Continuity Disclaimer: The Original Daybreak was written with canon pre-chapter 599 in mind. With that in mind, a number of plot decisions taking place in the previous installments of Daybreak (Written by DigitalTart) were made without that latter part of the manga so any contradictions to established canon are likely due to preexisting plot holes that I'm attempting to write around. This isn't going to be a large problem, but you've been warned.

You know what happens after 599.

This fic is as canon-compliant as I can possibly make it while staying in line with the original Daybreak.

.oO Nagato Oo.

In the run up to the summit Nagato had taken it upon himself to personally make the arrangements for his absence. It wasn't the sort of deskwork he was used to given the state he'd been in for so long but now that his excuses were gone he felt it was his responsbility to oversee the summit prep, at least Ame's part in it.

The view from the top of the tower was a dour sight Nagato was all too used to, the rain pounding on the steel and concrete had a familiar pang and absence of rhythm that served well as background noise and in the midst of it he had been able to get a large part of what he needed done finished.

Though the particulars of the barriers and seals on the village had mostly been left to Jiraiya and the medical provisions to Tsunade, everything else fell on him and Konan to parse out. It was their village, after all.

Once he had burned through all the various correspondence from the attending nations, Nagato turned his attention toward the more domestic part of the preparations. Over the coming days a gradual lessening of missions by Ame-nin into foreign territories was to go into effect. Less shinobi on mission meant more manpower for operations on the border and finally a chance for steady turnover on the front for the more battle-weary soldiers.

The second order of business was a program for buy-out and relocation.

Ame, unless things went south, was never going to have a problem feeding or housing its people in the village proper. Sure, trade was going to suffer but there was enough production within the village to offset most of the losses from the war. The problem of food and housing arose once the peoples of the countryside came into play.

The steady escalation between the Storm and Fire Countries that had begun a few months since the intervention into the land of Wind had now blossomed into something all too familiar to the people of the Storm Country. The border tensions had turned to raids and raids turned into active combat. The situation now was such that most of the border towns, the inns and so on had been either burned, seized or abandoned by the growing conflict.

Many of the farmers in the countryside, if they hadn't already seen where the wind was blowing, were now picking up and moving into the city and harvesting what they still could before the war really amped up, before an army marched through their hamlets and farms. Before their children were orphans, beggars or both. It was a familiar song and dance for everyone involved and Nagato was particularly of no exception.

Any farms that had yet to be abandoned were to be loaned to the village for the duration of the war in return for compensation, housing and a guarantee to return the land once there was peace. The land would produce for the war effort and any surplus could be rationed away or sold to the populace. It was simple enough and for the time being, completely voluntary.

Anything to lessen the number of homeless, widows and orphans.

And for those already in those categories soup kitchens, pensions and well-funded orphanages were available.

Ame was by far the most industrialized village in the region and they made sure to take advantage of it for all it was worth.

That was how his eyes saw things at least.

After that it was just to set up more joint missions with the rest of the alliance and plan for the defense of the village itself in case of a larger offensive.

All of this was to keep the village on war footing while the summit was taking place, now all that was left was for the other villages to prepare in what ways they could and finally lock down a date to begin negotiation. That it was taking so long already didn't bode well and Nagato was growing more anxious by the day.

He wasn't about to second guess himself, but each passing day was one where something could've gotten done or an attack could be planned. The war was going to be all or nothing and if everyone was going to be too scared to leave their respective nations now, God only knew what it was going to be like once things really heated up.

Sadly, that wasn't Nagato.

If anything was going to happen it would have to soon or else it will end up being wasted effort, gone up in smoke like his hopes for keeping the peace.

Aside from the mountains of paperwork concerning all the minutiae of the war effort there were still loose ends to manage. The delegation Nagato had chosen to take along with him was at first glance a uniquely formidable face for Amegakure before the rest of the Allied Shinobi Nations.

Apart from his Rinnegan, there wasn't much to mark him as someone to be taken seriously and given just how unheard of these eyes of his, Nagato doubted he'd be getting much respect at the summit, by himself at least. With him he'd be taking the rightful Hokage, a Sannin (Though a reputably drunk one), a Jinchuuriki, along with some of the most feared and respected shinobi to ever grace the Bingo Books.

By themselves they were all invaluable assets to whoever they sided with and all of them were going to be in the same room.

Hopefully they'd all be arguing for the same things once the time came. Presenting a united front was going to be vital, but given the internal dynamics of this motley crew, that was going to be a labour in of itself and it was best if they all met with him to share their concerns or questions, just so they'd be on the same page once the factions started shaping up among the other villages at the summit.

-ooo-

Mei had come in earlier that day, before their scheduled meeting. She had come in an hour before Yagura was supposed to show up, the three of them were to have the meeting together regarding the plan for Kiri after the war. Instead she came with Ao in tow, with an envelope in her hands.

"You're not due till another fifty minutes Mei-chan," he had begun as she and her subordinate made their way into his office, Ao kept his hands to his sides while Mei slid into her chair, legs uncrossed. "If you're looking to reschedule Konan will take care of it, I've still got letters to write. Yagura-san won't be here for a while."

They had closed the door behind them, but took great care not to appear too affected.

Mei always took care with her appearance, the way she framed her face, styled her hair. She always made a point of maintaining that flirty smile of hers so long as she was in the company of younger men. She made no such pretense today.

And that was more than a bit strange.

By then Nagato had taken great pains to reintroduce himself to members of the core group of Akatsuki, it only made sense to as he'd already met with Naruto and his cousin was nothing if not a loudmouth. The boy had sense when he needed it, but not when it came to secrets, if no one but himself and Konan knew of his identity before Uzumaki Naruto came to the city then it'd be an open secret by the time of the summit. And Mei, after having met him face to face made sure to make herself more familiar. In hindsight, no doubt because of how young he looked.

Over the past few weeks they had spoken often, much more than he expected to. Besides Konan and Sensēi, no one really stopped by regularly and if they did it was usually strictly in a professional capacity and given how much he generally had on his plate it didn't bother him much. Terumī Mei had been apart of the new Akatsuki for all of three years and not once had they spoken of anything but her assignments. The thought of a friendly conversation never crossed his mind.

The first time they spoke she had suggestions regarding the water supply for the village. Apparently during the war in Kiri, much of their water was poisoned toward the end of the conflict as her side was pushed further back. It was the last straw in a string of blunders that led to her crossing out her hitai-ate and going into exile. Nagato made sure to put her suggestions into action.

It was strange hearing a war story with such a chipper attitude, he almost took it for apathy after that first time. So much death and suffering and she didn't seem willing to give it any sort of weight in how she talked about it. The woman's energy had a very dangerous tint to it, the kind that he was all too accustomed to seeing in the shinobi he and Konan dealt with.

It was sad, but expected.

Their talks tended to go in much the same way, a bit of advice here, a question there, a story to tell with a pretty smile to go with it. Ao was always close by, in the hallway standing guard his eye roaming the different parts of the room while the other focused on the building. It was a familiar set up where she came in, unprompted usually, but always with something worth speaking about.

And after talking with her more over the weeks it was a relief to find out how much of that smile of hers was a lie. Once they started building something of a rapport and Nagato started putting more weight into her words those quick, in-and-out, meetings soon carried on for hours.

Whatever they had thought of each other seemed to have changed as he participated in more of their conversations.

Nagato hadn't much practice in talking to other people in a long time, it was hard to remember meeting someone new that he had more to speak about than his work. Even Konan and he didn't have much else to speak of with each other. She knew him like the back of her hand and the same went for him.

Too much shared history, too much common knowledge. Just talking to talk had long since become an unfamiliar concept, but he quickly caught up to speed.

They came from similar places. She had witnessed things that made even his blood boil, and likewise for her. He soon found himself telling her things that heretofore he had only spoken about with Konan, with his Sensēi. The both of them came, over their talks of strategy and tactics, their lives and troubles, to a more amicable arrangement where he no longer cared much when she walked into his office. She was something of a friend and there was always time in his office for those.

-ooo-

Whatever was going on must have struck Mei as particularly urgent, seeing as she had taken no time in greeting him and noticing this Nagato turned his total attention to Terumī Mei after sparing Ao a short glance as he took up his spot next to the door. He looked only slightly more agitated than usual, but Nagato didn't take the time to read him any further as Mei began.

"I've been keeping contact with Kiri for some time now, most of those that fought for me are long gone, but I still have a number of shinobi I can rely on," she slid a letter across the table toward him, as he opened it he gestured for her to continue, " the letter was supposedly written by Hozuki Mangetsu."

The letter was very brief, the handwriting was very carefully crafted, almost like it was printed. Not quite, but enough that whoever wrote it was sure not to give themselves away.

It was just a short list of names, five notable shinobi from Konoha and a very cryptic postscript that had faded away in the rain before it had gotten to his desk.

It read:

Shimura Danzo – Highest Priority

Utatane Koharu – Low Priority

Nara Shikaku – High Priority

Homura Mitokado – Low Priority

Sarutobi Asuma – Low Priority

PS.

The tides will turn once the blue shadows lay beneath the waves.

" This is an assassination list, that's clear enough but what does this have to do with you and do you know what the end was supposed to say?"

" I don't know, and I believe he's only passing along information that might be important. He's ANBU, after all.

The way it is, it's not much good to me, but going into the summit you need to pass this along to Uchiha." With that, she stood up, it almost looked like she was getting ready to leave.

"You're not going to stay? We still have things to discuss." Nagato said, not confused but only slightly perplexed. She had just come in, then didn't seem the time to leave.

"I think I'm going to take you up on that offer to reschedule, that list by itself doesn't mean much, but if Hoshigaki is getting ready to stab Shimura Danzo then there are going to be more people caught in this than just those on the list. I need to tell as many of them as I can what's going to happen."

"And what should I tell Yagura?"

"Ao will speak for me while I'm gone," she said turning her head to her bodyguard, seemingly smirking, "won't you Ao?"

Nagato didn't get a good look at Mei but Ao seemed to have some words to say, but whatever look she gave him made him swallow his tongue and once she turned back toward the desk she was back to wearing that same old cheshire grin she neglected to put on when she came in.

"Nagato-kun, it looks like we both have letters to write, leave me to mine and I'll leave you to yours," she said and as she walked through the door Ao had cracked for her, she finished with a smile and closed eyes, "I'll see you some other time."

"I hope so."

-ooo-

The following meetings were far less eventful. Yagura and Ao obviously had some history that neither wished to discuss and were more than happy to cover as much ground in the smallest amount of time. Ao seemed especially eager to get the meeting over with, but he made his stances known and promised to relay all they had spoken of back to Mei, who hopefully would be a better match with Yagura at the negotiating table. To their credit however, they did breeze through the subjects of concern with ease. The meeting was more rushed than cut short.

It wasn't good for that sort of tension to be there once they were off arguing with the village heads, but if they could keep it at least as professional as they did then, it wasn't really Nagato's concern. And with the extra time he managed to make a dent in the mountain of paper work he'd neglected to do in favor of conducting these meetings.

Tsunade insisted on having her assistant wait by the door with a pig in her arms no less. For what reason, Nagato hadn't the slightest idea but from the general look on all of them: the bags under the dark-haired woman's eyes (he thought her name was Shizure or something like that), the pig's restlessness (Tom-Tom?), and the absolutely miserable look on Tsunade's face with smeared make up and all. They all looked like fought a war just to wake up and get to the office on time.

The Slug-Princess tried to carry on the meeting until he let it slip that she could just come in another time. At the word she immediately stood up, knocking over the chair in the process, snatched the pig from the poor woman's hands and stormed off back to her suite, no doubt to sleep off whatever she had drunk the last night.

Given the look she gave the poor girl, it was probably the assistant who brought her on time in the first place.

-ooo-

By that point in the day the rain outside had found it's usual afternoon rhythm, it was especially sonorous during that time of day for reasons no one could really figure out, and it was that time that marked Nagato's informal break.

While he was bound to his bed, he'd made a habit out of delegating various duties to Konan aside from her usual duties as his second. It wasn't very fair and now that he didn't have any excuses he made sure to pick up more than his fair share of the work. It kept him busy and gave Konan some much needed rest, but now the only time of day he had to really think was when it was raining so hard he couldn't concentrate on anything else.

It was funny how things worked out that way.

By the time Kakashi and Itachi were supposed to come in, Nagato had rescheduled all of his meetings for the next day. Hopefully they'd go smoother than today, but for now all he had time to do was relay that message back to Itachi and Kakashi and let them sort out what to do.

Who died of Konoha's elite didn't matter much now, plans don't often go according to plan especially when shinobi are involved. Just because the Mizukage thinks he's getting the jump on Danzo didn't mean he was. For all he knew he'd be the one dead beneath the waves.

What the enemy did to themselves didn't matter much to Nagato at the moment, keeping his allies together was the primary concern. Everything else was noise, white noise, panging off the rooftops.

Distracting, but not a concern.

Afterword:

I'm not going to apologize for taking a long time, it's that time of the year where everyone's off at college doing who knows what. Just know when I say I'm going to do something I'm going to do it. It might take a long ass time, but it will be done. And now that I finally got this next chapter up, you guys can reset your timers.