Konan was pulled into Lin Qing's embrace.
Her chin rested on Lin Qing's shoulder as her amber eyes gazed in the direction of Amegakure. Two trails of tears slid down her cheeks.
Her tears were for her reunion with Yahiko and Nagato, for the destruction of Amegakure, and perhaps also for the joy of being reborn from utter despair—
The joy born of instinct.
No matter how deeply Konan mourned Amegakure's destruction, she could not deceive herself.
She wanted to live.
Because only by staying alive...
could she take revenge!
Lin Qing did not ask what exactly had happened. Seeing the hatred gathering in her eyes, he offered no words of consolation either.
He simply kept channeling Ripple into her, helping Konan maintain her Dance of the Shikigami form.
After an unknown amount of time, the final tear fell. Konan gently wiped away the tear tracks.
"Sorry for causing you trouble."
Her voice was extremely hoarse.
"It's not trouble."
Lin Qing said earnestly, "Anything involving you isn't trouble to me. We're friends."
Much of the intelligence regarding Akatsuki and Nagato had come from Konan's memories, and it had been a tremendous help to Lin Qing in battle.
If that could still be considered Lin Qing's "spoils of war,"
then after Konan returned to Akatsuki, their occasional correspondence had given Lin Qing considerable feedback from her efforts to spread Awakening Ideology through special regions.
This information had helped Lin Qing avoid many unnecessary difficulties when promoting Awakening Ideology across the various ninja villages and countries.
Put simply, the amount of Soul Shards Lin Qing gained each day had increased.
Put more deeply, Konan had been one of the first people to walk alongside Lin Qing outside of Kirigakure.
Previously, because of Nagato's ideals, it had been inconvenient for them to interact