'To put it simply, the reason the major ninja villages break into war every so often is mainly because of unequal distribution of resources.'
Aoba began explaining, "Konoha has the richest, most fertile land, while most other villages are in remote regions with far worse living conditions. So they naturally want to get benefits from Konoha to balance things out."
"But if the Five Great Ninja Villages became one, and people from other villages gained the right to live in Konoha, and at the same time the environmental conditions of those villages were improved, the people's quality of life improved, social development raised, bringing the living standards of other villages up too, then peace in the ninja world would be within reach."
"How exactly do you do that?"
Konan asked without thinking. She was a bit absorbed.
Aoba couldn't help poking her slightly dazed cute face, then began reciting smoothly and nonstop, "Of course you have to keep increasing… deepening… building… perfecting…"
"In short, you have to find every way possible to raise social productivity and satisfy people's needs in production and daily life. And for ninjas, this just happens to be what they're best at. Konan-nee, you get it?"
He scraped Konan's nose again.
Konan nodded a bit dazed, "I think I get it. It's like letting ninjas help with farming, building houses, doing research, improving the environment, that kind of thing."
"Konan-nee is so smart, here's a reward."
He leaned in and kissed her lightly on the lips with a smile.
At first Konan didn't react, but then suddenly remembered Nagato was still watching, so she quickly pushed him away, face red, and scolded softly.
"Behave yourself!"
Nagato in the tower finished listening to that whole explanation and just felt like he'd been hit by some kind of dimensional attack from another world, falling into confusion.
Then he saw that little kissing scene and didn't care anymore whether Aoba made sense or not. A rebellious feeling rose instantly in his heart.
"You're talking jibber jabber, I don't understand anything!"
Aoba blinked. Nagato's way of speaking was pretty funny.
Nagato ignored whatever he was thinking and kept controlling the Deva Path Pain.
"I don't know if what you said is right or wrong, but I will still act according to my own will. If you want to stop me, then defeat me in the battle we agreed upon."
He turned to fly away.
Just a stubborn, edgy teenager. A good beating should correct the personality.
Aoba was still a decent person. He called to Nagato's back.
"That masked man who called himself Uchiha Madara has already been killed by us."
The Deva Path Pain stopped again and turned back.
Konan nodded at him too, her expression turning serious.
She already knew about it.
"Who was that guy really?", Nagato asked.
"His true identity doesn't matter. What matters is that those eyes of yours belong to the real Uchiha Madara, and Black Zetsu is also one of Madara's backup plans. They want to use your eyes to cast the Rinne Rebirth to revive the real Uchiha Madara."
"So when you go after the Eight Tails, you better be careful."
Aoba added one more warning.
If Black Zetsu really had another scheme, that would be the best timing.
After all, every time Nagato used the Illusion of the Nine Dragon Seal, it cost a huge amount of chakra.
And since the Eight Tails would definitely stay close to the Raikage, Nagato would have to burn quite a lot of chakra to take them both down.
"I understand… thank you."
Nagato still gave a word of thanks in the end, then controlled the Deva Path Pain to float up and leave.
Rain began falling again.
"Sigh!"
Watching Pain's distant figure, Konan couldn't help letting out a sigh.
She actually wanted to catch up with him a bit.
After all, they had been friends for so many years, and he was disabled. She wanted to ask about his life recently.
But with Pain flying off like that, Nagato clearly wasn't in the mood to talk.
"Alright, now that business is done, Konan-nee, where should we go next?"
Aoba held the umbrella up for her again.
Konan's tiny regret faded away. She rested her hand on his arm under the umbrella and smiled sweetly.
"Let's go. I haven't been back in a while. I want to see if Amegakure has changed."
"Okay."
———
Rain slid down the eaves and tapped out a crisp rhythm on the stone paths.
"By the way, Konan-nee, what did you do with Kakuzu and Sasori?"
Thinking about the confrontation with Pain just now reminded Aoba of those two.
"For Kakuzu, I sent him to the Land of Waves. The shipping company needs someone strong enough to watch over it, and it also gives him a chance to learn how to do legitimate business."
Konan's expression shifted a bit as she glanced at Aoba, "But in his spare time, he can still take bounty missions from the underground exchange. He told me the bounty money goes to you?"
"Mm… I told him to give me most of it, and he can keep a small part."
Nothing to hide. Kakuzu had been his prisoner anyway.
"You even let Kakuzu keep part of it? You're nicer than you look."
Konan teased him.
"If you want the horse to run, you have to let it eat more grass."
Aoba said.
"Is that so?"
Konan looked thoughtful, then blinked mischievously, "But you seem to like money too. I heard from Yugao that you used to swindle Tenten and Ino's pocket money when you were little."
"Ahem! That was when I was young and dumb, just fooling around."
Aoba coughed lightly. Getting caught like that made him a bit embarrassed.
Konan smiled, then leaned close to his ear and whispered, "If you really like money, I can quietly give you a little from the village treasury."
"Think about it. With Konoha's size now, even just one percent is worth more than Kakuzu doing several bounties."
Tsunade trusted Konan fully, and Konan's achievements this past year were undeniable, so Konoha's financial power was basically in her hands now.
If she wanted to skim a little, it was literally a matter of adjusting a few numbers.
Konan's voice was full of temptation, enough to make Aoba feel a bit tempted.
"Embezzling the treasury… feels a little wrong, doesn't it?"
"What's there to be scared of? You'll be the Hokage soon anyway."
Konan continued coaxing him.
Aoba thought for a moment, then widened his eyes in sudden realization, "Konan-nee, you're not trying to make me embezzle money so you can catch me red-handed and threaten me into doing unspeakable things, right?"
Konan blinked, then showed a wicked smile, "Heh! Aoba, boys who are too smart tend to get eaten by big sisters."
"?"
Aoba couldn't shake the feeling she was flirting in a very dangerous way… but he had no proof.
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