{Apartment Building #13, Amegakure}
{4:43 PM, 21st July 13 Yrs ANB}
{3rd Person POV}
"What are your goals, Ren?" Konan asked, her face still had the same stoic look but Ren was immediately on edge.
...
'Did she hear about the impersonator that Hiruzen warned me about,' Ren looked at her calm face, he looked into her eyes trying to get a hint of what she wanted.
"What do you mean by that?" He asked honestly because he was confused at this moment.
"What are your life goals?" Her question became a lot simpler but Ren was now frozen in thought. Ever since the first moment he could remember he has always wanted to be a shinobi. Someone who had the power to control his own destiny.
"I don't know, I have always wanted to be a shinobi, to one day have the power over my own destiny," Ren answered, he was honest about it, there really was no reason for him to lie.
"You are strong now, you might not be the strongest but you have control over your own destiny." Konan pointed out, her shoulder twitched in pain as she thought about his combat potential.
"Am I? Aoi told me that Ame was a safe haven that was why I came here," Ren pointed it out, "You are stronger than me and there are several more strong people here so I'm held hostage in the end right? Until I'm valuable..." Ren shrugged, "What's the difference between you and Konoha..." Ren spoke then immediately regretted it.
He wanted to entice Konan to see what this really was about, a part of his focus was on the Gate of Opening, he was about to rip those shackles off at the first hint of any aggressive action from Konan and the way her eyes narrowed and her calm face facade finally broke down nearly made him ready for a battle.
...
Konan stared at Ren with narrowed eyes, he was still sitting on the bed but the way his shoulder twitched made it quite clear that he was ready for another battle. He wouldn't win that was for sure but Konan knew that he would go to all the lengths that he could to survive.
The steel in his eyes reminded her of the few people who had joined Akatsuki when the three of them had created the organization. They had the will to survive, sandwiched in an ongoing war between Suna and Konoha, while they were left to fumble for themselves by their leader who was busy increasing his own power.
When she thinks about the people who have now joined Akatsuki and wear the cloak that Yahiko joined, the greed and ambition to rule in their eyes makes her sick. She could in a sense sympathize with Ren, he was someone who could maybe one day create his own Akatsuki, he was talented and although he lacked the charisma that Yahiko lacked, he had the talent that Nagato had.
'That's if he could figure out a goal other than to survive...' Konan thought. She calmed down and ignored the thought of Akatuski being compared to Konoha.
"..." Konan wanted to speak but then she realized she didn't have a point to make. She can't exactly deny Ren's question since she was in a sense exploiting his medical knowledge, and she can't go back to the reason she came here.
She was a little impulsive in coming here. Nagato wanted her to kill Ren but to her, someone who had been teaching her and healing the innocent people of Ame didn't deserve to be killed. Her calm facade cracked a little as she avoided Ren's intense gaze.
...
'Huh, what's up with her?' Ren thought, to him Konan's whole demeanor seemed off, now both of them were stuck in a limbo on what to say. Just when he thought she would either attack him next or disperse into a thousand butterflies she spoke.
Her voice didn't have a detached tone to it for the first time, "What would you do when you have the power to get what you want, what is it that you want?" Konan asked again this time asking a hypothetical.
Ren wasn't really sure what she wanted, but since she was not jumping at him to attack he considered her question. He hadn't really thought about it, the first 12 years of his life had been spent trying to achieve his first dream to be a shinobi. He tried hard, failed, then tried hard again only to reach the standard of a genin after 5 years in the academy.
When he was powerless during those early years of his life, he saw discrimination in Konoha. It was one thing that affected him growing up, he didn't like being looked down upon just because he was an orphan, or not from a clan. When he was struggling to survive he didn't need the biased opinion of another person.
'But then again am I not the same now, ever since I awakened these powers I have also become an elitest. I could have not killed... I don't even remember his name now...' Ren thought, he was selfish and so was the rest of the world, was there even a way to fix this broken system?
"I don't know, our world is kind of broken, there is no point in trying to fix it." Ren shrugged, "If I am the strongest in the world, I..." Ren stopped again, he really had no long-term goals long term. What did he even like other than training, he hadn't ever stopped to think about it.
He looked out of the window, the rain was constantly falling. He had always been lonely and to be honest Konan's question did hit him. It forced him to pause and look at what he was grinding toward.
'Everyone is fighting toward something, the villages are fighting to keep themselves relevant, and the smaller ones are probably just trying to survive. Everyone is out for his own self-interest, so if I'm the strongest and won't have to be afraid of doing anything... what would I do.' Ren thought.
...
Konan watched Ren struggle with an answer, she knew that the feeling of helplessness couldn't be faked, if he had an answer or he was a spy he would have an answer prepared for this question. But could she force Ren to work with them, to bring peace to the shinobi world by threatening the 5 great shinobi villages, with a borrowed plan that several people have their personal stakes in?
"Do you like Ame?" She asked abruptly, the question was so odd that it caused Ren to tilt his head in confusion.
"Compared to Konoha..." Konan elaborated. Why did she ask that particular question she didn't know, it was an impulse to see how far they had come since that one cold night when they first met.
"It rains too much, plus there is a sense of oppression here that Konoha doesn't have. Sure Konoha is too faced in a lot of matters but being the strongest does afford it the luxury of having a better life for both civilians and shinobi." Ren answered. Even though Ame had more S-rank shinobi at the moment, the world doesn't know that.
No one wanted to migrate to Ame and live under Hanzo who was famous for his cruelty, so Ame had no exports or imports. It can sustain its population but to survive and thrive are two different things.
Konan was proud of the changes that have taken place in Ame so she was confused about what Ren was referring to.
"What do you mean, Ame's citizens are living the best life they can compared to a decade ago," Konan asked.
...
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AN - Ren X Konan???