"Pain."
Konan closed the magazine, her voice dull and heavy. "Tell me… could the tailed-beast weapon we're creating become an 'Orifam' someday in the future—something that destroys humanity?"
"Konan!" Pain looked at her, his brows drawing together slightly. "It's just a story. What are you afraid of?"
Konan stood and looked out at Amegakure, at those people who—despite being soaked by rain—still gathered under the streetlights, waiting for them to turn on.
"We create that kind of weapon, and those who lose everything because of it will inevitably one day redirect their hatred toward the Land of Rain. What I'm afraid of is… if one day in the future you and I are both gone, who will protect the Land of Rain? Who will protect everything we built?"
For once, a trace of pity appeared in Pain's Rinnegan. He closed his eyes, as if unwilling to let Konan see it.
"Through pain—deterrence—war, we create an eternal cycle. That is Akatsuki's goal. And within that system, over an infinitely long span of time, any country could become 'the price.'"
"But it is all worth it. Because humans are foolish creatures who can never truly understand one another."
But then Konan's eyes suddenly lit up. "Then… can we create a 'god' that will exist forever?"
"What?!" Pain snapped his eyes open, staring at her in shock.
Konan continued, "Humans aren't smart. There will always be people who throw everything away for revenge. If we lease out the tailed-beast weapon with no limits, humanity will eventually reach a future of destruction."
"We need a will to stop that possibility—to maintain the balance between pain and hope."
"We need a successor. After we die, he inherits your Rinnegan. Once deterrence has achieved its purpose, he retrieves the tailed-beast weapons. When people forget the pain, he leases them out again. And he will find the next successor—passing down the Rinnegan and the mission, generation after generation."
"Let this eternal 'god' maintain this fragile world."
Pain turned his head to look down at Amegakure. "I need to think about it. Besides… not just anyone has the right to bear the Rinnegan's power."
Konan paused, regret flickering in her eyes.
She almost forgot that part. Otherwise… Kiyonari would've been the perfect choice. Oh right—there's also the Caged Bird… sigh.
…
"Ring-ring-ring! Ring-ring-ring…"
The mechanical alarm's ringing blasted into Hyuga Kiyonari's brain and yanked him out of sleep.
The time was 4:30 a.m.
Outside the window, the sky was shifting from ink-black to blue. Kiyonari stared at the gradient sky, took a deep breath, and silently muttered, "Boss," preparing to wage a heroic battle against the evil blanket.
A few seconds later, he slapped the alarm off, rolled over, and turned his back to 4:30 a.m. Konoha.
I'm such an idiot.
In his previous life, he hadn't gotten up early once since graduating high school. He'd almost forgotten what this felt like. If he'd known, he never would've agreed so confidently.
And Hinata gets up this early too… seriously, what kind of awful life do these Hyuga kids live? And if they're like this, then what time does the ultimate grinder Might Guy get up?
It's all Katsuyu's fault. She hyped him up nonstop in front of Tsunade, saying he had "natural Sage aptitude," then Tsunade wrote a letter hyping him up to Hiruzen, Hiruzen turned around and told Hiashi, and the moment Hiashi came back, he went straight to Hinata and Neji, making them drag Kiyonari into training—saying they couldn't let his talent go to waste.
Train my ass. I should just write scripts and coast.
Five more minutes. Being late doesn't matter… worst case… I'll just stand and recite the textbook…
With his brain already half-dead, Kiyonari grumbled and shut his eyes again.
But everyone knows: once you remove the alarm clock, 4:30 plus 5 turns into X. When you wake up is up to fate. This is humanity's only known "controllable time travel technique."
But he completely forgot—he still had two external alarm clocks waiting.
He had no idea how long he slept—he'd lost all sense of time—when two icy hands suddenly slid into his blanket and pressed against his neck.
"Hiss—!"
Kiyonari's eyes flew open. Neji was crouched on the window frame, his face so dark it was terrifying.
"Shhh… can we talk this out?"
Hinata pulled her hands out of the blanket and smiled sweetly. "Nope, Kiyonari-kun~."
Ten minutes later, Kiyonari yawned as he followed the two of them out.
The sun had already fully risen above the horizon. It was past six. Kiyonari quickened his steps. "Hey—how about breakfast first?"
Neji gave a cold chuckle and pointed at the training ground. "Run two laps to work up an appetite. Food tastes better that way."
"Haaah…"
A thousand words turned into a single sigh.
Fine. I'm here already.
Kiyonari patted his cheeks and started jogging into the cold wind. It was early summer, but the wind at six in the morning was still chilly. Still—one lap and his body would warm up.
In this life he wasn't a weak college kid. He wouldn't be gasping after one kilometer, mouth full of saliva he couldn't swallow, thinking: Finally over!
A thousand meters in this body was basically toddler difficulty.
Didn't experts say that anything you do for 21 days becomes a habit?
It's just training. Just cultivation.
I'm going to prove the only thing you can stick with for 21 days isn't scrolling your phone!
After the first day of fully immersive "genius training plan," Kiyonari collapsed on his bed, dragging his exhausted body. He felt like he'd died a little.
"Tomorrow—no matter what—I'm not going."
To show his resolve, he used his last spark of willpower to pry the batteries out of the alarm clock… and locked the window latch.
The next day, at four in the morning in Konoha—
"Ohayo~ Kiyonari-kun!"
Faced with Hinata's sweet wake-up service, Kiyonari had only one thought: what the hell is good about the morning?!
He forced his eyes open and pretended to be weak, coughing twice.
"Cough, cough… Hinata… Neji… cough… I think I caught a cold. I probably can't train with you today. You two go ahead—don't wait for me…"
Before he could finish, Neji grabbed his wrist and yanked him out of the blanket without debate.
"Perfect. Run two laps and sweat it out. Your cold will get better."
You naturally evil Hyuga brat…!
I'll personally—!
~~~
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