Main World.
Summer, Year 24 of Konoha.
Ocean Planet, Navy Headquarters.
Nagato stood before the nautical chart, his dark red hair gleaming purplish-black under the light. Holding a pen, he drew a circle on the chart. The circle lay in Ocean Planet's central waters, with no islands around it, only unfathomably deep seawater. Yahiko stood beside him, his short orange hair as neat as ever, his brows slightly furrowed. Konan stood on the other side, her cool face expressionless, but she had stopped folding the Paper Crane in her hands.
"I want to build a prison here." Nagato's voice was calm.
Yahiko's brows furrowed more deeply.
"A prison? Out at sea?"
"Not on the sea." Nagato set down his pen, took a blueprint from inside his clothes, and unfolded it. It depicted an enormous underwater structure stretching from the surface down to the seabed, like an inverted tower. The top of the tower rose above the water as a small island, with docks, watchtowers, and barracks. The main body lay below the surface, level upon level, each deeper than the last. At the very bottom were cells for serious offenders, surrounded by thick alloy walls, with pitch-black seawater beyond them.
Yahiko's pupils contracted slightly. "Underwater! You want to build the prison here!"
"Yes." Nagato nodded. "That way, they won't be able to escape."
Yahiko fell silent for a moment. "What can they do in prison?"
"I plan to build factories inside-steel mills, clothing factories, machine shops." Nagato moved his finger across the blueprint. "Have them work eleven hours a day. Up at six in the morning, start work at seven, take an hour's break at noon, continue in the afternoon, and finish at six in the evening. One day off a week."
The corner of Yahiko's mouth twitched. "A sweatshop."