Chapter 71 - No, I Will Not Join You

Standing over the corpse that looked like it had been sucked dry of liquids and organs alike, Jin quietly mulled over the words the entity spoke to him earlier. Looking back on it now, he realized that there were hints of genuine honesty in its speech. Unfortunately, he did not have enough information to make sense of it yet. 

'Why did he say to take care of you?' He inwardly queried.

'I have no idea,' Kokūnokoe replied.

Jin sighed and set aside the matter for another day. He didn't feel like worrying about a puzzle with missing pieces at the moment. Instead, he looked up at Pain who was currently walking out from a giant head with Rinnegan eyes. Zero traces of the damage he had sustained in battle remained. Off to the side, Jin saw the Naraka Path Pain standing by with a passive expression.

Returning his gaze to the noticeably more animated Deva Pain, Jin said, "Thank you for the timely assistance."

Meeting Jin's gaze with his purple spiral eyes, Pain stilled for a moment. After a few seconds, he slowly nodded.

"Are you sure you do not wish to join the Akatsuki? Your strength would be a welcome addition to our numbers."

Perturbed by the strangely adamant invitation, Jin raised a brow. He then extended his senses to make sure Zetsu was nowhere near before answering, "Sorry, but I'll have to decline. I'd rather not get involved in the conflicting grand aspirations of some of the people involved with your organization."

"...So be it."

With that, both Pains walked over to Konan who was waiting nearby. Her amber eyes lifted from a stone-like tablet in her hand and then back and forth between the Deva Pain and Jin. At the same time, the tablet flew up into her sleeve and vanished with a quick flick of her fingers.

'Her chat group communicator is pretty similar to Jellal's and Zoro's. Not too surprising, I guess,' Jin thought.

"I am returning," Pain said to Konan, "Do you still need to accompany him for any reason?"

Konan blinked and then sent an inquisitive gaze in Jin's direction.

"I'm going to do some sightseeing before heading home, so don't mind me," Jin responded to her silent inquiry.

"...I can send a clone."

Deva Pain, the walking corpse of Konan's friend Yahiko, quietly observed Konan from the side. Jin glanced at the Deva Pain to gauge Nagato's reaction. 

'Is that a smile?'

Ever so briefly, Jin could have sworn the Pain's lips rose by a slight margin, but in the end, only the placid unfeeling expression of a walking corpse remained.

After that brief exchange, Konan created a paper clone to follow Jin around before leaving with the two Pains. They left without any form of farewell, not that it bothered Jin.

"Where do you want to go?" Konan asked in her normal quiet voice.

"Well, I guess I'll go back to help that kid I found first," Jin replied. Then, he halted, chuckled in a self-deprecating manner, and added, "Actually, I'm glad you left a clone here. Do you happen to know the way to Konoha?"

Brow wrinkling, Konan frowned and asked, "Why?"

"The kid I rescued is from there, so I plan to bring her there. Might do some trolling over there, too, if I have enough time."

"Trolling? Pranks?"

Jin raised a brow and replied, "I'm surprised you recognized that term, but yeah, something like that."

"Railgun explained it to me."

"Haha. Well, anyway, the kid is this way."

Before long, Jin returned to where he left the toddler Hinata in the protective barrier. The poor girl was balled up in the fetal position when he arrived and failed to notice his approach. 

So as not to scare her too much, he knocked on the barrier before dispelling it. The sound startled the girl into flinching. She barely peeked out between her fingers. Upon seeing Jin, however, she weakly rose to her feet. Tears leaked from her eyes, and snot leaked from her nose. She then waddled forward with hands stretched out toward him.

"...Cute."

"You say something?" Jin asked, glancing at Konan who immediately shook her head in response. Inwardly chuckling, Jin turned back to the child, dispelled the barrier, and lifted the girl into his arms. "Alright, kid, don't cry. I beat up all the bad guys, so let's get you home."

"Mm," Hinata mumbled in response with a tiny nod.

"How long will it take to get to Konoha from here?" Jin asked.

"A day or two if we fly."

"Not as bad as I expected," Jin muttered to himself. Then, he looked down at the little girl clinging to his neck for dear life and asked, "Hinata, right?"

The toddler in his arms nodded silently.

"Hold tight and close your eyes. We're going to fly."

"Mm."

From there, Jin created a barrier board under his feet while Konan's clone created paper wings. Konan then flew slightly ahead of Jin to show the way. Jin also created a barrier in front to protect Hinata and himself from the wind.

Since he didn't have much else to do while flying, Jin pulled out his phone to check the notifications he put off reading since the battle ended earlier.

{Tutorial Mission #4 Completed. Issuing Rewards.}

{Received 1 Bronze Lottery Ticket.}

{Received 150 RP.}

{Group Admin can return to homeworld at any time. Automatic transfer will occur in: 6 days, 23 hours, 38 minutes.}

'More reward points than the last few missions. Because of the boss battle, maybe?'

"Hey, Konan, have you used your bronze tickets yet?"

Konan slowed down until she was flying directly beside him. Her blue hair whipping around in the wind made it hard to notice her nodding.

"What did you get?"

Rather than tell him the answer, she pulled out a small metal box. On the top of it, he saw the design of a Kuriboh as well as some Egyptian style graphics and the words 'Duel Deck 1'.

"Huh. Interesting."

"What is it?" Konan asked, her voice barely audible in the wind.

"A card game of sorts. If I can get my hands on a deck of my own I could teach you how to play if you'd like."

Eyes glued to the metal box in her hand, Konan silently contemplated the offer. In the end, she didn't say anything and simply slipped the deck back into her sleeve. Then, she flicked her wrist, and a golden egg popped into her hand.

The unusual sight made Jin blink a few times in a confused manner. None of his improved senses to determine living souls or magic detected anything special about it. It just looked like a normal egg.

"Maybe you can sell it for a decent amount of cash? Other than looking like a gold nugget, it seems like a normal egg to me."

"...I guess it is," Konan eventually replied with a slightly deflated tone.

"Actually, now that I think about it, why are those with your clone?"

"Both me and my clone can use the tablet."

"Ah, I see. Good to know."

After that, Jin and Konan flew onward without much conversation. Occasionally, Jin tried to converse with Hinata to make sure the kid was not completely scarred by this whole ordeal, but she eventually fell asleep in his arms. A shy toddler didn't make for a very robust conversation partner in the first place.

Later in the evening, Konan gradually slowed down to a halt and said, "I won't go any further into Leaf territory than this. Just go straight and you'll find the village."

"Thanks for showing me the way. If you want to hang out with me later, just send me a message in the group chat."

Konan's clone simply nodded in response. She then flew down to the ground and hid somewhere without dispelling herself. Jin waved goodbye before flying further toward the Leaf Village.

'I wonder if they have no fly zones?' He wondered.

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A/N: I don't recall the exact number of points I had for everyone at this point, nor how many tickets they had, so I spent all my free time the last couple days making an excel sheet to keep track of all the chat group rewards in the future. Hopefully I didn't mess anything up too badly. Haha. That's what I get for leaving to buy milk, I guess.