"After taking your revenge, do you feel better?" Shin asked calmly. He found the battle somewhat dull, but it held special meaning for Konan.
He did not know whether Konan had taken revenge after learning ninjutsu from Jiraiya in the original story. Most likely, she had simply been unable to find her enemies and had eventually let the matter fade away. But here, with Akatsuki's intelligence network, failing to find someone was never a problem.
Konan looked at him with a somewhat bewildered expression. She nodded, then shook her head.
Perhaps feeling that she had not expressed herself clearly, she fell into conflict. In truth, she had no idea how to describe what she was feeling. After a long silence, she finally spoke.
"It feels strange. I clearly feel relieved, as though a huge stone that had always weighed on my chest has been removed, but I'm not happy..."
She fell silent again before continuing. It seemed as though she was speaking to Shin, yet also talking to herself. "He actually forgot about it. I saw the look in his eyes at the end. Even then, he still hadn't remembered. How could he forget? How could he forget? I remembered it all this time. I remembered it every moment. He was the one who destroyed our village. It was him..."
"Do you want to cry?" Shin suddenly asked as he watched her.
"No. I don't want to cry. No matter when it is, crying means weakness. Crying means admitting defeat. I won't cry." Konan murmured softly, more as if she were encouraging herself.
"Then cry if you want to!"
At those words, Konan's body trembled slightly. Tears welled in her eyes, and then, with a wail, she threw herself into Shin's arms and began sobbing loudly. Even as she cried,