand why she wanted to defect now.
After a brief pause, Reanimated Minato 2 spoke.
"Konan..."
"I accept who you are. I'd heard about your connection to Teacher Jiraiya before."
"But I don't understand why you want to defect to Konoha."
"First, I need to make something clear."
"Konoha knows about Akatsuki. If it were still the organization it used to be, I'd let you join us for Teacher Jiraiya's sake without asking questions."
"But we know what Akatsuki has become. It is, for all intents and purposes, a terrorist organization."
"So..."
"Unless you give me a satisfactory answer, I'm afraid I can't let you join Konoha. We have no way of knowing whether you're a spy."
"I hope you understand."
Reanimated Minato 2 was direct, with no intention of wasting words.
The reason was simple.
Konoha's preparations were nearly complete. War with Akatsuki would begin before long, so there was little point in hiding much of its intelligence now.
Besides, for Teacher Jiraiya's sake, if Konan truly posed no threat, he did not mind letting her join Konoha.
After all...
In some respects, Konan was a good person.
After joining Konoha in the other world, she had even become the Hokage's secretary at the Hokage Building, hadn't she?
Meanwhile, Konan was stunned by what she heard.
Clearly, she had never expected