The old wooden door opened with a long, painful creak, and a gust of damp air rushed into the room. It carried the smell of rain, rust, and old wood that had been soaked too many times and dried too few.
This three-story building stood on the edge of a nearly abandoned industrial district in the Land of Rain. It was hidden well enough, which made it useful, but that was the only kind thing anyone could say about it.
The walls were cracked. Large patches of plaster had fallen away, exposing gray bricks underneath. Water dripped from one corner of the ceiling at a slow, steady pace, landing inside a broken iron basin that Nagato had placed beneath it earlier.
Clink. Clink. Clink.
The sound echoed through the room like a reminder of how poor they really were.
Yahiko stood near the doorway and scratched the back of his head awkwardly. His orange hair was still damp from the rain, and there was an embarrassed smile on his face.
"The place is a little rough," he said. "So… please don't laugh, Tsukiko."
He looked around the room and sighed.
"We're planning to improve it once we get enough money. For now, this is all Akatsuki has."
Uchiha Tsukiko waved her hand as if it did not matter at all.
"Rough? No, no, no. This has character."
She stepped inside and slowly turned in a circle, though her eyes were not truly focused on the building.
They were focused on Konan.
Konan had just removed her soaked raincoat. Beneath it, she wore a dark blue, close-fitting shinobi outfit. The fabric clung lightly to her body because of the rain, outlining her slender frame. Her short blue hair was damp, and when she lifted one hand to brush it back, the movement revealed the clean line of her forehead and the cool, calm beauty of her face.
Tsukiko stared for half a second too long.
Then another half second.
Then she cleared her throat and forced herself to look around the room again.
Nagato pointed toward the end of the corridor.
"There are some empty rooms over there. I cleaned them this morning."
Before he could say more, Tsukiko cut him off at once.
"No."
Yahiko blinked.
Nagato blinked.
Konan turned toward her.
Tsukiko stepped right up beside Konan and linked an arm through hers with the shameless confidence of someone who had already decided the answer.
"I already told you," Tsukiko said very seriously, "I am Akatsuki's Special Protection Observer."
She lifted one finger like a teacher explaining an important principle.
"That means I must remain close to Konan at all times. What if someone attacks during the night? What if an enemy sneaks in through the window? What if a hidden threat appears while everyone is sleeping?"
Nagato glanced at the window, then at the third-floor height, then at the traps they had placed outside.
He quietly muttered, "That seems unlikely."
Tsukiko turned her head and gave him such a sharp look that he immediately stopped speaking.
Konan remained silent for a moment.
She looked down at Tsukiko, who was pressed close to her side and radiating determination. Tsukiko's eyes were bright, warm, and shamelessly hopeful. It was hard to tell where the act ended and where her real feelings began.
"My room only has one bed," Konan said at last.
"It's fine," Tsukiko answered immediately. "I'm small. I won't take up space."
Then, to make things worse, she puffed out her chest like that proved something.
"And I sleep very well," she added. "I definitely don't move around. I'm quiet, disciplined, and very easy to live with."
Yahiko coughed to hide a laugh.
Nagato looked away.
Konan stared at Tsukiko for several more seconds, as if weighing whether refusal would actually change anything.
In the end, she let out a soft breath.
That was enough.
Tsukiko's face lit up at once.
She had won.
---
That night, the rain continued to strike the cracked window frame with a steady, endless rhythm.
Konan's room was simple and clean despite the building itself. There was a narrow bed, neatly folded blankets, a small table, and a few paper flowers arranged on the windowsill. Even in a broken hideout, Konan had somehow managed to carve out a small pocket of order.
Tsukiko stood behind her holding a dry towel.
"Sit down," she said.
Konan glanced back at her. "I can dry my hair myself."
"No," Tsukiko said with complete confidence. "If you leave it damp in a place like this, you'll catch a cold."
Before Konan could argue again, Tsukiko gently pushed her down to the edge of the bed.
Konan's hair was soft and cool beneath the towel. Tsukiko worked slowly, carefully rubbing away the moisture. In the dim light, the back of Konan's neck looked almost pale enough to glow. Every now and then, Konan would shift slightly whenever Tsukiko's fingers brushed too close through the cloth.
"Alright," Konan said after a minute, her voice quieter than before. "That's enough."
"It's not dry yet."
Tsukiko continued anyway.
Konan lowered her eyes, clearly uncomfortable with being fussed over, but she did not stand up.
When her hair was finally dry enough, Konan pulled back the blanket and lay down on the inner side of the bed.
"Sleep," she said softly.
Tsukiko did not need to be told twice.
She slipped under the blanket with all the speed of a professional intruder and settled into place beside her. The mattress was old, the frame creaked, and the room still held a faint trace of mildew from the building itself.
None of that mattered.
Because the space beside Konan was warm.
Tsukiko turned onto her side and watched the faint outline of Konan in the darkness. They were so close that she could hear each breath. She could smell the clean, faint scent of paper and soap that belonged only to Konan.
After a few moments, Tsukiko whispered, "You're really beautiful."
Konan did not answer.
But Tsukiko felt the tiny pause in her breathing.
Smiling to herself, Tsukiko slowly reached out and placed her hand over Konan's folded hands. Konan's fingers carried faint calluses from years of training her paper techniques.
"Good night, Sister Konan," Tsukiko whispered.
Then, completely satisfied with life, she closed her eyes.
---
Morning arrived in the form of pale gray light slipping through the cracks in the window.
Konan woke first.
At once, she realized something was wrong.
Or rather, something was heavy.
She looked down.
Tsukiko had somehow transformed during the night into a creature halfway between a koala and an octopus. One arm was wrapped around Konan's waist. One leg was hooked over hers. Her face was pressed against Konan's neck, and every warm breath brushed against her skin.
"Mmm…" Tsukiko mumbled in her sleep. "Five more minutes…"
Then, unbelievably, she rubbed her face against Konan's neck like a spoiled cat.
Konan froze.
This was the same girl who had promised not to move at all during sleep.
Konan let out a slow breath and reached up to pry Tsukiko off her.
But when her hand touched Tsukiko's shoulder, she paused.
The girl was completely relaxed in sleep, with no guard up at all. For a moment, Konan saw not the shameless troublemaker from yesterday, but someone oddly soft and trusting.
Still, this could not continue.
"Tsukiko," she said quietly. "Wake up."
"No…"
Tsukiko tightened her hold.
"The blanket is justice… and Konan smells nice…"
Konan's ears turned slightly red.
Just as she was deciding whether to use actual force, Yahiko's voice rang out from outside the door.
"Konan! Tsukiko! Are you awake? Nagato found some clean rainwater, so we're making soup!"
He knocked twice.
Too quickly.
Konan's eyes widened at once.
Without thinking, she flicked her fingers, and several sheets of paper shot across the room and jammed the weak door shut.
"Wait!" she called out.
Outside, Yahiko paused.
"Huh?"
Nagato, standing beside him with a bucket in hand, looked at the door with a calm face.
Inside the room, Tsukiko had finally opened one eye.
She blinked, saw how close Konan's face was, and then smiled with no shame at all.
"Good morning, Sister Konan."
Instead of moving away, she snuggled in even more.
Konan stared at her in disbelief.
"Let go."
Tsukiko grinned. "Not unless I get a good morning kiss."
A second later, she yelped as Konan pinched her cheek hard.
By the time Tsukiko finally sat up, rubbing her face dramatically, Konan had already restored her cool expression—mostly.
Tsukiko stretched, yawned, and stood up barefoot on the cold wooden floor.
Then she looked around the room again.
Then through the open doorway.
Then toward the dripping basin in the hall.
Her expression slowly changed.
At first it was thoughtful.
Then critical.
Then deeply offended.
"No," she said. "This is unacceptable."
Konan turned back.
"What is?"
Tsukiko placed both hands on her hips.
"Everything."
She marched to the window, shoved it open, and let in the wet morning air of the Land of Rain.
"Yahiko's taste is terrible," she declared. "This place looks less like a secret organization base and more like a miserable storage building waiting to collapse."
Konan folded her arms.
"And?"
Tsukiko turned back with a dangerous smile.
"Since I'm already Akatsuki's Special Advisor, the first thing I'm going to do is renovate this place."
She pointed upward.
"First, we fix the leaking roof."
Then down the hall.
"Second, we create a proper bathing area."
Then she looked straight at Konan and smiled like a fox.
"And third, we make your room comfortable enough that you'll never want to leave."
A pillow flew through the air and hit Tsukiko in the face.
"Get dressed," Konan said flatly. "The soup will get cold."
Then she walked out of the room, ears slightly pink.
Tsukiko caught the pillow, pressed it to her face dramatically, inhaled once like a shameless criminal, and then sprang into action.
---
When they entered the main hall, Yahiko was crouched beside a crude dirt stove blowing desperately into the fire. Thick black smoke poured upward, and his eyes were watering from it.
Nagato sat nearby, staring at the pot with the serious focus of a man trying to convince himself that the liquid inside counted as breakfast.
It was a thin green soup made of wild vegetables and mushrooms.
Tsukiko stared at it.
Then at them.
Then back at the soup.
"This," she said carefully, "is not breakfast."
Yahiko looked up proudly anyway.
"It has mushrooms."
Nagato nodded once. "Fresh ones."
Tsukiko walked forward, looked into the pot again, and then decisively kicked the dirt stove apart.
The pot wobbled dangerously.
Yahiko gasped. "Hey!"
"Stop!" Tsukiko said, raising one hand. "No one is eating tragedy soup while I'm here."
Nagato looked down at the ruined setup with visible pain.
"That was all we had prepared."
"That was before," Tsukiko said. "Now you have me."
She pulled out a sealing scroll and slammed it onto the table.
"As Akatsuki's Special Advisor and Head of Living Conditions, I officially declare the beginning of Akatsuki Hideout Upgrade Project: Phase One."
With a burst of smoke, the table was instantly covered in real food.
Fresh ramen.
Grilled meat.
Milk.
Warm bread.
Rice.
Fruit.
And an entire box of Konoha's special three-colored dango.
Yahiko stared.
Nagato stared.
Konan stared too, though more quietly.
Tsukiko immediately picked up the dango and placed it into Konan's hands.
"These are sweet. You'll like them."
Breakfast vanished like a battlefield supply after a month of starvation.
Yahiko ended up flat on his back on the floor, one hand over his stomach.
Nagato sat beside him with the expression of a saint who had finally found enlightenment through food.
Konan ate much more neatly, but even she looked noticeably calmer by the end of the meal.
Tsukiko leaned against the wall and watched them, feeling deeply satisfied.
Then the familiar system notification sounded in her mind.
[System Notification: Detected successful initiation of Akatsuki Organization Support Plan. Stage One completed.]
[Evaluation: S Rank. You chose the fastest path into people's hearts—their stomachs.]
Tsukiko nearly laughed out loud.
Then the next reward arrived.
[Reward One: Utility Item Set – Repair Package.]
[Contains: Automatic Repair Hammer, Advanced Cleaning Spray, and Climate Control Interior Materials.]
[Reward Two: Blueprint – Akatsuki Base Renovation Plan.]
Tsukiko's eyes widened.
Then her grin slowly spread.
This was perfect.
Absolutely perfect.
She snapped her fingers, and a golden hammer appeared in her hand.
In the other hand appeared a large blueprint scroll.
Yahiko sat up immediately.
"What's that?"
Tsukiko lifted the hammer and smiled.
"Your future."
---
The next hour completely destroyed everything Yahiko and Nagato thought they knew.
At Tsukiko's command, the broken furniture was dragged outside. Rotten boards were piled in the yard. Rusted shelves disappeared. Torn curtains were removed. Every useless piece of junk was thrown away.
Then Tsukiko began.
She tapped a damaged support pillar with the golden hammer.
Bang.
A flash of light followed.
The rotting wood transformed instantly into strong polished timber.
Yahiko dropped the chair he was holding.
Nagato went completely still.
Tsukiko moved on as if this was normal.
She sprayed the moldy walls.
The grime vanished.
Then clean waterproof wall panels appeared in their place.
She repaired the cracked floors.
She sealed the leaking ceiling.
She replaced broken windows with thick glass that shut out both rain and cold.
Yahiko stood at the doorway, speechless.
"Is this… ninjutsu?"
Tsukiko did not even look at him.
"Better. This is competence."
Nagato was still staring at the bathroom space that had somehow expanded and gained actual fixtures.
"Why is the washing area automatic?" he asked faintly.
"Because suffering builds character," Tsukiko said, "but unnecessary inconvenience only builds resentment."
By the time the evening light began to fade through the rain, the hideout had been completely transformed.
The old damp hall was now bright and warm.
Soft carpets covered the floor.
A proper sofa sat in the center of the room.
The walls were clean and dry.
The air no longer smelled like mildew and despair.
The biggest change of all, however, was at the end of the hall.
There, where once there had only been dead space and broken storage, Tsukiko had created a bathing area with steaming hot water.
A real bath.
Warm, clean, inviting.
Konan stood in the doorway and stared quietly at it.
Her eyes reflected the rising steam.
"Is this…" she said softly, "really ours?"
Tsukiko came up b
ehind her and smiled.
"Of course it is."
Then, because she was incapable of behaving normally for more than three straight minutes, she leaned in and added, "Now imagine how nice it will be after a long day when you can come back here, soak in hot water, and let me wash your back."
Konan's face turned red at once.
But this time, instead of pushing Tsukiko away immediately, she just looked around the new space again.
The warmth.
The dryness.
The comfort.
The feeling of safety.
For people like them, it was almost unfamiliar.
At last, Konan lowered her eyes and spoke in a voice softer than Tsukiko had ever heard from her.
"Thank you, Tsukiko."
For once, Tsukiko did not joke right away.
She looked at Konan, then at Yahiko and Nagato standing further back, both still stunned by the changes around them.
Then she smiled.
"We're allies now," she said. "There's no need to thank me for making sure my people live like human beings."
Yahiko looked around the new base and slowly broke into a huge grin.
Nagato gave a small, quiet nod, but the hope in his expression said enough.
And in that warm, newly rebuilt hideout, with rain still falling outside but no longer reaching them, Akatsuki felt less like a desperate dream and more like the beginning of something real.
For the first time, they truly had a home.
--------------------------------
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