At noon one day, Shisui Uchiha finally arrived outside Amegakure, clad in a black robe.
"Amegakure. After so many days on the road, I'm finally here."
"It really does rain a lot here."
Shisui Uchiha looked up at the sky, shrugged indifferently, and stepped straight into Amegakure's territory.
But the moment he entered Amegakure, a pair of eyes slowly lifted somewhere inside the village.
"This feeling... it's Forsaken."
Nagato spoke calmly, his face betraying no emotion.
Forsaken was the alias Shisui Uchiha had registered for himself as a bounty hunter.
He had actually arrived near Amegakure some time ago, but he had been in no hurry to enter.
Instead, he had sent out a Shadow Clone to make a perfunctory patrol of the Land of Fire's border, while his real body put on a mask and headed elsewhere, taking on various bounty missions in the lawless border regions nearby.
Forsaken was the bounty hunter alias he had registered.
During this time, he had taken on missions like mad and earned plenty of bounty money, giving everyone around him the impression that he valued money more than his life.
Now, he had accepted a mission to investigate Amegakure's leader!
"Konan, go test his strength. If he's strong enough, offer him provisional membership to bolster our organization's fighting strength."
"To realize our dream, we need more people to lend us their strength."
"All right."
At Nagato's words, the woman beside him nodded lightly. She wore a black cloak embroidered with the red clouds of the Akatsuki Symbol, and had pale orange eyes, light blue-violet hair, purple eyeshadow, and a stud beneath her lower lip.
The next moment, as she turned and the pale purple paper flower on the right side of her head swayed slightly, Konan's body dissolved into sheets of white paper that flew toward Amegakure's gates.
This was Konan's unique ninjutsu, Dance of the Shikigami. It allowed her to turn her body into paper, making her immune to all physical attacks while it was active!
But as soon as Konan reached Amegakure's gates, she saw Shisui Uchiha with a bloodstained Kusanagi Sword resting on his shoulder.
"Forsaken? What are you doing in Amegakure?"
As Konan's voice rang out, the sheets of paper stopped in midair five meters away from him and reassembled into her body.
A pair of white wings extended from her back.
Konan's Dance of the Shikigami did more than turn her body into paper. It could also form wings that allowed her to fly!
It was precisely this appearance that made Konan seem like an angel to Amegakure's villagers.
"Look, it's God's messenger, the Angel! Lady Angel! Hurry, let's go pay our respects and pray for a peaceful year."
"Lady Angel, please bless us with another safe and peaceful year."
"Lady Angel, Lady Angel..."
The moment Konan arrived, the villagers of Amegakure began paying homage to her.
Shisui Uchiha merely shrugged, looking utterly unconcerned.
"Nothing much. I just wanted to have some tea with your leader. Or you could have a chat with me. Information about you isn't worth as much as his, but it'll do."
The Forsaken persona Shisui Uchiha had been playing lately was arrogant, contemptuous of everyone, and utterly unrestrained.
In short, he no longer needed to keep his head down and quietly build up his strength as he had in Konoha.
Here, he could cut loose however he pleased!
"..."
At Shisui Uchiha's arrogant words, Konan frowned, instinctively wanting to drive him out.
Even the nearby villagers of Amegakure were furious.
"He actually dares to be so rude to Lady Angel, God's representative! He's finished!"
"That's right! Lady Angel will punish him!"
"Punish him! Punish him!"
But just as the villagers' cries grew louder, Konan remembered Nagato's words. She gave Shisui Uchiha a slight nod, dispersed her wings, and descended from the sky.
"I can have tea with you and tell you a little about myself so you can earn some money. But if you want information about our leader, you'll have to defeat me first."
"Lady Angel truly is kindhearted."
"You shameless outsider! If you dare disrespect Lady Angel, we'll drive you out!"
"Sure, sure."
At Konan's words, Shisui Uchiha completely ignored the villagers' threats. Without the slightest hesitation, he walked up, draped an arm around her shoulders, and headed toward a small pavilion at a tea shop.
Konan's brows drew tightly together at his behavior. She was clearly very displeased.
But when she thought of Nagato's instructions, their dream, and the wishes Yahiko had left behind when he died, she ultimately chose to endure it.
Shisui Uchiha was not surprised in the slightest. After Konan sat down, he suddenly reached out and lifted her chin, grinning as he spoke.
"Come on, let's talk about you and the leader of the Akatsuki. Your private life and measurements will do too. Hahaha!"
"..."
Konan frowned deeply at Shisui Uchiha's outrageously brazen attitude.
But after staring coldly at him for a moment, she finally took out a sheet of paper, wrote down a string of numbers, and pushed it toward him.
Shisui Uchiha paused after taking the paper.
"88, 58, 85?"
The next moment, he looked Konan up and down and said with a smile,
"Looks about right. You've got quite a figure."
"Can we talk properly now?"
Konan spoke coldly.
"Talk about what?"
Playing dumb, Shisui Uchiha sat down across from her and shrugged.
"I'm not leaving until I've met your leader. Of course, you can always choose to defeat me."
"Beat me, and I'll leave. You can do whatever you want with me."
"Fine! Forsaken, I hope you keep your word and accept the outcome!"
With those words, paper wings sprouted from Konan's back, and she flew toward the outskirts of Amegakure.
"We'll fight outside the village!"
At the sight, Shisui Uchiha grinned and stamped his right foot hard against the ground.
Bang!
"Hey, woman, what's the rush?"
"..."
"How about this? If you lose, you become my partner. I've never met a woman as dishonest as you. Hahaha!"
"..."
"Paper Rain!"
The instant she flew out of Amegakure, Konan beat her wings hard, and countless sheets of white paper locked onto Shisui Uchiha.
Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!
Shisui Uchiha merely shrugged and swung the Kusanagi Sword off his shoulder, instantly slicing apart the sheets of paper hurtling toward him.
"You're fast. Let's see how much explosive power you have."
Konan slowly raised her right hand. The scraps of paper drifting around her flew back and formed three spears, which shot straight toward Shisui Uchiha's head.
Shisui Uchiha grinned at the sight. Ignoring the three spears, he used a relatively ordinary Body Flicker Technique and appeared behind Konan.
Slash!
A flash of sword light swept past, cleaving Konan in two.
But although her body had been split in half, it quickly returned to normal as the paper reassembled.
At the sight, Shisui Uchiha feigned ignorance, his hands having long since secretly formed the hand seals.
Now, he suddenly clapped them together.
"Since swordsmanship can't finish you off, let's try this instead."
"Wood Release: Wood Dragon Technique!"
Roar!
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