Chapter 4: Chapter Four: Tobi's Bad Day

30/7/2012 - 10 Reviews, 11 Favorites, 14 Followers

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto, or any of the characters. I (probably) "own" any original characters I come up with, but let's be honest here, nobody really wants those anyway.

Chapter Four: Tobi's Bad Day

xXx

(Mountain's Graveyard - Three Years in the future)

As the resurrected Akatsuki members began preparing the Hachibi jinchūriki for extraction, Tobi strode over to where the rejuvenated Nagato was standing to attention. The Rinnegan user had had control of his body taken away from him, but Tobi could see a flicker of recognition in the man's otherwise dead eyes as he approached.

"Hello, 'Lord Pain'." Tobi said, bowing mockingly. "I hope that you're finding your current circumstances to be satisfactory."

As expected, Nagato did not respond. From the information he had extracted from Kabuto, however, Tobi knew that the man could still hear him, even if he couldn't show it.

"So, Nagato, that whole trusting the Uzumaki thing didn't really pan out, did it?" Tobi sneered. "Betraying the Akatsuki, wasting your resurrection technique on a village that's just going to die anyway."

Tobi leaned close to Nagato, whispering in his ear. "I was never really going to put that plan of yours into motion, you know. All those years, I was controlling you and you and Konan danced like puppets on a string. I killed her too, you know. She died by my hand, begging for her life. It was pitiful."

Tobi could almost hear Nagato's internal screams of anger. He smiled maliciously behind his mask.

"Let me explain what my true objective has been." He said. Making sure none of the other Akatsuki members still loyal to him could hear, he began explaining the details of his Eye of the Moon Plan to the helpless man in front of him. At a couple of points, he thought he even witnessed Nagato's eyes widen in sheer horror.

Stepping backwards, he made a dismissive motion with his hand. "Off you go, my lord. After all, there's still plenty of work to be done.

As Nagato departed, Tobi noticed that the bound and sealed Itachi was staring at him, an indecipherable look on his face. Tobi laughed softly to himself. Even if the man had somehow overheard, it mattered not. Finally, everything had come together.

xXx

(Amekagure - Present)

"Tobi!" Nagato roared. "I'm going to kill you!"

Asura Path disconnected one of its hands from the wrist, revealing a thick cord covered in small ogive-shaped objects. The strange missiles took flight, homing in on Tobi. The masked man danced out of the way, allowing them to explode harmlessly in the room behind him.

Tobi's mind was working a mile a minute. The only things he could think of that might have engendered Nagato's intense hatred were powerful genjutsu or if the man remembered the future. Tobi decided to test his theory.

"Lord Pain, what are you doing?" He yelled, inserting just the correct amount of betrayal and confusion into his voice.

"No more tricks, Tobi! I know all about your Eye of the Moon Plan!" Nagato yelled back, his Asura Path firing off another wave of the explosive missiles.

Well, that proved it. Turning intangible, Tobi noted that Konan appeared utterly lost. Good, that would suggest that she did not remember her death at his hand.

"I don't know what you're talking about." The masked man retorted. "Lord Pain, you have been deceived!"

Nagato's glare could have frozen a volcano. "Enough talking!"

Hmm. It appeared that diplomacy was no longer an option. Nagato was looking at him with the same loathing and repugnance that he himself had felt towards Minato Namikaze, a hatred that had permeated his entire being. Nagato, the lynch pin in so many of his plans, had irreversibly set himself against him.

Turning his head, Tobi noticed through the gap in the wall the other five Paths of Pain speeding up towards the tower. By the looks of it, the Deva Path would arrive in less than thirty seconds, with the others coming soon after.

In the heat of the moment, Tobi made a split second decision. Nagato was more than a lost cause, he was a liability. The man was absurdly powerful, incredibly determined and could prove just as much of a thorn in his side as Konoha. Tobi would not allow the power of the Rinnegan to be turned against him.

Tobi materialized again, hands flying through a sequence of seals. Nagato's Asura Path fired off yet another wave of projectiles. Tobi allowed himself to take the hit to the shoulder, unwilling to break the sequence by dematerializing. Sucking in a lungful of air, Tobi launched the jutsu, "Katon: Fire Dragon Flame Bullet!"

A torrent of fire came pouring out of Tobi's mask, taking the form of a gigantic, vicious-looking dragon. The fire jutsu soared through the air, heading for the two leaders of Amegakure. As it closed in, Tobi extended his hand, and the dragon turned slightly, making a beeline for Konan.

As Tobi had expected, Nagato's Asura Path moved to protect Konan. The reanimated corpse leapt into the path of the jutsu and was engulfed in a fiery conflagration.

Neither Nagato nor Konan noticed Tobi subtly fling a lone kunai into the backdraft of the Katon technique.

The fire dragon faded away to reveal a severely charred but still standing Asura Path. Konan stepped forward, preparing to launch a wave of paper shuriken at the man who had attacked her childhood friend.

Suddenly, the chair-bound Nagato let out a gurgled cry. Reaching up with a shaking hand, the man fingered the kunai that was embedded deep in his neck. In front of him, his Asura Path dropped to the ground like a stone, utterly lifeless.

As he'd thought. Nagato had spent so much of his life looking at the world through his Paths that he'd stopped thinking about his real body. When he'd returned to the past, he'd immediately snapped back into that habit. The big, flashy attack on Konan had just been a distraction.

"Rest assured, unlike last time, your death with not be in vain, Nagato." Tobi said softly, voice echoing around the room. "Now burn in hell, traitor."

Grimacing at his mangled shoulder, Tobi decided against trying to eliminate Konan, who was moving to assist the dying Nagato. In his damaged condition, his victory would not be assured. Once he was back to full strength he would return and erase the loose end on his terms, this time without the loss of a Sharingan.

In front of him, Konan appeared to be trying to use some sort of medical jutsu to close the hole in Nagato's neck, to no avail. Nagato himself had slumped back in his chair, breathing ragged and weak.

Staying long enough to hear Nagato's death rattle, Tobi activated his space-time jutsu and departed, just in time to dodge Konan's final attack.

xXx

(Land of Mountains)

In many circles, there existed the belief that that the more powerful a shinobi was, the more eccentric they usually turned out to be. There were many potential theories put forward trying to explain this, ranging from increased stress levels to chakra messing with the brain. As a general rule of thumb however; Genin-levels were usually fairly normal people with an occasional quirk; Chuunin-levels were usually considered eccentric, Jounin-levels were more often than not weird as hell and Kage-levels and up were often simply insane (although were often very good at hiding it).

Of course, people tended to be more complex than that, and as with most generalized, broad brush-stroke theories, there were many, many exceptions to the rule, but if you were seeking to prove it, then you couldn't find a better example than Kiri Akuryou. If you believed the man's story, Kiri harkened from a faraway village, and had once been hailed as a medical prodigy, only a couple of steps below Tsunade. After decades of service, Kiri had grown sick of all the fighting and violence and had decided to leave his village and set up a medical village of healers who would treat anyone, regardless of allegiance or creed.

For reasons no one had ever been able to deduce, however, Kiri had decided to set up his village in the most inaccessible place on the entire continent, smack bang in the center of the aptly named "Mountains of Death." To reach the village by foot would take about three weeks of walking, through mountains famous for their violent ice storms, constant avalanches and gigantic roving packs of dire wolves. As such, anyone who had been sick at the start of the journey would likely be dead by the end of it.

Unsurprisingly, visitors to the elderly hermit's village were rare, aside from the occasional, extremely resilient apprentice seeking his tutelage. The lack of regular human contact hadn't helped Kiri's already fragile mental state, either.

He was a damn good medic-nin, though, so Tobi found himself willing to bear the old man's ramblings. The wound that he had taken to the arm, while not life-threatening, was definitely serious.

"Tobi, my good friend! How have you been? Kiri and Genno have been so worried!" The old man yelled as Tobi materialized on the plateau of Kiri's "village". The hermit looked to be in his late sixties, with long grey hair, a set slightly disheveled white surgeon clothes that were basically all he wore and pale, almost pupil-less violet eyes. On top of the man's head was a crude approximation of a purple Kage hat, with the words Reikikage written in bright white letters across the brim. Sitting smack-bang in the middle of the hat was Genno, a crudely made stuffed frog that the man always carried with him.

Tobi nodded cordially to the man, deftly sidestepping Kiri's attempts to hug him. "The same to you. I've been wounded in my left shoulder, I need you to treat it."

Kiri laughed. "Yessir! Kiri is just the Kage for the job."

The medic's voice became low and serious. "I should warn you though, the living shadows have been snooping around again. If you don't want the small rodent to free your tail, you'd best be cautious. He's a crafty one!"

Kiri motioned for Tobi to enter his "village", which consisted of a small, three-room hut. Walking through the small door, Tobi sighed. Had anyone else showed such blatant disrespect for his personal space, he would have been tempted to kill them. He really didn't know why he put up with the man. Maybe he simply found it refreshing to deal with someone he didn't have to constantly deceive, manipulate or watch his back around all the time. After all, the man had been the inspiration for his cheerful persona, specifically designed to make people dismiss and lower their guard around him.

Actually, now that he thought about it, the insane man was the closest thing he had to a friend.

...An odd thought. Tobi hadn't contemplated the concept of 'friends' for a long time. It appeared that having all his plans ruined in the space of a single moment was affecting his mental state.

Kiri led him to a long wooden bench, indicating that he should lie down. He complied without comment, feeling the burning sensation immediately fade as bright green energy emerged from the man's palms. Say what you would about the man's mental state, he knew his stuff. Tobi had on numerous occasions been tempted to try and make Kiri Akatsuki's official medic, but had decided against it. Kiri was adamant about being neutral in all affairs, and any attempt to force him to leave his mountain home would likely not end well. Tobi remembered the time when two patients had arrived at the same time, and the Konoha-nin had tried to kill the Iwa-nin during his treatment. Kiri had grabbed the Konoha ninja by the lapels, picked him up, and thrown him out the window. The man seemed much more threatening when you realized that the only available food sources were the rabid wolf packs which populated the mountains.

True, with enough genjutsu and a little conditioning he could probably brainwash the man into servitude, but that would probably dull his medical skills. Besides, he didn't really see the point. With his space-time jutsu he could travel here whenever he wished and having what amounted to his own personal medic was extremely useful.

"So, Tobi, Una the fox spirit has been asking how that club you're part of is going again. Do you have any good news?" Kiri asked cheerfully, startling Tobi out of his train of thought.

Ah yes, the man also had a number of imaginary friends, who seemed to take an unhealthy interest in his work. Rama the door and Hirama the pillar had mysteriously disappeared a few years ago, but Una and Ito the spinning top still made frequent inquiries.

Tobi decided to humor him. "Tell Una that all isn't lost, but we've hit a pretty major setback."

Kiri nodded sagely, returning to his healing. Tobi grimaced under his mask. "Pretty major" didn't even begin to cover it. Nagato's death and defection would prove disastrous to a huge number of his plans! Not had were his plans for Madara Uchiha's resurrection curtailed once again, but he no longer had the strength to attack Konoha directly. The fact that Nagato had travelled back in time with him was a catastrophe!

Tobi had been trying to distract himself from the utter disaster that had just befallen his plans by focusing his thoughts on the inconsequent mountain medic, but an unpleasant thought occurred to him. Come to think of it, it might not just be limited to him and Nagato. Obviously, not everyone had travelled back, Konan and Yukigure's population proved that much. The reaction of the Kyuubi's chakra with the Demonic Statue of the Outer Path almost certainly had something to do with it, so it was likely limited to the people in or near the cavern. If any of his Akatsuki had come back with him, it could prove a serious boon or a serious threat. Thankfully, he hadn't revealed his true purpose to any of them, save Nagato.

Kisame and Hidan were out. In the other timeline Kisame had met his end on Kumo's floating island, while Hidan had seemingly disappeared off the face of the earth around the same time as Kakuzu's first death. Still, he had the former's utter loyalty, while the latter was an unintelligent, manipulatable brute.

In the future, Zetsu had met his end at the hands of Itachi. The plant-man was the most loyal member of all.

Konan wasn't going to be joining him anytime soon.

If Kakuzu had returned, it would be to his advantage. Kakuzu could be easily controlled by his lust for money, and wasn't likely to fall for the tricks that had led to his death the first time.

Sasori's return would also be fortunate. While the puppeteer didn't have a manipulatable vice like Kakuzu's greed, Sasori had never shown any discontent towards Akatsuki's objective of world domination.

Deidara could be a little more troublesome. The man was extremely unpredictable and often suicidal, and it was eminently possible that Deidara would hold a grudge about being controlled through the Edo Tensei. Still, with enough time he should be able to bring the explosives-user around. Loosing his orange mask again would probably make the task much easier, as Deidara likely associated it with his incredibly irritating facade.

Itachi would... would...

Oh.

Oh fuck.

xXx

(The Land of Lightning - Future)

As Tobi sealed the bijuu back into the container, he looked out to where his resurrected shinobi were binding and sealing the two rogue jinchuriki. Both looked like death warmed up, the Hachibi container had had an arm and a leg violently ripped off, while Naruto had had almost every bone in his body broken by Madara Uchiha. Amazingly, the blonde shinobi had somehow regained consciousness, but he was still completely unable to move.

Suddenly, the upper half Naruto's body began writhing violently, as if something was trying to escape. As Tobi watched, Naruto's mouth was forced open and out flew an ink black crow. Immediately, the Third Raikage snatched it out of the air, crushing it in his hand.

Tobi raised an eyebrow. "That was odd."

As the resurrected moved in to make sure Naruto wasn't going to try some last-resort technique, a violent red flame began manifesting around one of them, taking the form of a gigantic ethereal humanoid.

Itachi Uchiha stepped out of the crowd of resurrected, freed from Kabuto's and Tobi's control through Shusui's Sharingan. A brilliant golden blade of light materialized in his hand, impaling the Third Raikage and the Fourth Kazekage. Immediately, the two flew into the gourd inside the Susanoo, sealed for eternity.

The various resurrected shinobi leapt backwards, launching jutsu at the Uchiha. In response, a wave of black flames flew through the air, igniting most of the surrounding area. A huge number of Tobi's troops were caught in the crossfire, their flesh melting even as it reformed. Among these was the original Zetsu, who was almost instantaneously reduced to a pile of burning ashes.

Itachi moved to try and retrieve the Kyuubi jinchuriki, launching off jutsu after jutsu at his enemies. Yet powerful as Itachi was, he was not stronger than all the other resurrected combined. Under the incredible flurry of attacks, even his Susanoo could not hold. In the end Itachi fell, his chakra sealed and useless. Tobi was kind enough to allow Itachi to keep his consciousness, so that he would be able to witness the Eye of the Moon Plan come to fruition.

xXx

(Present)

Itachi, who he had lied to, betrayed and manipulated. Itachi, who almost certainly knew his true plans for Sasuke. Itachi, who could possibly have heard him gloating to Nagato. Itachi, who if his memory was correct was currently on a mission in the Land of Lightning, a short distance from where he was storing the Demonic Statue of the Outer Path.

Tobi flung himself off Kiri's bench and dashed for the door, ignoring the fact that his wound wasn't fully healed yet. Running out onto the plateau, hands flying through seals, Tobi slammed his palm down into the freezing earth. "Summoning!"

He felt his chakra levels drop slightly, and a thick fog appeared around him, obscuring his vision. The alpine wind quickly dispersed the smoke, revealing... statue wasn't there.

Starting to feel panicked, Tobi tried the summoning jutsu again. Once again, it resulted in nothing but smoke and chakra loss.

Kiri walked up beside him. "What's up, Tobi? Having connection problems?"

Tobi felt a wave of dread wash over him. If the statue itself wasn't coming to him but he was still feeling chakra loss, it could only mean one thing. But surely Itachi couldn't have... It had only been a few hours...

Tobi quickly activated his transportation jutsu, leaving a mildly amused-looking Kiri standing alone on the mountaintop.

xXx

(Akatsuki Hideout, Mountain's Graveyard)

Emerging onto in the lotus cavern underneath Mountain's Graveyard, Tobi was confronted with a terrible scene. The entire cave was alight with black flames, burning everything in sight. All around the dungeon Tobi could spot pieces of White Zetsus, obviously slain by some intelligent force. The gigantic flower that had held up the Demonic Statue of the Outer Path had been burnt beyond repair by the flames of Amaterasu, its remains lying at the base of the cavern, still blazing with the black fire. The non-sentient clone of Hashirama Senju, instrumental in the creation of his Zetsu army, had evidently been destroyed. Of the statue itself, all he could see was a single useless tooth.

Itachi had done his work well. He had most certainly come back to the past with Tobi. And he was long gone.

All alone in the cave, Tobi screamed in frustration.

The Uchiha had ruined everything! The Yonbi was gone and wouldn't reform for several years! The vessel for the Juubi, as well as his most powerful weapon, had been obliterated! The clone he had worked so hard to cultivate had been erased, and with it his ability to create an army!

On top of everything else, Tobi realized that all the other people who had been present for Naruto's extraction could have returned to the past with him, including the Kyuubi jinchuriki himself. Fueled by his rage, fire hot enough to melt stone poured out of his mask, burning a huge hole in the already ravaged floor.

Everything was gone.

xXx

(Border of the Land of Fire)

"Karasu Messenger."

In Itachi's hand, a crow-like mass of chakra came into being, staring at him with beady, red eyes. Itachi tied a small scroll around the construct's leg, and gently released it into the air.

"The Hokage." He said softly.

The crow flew off, heading in the direction of Fire Country. It would carry the scroll to a trusted contact, who would deliver it anonymously to the Hokage. The scroll contained details about every member of Akatsuki, revealed Tobi's true objective and explained that they had travelled through time. Itachi could only hope that Tsunade wouldn't dismiss his fantastical story out of hand.

After the red pillar of energy had vanished and the pain had stopped, it hadn't taken Itachi long to work out what had happened. Knocking out the unprepared Kisame with a quick genjutsu, Itachi had headed to Mountain's Graveyard as fast as he could, and obliterated everything he found. For the foreseeable future at least, Akatsuki's plans for the bijuu had been averted.

It was clear from the events that had taken place after his death that Tobi had no intention of keeping his word in regards to Sasuke. His time in Akatsuki, for better or worse, was over.

The information he had for Konoha was too important to be trusted to a jutsu. First, he would travel to Konoha and he would inform the Hokage in person of the crucial information he possessed. Hopefully, she would be willing to listen and wouldn't attack him on sight. Then...

Then he would track down his brother and he would do what he should have done from the beginning. He would tell Sasuke the truth about everything. He would tell him of the Uchiha rebellion, of Danzo, of Tobi. And if his little brother still believed, after all that, that his life should be taken as payment for his sins, then he would give it gladly. The web of lies and deception that he constructed in his last life had brought Sasuke nothing but death and hatred. Now was the time for truth.

The red energy had done more than just take him back to the past. The fatal internal illness that had weakened him for so long had evidently been healed with it. Not only that, but the energy had repaired the damage that the Mangekyo had done to his eyes at the same time. Itachi Uchiha could finally see clearly, both literally and figuratively, for the first time in a very long time.

The Konoha shinobi launched himself into the trees of the Land of Fire, dust trailing in his wake.

xXx

(Amekagure)

Konan lifted her hands over her head, creating a razor-sharp ring of paper. "Paper Chakram!"

The disc flew through the air, slicing through the already severely damaged wall at the opposite end of the room. It was no use, Tobi was already gone.

Konan numbly fell to the stone floor, oblivious to the rain that was pouring through the gap in the wall. Nagato was dead. The only person she had left, the man she loved despite his remoteness, was gone.

She didn't even know why. That weird red light that had struck Nagato had to have something to do with it, but why would he attack Madara? Her friend had yelled something about an "Eye of the Moon Plan" before the Uchiha killed him. What did it all mean?

Moving to Nagato's corpse, she gently removed him from the cursed chair, wrapping his body in paper. Even in her state of mourning, she noticed that his muscles and skin seemed healthier than they had been since he had first been incapacitated. She was startled out of her thoughts when a very familiar voice spoke from behind her.

"Konan."

Slowly, Konan turned. Standing at the other side of the room was an orange-haired man with six piercings down his nose, a man she knew all too well.

"Y... Yahiko?" She stuttered, unable to comprehend what she was seeing.

The man shook his head sadly. "No. It's me, Konan. Nagato."

Konan registered the purple rings in the man's eye. Oh.

"I'm... I'm sorry my lord. he got away." She said stiffly, tightly controlling the sea of emotions churning about inside her. Nagato had been so remote, so cold these past few years, utterly consumed with his goal. To show emotions would do nothing but make things more uncomfortable than they already were.

Nagato-Yahiko began walking towards her. Konan looked down, waiting for her orders.

Only to stiffen, as the man wrapped his arms around her.

"I'm so sorry, Konan. " The man whispered, voice thick with apology and emotion. "I'm so sorry, for everything."

Nagato-Yahiko tightened his arms around her, continuing to whisper words of atonement in her ear. Konan slowly relaxed into the hug, sliding her arms around him in return.

The two stood there for several minutes, their bodies expressing feelings that words never could. Something had changed within Nagato, something deep. Konan buried her face in his shoulder, tears running down her cheek as she finally allowed the flood of emotions to pour out. Neither had been hugged like this since Yahiko's death, all those years ago.

Finally, the man released her, stepping backwards. He was smiling, yet another dramatic development from the usually frigid man.

"My soul is bound to this body now." Nagato said. "I'm sorry Konan, it was the only way..."

Konan put a finger over his lips, shushing him. "It's OK. I think it's what Yahiko would have wanted."

The man nodded, then sighed.

"I'm going to have to gather up the members of Akatsuki and inform them of some changes to our primary policy." Nagato said, the corner of his mouth twitching ever so slightly upwards. "First of all though, I need to tell you some things."

Leading Konan over away from the gap in the wall, Nagato motioned to the stone steps. "You might want to sit. This could take a while."

xXx

AN: It's just been one disaster after another for major antagonist Tobi, huh? As it is now, it probably seems like I'm loading the deck too heavily against the antagonists, which would make the story fairly uninteresting. Rest assured, I have a couple of twists in mind to even out the score.

To the reviewer who made the Sharingan analogy, yes he has and no it hasn't. That said, Nine-Tails chakra mode is insanely powerful and with it Naruto could probably handle most of Akatsuki by himself. It would be boring to have Naruto have all the big battles while all the other characters stand by the side and cheer, so his abilities are going to be altered somewhat. Don't worry, though, I have stuff planned.

For obvious reasons, Tobi didn't want to take on Nagato's paths. That would end badly.

After today, I'm going to update weekly on Fridays. University stuff, and all that.

Extremely Akatsuki-central chapter. Next chapter: Konoha!