The Hollow had never known peace.
Not in the three years it had stood carved into the mountain. Not when Naruto bled over its floors or branded its stone with seals of war. Not when Fū arrived. And certainly not now.
Because now it had one more soul inside.
Konan.
The woman who once rained knives over Amegakure.
The woman who now moved like a shadow behind Naruto—silent, loyal, unshakable.
And Fū noticed.
Every time she spoke to him and Konan was already watching.Every time she moved close, and Konan stepped closer.
It was beginning to ache—and Fū hated that it did.
Naruto stood in the central chamber now—his cloak off, chest bare, breathing steady as chakra flared around his hand.
In front of him, sealed inside an obsidian urn, the Rinnegan pulsed like a heart.
One eye.
One relic from a dead god.
Konan stood near the edge of the room, prepared, surgical kit in hand. Fū watched from across the platform, arms crossed.
"You're sure?" Konan asked, breaking the silence.
Naruto nodded.
"The seal's been stabilized. It's time."
Konan stepped forward, unrolling the tools.
"I'll handle it," Fū cut in suddenly, stepping between them.
Konan blinked, but stepped back without argument.
Naruto looked at her. His expression unreadable.
"Do it."
The procedure wasn't elegant.
Naruto never flinched—not once.
Fū worked with precision. Her hands trembled only once—when she touched his cheek and felt the unnatural heat rising off his chakra coils. She didn't let go. She pressed on.
Minutes passed like hours.
The Rinnegan's chakra was heavier than any seal she'd ever worked with. Denser. Older.
But she managed.
By the end, Naruto's left eye burned with pale violet light.
The Rinnegan opened.
And the room fell silent.
Konan knelt beside him, instinctively.
Not from control.
From devotion.
Fū turned away.
Later that night, Naruto meditated in the center of his room, cloak draped over his shoulders again, blood long since wiped from his skin. The Rinnegan was covered beneath a fresh bandage. The Sharingan still dormant.
Fū sat on the balcony edge above the forge chamber.
Konan stood beside the data wall, reading Naruto's tracking scrolls in silence.
Fū finally broke the silence.
"She doesn't talk to anyone but you."
Naruto didn't move.
"She acts like she's known you forever."
"She knows what I'm trying to do."
Fū's fists clenched in her lap.
"So do I."
Now Naruto turned.
For a long moment, he simply looked at her. Then:
"You're not like her."
Fū blinked.
"She worships. You question."
A pause.
"You're stronger for it."
Fū's lips trembled, but she hid it behind a smirk.
"I don't care what she does," she muttered. "I just don't want to be replaced."
"You're not."
The words were soft. So soft that for a moment, Fū thought she imagined them.
In the shadows, Konan watched them both.
She said nothing.
But when Naruto stood and walked toward the map table, both women moved behind him—like opposing wings.
And Kurama, from deep inside, whispered:
"You're building something dangerous, kit. Hope you can carry it when it falls."