Konan almost laughed out loud—out of anger.
She'd seen plenty of strange things and heard of all kinds of unbelievable jutsu, but this was just too ridiculous.
So what—was someone trying to interfere with her by using this "future" to influence the decisions she made now?
But then… why do it like this?
If they truly wanted to interfere, there were many more direct, more effective ways. Why go to all this trouble—sneaking into her room just to leave behind a so-called "future logbook"?
What was the point of doing something so laborious for so little gain?
The more Konan thought about it, the stranger it felt.
"Fine. Whatever their goal is…" she let out a cold laugh. "I want to see what this so-called 'future log' actually says."
She flipped to the first page.
The page was packed with writing. The handwriting was neat and clear, but each stroke carried force, as if it wanted to pierce straight through the paper.
[I took this logbook and became the sixth leader of this village.]
[They call me a leader, but I don't even know what I'm supposed to do. I only became leader because there was no one else left.]
[In my memory, this crying country only ever saw one sunny day. That was when the Angel-sama used countless explosive tags to blast away the storm clouds twenty years ago. That day was the first time I saw the sun and a rainbow. That day, everyone cried for Angel-sama.]
[Back then I was still small. I didn't understand why the adults were crying, and I didn't understand what it meant for Pain-sama and Angel-sama to leave—what it meant for this village, for this country. I thought everything would stay the same as before.]
[Angel-sama told us about Konoha… no—about a man named Uzumaki Naruto. I remember that name, because he defeated Pain-sama and earned their trust. Later, he ended the Fourth Great Ninja War and was hailed as a hero.]
[Uzumaki Naruto promised Angel-sama that once he became Hokage, he would change the situation in the Land of Rain and bring it peace.]
[After the Fourth Great Ninja War ended, the ninja world did indeed welcome peace. The Five Great Nations let go of old grudges, worked together to develop, and everything flourished. But only the Land of Rain was swept into the corner of memory.]
[Uzumaki Naruto had long forgotten his promise. Right after the war ended, the Five Great Nations did send people once—but it proved they were all liars! Without Pain-sama and Angel-sama, the Land of Rain no longer had the right to speak to the Five Great Nations.]
[By today, the Hidden Rain Village has long become ruins. Those who wanted to live have all left. Only now did I finally understand.]
[To the people here, Pain-sama and Angel-sama were…]
[Hope.]
"Absurd."
Konan instinctively refused to believe the logbook. Yet if she thought carefully, some of its logic seemed… internally consistent.
If things ever reached the point where she had to use an enormous number of explosive tags, that could only mean Nagato was gone—and the masked man still existed.
If Nagato were gone, she truly wouldn't have the confidence to become a new leader. It was possible she might place her hope in someone else.
All her work and ideals had always been about being a bridge—supporting them forward, supporting the arrival of peace.
That mysterious masked man could ignore attacks using space–time ninjutsu, but a power like that had to have limits—just like her Dance of the Shikigami couldn't freely shift forms once it got soaked with oil, and maintaining the form also consumed chakra.
From Konan's observations, when the masked man moved his own body, he seemed slower than when he absorbed others. That might be one weakness. And his ability to "ignore" attacks so freely surely had a time limit as well—but she didn't know the details.
Then there was the Fourth Great Ninja War mentioned in the log. That wasn't hard to infer.
If Nagato was gone, and she was gone too, then Akatsuki's real controller would fall into the masked man's hands. And their shared goal was to collect the nine tailed beasts.
Collecting tailed beasts meant becoming the enemy of the Five Great Nations. If Nagato lost to Uzumaki… Naruto, that meant things had already advanced to the point of going after the Nine-Tails.
At that stage, it wouldn't be strange for the Five Great Nations to form a united shinobi alliance to crusade against the masked man.
And then the Land of Rain reduced to ruins…
Konan closed her eyes. She could imagine it: without power, how could you ever have the right to speak? But… why would the future Nagato choose to trust Uzumaki Naruto—just because he lost?
It couldn't be that simple.
Once she untangled her thoughts, Konan flipped to the second page—and here, she found her answer.
[Today is… I've forgotten. Even though this is a log, I don't remember to write every day.]
[Hyuga Kiyonari. I will remember that name forever.]
[He was the first person from the Five Great Nations who didn't carry an umbrella, the first who sat with me in the mud while we got soaked in the rain and talked. He was also my first friend from the Five Great Nations.]
[As a Konoha ninja, he told me many "truths." I have no ability to judge what is real or false, but I think… the Land of Rain has nothing left that could possibly tempt him anyway.]
[The "Dawn" led by Pain-sama failed. In the attempt to capture the Nine-Tails, he lost to Uzumaki Naruto—who was the Nine-Tails jinchūriki, and also his kouhai.]
[But Hyuga Kiyonari said Pain-sama… no, Nagato-sama, actually lost to himself—lost to his younger self.]
[He saw his own reflection in Uzumaki Naruto. He saw a faith more steadfast than his own, and so he chose to entrust the future to him. And in order to sever the chain of hatred, Nagato-sama used some kind of jutsu to revive all the Konoha villagers who died in that war.]
"Revive…" Konan's pupils tightened sharply. "That jutsu—the Rinnegan's technique."
Her certainty began to waver.
If someone didn't understand the Rinnegan deeply, they couldn't possibly know that technique existed. But if this person did understand the Rinnegan so well… then why go to such lengths to deceive her?
And Nagato's name…
She kept reading.
[Hyuga Kiyonari told me that Uzumaki Naruto is not a qualified Hokage. His dream is less about becoming Hokage and more about becoming a hero.]
[After the Fourth Great Ninja War ended, the ninja world did indeed welcome peace. Uzumaki Naruto finally received the recognition he had always craved, becoming the beloved hero who broke the shackles of hatred.]
[But after he became the Seventh Hokage as he wished, he was always eager to appear on TV programs, news interviews, and ribbon-cuttings for new shop openings.]
[I finally understood: Uzumaki Naruto is a child—a child who never grows up.]
[Because a child's ideals are always so naive, so pure, so irresistibly appealing. The exhausted adults who've been battered by reality always choose to believe, in their own wishful way, that children will have a better future than they ever did.]
[But if a child cannot take the first step, they can never become an adult.]
~~~
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