If the first part was a request, then for Nagato, what came after was a threat.
But this threat was different from the one Hanzō of the Salamander had once used on him and Yahiko, forcing him to choose between Yahiko and Konan.
Minato Namikaze's threat felt more like a small mistake made by a natural airhead.
Besides, he had never expected the current Akatsuki members, namely Deidara, Sasori, and the others, to transform into members of the original Akatsuki and rush over to stop this world's Nagato and Yahiko from meeting Hanzō.
Nor could he have imagined that, in order to save Kakashi from the current Akatsuki, Obito would die at the hands of his parallel-world self.
The masked man's Wood Release: Wood Spikes pierced straight into his heart. Even if Minato had arrived, all he could have done was bring back a critically injured Obito.
So Minato Namikaze's words did indeed have the effect of threatening Nagato, even though he had never actually threatened him aloud.
Like Hanzō of the Salamander, he achieved the effect of a threat, but the nature of it and the feeling it gave off were entirely different.
Nagato and Konan would not see him as despicable as Hanzō of the Salamander. At most, they could only call him…a natural airhead.
...
Meanwhile, Young Obito, Young Kakashi, and Rin Nohara, who was the same age as them, were all inside Young Obito's Kamui's Dimension.
Obito and Kakashi were in charge of keeping watch to make sure Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura's side went smoothly.
Although Naruto had already learned the Rasengan and had the Nine-Tails' help, Sasuke had awakened the Mangekyō Sharingan, and Sakura had superhuman strength and Medical Ninjutsu to rely on, the three of them were still, in the end, only little genin.
As for their experience fighting enemy ninjas, they had only fought Zabuza and Haku in the Land of Water.
But now they were carrying out a mission in a real era of war.
One careless mistake, and they could die in an enemy ambush.
Obito, who had just become a Chūnin, and Kakashi, who had just become a Jōnin but was only twelve years old, kept an extremely close watch.
Behind them, Rin used Medical Ninjutsu to remove the poison from Konan.
"How is it, Rin?"
Kakashi was handling the surveillance, while Obito spared some attention to ask about Rin's side.
"It's not serious. She's almost fine." Rin did not stop what she was doing. She wrapped the toxins extracted from Konan's body in chakra and tossed them into a nearby basin of clean water.
Fortunately, this was Young Obito's Kamui's Dimension, and inside it was an entire Konohagakure Village, so basic medical facilities were easy to find.
Before long, Konan, wearing the uniform of the First Akatsuki and looking only around twenty years old, slowly woke from unconsciousness.
After enduring the initial dizziness and nausea, she remembered that she had been investigating during a mission when she ran into a trap. By the time she tried to escape, it was already too late.
"Are you awake?"
A clear, gentle young girl's voice reached her ears.
"Who are you?!!"
Konan abruptly sat up.
The dizziness made her feel sick again.
The girl beside her gathered a soft emerald-green chakra glow in her hand and placed it on Konan's forehead, helping to ease the dizziness from the poisoning a little.
"Medical Ninjutsu?"
Konan turned her head slightly. When she saw the Konoha forehead protector on the girl's forehead, surprise flashed through her eyes.
Because of Jiraiya-sensei, compared with the symbols of other ninja villages, that abstract pattern with a hollow leaf gave her, Nagato, and Yahiko a greater sense of closeness.
Whoosh.
Hearing the movement, Young Kakashi only glanced back.
Young Obito stretched and walked over, asking about Konan's condition.
Rin answered that she was basically fine now and only needed a short rest to recover her energy.
While the two spoke, Konan quietly observed the current situation, gathering and analyzing the information in her mind...
Beneath the orange goggles was another Konoha forehead protector.
Realizing this, Konan discreetly brushed her hand over the ninja tool pouch still hanging from her body.
Everything inside was still there, proving that the people in front of her had not taken her weapons.
At least for now, she was not a prisoner.
She looked around, and only then did she realize she seemed to be inside someone's home.
She was lying on a single bed. Beside it was a bookshelf filled with books related to ninjas.
By the window was a writing desk. On the desk sat a photo of four people, and on the wooden board beside it were photos of the same four people standing together, stuck there with adhesive.
This looked like a boy's room.
The blond young man in the photo was around their age, while the other three were children, two boys and one girl. They were the three half-grown children in front of her.
Clearly, it was a teacher and his three students.
Just like Jiraiya-sensei with Yahiko, Nagato, and herself.
According to Jiraiya-sensei, after the children of Konoha graduated from the Ninja Academy, they would enter ninja squads like this to continue learning. One Jōnin would lead three genin, or Chūnin, guiding them through missions and helping them gain experience.
Seeing that photo, she unconsciously thought of Jiraiya-sensei and the three of them, Yahiko, Nagato, and herself. She thought of Jiraiya-sensei, whom she had not seen in years, and of how the Akatsuki organization had gradually grown stronger under Yahiko's leadership in recent times.
Konan missed her teacher deeply, and hoped that her teacher, wandering far away through the Ninja World, would also know how the three of them and the Akatsuki organization had grown.
That sense of connection made Konan subconsciously trust the three of them a little more.
Besides, the three of them looked like children of only thirteen or fourteen. They did not seem like the kind of people who would set a trap for her in Amegakure.
"That's a photo of Minato-sensei and us," Rin said, following Konan's gaze to the picture.
"Minato-sensei?" Konan vaguely felt that the name Minato sounded familiar.
Obito remembered what Naruto had said earlier. "Oh, right! You and Minato-sensei are both students of Jiraiya-sama, aren't you?"
Konan's eyes widened.
That was right! Minato Namikaze! Jiraiya-sensei had once mentioned him. He was his most outstanding student in Konoha!
Then these three children in front of her were Minato Namikaze's students?!
It was almost unbelievable. She had never imagined that Jiraiya-sensei's student had already become a teacher with students of his own.
If she thought about it that way, didn't that make these three children her juniors?
With even more trust in them, Konan asked, "Where is this? I remember I was supposed to be carrying out a mission in a village that had been attacked."
But then the corpses had suddenly exploded and released poisonous gas. She had noticed it a step too late, inhaled a great deal of poison, and passed out.
"This is my house." Obito revealed his Mangekyō Sharingan and said proudly, "But it's the house inside my Kamui's Dimension."
"Uchiha?!" The Sharingan of the Uchiha Clan was known throughout the entire Ninja World.
Especially because Nagato's eyes were the most special Rinnegan, Jiraiya-sensei had once mentioned Konoha's two great Dōjutsu clans to them, the Uchiha and the Hyūga.
Obito nodded and pointed to the basin of water beside Konan.
"Rin took care of your poison. Even Tsunade-sama praised her Medical Ninjutsu!"
Embarrassed by Obito's awkward praise, Rin hurriedly explained, "No, no! Tsunade-sama only said I had talent in this area and could continue training and studying under her."
Konan was stunned again.
She recalled the first time she met Jiraiya-sensei.
Tsunade-sama had taken pity on them as children and given them food, and she had folded paper flowers from the wrapping paper as a return gift for her.
This girl was the student of that genius ninja Minato Namikaze, had also received Tsunade-sama's recognition, and had saved her.
"It's truly unbelievable." Konan forced herself to stand and thanked the three of them.
"Why are you in Amegakure? And why isn't Minato Namikaze with you?"
Obito was just about to answer when Kakashi, who was a year younger than him, pulled him back.
"You keep watch. I'll tell her."
Obito curled his lip. Although his expression made it clear he was not exactly happy about being ordered around, he still turned back to keep watch and replied lazily, "Yeah, yeah, Captain Kakashi."
Rin smiled at how in sync the two of them were.
Konan was amused too, and thought of Yahiko and Nagato.
Young Kakashi told her the excuse they had prepared earlier. "Minato-sensei discovered that Danzō of Konoha had secretly gathered Konoha's ANBU and brought them to Amegakure. He's afraid Danzō is going to do something that looks beneficial to Konoha on the surface, but because of his shortsightedness, will actually bring a huge disaster to Konoha more than ten years in the future."
"Danzō of Konoha?"
He seemed to be one of Konoha's Hokage advisers, one of the elder council members.
Obito kept his back to them as he watched the outside. "An old, ugly man with a petty mind. Most importantly, he's a Konoha elder who has always been hostile toward our Uchiha Clan."
Every village had its own internal problems, and Konan more or less understood, so she did not press further.
In any case, for someone like that to lead troops across the border between the Land of Fire and Uchiha territory was already enough to serve as a reason to start a war.
Young Kakashi said, "On the way, we saw two people from Amegakure carrying you. They said they were taking you to 'Hanzō-sama' and using you as a hostage to threaten a man named Yahiko."
Konan turned pale with shock.
She was about to leave for Akatsuki at once to inform Yahiko and Nagato that she was safe.
"Don't worry. Minato-sensei has already gone."
As a young girl herself, Rin reassured her gently.
At the same time, this also answered Konan's earlier question about why Minato Namikaze was not with them.
"Thank you. You've helped us a great deal." Konan thanked them sincerely once more.
Before Konan could ask anything else, Kakashi told her directly, "We suspect that Danzō and Hanzō are secretly colluding in this matter."
"To obtain evidence that Danzō has colluded with another country's Kage without the Hokage's permission, one group of our people, Team A, disguised themselves as you and the Amegakure ninja who kidnapped you, then went back to report to Hanzō. As for us, Team B, we're keeping watch from inside Obito's Dōjutsu dimension."
His explanation was clear and thorough, resolving all of Konan's doubts.
Obito and Young Kakashi continued keeping watch, while Rin helped everyone check the ninja tools in their ninja tool pouches.
Just then, something no one expected happened. A person suddenly appeared out of thin air inside Obito's Dōjutsu dimension!
At the same time, a hard copper ring fell out of Obito's ninja tool pouch.
…