Samui's bow was indeed too dazzling.
Linto awkwardly looked away and heard Samui say in a very serious tone, "Please consider it carefully. Whatever Kirigakure, the Land of Water, can offer you, we, Kumogakure, the Land of Thunder, will offer even more."
After speaking, Samui swayed her hips and left gracefully.
Linto didn't watch her swaying back. He opened his notebook again, scribbling and drawing on it, while softly speaking to the shadows behind him:
"How long are you going to hide?"
Terumi Mei stepped out of the shadows, shaking the bottle of wine in her hand.
"Want a drink?"
"Okay."
She walked over, copied Linto, and sat on the edge of the rooftop. She poured two glasses of wine, handed one to him, and asked, "Was it nice to look at?"
Linto took the wine, paused for half a second, then smiled and said, "I thought the first thing you'd ask me was what Samui and I were talking about."
Terumi Mei scoffed.
"The people from Kumogakure come looking for you for nothing but that old trick—using money, people, and power to trick strong people into selling their lives, especially handsome and skilled guys like you."
Linto nodded, took a sip of wine, and said, "Not bad."
"What do you mean 'not bad'—"
Terumi Mei didn't continue asking. Linto was answering her question, "Was it nice to look at?"
Linto is a normal man. It's an uncontrollable instinct to look at first glance, but being able to look away at the second glance is the limit.
"So, are you tempted?" Terumi Mei asked.
"No, it's too big, not suitable for me."
"Huh?"
Linto seriously said, "Kumogakure's area is too large, its military strength is strong, and its finances are solid. If I go there, it would just be icing on the cake for them. It's impossible for them to put my ideas into practice like Kirigakure."
"Ah...ah, so you mean that is too big."
Linto looked at Terumi Mei: "Besides, Kirigakure has you."
Terumi Mei's heart skipped a beat, her lips felt dry. Just as she was about to say something, she heard Linto continue:
"There's Zabuza, Ao, Chojuro...and many people who have experienced the Village of the Bloody Mist and came out of hell. These people will cherish hard-won happiness more. Cooperating with you is far better than going to Kumogakure. Look—"
Linto pointed to the village shrouded in mist.
The lights of thousands of homes, peaceful and serene.
Linto slightly raised his glass to Terumi Mei:
"I want to continue this 'light' of happiness with you until the world is at peace...is that okay?"
Terumi Mei stared blankly into Linto's eyes, which were clear and bright. Reflected by the moonlight, they were like a glittering piece of glass. She sighed softly from the bottom of her heart:
"He really is like a magical being."
"Okay."
The two clinked glasses and drank it all in one gulp.
Terumi Mei kept her eyes open as she drank.
She looked at the stars, the moonlight, and then Linto.
She hadn't gotten drunk all night, but at this moment, for some reason, she felt a little drunk. Many emotions followed the drunkenness and fermented in her chest, pushing and shoving into her mouth:
"When the world is at peace and I step down from the position of Mizukage, and you have your own village, I'll go find you, okay?"
Linto looked at her in surprise. Her cheeks were rosy, and her eyes were like a clear stream. It was obvious that she was drunk and talking nonsense.
He casually agreed, "Okay."
"Okay my butt!"
Terumi Mei patted her butt and stood up, raising her chin: "I'm Terumi Mei, a woman destined to shine brightly. Who would go to your small broken village to farm? I'm leaving."
She waved goodbye to Linto and staggered downstairs.
The banquet had ended long ago. Terumi Mei walked home, halfway there it started raining. The rain drizzled on her face, wetting her clothes, but it felt particularly comfortable.
She walked quickly in the rain, soon turning into a jog. She hummed an unknown tune, jumping in the rain, and occasionally laughing softly, just like...
"A child."
Linto said with a smile.
Aerosmith hovered in the air, confirming that the drunken woman was safely home before the little plane disappeared again.
In the following days, Linto's life gained a rare peace.
He seemed to have forgotten that he had chopped off the Daimyo's head with one knife. He swaggered around Kirigakure, occasionally walking out of the village to chat with old farmers and fishermen in the fields and by the river.
"What exactly are you doing?" Konan asked.
Linto closed his notebook: "I'm taking notes. Don't you think it's strange?
Even though the technology is quite advanced, there's electricity, machines, and computers. The ninjas even have magical Ninjutsu...
But it doesn't seem like they're living a rich life."
Konan tilted her head slightly.
"Is there a problem?"
"There's a big problem."
To give you the simplest example, and also the one that people from Linto's hometown are most concerned about—
Since there is electricity and machinery, why not build roads?
The Hokage world has large areas of jungle, why not develop them?
"The so-called ninja world war is nothing more than a struggle for resources, but if the gains from self-development are far greater than the gains from looting, large-scale wars will not break out."
Linto held up the notebook in his hand.
"I just want to see where the technology tree went wrong and where to start trying to fix it."
Technology...building roads...developing land...
Konan felt a little dizzy listening to it, but she roughly understood what Linto meant, which was to use technology to obtain more food and resources.
"Even if you succeed, you'll just become a second Kumogakure. After Kirigakure, the Land of Water, are full and warm, they'll always want to expand their territory. What method will you use to avoid war?"
"With this."
Linto handed the notebook in his hand to Konan.
"It records my ideas, combined with Orochimaru's biotechnology, and makes some adjustments in the agricultural and industrial fields. Of course, the situations in each village are different, but it should be enough for you to use as a reference."
"Today is the tenth day, you're leaving, right? Consider it my farewell gift."
Farewell...gift?
Konan was a little confused. Wasn't she a prisoner?
The prisoner is leaving, and there's a gift?
She took the thick notebook and realized that the hundreds of pages were densely filled with neat writing, with illustrations in some places.
She flipped through it page by page. As the manager of Amegakure, the more Konan read, the more shocked she became. She had never heard of many of the ideas inside, but they could truly bypass the killing and fighting and solve Amegakure's difficulties.
"This is really for me?"
"Of course."
Linto said, "I will continue to update it. If you are interested, I can send you a copy regularly."
"Then..."
Konan took a deep breath and solemnly said, "I am very grateful."
Linto smiled and held out his hand.
"Goodbye, Konan."
"Goodbye, Linto."
She didn't shake hands, she opened her arms and gave Linto a light hug.
"Also, thank you for the hospitality during this time."
She patted Linto on the back and turned to leave.
Konan walked away, taking out the Akatsuki uniform from her backpack and putting it on again.
All the brilliance in life must eventually be repaid with loneliness. During this "prisoner" time, she witnessed too many dazzling souls. Next—
Konan saw Pain standing at the end of the street.
And Uchiha Itachi and Kisame standing quietly behind Pain.
"I'm going to face some darker characters."
But for some reason, touching the notebook in her backpack, Konan's mood was full of anticipation.
---
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