Witness the Truth of the World

The next day, when Konan found Shiba Seika, he was training hard on the only practice field at the Akatsuki Organization's base.

Over the past few months, his survival instinct had pushed Shiba Seika's self-discipline and diligence to their limits.

Ever since receiving the system's first reward and becoming a true ninja, Shiba Seika had never let a single day pass without training.

When there were no missions, he often spent the entire day soaking in the base's practice field.

There was no helping it—training might be tough for him, but not training would truly mean death...

Hard work paid off. Over these months, his progress had been rapid. Not only had he quickly mastered and integrated the basic Taijutsu and Kenjutsu rewarded by the system, but he had also learned several Water Release and Lightning Release ninjutsu through sparring and exchanges within the organization.

Watching Shiba Seika now—his stance steady, his movements in advancing, swinging the blade, stepping back, and circling becoming more and more fluid—Konan couldn't help but feel a mix of emotions.

"You've improved again, Seika."

She praised him sincerely.

A member so hardworking, ambitious, sharp, and capable—why couldn't he understand their ideals? At the same time, she couldn't stop sighing inwardly.

"You flatter me, Sister Nan. Is there something you need from me?"

Shiba Seika guessed he was probably around the same age as Konan, but since they were both orphans with no knowledge of their exact birthdays, they couldn't determine who was older or younger.

Since Shiba Seika willingly called her "sister," Konan didn't refuse.

"Seika, Yahiko has assigned other work to your team members. For the next few days, I'll be your partner on the missions."

Shiba Seika immediately smiled.

"So you're the one they've sent to persuade me now, Sister Nan?"

"..."

Seeing through her intentions at a glance, Konan turned her head away with slight embarrassment, one hand instinctively reaching behind her ear to touch the paper flower at her temple.

This gesture, made by the fourteen-year-old Konan, came across as surprisingly charming and cute, carrying a unique allure.

Shiba Seika deliberately paused for a moment, savoring the faint blush on Konan's profile, before continuing.

"Go on, then. What's the mission you're planning to hand over to me?"

Konan tilted her head. "Aren't you angry, Seika? Having the squad under your command reassigned so suddenly."

What's there to be angry about? You're far more valuable than them! You have no idea how much you're worth, Sister Nan!

Not only was Shiba Seika not angry, he was actually very satisfied with Yahiko's arrangement.

Because he knew very well that whether he planned to change the Akatsuki Organization or usurp it in the future, breaking apart the iron triangle of Yahiko, Konan, and Nagato was a crucial step!

The others were just extras. If things followed their destined path, all the early Akatsuki members would die in the future in the joint purge orchestrated by Hanzō and Danzo.

Only Konan and Nagato possessed astonishing potential, surviving and gradually growing into Kage-level powerhouses!

You think you're here to convince me, but you don't realize you're my real prey.

Sister Nan, I've long been plotting how to show you the adult world!

"It's an honor to carry out a mission with you, Sister Nan."

"...There's no need to flatter me like that. Let's talk about the mission first."

After Konan explained, Shiba Seika roughly understood.

Their main goal this time was to investigate a merchant from the Land of Rain named Ando.

Ando ran his business in a small town not far from the Akatsuki base. Not long ago, Akatsuki had driven off rogue ninjas who came to plunder the town, protecting it. But for some reason, this Ando didn't appreciate Akatsuki's help. Instead, he had secretly caused trouble several times when Akatsuki tried to purchase supplies.

Recently, some townspeople had even reported that Ando was secretly hiring outside ninjas with ill intentions.

After explaining the mission, Konan sighed. "Seika, you understand—Yahiko has never been good at handling situations that might create rifts with the nearby villagers. And the townspeople who reported this don't have solid evidence yet, so we're relying on your wisdom again.

But please promise me this time—don't use extreme methods to solve it, okay?"

Shiba Seika smiled and said, "I'll take this mission seriously."

He only said he'd take it seriously, without giving any guarantees.

Konan opened her mouth but ultimately said nothing more.

Even with her gentle and resilient heart, she was never very good at Talk Style.

Let alone when she was facing Shiba Seika, whose mental age far surpassed his physical one!

After that, Shiba Seika did indeed take the mission very seriously, as he had promised.

That afternoon, he set off ahead of time to the town, going around to gather information, collect samples, and investigate the details.

By evening, Shiba Seika had already formed a basic judgment about the entire situation.

If he only wanted to complete the mission, he could have started wrapping things up right then.

But what he wanted was clearly more than that!

Taking advantage of this perfect opportunity, he planned to open Konan's eyes and make her see the truth of this world!

So he deliberately concealed his findings and, over the next few days, continued to drag Konan around, putting on a show of searching.

Giving the mission target plenty of time to run wild.

To avoid wasting time while putting on an act, and to keep Konan distracted so the girl wouldn't notice anything off, Shiba Seika had spent these past few days constantly finding opportunities to ask her about ninjutsu.

"Sister Nan, how do you allocate chakra when using the Clone Technique? You use paper clones? That's fine—even if I can't learn your Bloodline Limit, I can still reference your operational skills."

"Sister Nan, do you have any special techniques for throwing Paper Shuriken? Hiding Explosive Tags? That's a good idea. Why tell me not to learn it? Too underhanded? No, I think it's great—such an artistic approach."

"Sister Nan, how do you manipulate airflow when you're flying?"

And just like that, three days flew by in an instant.

Konan never once found a chance to convince Shiba Seika to believe in their dream—not a single time...

Instead, she realized the distance between herself and Shiba Seika was growing closer and closer.

She had grown increasingly accustomed to working alongside him on missions, to his diligence, to his questions, to his orderly analysis and ever-calm thinking during tasks.

No one could say for sure who had won over whom in this process, or whose initial impression had quietly shifted.

Until that day, when Shiba Seika confirmed through his exclusive covert network: that restless mission target had finally, as expected, successfully made contact with an Iwagakure ninja.

In a sense, this act could already be considered a betrayal of the Land of Rain!

The moment he confirmed the news, Shiba Seika couldn't help but curl the corners of his mouth.

The time for friendship and bonds was over.

Now it was time to let naive Sister Nan experience the reality of this shinobi world.