At dusk on a slope in the Land of Rivers, Konan and Pain Rin walked onward.
A nameless little river below reflected the glow of the sunset, while the breeze was pleasantly gentle.
Konan stopped, lightly pinching her veil. "I want to sit here and enjoy the wind."
"Alright." Pain Rin readily agreed. She raised her small hands from behind her back, adjusted Konan's collar, and sat beside her facing the river.
After sitting down, Konan gently hugged her legs wrapped in white thigh-high stockings and asked curiously, "Nagato, why did you help Tsunade overcome her psychological fear?"
Pain Rin removed her cat-face mask, rested her chin in both hands, and smiled. "Enemies and friends don't actually have such clear boundaries. Today's enemy might become tomorrow's friend."
"Is that so?" Konan turned to look at the girl beside her. "This girl named Rin must be very important to Uchiha Obito, right? You deliberately made her one of Pain. Could there be some hidden purpose behind it?"
Pain Rin said, "It wasn't really some profound purpose. Creating Pain Rin was just a whim. I simply wanted to see what kind of annoyed expression that guy would make when the 'piece' he manipulated turned around and manipulated him..."
"Ha ha, honestly, there was a lot of malicious fun involved. I might even make that guy snap and do something crazy~."
Pain Rin braced one small hand against the grass beside her and gazed at the sky.
"Even so, I won't change my mind. I've always felt that a life guided solely by gains and losses is far too empty. People should do things as they please, even if many of those things seem meaningless or boring..."
"Doing things as one pleases..." Those words seemed to inspire Konan. Her hand searched over and