Just as Sakura Haruno was trying to figure out how to get Takasaki to write her name more often in his next diary entry,
in the Land of Rain,
ever since Nagato had called himself a god, the relentless rain over the Land of Rain had not let up for a single moment.
Fortunately, the Land of Rain bordered the sea, and its underground drainage system was well developed enough to carry the rainwater out to sea in time, preventing any floods.
In fact, every raindrop was condensed from Nagato's chakra.
He did this so that any ninja entering the Land of Rain would get rainwater on them, allowing Nagato to sense them immediately and gather intelligence.
After all, this was the birthplace of Nagato, Yahiko, and Konan, as well as the Akatsuki's temporary base.
At that moment,
on the top floor of the tower,
in the Akatsuki meeting room,
Pain, controlled by Nagato, sat at the head of the long table. His pair of Rinnegan fixed on the dozen or so Akatsuki outer members seated around it as he arranged the Land of Rain's military deployments.
Normally, he would leave such arrangements to Konan, one of the Akatsuki's inner members.
But for some reason, Konan had been distracted these past few days.
She had spent most of her time alone in her room in the tower, keeping the door shut.
As a result, he had to personally attend and call this meeting.
The Akatsuki's inner members were Itachi Uchiha, Deidara, Kisame Hoshigaki, Kakuzu, Hidan, Konan, and others. They were mainly responsible for hunting the Tailed Beasts scattered across the nations of the Ninja World.
The Akatsuki's outer members, meanwhile, were war orphans Nagato had taken in and organized into the military forces of the Land of Rain.
As he listened to reports from the various departments, he turned his gaze toward the seat beside him.
It was Konan's seat.
It was empty.
What's been going on with Konan these past few days? Why has she been so distracted? Nagato wondered.
Konan had always followed his orders without question, but this time she had not even attended the meeting.
The thought displeased him.
After the meeting, he would ask her about it himself.
Meanwhile,
on the top floor of the tower, in Konan's bedroom,
the doors and windows were shut tight.
At every corner in the hallway outside, a Paper Dove kept watch for any movement.
For the past few days, she had been using Paper Doves formed from paper shikigami as her eyes and ears, searching for Takasaki's whereabouts. She had found nothing.
The Ninja World was vast, with dozens of nations, large and small.
With so little information, finding one person in such a vast crowd was no easy task.
She couldn't determine Takasaki's location from his first diary entry.
But his second entry had given her a new lead.
She took the diary out of her mental space again and read through its contents.
That girl Hinata has a diary too!
And Hinata had received an extra reward for the second diary entry! Konan hadn't received anything at all.
That was because Takasaki hadn't mentioned her in his second entry.
It looks like Hinata has already figured out how the diary works. She's deliberately getting closer to Takasaki so he'll write her name in it more often and she can earn rewards.
And Hinata's been very successful. She even received an extra reward that increased her stamina by 10%.
Stamina was just as difficult to increase as chakra reserves.
Taijutsu was her weakest area.
It was also what she most wanted to improve.
What did a 10% increase in stamina mean?
Even after a year of hard Taijutsu training, her stamina might only increase by 10%.
Yet a single diary entry from Takasaki could increase Hinata's stamina by that much.
If Konan could get a reward like that, she could make the Akatsuki even stronger.
The problem was that she had to find Takasaki first. Only then could she get close to him, do something memorable, and get him to write her name in the diary.
Suddenly,
she sensed something. "Someone's here."
The Paper Doves she had posted outside had noticed someone approaching.
It was Pain, controlled by Nagato.
Konan had just returned the diary to her mental space when someone knocked on the door. Pain's voice came from outside. "Konan."
Konan first opened the curtains and the window, then turned the doorknob.
"Konan, you didn't attend the meeting just now. I need a reasonable explanation." Pain's pair of Rinnegan fixed on her.
"Sorry, I had something important to take care of."
"What was it?"
Konan instinctively wanted to tell him about the diary. But the moment the thought crossed her mind, fear of death swept over her.
She couldn't tell anyone about the diary. Otherwise, she would die.
Konan knew that rule well.
She had no doubt the diary was capable of enforcing it, so she changed her answer. "It was something personal."
"Something personal?"
Pain furrowed his brow. "We grew up together. I know everything about you, and I can tell something's been weighing on your mind lately."
Pain sighed. "In the Akatsuki, we're superior and subordinate. In private, we're partners who can talk about anything. Tell me what's going on. Maybe I can help."
"I can't stop thinking about someone these past few days. His name is Takasaki. He..."
Konan tried to continue.
But the sense of danger the diary brought her swept over her again.
She could tell that if she said any more, she would reveal its secret.
So she changed the subject. "You can't help me. I have to deal with this myself."
"You can't even tell me?" Pain asked in surprise.
Konan shook her head. "I can't. I'm sorry."
As soon as she finished speaking,
Konan's body gradually scattered, turning into sheets of paper.
The paper fluttered out the window and gathered into hundreds of Paper Doves, which flew off in different directions to search for Takasaki across the vast Ninja World.
Left alone in Konan's bedroom, Pain was far from calm.
For the first time, he felt there was a subtle distance between him and Konan.
Konan used to tell him everything.
Now she was keeping something from him?
Is that man named Takasaki the reason Konan's treating me this way?
Takasaki sounds like a man's name.
Is this man important to Konan? More important than me?
For some reason, Nagato, controlling Pain, suddenly felt unbearably agitated.
Konoha.
In the flower bed by the Ninja Academy entrance, Naruto crawled out with a groan. "Sakura promised she'd kiss me! Why did she end up beating me up instead?"
Sakura Haruno had beaten him up plenty of times before, but this was the only time she'd hurt more than just his body. She had wounded his heart, too.
He felt like Sakura Haruno had tricked him.
He hadn't gotten Sakura's first kiss, and he'd sold Takasaki out, too. Naruto felt awful about what he'd done to Takasaki.
If you did something wrong, you had to admit it right away. That was Naruto's ninja way.
He went into the school and headed to his classroom, where he saw Takasaki fast asleep in the last row.
He went over and tapped Takasaki. "Wake up."
Takasaki opened his bleary eyes and sat up.
He had stayed up late practicing ninjutsu the night before and hadn't gotten a full night's sleep, so he was already prone to dozing off.
What was more, Hinata had treated him to two bowls of Ichiraku Ramen on the way to school.
A full stomach made him even sleepier.
So as soon as he got to the classroom, he sat down, casually flipped through his textbook, then succumbed to a wave of drowsiness and fell asleep on his desk.
Woken by Naruto, he rubbed his sleepy eyes. When he got a good look at Naruto, he burst out laughing. "Naruto, did you sneak a peek at a girl bathing?"
"No." Naruto shook his head firmly. "I'd never do something like that."
"Then why does your head look like you got caught peeking at a girl bathing and got beaten into a pulp?"
"Ah, I..."
Naruto rubbed the huge bump Sakura Haruno had beaten onto his head and the bruised eye she'd given him. He sat down beside Takasaki and sighed. "It's a long story, so I'll keep it short. I'm sorry. I accidentally told someone else about how you taught me to get my classmates to help me cheat. I came here to apologize..."
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