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It had been mentioned before—at the Five Kage Summit, Midorima had explicitly brought up this very matter. The man within the Akatsuki who called himself "Uchiha Madara" was not, in fact, the genuine Uchiha Madara. In fact, based on Midorima's deductions and carefully placed hints, they had even formed their own theory regarding the man's true identity. Whether or not that theory was accurate remained to be seen. But according to the Hidden Leaf Village's records, the man in question should have perished during the Third Great Ninja War. His body, however, had never been recovered.
"So he wasn't truly one of yours?" Tsunade asked.
"And he was once one of yours, wasn't he? A shinobi of the Hidden Leaf?" Konan shot back.
"..."
If Uchiha Madara had been capable of betraying the Hidden Leaf Village, then his betrayal of the Akatsuki was hardly surprising. What made it worse was the fact that members of his own clan still lived within the Leaf. Yet that had not given him even a moment's pause. Perhaps betrayal was simply woven into the very marrow of Uchiha Madara's bones.
"His betrayal of you... no, his murder of Nagato—there has to be a reason behind it," Jiraiya said.
As the former teacher of Nagato, Yahiko, and Konan, his feelings towards the three of them were the most tangled and complicated of all. He understood, perhaps better than anyone, the profound impact the war had wrought upon them. He could empathize with their pain. But he could never, under any circumstances, condone their methods. They had once been such pure-hearted souls...
Konan shook her head. From beginning to end, "Uchiha Madara" had never once clearly articulated his true intentions. And that, more than anything, was what made him so terrifying. This was also intimately tied to the peculiar way the Akatsuki had been assembled. With limited funding, the organization could not rely on financial incentives to attract powerful shinobi, nor could it offer the kind of "compensation" that might satisfy such individuals. As a result, the members had joined for wildly different reasons, and their motives were far from pure.
"Uchiha Madara's" act of stabbing them in the back had genuinely caught Konan off guard. That said, she had always maintained a degree of wariness towards him. Otherwise, she would never have prepared seven hundred billion explosive tags in advance. But as for why "Madara" had wanted Nagato dead... she could not fathom it. The time between his betrayal and her narrow escape had been far too short. There had been no opportunity to think things through.
"The only... conceivable explanation might be... the tailed beasts..." Konan murmured.
"The tailed beasts?" Jiraiya's heart lurched. Naruto was still in the Akatsuki's custody. If Nagato had been killed, did that not mean Naruto had now fallen into "Madara's" hands?
"What should we do with her?" Kakashi stepped forward, moving to Jiraiya's side and speaking in a low voice.
Jiraiya shook his head. The Akatsuki—and Konan herself—had brought immense catastrophe upon the entire shinobi world. The Hidden Leaf was far from the only village to have suffered. He could not make this decision on his own.
"I don't need your pity," Konan said, turning her head away to avoid Jiraiya's gaze. With Yahiko and Nagato both gone, she was the only one left. There was nothing in this world worth clinging to anymore.
"What are your thoughts?" Jiraiya asked, turning to the Raikage and the Tsuchikage.
"If we kill her, this whole farce finally comes to an end, doesn't it?" The Raikage's voice boomed through the air like a great bronze bell.
Konan let out a cold, derisive snort and closed her eyes. If she still possessed those seven hundred billion explosive tags, she would never have feared the likes of these people. But now, even if she wanted to make a final, desperate stand, neither the Leaf, the Raikage, nor the Tsuchikage would give her the chance.
Tsunade raised a hand, cutting off the Raikage's line of questioning. Her gaze swept over Konan. "Where is Naruto?"
"Naruto? I don't know," Konan replied. She tilted her head back, as though considering the question. "Perhaps... he is with Uchiha Madara."
"And where, exactly, is this 'Uchiha Madara' you keep referring to?" Tsunade pressed.
"Why should I tell you anything?" Konan sneered.
Uchiha Madara had killed Nagato. But that did not mean she was now willing to cooperate with the Allied Shinobi Forces. The Hidden Rain Village had been destroyed by their armies. Yahiko had died in an ambush orchestrated by Hanzo and the Hidden Leaf. Both sides were her enemies. There was no meaningful distinction between them.
Tsunade and Jiraiya exchanged a helpless, uncomfortable glance. As participants in that long-ago war, they truly had no right to demand Konan's forgiveness.
"But your enemy is standing right in front of you... He murdered Nagato before your very eyes. Can you truly swallow that?" the Tsuchikage interjected.
Konan averted her gaze from the Tsuchikage. She had no desire to exchange words with these old fossils.
"Listen here, girl. If you refuse to cooperate, don't expect any mercy from us!" the Raikage bellowed, his voice rising in fury.
Tsunade flinched at the sudden escalation in volume, her brow furrowing deeply.
"Isn't that exactly the kind of thing you people have always done?" Konan shot back.
"..." The Raikage found himself momentarily speechless. If he truly resorted to such measures, wouldn't that only serve to validate the Akatsuki's cause? And yet, if they delayed any longer, they might not only lose Naruto but also fail to prevent "Madara's" next move. And the most terrifying part was this: no one—including the Raikage—had any idea what that next move might be.
Konan swept her gaze across the assembled shinobi. Seeing no one offer a response, she smiled coldly. "I have nothing to say to any of you. You're clearly dissatisfied with me. So don't waste any more time."
Faced with Konan's utter refusal to cooperate, Tsunade and the others found themselves at a loss. They could not, in good conscience, stand before her and deliver righteous, self-justifying speeches. The most expedient solution, it seemed, was indeed to simply kill her. But neither side was willing to yield. The standoff stretched on.
Konan would not cooperate. Tsunade and Jiraiya, despite their desperate urgency, could not bring themselves to force the nearly defenseless woman into submission. The Raikage and the Tsuchikage remained silent. Their thoughts were far simpler. If there weren't so many witnesses, they would not hesitate to end Konan's life themselves.
As the stalemate dragged on, Tsunade's thoughts suddenly turned to Mei Terumi. The Second Great Ninja War had nothing to do with the Hidden Mist Village. On the contrary, the Mist had suffered catastrophic devastation at the hands of the Akatsuki. By every conceivable measure, the Hidden Mist Village was the greatest victim in this entire affair. But the Mizukage... Tsunade thought of her, lying wounded and unconscious. If she were awake, perhaps she could argue with Konan. After all, she and her village were the direct casualties of the Akatsuki's rampage. But as things stood now...
Tsunade's heart grew heavy. Her gaze drifted unconsciously towards the direction of the medical unit. And then, in a sudden blur, a dark shadow streaked past her field of vision, accompanied by a rush of wind that whipped her hair about her face. Instantly, Tsunade's guard shot up, and her eyes tracked the swift-moving figure. The moment she recognized who it was, the tension that had just seized her heart eased slightly.
"What's going on here? Hm? Pain is dead? And what are you doing here?" The newcomer's gaze landed on the fallen Deva Path, then immediately shifted to Konan.
Konan, who had long since resigned herself to death, felt the embers of rage in her eyes reignite the instant she saw him. "You actually dare show your face here... traitor."
"Midorima..." Tsunade murmured.
Midorima raised a hand in a casual, dismissive wave. "This is the Hidden Mist Village. I am a shinobi of the Mist. If I'm not here, where else should I be? The better question is for you, Konan. Why aren't you back in the Hidden Rain Village? What brings you to this place?"
Konan stared at Midorima, whose face bore a faint smile while his eyes grew progressively colder. She opened her mouth, ready to speak, but Midorima cut her off before she could utter a word.
"Where is Naruto? And don't you dare tell me you don't know."