Konan was no fragile doll prone to fits of weeping; she was an orphan forged in the fires of war, possessed of a resilient mind.
As Diarmuid posed his question, she forcibly dragged herself from the depths of her grief. Her eyes flared with a thick, concentrated loathing. "Hanzo of the Salamander... he is a despicable, spineless coward!"
After a brief pause to steady her voice, she continued, "I belong to the Akatsuki. My name is Konan, and I am one of its leaders. Within the Land of Rain, our Akatsuki possesses significant prestige and influence; we are an organization dedicated to peace. But perhaps we shone too brightly, and Hanzo couldn't stand the sight of us. After all, he is the legitimate sovereign of this nation. Not long ago, he sent us an invitation, claiming he wanted to borrow Akatsuki's strength to negotiate with the Five Great Nations, to protect the interests and peace of the Land of Rain following the war. My companions and I accepted. We came at his request, and then..."
"And then Hanzo had no intention of negotiating. Instead, it was a trap," Diarmuid cut in with a slight smirk. "He planned to wipe you all out, resolve the 'Akatsuki problem,' and consolidate all power within the Land of Rain under his absolute rule?"
Konan's face contorted with fury. "Exactly. He deceived us. That wretched bastard... to think he is hailed as a 'Demigod.' During this Third Shinobi World War, he contributed nothing to the Land of Rain, yet the moment the war ends, he turns his blade on his own people!"
"Sigh. Has no one ever told you that you were naive?" Diarmuid remarked, clicking his tongue.
Konan stiffened, her gaze darkening with a sorrowful whisper. "Of course they have... I knew..."
Diarmuid didn't press further. He returned his attention to the roasting rabbit, while Konan sat in silence, tears tracing paths down her cheeks. It was a scene of heavy, mutual silence.
After a long while, Diarmuid pulled the skewers from the rack and handed one to Konan. "Eat something."
Konan clearly had no appetite, but as a war-honed shinobi, she knew the necessity of maintaining strength. She accepted the meat without suspicion, never doubting if it was poisoned, and forced herself to eat through her sorrow.
Truthfully, her level of trust in Diarmuid was surprisingly high.
Though Diarmuid's reputation was less than stellar, being a wanted man pursued by a coalition of the Five Great Nations, she didn't care. As a citizen of the Land of Rain, she held no love for the oppressive Great Nations anyway. She had heard of the Yorozuya; they were mercenaries who worked for coin and feared no target.
She found no reason to doubt Diarmuid's earlier explanation. She was merely shocked by his audacity; did he truly intend to assassinate Hanzo of the Salamander alone?
Though she hadn't seen their bodies with her own eyes, she was not one to deny reality. Growing up in the Land of Rain meant being intimately acquainted with parting and death. In her heart, she had already accepted the fact: Yahiko and Nagato were dead at Hanzo's hand.
Before, with Yahiko present, she and Nagato were the ones protected behind his back. Now that both Yahiko and Nagato were gone, she felt utterly adrift.
However, hatred soon rushed in to fill the void. She tore a savage bite out of the rabbit meat and asked, "You intend to kill Hanzo?"
"Indeed. A 'Demigod' of the Shinobi world... killing him would do wonders for the Yorozuya's reputation. Besides, I've already accepted the contract," Diarmuid said with nonchalant ease.
"I can help you!" Konan said, her voice low and firm.
"I don't need your help," Diarmuid rejected her flatly.
Konan blinked, stunned.
Diarmuid took another bite of meat and grinned. "Hanzo is too powerful. I've realized I'm no match for him. I'm planning to drop this mission..."
Konan froze for a second, staring at Diarmuid for several heartbeats before uttering a single word: "Despicable."
"Hahaha..." Diarmuid laughed but said nothing.
After another period of silence, Konan spoke again. "Then, what if I hire you to kill Hanzo of the Salamander for me?"
She hadn't believed a word of his "dropping the mission" talk. She understood exactly what Diarmuid was doing—he wanted to get paid by two different parties for the same job. He didn't want her "help," but he was perfectly willing to accept her "employment."
That was why she called him despicable.
"Since you know I was joking, why persist?" Diarmuid asked between bites. "Even if you pretended not to see through it, I would have killed Hanzo eventually anyway, wouldn't I?"
"Then he would simply have died at someone else's hand. What would that have to do with me?" Konan gritted her teeth. "If I cannot see him die with my own eyes, if I cannot plunge a blade into him myself, this hatred in my heart will never fade..."
"Hatred... such a tedious thing," Diarmuid mused. How many lives had been ruined by that single word?
"You only think that because you have never felt it," Konan said darkly.
Diarmuid went quiet. Thinking back, she was right. Perhaps due to luck, or some other reason, he had never truly loathed anyone, nor had those close to him met with tragic ends... yet.
"Perhaps," Diarmuid admitted. He paused, then looked her in the eye. "Very well. If that is the case, what do you offer as payment?"
"How much money do you want?" Konan asked.
Akatsuki's finances were meager, but Konan was prepared to spend every last cent to see Hanzo dead. She knew no other powerful masters. Jiraiya was an option, but it was clear he couldn't involve himself in this, and Konan suspected even he might not be Hanzo's match, after all, he had lost to Hanzo even when fighting alongside his teammates years ago.
If she wanted a powerful ally, Rodriguez Diarmuid was her only choice.
By all accounts, this man had killed the Third Raikage, assassinated the Daimyo of the Land of Earth, and rescued her from right under Hanzo's nose. He was undeniably strong. Furthermore, even after witnessing Hanzo's power, he showed no fear; he seemed ready to slaughter the "Demigod" once he squeezed a bit more intel out of her. Such confidence was staggering.
Unless he was a fool, he had the strength to back it up. And Diarmuid certainly didn't look like a fool. Nor did he seem like a delusional egomaniac, otherwise, why bother asking her for intelligence?
She knew she couldn't defeat Hanzo alone. This was her only chance.
"I don't lack money," Diarmuid said directly. "A target like Hanzo of the Salamander cannot be measured in mere currency."
"Then what do you want?" Konan asked. She seemed to reach a final resolution, her voice dropping to a somber tone. "Even if you say you want me, I will agree!"
Diarmuid's face twitched slightly. "You... might have a misunderstanding of my character."
Am I really that kind of person?
"No, it's not a misunderstanding. I am simply stating that to kill Hanzo, I will pay any price!" Konan said without hesitation.
Diarmuid had intentionally withheld his desire for cooperation just to make Konan speak first, ensuring he held the initiative. It had worked perfectly. Naturally, he wouldn't actually demand her as payment; he wasn't so shameless as to kill Nagato and then pull a stunt like that.
If he did, Nagato might actually get angry enough to come back to life.
"Ninjutsu scrolls. From Hanzo's collection. Five S-rank Ninjutsu, and three Kinjutsu (Forbidden Techniques)," Diarmuid said after some thought.
Konan looked frustrated. "I don't have those..."
"Coming to talk business when you're broke..." Diarmuid said dismissively.
Konan was so annoyed she nearly threw her rabbit at him.
After a moment, Diarmuid asked, "Then besides money, what benefit can you offer me?"
Konan went silent for a while. Then she said, "I will give you the entire Land of Rain!"
Diarmuid blinked. He hadn't expected her to be this proactive. His momentary lapse in response was interpreted by Konan as "surprise," making her think her offer had hit the mark.
"Go on," Diarmuid said. To claim he wasn't interested now would be too hypocritical, so he asked directly.
"My two companions, Yahiko and Nagato, were the leaders of Akatsuki. Now that they are... anyway, I am the one in charge of Akatsuki now. Aside from us, the only other power in the Land of Rain is Hanzo. If you help me kill him, I will hand Akatsuki over to the Yorozuya. At that point, wouldn't you effectively be seizing the Land of Rain for yourselves?"
"I've heard of Akatsuki. But wasn't it the life's work of you three? You're just giving it up like that?" Diarmuid asked, genuinely curious.
A shadow of profound sorrow crossed Konan's eyes. "I'm giving it up. I was only ever helping Yahiko pursue his dream. Now... the dream is over. That's all."
Akatsuki was Yahiko's dream; its spirit was tied to him alone. In another version of history, Nagato would have risen to hold the collapsing banner, though the organization's nature would have shifted drastically.
But here, both Yahiko and Nagato were dead. Konan didn't have the strength to carry that banner alone, and she no longer wanted to. Her heart was set solely on revenge.
She hadn't thought about what came after. She had simply lost all hope in this world. She might not blacken to the point of wanting to destroy the world like Obito, but she certainly had no interest in playing the pacifist anymore.
Once Hanzo was dead, she might leave the Land of Rain and wander the world, or she might find a quiet place to live out her days. Suicide was not out of the question either. This was a far more natural reaction to despair than turning into a world-ending demon king.
"Is that so?" Diarmuid murmured. "I find this trade... very interesting."
"Then... do we have a deal?" Konan looked at him.
"Consider it done," Diarmuid smiled.
…
Meanwhile, near the Kannabi Bridge, in Madara's "dwelling"…
Obito looked into the empty cavern, a strange expression on his face.
"It's been so long. Why hasn't the Gedo Statue returned yet? Is Hanzo of the Salamander that powerful? Can he actually fight the Statue for this long?" Obito muttered to himself.
The moment the Gedo Statue had been summoned away, Obito knew that Nagato must have engaged Hanzo. But he was stunned that the Statue hadn't returned.
He had no idea that the Gedo Statue had already been sealed away by Diarmuid in a space of darkness. He didn't know that Nagato was dead, and that the Rinnegan had already fallen into Diarmuid's hands!