Your Half-Life of Faith Was Nothing More Than Someone Else's Pawn

Uzumaki Estate.

An underground chamber.

3 a. m.

When Konan woke up, the first thing she noticed was the warmth on her wrist.

It's not the coldness of metal.

It is a kind of Chakra Chains continuously outputs a faint amount of heat...

Golden.

Wrapped around her wrists and ankles, with the other end embedded in the sealing array of the bed frame, each ring steadily infused a very small amount of Yang Release energy into her meridians—just enough to keep her Chakra circuits at the critical point of "awake but unable to condense".

Konan tried folding a piece of paper.

It failed.

I can't even fold one sheet.

Her amber eyes slowly swept across the surroundings.

The room was small, with soundproof walls, and the oil lamp in the corner had been replaced with a wall lamp, the light was too soft.

The bed beneath me was so soft it didn't feel like a prison cell—it felt more like... a carefully furnished bedroom.

"Woke up?"

The sound came from the left.

Naruto sat on a wooden chair with the back facing forward, his arms resting on the back of the chair and his chin on his arms.

She changed out of her bathrobe into a black short-sleeved shirt.

Golden wisps of hair fell between his brows, and his azure eyes held an unsettling, specimen-like interest.

"I slept for six hours."

He glanced at the wall clock. "Faster than I expected. No wonder he's an S-rank ninja, his physical abilities are truly top-notch."

Konan didn't say anything.

She was very clear-headed.

They've been captured.

Chakra was sealed.

The connection between the Paper Clone was completely severed— Nagato should have already noticed.

Thirty years of battlefield experience taught her: do not reveal your emotions, and do not give the enemy any information that they can use.

Silence is the best weapon.

"Fine, you don't want to chat."

Naruto stood up, turned his chair around and sat down again, crossed his legs, and tapped his fingers idly on his knees.

"Then I'll talk, and you listen."

"--About your ridiculous 'peace' plan."

Konan's eyelashes trembled.

The amplitude is extremely small.

But Naruto saw it.

"Eye of the Moon Plan"

When he uttered those four words, his tone was as flat as if he were reciting a menu.

"Infinite Tsukuyomi. It pulls everyone into an eternal dream world, achieving peace within that dream. This is what you and Nagato have been chasing for half your lives."

Konan's breathing rate changed.

Her heart rate suddenly dropped from fourteen beats per minute to ten—she was forcefully suppressing her body's reaction.

Naruto lifted his eyelids to look at her.

"Good facial expression control."

He chuckled. "But your heart is racing. Perfect Sage Body can hear it."

"... What exactly are you trying to say?"

Konan spoke up.

The sound was flat and cold, like the surface of a frozen lake.

Naruto rested his chin on his hand, tilting his head to look at her as if he were looking at a beautiful bird in a cage.

I want to tell you a fact.

"That Masked Man who calls himself ' Madara Uchiha'— "

He raised his index finger.

His real name is Obito Uchiha.

Konan's fingers curled slightly.

"Konoha Ninja. A student of the Fourth Hokage. A 'fallen' from the Battle of Kannabi Bridge twenty years ago."

Naruto said, word by word, "The reason I survived is because the real Madara Uchiha took me in and pieced together half of my body using Hashirama Cells."

You're talking nonsense.

Konan's voice was half a beat faster than before.

"Yeah?"

Naruto wasn't angry; instead, he showed an expression that was almost one of pity.

"Then let me ask you—have you ever thought about why someone who calls himself Madara Uchiha would help Nagato achieve peace? Who is Madara? He's the one who started the Fourth Shinobi World War. He's spent his whole life pursuing power and war."

"He helped you because he needed Nagato's Rinnegan."

Konan's pupils contracted.

"Nagato's Rinnegan— " Naruto emphasized, "Wasn't something he was born with."

The room was silent for three seconds.

"... What?"

Konan's lips moved.

As the sound was forced out of her throat, she herself noticed a kind of uncontrolled tremor.

Naruto stood up.

He walked to the bedside and looked down at the blue-haired woman who was bound by chains.

"Before his death, Madara Uchiha removed his Rinnegan and transplanted it into the young Nagato."

He crouched down, bringing his eyes to her level.

There was no mockery in his azure eyes, only a cold cruelty.

"Why Nagato? Because he is a descendant of the Uzumaki Clan, with a special physique that can withstand the strain of the Rinnegan."

"Why transplant them? Because Madara needs a 'nurturing environment' to nourish his eyes, so that after he dies and is resurrected through the Demonic Statue of the Outer Path, his eyes can be taken back."

"All of Nagato's suffering in this life— Yahiko's death, his paralysis, the backlash from the Rinnegan —was because he was chosen by Madara from a young age. Chosen as a pawn, a tool for resurrection."

Konan's body was trembling.

It's not because of the cold.

Her back arched, and the chains tightened, making a metallic scraping sound.

He gripped the bedsheets beneath him with all his might, his knuckles turning white, as if someone had ripped something out of his body to support him.

"No... it's impossible..."

The sound shattered into fragments.

"Besides."

Naruto didn't stop.

His voice remained steady, cutting through her last line of defense with the precision of a scalpel.

"The black-clad figure next to the Masked Man —is not the other half of the White Zetsu."

"He is the will of Kaguya Otsutsuki. He has lived for over a thousand years. He manipulated Madara Uchiha, Obito, and Nagato. All of you—from beginning to end, have been working for a monster from a thousand years ago."

"You and Nagato think you are pursuing peace."

"But from day one, you've been chasing after a pie in the sky that someone else has painted for you."

Konan's eyes reddened.

It's not crying.

It's congestion.

It is the involuntary dilation of blood vessels under intense emotional stress.

She stared intently at Naruto.

The amber pupils reflected a complex mix of emotions—anger, fear, stubborn refusal to believe, and something even more terrifying.

Shake.

"What right do you have..." Her voice was so hoarse that she could barely utter a sound.

"What makes you think you know all this...?"

Naruto was silent for two seconds.

Then he reached out his hand.

His fingertips touched her cheek.

She gently wiped away a drop of liquid that she herself hadn't even noticed had slid down the corner of her eye.

The movements were very gentle.

The palm of my hand was very hot.

"Because I know everything."

His voice was low, his breath brushing against her forehead.

"The past, the present, and the future."

Konan did not dodge his hand.

It's not that I don't want to hide.

All the strength in his body had been drained the moment he finished speaking those words.

Naruto's thumb lingered on her cheekbone for a moment.

Then withdraw your hand and stand up straight.

Let's digest it first tonight.

He turned and walked towards the door.

I'll come again tomorrow.

Footsteps.

The door opened.

"Wait--"

Konan's voice caught up.

Hoarse.

Broken.

She carried with her an emotion that she herself could not define.

Naruto stopped at the doorway, turning half his face to the side.

The silhouette against the corridor lights is very sharp.

"... If what you're saying is true."

Konan stared at his back, her fingernails almost digging into her palms.

"Is Nagato... still... a pawn?"

Naruto did not turn around.

"It depends--"

He raised his hand and tapped lightly twice on the door frame.

"Would you be willing to help me take him off the chessboard?"

The door closed.

Silence returned to the sealed room.

The only sound was the faint hissing of the wall lamp.

Konan lay on the soft bed.

The warmth of the chains continued to flow into her meridians.

Golden light shone on the ceiling, twinkling like a tiny warmth that didn't belong to the past thirty years of her life.

She closed her eyes.

Yahiko's smiling face emerged from the darkness.

Then it broke.

In the corridor.

Naruto leaned against the wall and took out the white piece of paper that Konan had left behind from his pocket.

It flipped over in front of the light.

A system notification sounded in my mind.

[Ding--Target: Konan (Angel of God) Affection level is changing...]

[Current Affection Level: +15 (Instinctive Attachment After Faith Collapse)]

[Cumulative Favorability: 75]

[System Assessment: The target's mental defenses have suffered a structural collapse. The core belief system has been devastated and is currently in an extremely vulnerable window of "old beliefs collapsing, new beliefs in a vacuum." It is recommended that the host continue to intervene as the "sole provider of truth and redeemer" over the next 24 hours; the probability of achieving a favorability rating exceeding 90% is extremely high.]

Naruto put the piece of paper back into his pocket.

The corners of his mouth slowly curved upwards.

"Seventy-five."

He walked upstairs, his voice languid and smug, carrying a sense of satisfied contentment.

Make her breakfast tomorrow.

"After all--"

"After tearing down someone's lifelong faith, there has to be some compensation."

(Amegakure, top floor of the tower)

The torrential rain has been falling for a full six hours.

Deva Path Pain stood by the window.

The concentric lines on the Rinnegan slowly rotated.

Konan's Chakra connection was severed.

It's been twelve hours.

Nagato's thin fingers gripped the window frame.

The metal edge deforms silently under the fingertip.

"... Hidden Leaf."

He turned around.

All six bodies of Pain opened their eyes simultaneously.