At dusk, in a quiet room in Amegakure's tower, Konan opened her eyes and rested the back of her hand lightly against her forehead. Fragments of memory from before she had fainted last night surfaced in her mind...
After a moment, she lifted the sheet and saw that she had been changed into a clean white shirt.
Her orange eyes narrowed. "Last night, I remember Naruto wanted to find a woman in the village to come over, but I stopped him. What happened after that..."
"Whew." After taking a deep breath, Konan sat up in bed and began doing her makeup.
No woman disliked looking her best, and even the cool, beautiful Konan was no exception. She applied pale purple eyeshadow and wore a light blue paper flower in her hair. As for the stud beneath her lower lip, she had put it on the day of her coming-of-age ceremony.
Once her makeup was done, she got out of bed to change.
Rustle... She slipped off the white shirt, folded it, and placed it in the wardrobe.
Before the mirror, her shapely figure was fully revealed. Her fair skin gleamed like pristine spring snow, and a ring pierced the navel of her taut abdomen-a secret even someone as close to her as Nagato did not know.
Rustle, rustle...
She put on a zippered, backless fishnet top, changed into pale purple fitted trousers, and draped a black cloak embroidered with white-outlined red clouds over herself. Then she tied her Amegakure forehead protector at the right side of her waist.
This was the outfit she wore year-round. It was practical for combat while also displaying Akatsuki's purpose and her identity as an Amegakure ninja.
When she left the room, Naruto was already in the corridor, where he had been waiting for quite some time.
Looking at Naruto's back, Konan asked, "Were you up all night?"
Naruto nodded lightly, then turned around. "Konan, I'm sorry about last night..."
He apologized because he believed making Konan stand in the rain all night with him and his shadow clones had caused her to fall ill.
Konan lowered her eyes and said softly, "It's all right. Sorry for the trouble..."
Naruto thought nothing more of it. He smiled. "Let's get something to eat together."
Amegakure's kitchen had already prepared their meal, with most of the dishes chosen to suit Naruto's tastes.
Konan always ate lightly seasoned vegetarian dishes. The only meat she paired with them was grilled fish.
"I've received new intelligence. Akatsuki is about to make a series of major moves..."
Over their meal, Naruto told Konan the intelligence he had read from White Zetsu's mind.
Konan's beautiful eyes narrowed. "They're willing to go to such lengths just to target you..."
Naruto sighed. "Yes. Obito developed into an accomplished strategist, and he's skilled at reading people. I have to admit, this move of his really hits us where it hurts."
"Also, we need to start building our own intelligence division."
"Akatsuki has a great many White Zetsu at its disposal. They can deploy them throughout the Shinobi World and keep track of every little development..."
At this point, Naruto's gaze grew serious. "Honestly, it was sheer luck that I caught wind of Akatsuki's plans ahead of time. Otherwise, we'd really have been in trouble..."
"We can't keep going like this. Sooner or later, we'll be forced onto the back foot, so we need to get this done as soon as possible..."
Konan set down her bowl and chopsticks, wiped her mouth with a tissue, and said solemnly, "Leave this to me."
Naruto asked, "Will there be any difficulties?"
Konan said, "Amegakure also has reserve ninja who are separate from Akatsuki. I intend to gather them and select suitable people."
Naruto nodded. "Yes. If any of them show potential, we can train them and entrust them with important responsibilities."
After eating, Naruto and Konan went to Amegakure's coast. Kisame sat shirtless on a reef near the shore, resting. Clearly, he had only recently come out of the water.
"Thanks for your hard work, Kisame. I'll help with the work from here on..."
Naruto landed on the sea's surface and formed hand seals.
Summoning Technique!
Poof! Poof! Poof! Poof!
Clouds of white smoke billowed up as Crab, Squid, Crocodile, Softshell Turtle, Octopus, Jellyfish, Manda... all kinds of amphibious summons appeared!
Unlike in the Realm of Reincarnation, thick black receivers were embedded all over their bodies, and their eyes reflected Naruto's Rinnegan!
The Rinnegan's Animal Path Amplified Summoning Technique preserved the summons' hazy consciousness and combat instincts, allowing them to act using Naruto's chakra... and share their vision with him!
Naruto specifically instructed Kisame, "If you run out of chakra underwater, you can replenish it through them. Absorb as much as you need. Don't worry about draining me!"
"Understood. That gives me much more room to work..."
Kisame stood up, fused with Samehada again, and dove into the sea.
Konan said, "The Rinnegan's summons act using their summoner's chakra, so normally, they can't go too far away. But there are two modes of operation depending on what you need. You can allocate chakra to the summons in advance, which removes the distance restriction. However, once that chakra runs out, they'll stop moving..."
Naruto said, "That makes sense. After all, they're already dead. We still have things to do, so let's use the second mode for now..."
Naruto pressed his palms together and distributed the appropriate proportions of chakra to the various summons through their black receivers.
When he finished, he swept his arm out, and the summons entered the sea one after another!
Konan asked, "Are we heading out?"
Naruto said, "Yes. Akatsuki is about to make some major moves, so we have to pick up the pace. Before Orochimaru returns, we need to wrap up the plans we left unfinished..."
Konan stepped forward of her own accord. Naruto placed his left hand on her shoulder and activated Flying Thunder God.
"Let's go to Kumogakure."
Whoosh!
They arrived instantly at the foot of Heavenly Thunder Mountain, where Kumogakure stood.
But he did not head up the mountain. Instead, he first went somewhere nearby.
When he had read White Zetsu's mind earlier, he had learned that Akatsuki had successfully captured the Eight-Tails, and that Killer B had met his end.
Killer B had been an old friend of Naruto's in his previous life, and they had shared some happy times together.
The Valley of Clouds and Lightning remained unchanged, but the irreverent figure singing terrible rap was gone forever.
At the top of Thundercloud Gorge, Naruto laid down a bouquet of paper flowers, removed his mask, and closed his eyes in mourning.
"Uncle Bee, there's no doubt that my return changed the course of history and indirectly led to your death."
"For that, I'm truly sorry."
Naruto gazed at the drifting clouds, his expression somber and solemn.
"But even after experiencing that hellish future, I still don't dare naively promise that I can protect everyone this time..."
"I'll keep moving forward, in my own way, without wavering!"
"From now on, others will fall along this road because of me, whether directly or indirectly..."
"I don't know whether this is right, but it's the only thing I can do now!"
It was not that Naruto had become cold-blooded. He had simply seen too many people die before his eyes like ants. Knowing how powerful that clan was, he understood that naivety would only get more people killed...
Konan gazed at Naruto's back. Only she knew just how heavy a burden rested on the shoulders of this world-weary young man.
At that moment, she sincerely wanted to witness his journey to the end and follow him all the way!
Once his mourning was over, Naruto put his mask back on, restoring his grim, deadly aura!
He declared with ringing conviction, "Notify Kumogakure: either prepare what I want, or prepare for all-out war. At midnight tonight, Bright Akatsuki will pay you a visit-right on time!"
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