Konan sat at her desk, a few messy strands of hair stuck to her cheeks.
In her hands was a report on the electrical supply line system for Amegakure's residential districts. Her pen scratched softly across the paper, and the clock on the wall pointed to two in the morning.
Just then, the office door opened. It was Pain.
"Still working?"
Konan didn't even put down what she was holding. Without lifting her head, she replied, "Yeah. There are still some documents I need to get through."
Pain looked around: stacks of paperwork like small mountains, walls covered with planning charts and engineering blueprints, and a lightbulb whose color had gone dim and yellow.
"It's very late. You should rest."
"I know."
Pain walked up to her desk, looking at the densely packed files, looking at Konan still bent over her work.
"You've been working overtime for many days in a row. I think you've been wasting too much time on the Land of Rain's internal affairs. Konan—your body will give out first."
Konan set her pen down and looked up into his eyes. Then she suddenly asked, "Nagato… do you remember Yahiko's original idea after the battle with Hanzō and the Three Sannin?"
Pain was silent for a moment, then said, "'In this world where war never ends, I will become the god of this world.' I will not forget Yahiko's dream, and I will not forget Yahiko's pain."
"Do you think a 'god'… can really change this world?"
"As long as we have power that surpasses everything, we can do anything!" Pain walked to the window and spread his arms toward the Rain Village below, as if embracing the world.
"Haven't we already done it?"
"With the Rinnegan's power, we changed this country. The people of the Land of Rain no longer suffer displacement from war. Once we obtain the tailed beasts' power, we can change the world—Yahiko's dream can be realized."
"But…" Konan paused and rose, stepping to the window to stand beside him, "what if the Rinnegan's power still can't 'surpass everything'?"
Pain lifted a hand and pointed at the sky. "If I feel like it, I can make this rain stop anytime. That is… the power of a god! I can do anything!"
He sounded a little excited, but Konan only asked lightly, "Then can you make the Land of Rain as prosperous as the Land of Fire?"
"I…"
Pain's fingertip trembled almost imperceptibly. That question was… a bit beyond the syllabus.
Konan turned and walked back to the desk, picking up the report from earlier. "Look at this. It's a new electrical system plan. Once it's completed, there won't be a single dark corner left in Amegakure at night."
"Every street will be lit by streetlamps. Every household will have stable electricity. Children will be able to keep reading at night. Workers can work night shifts in factories. Shops can extend their business hours…"
"Light drives away darkness," Konan said softly, "not only literal darkness, but the darkness in people's hearts. When people see hope, they'll believe happiness can be reached."
Pain stood beside her, no longer staring at the sky, but looking down at the village shrouded in rain. In his Rinnegan, the village's outline was crystal clear.
"Konan… your trip to the Land of Fire changed you."
"Maybe."
Konan didn't deny it. She simply touched her chest lightly, the outline of the notebook beneath her clothes making her feel a little steadier.
"I just think peace shouldn't be our endpoint. If it were Yahiko… he'd do the same, wouldn't he?"
That made Pain fall silent.
Konan returned to the desk and picked up several other files. "I asked some idle White Zetsu clones to collect information on Konoha and the Land of Fire's systems—medical care, education… all kinds of sectors. I want to make the Land of Rain better."
After who knew how long, Pain finally spoke. "But that's not a reason for you to be working here at two in the morning. Go back and rest. Starting tomorrow, I'll handle these affairs with you."
Konan turned, surprised. "You?"
"I'm not good at it," Pain said, "but I can learn." He made her a promise. "I can do anything."
For you all.
…
The next day, Pain and Konan worked together in the office to handle yesterday's remaining tasks.
Then several White Zetsu rose out of the ground. According to Zetsu, these were its clones, each with independent consciousness—fully usable as separate helpers.
"We're back!" they shouted in unison.
Konan nodded. "Where's what I asked for?"
One White Zetsu pulled out a scroll pouch and set it on the desk. "All in here."
Konan opened the pouch. Inside were several scrolls, each labeled with different contents: Konoha's education system, the Land of Fire's tax policy, Konoha's medical structure…
Just then, one White Zetsu suddenly shouted excitedly.
"Oh, right, right! We found something really fun too!"
It pulled a magazine out of itself and waved it in front of Konan. It was brand-new, with colorful illustrations on the cover.
Konan frowned slightly. "What is that?"
The White Zetsu clone explained gleefully, "It's called Konoha Literature Monthly. I heard a few people made it by copying magazines from the Fire Capital, and there's an author inside who is basically our soulmate!"
A literature magazine?
But considering how hard they'd worked to gather so much "useless" information for her, Konan decided she'd at least let them finish.
The White Zetsu continued, "In the author's bio, it says: 'People live to keep shit warm'!"
Konan and Pain both froze.
What?
"This line is so philosophical!"
The White Zetsu kept talking, completely unaware of Konan's expression slowly hardening.
"Think about it: people eat, food turns into poop in the stomach, and until it's expelled, the poop is warm. So people live to keep poop warm! What a profound insight!"
Another White Zetsu clone leaned in and chimed in, "Yeah, yeah! This author really gets us!"
Konan's mouth began twitching. Even Pain couldn't help lifting his head to look at them.
But then the White Zetsu holding the magazine suddenly grew a bit dejected, its voice dropping. "But… we don't have buttholes. We can't poop…"
"I really want to know what taking a dump feels like…" another White Zetsu sighed.
The magazine-holding White Zetsu looked up, and its simple eyes actually seemed to contain genuine confusion. "If humans live to keep poop warm, and we don't even have poop… then what's the meaning of our lives?"
"What is it?" the other White Zetsu echoed, voices full of sorrow.
Konan immediately regretted it. She was about to tell these annoying creatures to get out—
"I really want to meet this author. Anyone who can write such deep philosophy must be an incredible thinker!"
"What was his name again?"
"Let me see…" The White Zetsu flipped through the magazine. "Oh! His name is Hyuga Kiyonari!"
The words Konan was about to say stopped in her throat. She immediately changed it to:
"C-can you… let me see that magazine?"
"Huh?" The White Zetsu holding the magazine looked surprised. "Konan-sama, are you also interested in what it feels like to poop?"
"Give it to me!"
~~~
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