Everyone loves to gossip.
Konan was calm and composed, gentle and considerate, and a great beauty.
Although she did not have grand aspirations like Yahiko.
Nor did she possess Nagato's resolve to fulfill his best friend's dream no matter what.
She could not even understand her companions' ideals.
But as long as it was her companions' choice, she always trusted and silently supported them.
Regardless of whether their choice was right or wrong.
Such a woman.
Even appearing as a villain in the anime, her popularity was extremely explosive.
And her relationship with Yahiko and Nagato was even more endlessly intriguing.
After all, judging from their childhood experiences, it seemed there was a romance between her and Yahiko.
But Yahiko died early.
After that, Konan stayed by Nagato's side.
Taking care of him with his crippled legs, and silently supporting his actions.
This bond of never abandoning him also made people extremely curious.
Was their relationship purely friendship as before?
Or had other feelings been born over the long years of companionship?
Regarding this point, Jokichi was equally curious, which is why he made such a request.
Extending into the subsequent questions.
However, facing this question.
"Mr. Yato."
Nagato said indifferently.
"I know you're a rather carefree and casual person, and I won't take some jokes seriously. But trouble comes from the mouth. If you make too many jokes, it will bring about fatal disaster."
His tone shifted from calm to indifferent, and one could sense the suppressed anger in his voice.
Jokichi was somewhat surprised and turned his head to look at Konan in astonishment.
The other party was equally indifferent, even a bit cold.
Clearly, both were angry at his words, yet they did not show any further agitated emotions.
"Hmm."
Jokichi pinched his chin in thought.
"What kind of situation does this reaction indicate?"
"Nagato, let's just fight!"
The calm and collected voice reached his ears.
Jokichi, who was deep in thought, raised his head.
He saw Nagato nod slightly.
"Watch your limits."
As his words fell, the paper fluttering through the sky, drawn by chakra, automatically folded into shuriken.
Then spun rapidly, shooting toward him like rain.
Up, down, left, right.
Except for the portable house behind him, the paper shuriken attack had no blind spots.
And Jokichi, as if he had not reacted, sat there foolishly.
"Boom! Boom! Boom."
The paper shuriken rained down, causing massive explosions.
Smoke obscured the view in front of the courtyard gate.
Nagato frowned.
He had told Konan to watch her limits.
But he had not expected her to deal a lethal blow right from the start.
It seemed she was still affected by the earlier words.
However, he did not care.
If he was killed this easily, then he was not worthy of his personal invitation.
A moment later, the smoke cleared.
Jokichi's completely unscathed figure entered Nagato and Konan's view.
Both of their pupils shrank, and their expressions grew grave.
If he had merely dodged or blocked the paper shuriken attack, that would have been one thing.
But Jokichi's figure was still sitting on the steps in front of the door.
His sword still stuck beside him, as if he had not even moved an inch.
This was a bit terrifying.
Be careful. This guy must have some special ability too.
Nagato communicated internally to Konan.
Konan nodded, indicating she understood.
She then raised both hands, and countless sheets of paper spun over.
Condensing above her head into a continuously rotating, cutting ring.
Just as she was about to throw the paper ring, Jokichi suddenly clapped his hands together.
An expression of sudden realization appeared on his face.
"I get it now."
Huh?
Konan was dumbfounded, and the paper ring she was about to throw remained in her hands.
What is going on?
She looked back at Nagato, and Nagato also happened to look at her.
Both saw the astonishment in each other's eyes.
"You both hold a very important place in each other's hearts, but you are not lovers."
Jokichi said.
"If you were lovers, your anger wouldn't be this calm, but rather like a furious, raging flood."
"You were actually thinking about this during a battle!"
Konan lowered her head in silence for a moment, then suddenly looked up at Jokichi.
"Just how much do you look down on me!"
As her words fell, Konan stopped holding back.
A massive amount of paper gathered behind her, forming angel-like wings.
Then, the wings flapped forward, shooting out countless pieces of paper at extremely high speeds.
Each piece as sharp as a blade.
Under such a dense attack, it was hard to dodge.
And once hit, there was no chance of survival.
Using defensive ninjutsu was the optimal choice.
But this was also a continuous output ninjutsu.
As long as the chakra output did not stop, the paper would keep shooting out.
Even defensive ninjutsu would be blown apart.
Konan was probing Jokichi.
His bizarre feat of seemingly dodging all the paper shuriken without moving an inch earlier made her vigilant.
If he could dodge a burst attack without moving.
What about this continuous output attack?
Even if he dodged it again, she would use this attack to see through his ability.
Bring it on!
Show me that unknown ability of yours before my eyes.
Konan, and Nagato watching from the sidelines, both stared fixedly at Jokichi.
They wanted to see his ability clearly.
It happened in the blink of an eye.
Seeing the sky full of paper shooting toward him like launched hidden weapons.
Jokichi smiled lightly, grasped the hilt of the sword stuck nearby with his right hand, drew it, and slashed forward.
"Clang!"
Only the blade vibrating slightly was heard, emitting a resonant hum.
The invisible sword aura sliced through the torrent of paper like parting thorns, flying toward Konan.
"Pfft!"
The sword aura pierced through her body.
Flying over a hundred meters behind Konan, cutting down countless large trees before dissipating into nothingness.
And Konan's body was slowly split into two halves.
However, not a single drop of blood flowed out.
Konan spread the wings behind her back, carrying her upper torso into the high sky.
Her lower half turned into countless pieces of paper and scattered into the sky.
Looking up from below.
Jokichi discovered that Konan's body was actually hollow.
It was as if it was pieced together from paper, a paper person with only a surface layer and no insides.
No, not as if, it was the truth.
In the state of the Dance of the Shikigami, her entire body turns into paper.
Konan was now a literal paper person.
Is this the 2D paper waifu that everyone dreams of?
Jokichi suddenly remembered some internet memes from his past life and could not help but roast her internally.
With the sky full of paper fluttering about, Konan weaved through them, her figure appearing and disappearing.
Suddenly, she turned around, abruptly accelerating and diving toward Jokichi.
"It's better not to use this level of parlor tricks in front of me!"
Jokichi snapped his fingers lightly, and fierce lightning erupted from the surface of his body.
Before Konan could get close, she was struck by the lightning, stiffening in mid-air.
And then, exploded violently.
Using the sky full of paper to obscure the view.
And then creating a clone embedded with explosive tags for a suicide attack.
This was Konan's commonly used tactic, and even Jonin were frequently taken down by this move.
However.
"This guy seems a bit frivolous, but his actual strength is terrifyingly strong!"
Konan's expression grew even graver.