"Who are you—and what do you want?"
Konan's guard was up, eyes cold.
"I am 'Adam,'" the man said after a half-beat. "My purpose? To walk the world in our Lord's name, carrying out His will and guiding lost lambs back to the path."
("Adam," of course, was Uchiha Sogetsu in a mask. The best lies are tailored—this one fit like silk.)
"Lost lamb… you mean me?" Konan's brows knit. "And what did you mean by 'every gift from fate already has a price'?"
"You've already seen fate's hint," Sogetsu tapped the black book with a slender finger. "As for the price—it was your friend Yahiko."
"You—how do you know—why—"
The words hit like a thunderclap. Konan went bloodless, fingers cold.
"Who I am, I've told you," he said mildly. "How I know? Simple: the one who let you see that 'fate'… was me."
Rage and grief surged up—then stalled. If she attacked him now, she'd die; and if she died, who would care for Nagato? She forced the fire down.
"Why choose me?" she asked, voice flat.
"The choice wasn't mine," Sogetsu replied. "It was the Lord's. I merely cut a thread from the torrent of destiny and showed it to you as a dream. Whether you change that outcome… is on you."
Cruel. She'd watched the end arrive—run at it—and still failed. Worse, her struggle had only hastened Yahiko's death. If she'd known nothing… would Nagato at least have had more time?
"The key is courage," Sogetsu's tone sank—soft, suggestive. "Everyone hesitates. Hesitation isn't the sin; refusing a choice is. Choose, and your feet will move."
Konan's lips trembled. "If you truly see fate… tell me why it's so cruel. Yahiko only wanted to change the shinobi world. Why did he have to die?"
"A harsh truth," Sogetsu said, already palming off the blame, "is that Yahiko had to die—so Nagato could shed his skin."
"Nagato?" Her pupils blew wide.
"Nagato exists as the catalyst for the Child of Prophecy," Sogetsu said, eyes going distant. "The moment that one is born, the world's currents fix their course."
"'That one'… and the prophecy?" Konan whispered, terror stirring. A name chimed at the bottom of her heart.
"The blue-eyed boy who laughs while naming nine beasts is the Child of Prophecy," Sogetsu said. "And as for 'Him'—do you truly need to ask?"
"Sage of Six Paths." The word left her on its own. She knew the Sage existed—Nagato's eyes proved it.
"So all of this… for that child?" Anger boiled up—and bled into helplessness. "Then what should I do?"
"Ask the only voice that matters." Sogetsu tapped her chest. "Your own."
Memories rushed—Yahiko's smile, Nagato's pain, rain on tin roofs. Konan opened her eyes. The doubt was gone.
"I won't be a slave to fate," she said, a black flame lighting in her gaze. "And I won't be someone else's piece on a board. I'll carry Yahiko's dream forward."
"In your eyes, I see resolve," Sogetsu said, offering his hand, smiling. "Then the Twilight Hermit's Order welcomes you."
Far away, in a nowhere space, a pure white figure sat with a ringed staff across its knees, black orbs floating at its back.
"Hmm?" Rinnegan rings narrowed. "Fate… a new branch? Who?"
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