Although Shinra had just slapped Ando into a spinning top, inwardly he felt grateful toward the fool.
Grateful, because this man's shamelessness his brazen selfishness and hypocrisy had stomped all over Konan's pure, unshakable ideals.
If "mutual understanding" only meant protecting scum like this, was there really any meaning in clinging to it?
An ideal took years of persistence to uphold, yet its collapse could come in a single moment of despair.
In that sense… Ando was practically a hero.
But it wasn't time to deal with him yet. There was still one enemy left.
Turning his gaze skyward, Shinra called out calmly to Konan.
"Konan, he's a Special Jōnin specializing in taijutsu. Keep your distance. Don't let him drag you into close combat."
Special Jōnin were not full-fledged Jōnin. They possessed elite skill in a single field, but their overall strength still rested somewhere between Chūnin and Jōnin. Half a step higher, but only in one direction.
Konoha's Gekkō Hayate, for instance, was known as a Special Jōnin for his mastery of kenjutsu and stealth.
Shinra had known all along that this Iwagakure captain was a Special Jōnin. His caution was second nature: if he hadn't confirmed that the threat was still manageable, he would have called for Nagato's overwhelming power the moment Ando's betrayal became obvious.
His code was simple: Better the heavens fall, than Shinra fall.
If Iwa had sent a true Jōnin… Nagato would already be standing here.
What Shinra did not know was that there had actually been two Special Jōnin in this squad. He still thought the older man he had just slain was only a Chūnin.
So now, step by cautious step, Shinra tightened the noose, Konan circling in the skies above while he advanced on the ground. Their coordination gradually hemmed the Iwa captain in.
But the man no longer wanted to fight.
He hadn't seen the battle inside the warehouse. He couldn't begin to imagine how his longtime partner and three Genin teammates had all been slaughtered so quickly by a boy who looked barely fourteen.
Who is this child?
Could he already be a Jōnin?
Is he the Rain's hidden weapon? Does the Land of Rain plan to wage war against Iwagakure?!
The captain's thoughts spiraled wildly, and in his panic, his only desire became escape.
Shinra noticed immediately.
"Konan, he's going to bolt!"
Konan's paper scattered into the air. Dozens of white butterflies joined together, forming a pair of massive paper wings that unfurled like a wall, blocking the fleeing shinobi's path.
Konan was no fragile ornament. Even among the future Akatsuki of Shippūden, she would stand with her own power. At fourteen, she might not defeat a true Jōnin from a great village, but stopping a Special Jōnin who'd already lost the will to fight was well within her reach.
"Damn it! Get out of my way!!"
Snarling like a cornered beast, the Iwa captain's composure shattered. His voice cracked in rage as he slammed his hands into seals.
"Lightning Release: Lightning Pull!"
At that very moment, Shinra's Lightning Blade cut forward, sparking as it tore through the air.
"You brat from the Land of Rain don't underestimate shinobi of the Five Great Nations!" the Iwagakure captain roared.
Perhaps realizing escape was impossible, he finally roused the last flicker of his fighting spirit.
But facing him, Shinra only looked calm. In fact, a faint disappointment even flickered across his face.
So this is all the Five Great Nations amount to?
That silent contempt stung deeper than any insult, driving the captain's rage out of control. Exactly what Shinra wanted.
His hands blurred through seals.
"Water Release: Water Stream Whip!"
It was no grand jutsu no roaring dragon's maw, no crushing torrent. Just a slender stream of water that circled the enemy once, then constricted to bind him.
The captain scoffed. "You think such a weak technique can hold me?!"
What he failed to notice was that as the stream wound around his body, it carried with it several of Konan's drifting paper butterflies. They clung to him silently, like scraps of trash.
Shinra caught his sword as it dropped, sliding his palm along the flat of the blade. Lightning chakra sparked and hissed against the steel.
Then he hurled it forward.
"Szzzt BOOM!!"
The arcs of lightning raced across the blade, igniting the paper seals hidden among the butterflies. The explosion engulfed the bound shinobi before he could weave another sign.
Smoke and flame erupted. The Iwa captain's body crashed to the ground, riddled with burns, eyes wide with shock.
Explosive tags… even soaked with water… why did they still detonate…?
Shinra approached with calculated caution. Only after confirming the man was dying beyond doubt did he deign to answer.
"Because I told Konan to coat the paper with oil."
A borrowed flower offered to Buddha Konan's own future technique, one she would one day perfect on a terrifying scale.
The captain gave a bitter, despairing smile, breath rattling.
"Rain shinobi… are you trying to provoke war between the Land of Rain and Iwagakure? You'll regret this…"
Shinra sneered.
"Men who invade another country without sanction, who try to topple its local guardians by force do you really think you're the ones to lecture about war?"
"We… we were only… taking a contract. That's… a shinobi's duty…"
His words faltered, his strength fading. Shinra had no interest in hearing the rest.
He turned away. With a flick of his wrist, he sent a kunai spinning through the air aimed not at the beaten captain, but straight toward the cowering figure of Ando.
This strike was not only a punishment for the wretched merchant, but also a test. A test of Konan's ideals, of whether she would still try to shield scum like him even after seeing the truth of the world with her own eyes.
The kunai cut through the air slowly. Deliberately slowly.
It wasn't a killing strike launched in haste. Shinra had given it half a second of flight, more than enough time for Konan's paper butterflies to intercept if she wished.
But the white wings in the sky never moved. The butterflies never swarmed.
No defense came.
The kunai struck with chilling precision, burying itself in the center of Ando's forehead. The greedy merchant collapsed, lifeless, before he could even scream.
In that instant, Shinra's lips curved into a smile of quiet satisfaction.
"What commission?" he said coldly. "All I saw was a traitor, colluding with invaders, plotting to betray the Land of Rain."
On the ground nearby, the last Iwagakure captain's eyes stretched wide in disbelief. His mind, already fading, clung stubbornly to confusion. And like his comrade before him, he died with those same eyes still open, fixed in horror.