Review Response:

BlackDisciple:Hey it's a tough job trying to save the world in your own weird... twisted, backwards way... yeah fuck Obito.

Lunasalsal: Then you're going to like this chapter!

Guest: We'll have to see who succeeds and fails in the end buddy.

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Nagato

XXX

Nagato strained, but it was useless. The Rinnegan glowed in his head, the killing intent in him so powerful that Madara actually paused in his approach, the lone Sharingan matching against the hatred expressed through his eyes.

"You must've seen this coming."

"Your betrayal? This is a new low-"

"There you go, sounding like a child again," Madara scoffed. His hands hung loosely at his sides as he stopped right in front of Nagato. The two eyes looked into the one, and Nagato held his head up proudly, lanky red hair falling down to his bony shoulders. I won't let him get away with this. "You swore to me that in the end, your life would be given in servtitude to the Eye of the Moon- to peace." Madara said the last word like an attack, designed to pierce his resolve.

But the Akatsuki Leader only stared at him, boring into the red eye.

Madara sighed. "But I suppose I'm a victim of the same scenario. A sapling planted in the ground designed to be fed upon by the greater animal. But what happens when that saplings grows too big for the animal to use it anymore?"

"What are you talking about."

Madara held up a hand to his mask, and Nagato's eyes widened as with a few clicks, it came free.

Behind it was a man aged not by the progression of time, but by the misery of combat, pain, and hatred. The left side of his face was a scarred wreck, where one Sharingan was easily seen. The other remained smooth, a second Sharingan also imbedded into it. The short hair, without the forehead barrier of the swirled orange mask, fell just short of covering both beads of red.

But it was not seeing what was finally behind the mask that made Nagato's chest burn cold in shock. Rather it was not what was behind it.

This was not Madara Uchiha. Nagato had seen the great statues of Hashirama Senju and Madara Uchiha for himself. And while stonework could only convey so much, there was zero resemblance between the two. And that meant...

"You have used me."

"Self-centered. I used all of you." The fake Madara- Tobi, Nagato thought wildly - smirked. "Don't feel too surprised yet. You have not been entirely misguided; my orders did come from the real Madara Uchiha, I assure you. But being as old as he was, he could never have completed the Eye of the Moon by himself. So, he entrusted me to continue his work."

"But just as he could not complete it alone, neither could I do it by myself."

"You used me," Nagato said again, the words sounding strange in his ears. Never, never! had he imagined the deceit Tobi had laid out went this deep. Nagato had allowed himself and Konan to put themselves at Tobi's command, banding together international criminals under a banner they did not understand but Nagato and Konan had-

Or so we thought. In the end, we have been just as clueless as them.

Tobi smiled weakly. "I didn't intend for this to happen so soon, either. But the appearance of those two beings at Kumogakure means the plan is deeply at risk. I simply don't think you have it in you to defeat them, and thus Akatsuki had served it's purpose; their phase is over. Konan and Kisame are being dealt with as we speak." He paused from his matter-of-fact tone, drawing his hands together into a hand sign. "Just as you are right now."

Nagato couldn't find a response. I was used, I allowed myself to be. How could this have happened...

Tobi's hand glowed blue with chakra, and he reached his hand to Nagato's face. Instinctively he recoiled, but the chains tightened and he groaned in protest. The gloved hands found his right socket, and with a delicate pop!, he was half blind.

"Sh... sh..."

"Don't try to resist it," Tobi said, his other hand having already taken out his own right eye. A sickening squelching sound, and then Tobi fell to his knees, groaning. He gasped while Nagato stared, unable to understand his own downfall. "Such power... and this is just one eye." Tobi looked over at him, a curious smile on his lips. "Now I know how you were able to contain them both. That colored hair... yes, it all makes sense in the end, doesn't it?"

Tobi staggered to his feet. Nagato tried again to speak, but his lips felt awkward, numb. The cold feeling of blood from his emptied socket leaked down his face like tears, dripping off his chin.

"You were a good subordinate, Nagato." From Tobi's palm, a chakra receiver emerged, and he embedded it in Nagato's chest. He gasped, the pain searing through him like an icy river. He felt Tobi's intent, raw and decisive, flow through him, and he knew what he wanted.

"Sh... shi..."

The other was misreading him. "Yes, the Samsara of Life. You've studied it from the ancient texts, good. That makes this all much easier." Tobi licked his lips, looking very pale, whether from the new strain of the Rinnegan in his eye, or some emotional qualm. Maybe both. "You see, even thought your and Akatsuki's time is done, I still cannot act alone. I'll require... old help."

"Help that you'll give yourself up to give me."

XXX

Konan

XXX

The ground below had never been such a premonition of danger. Her wings were shot, and her chakra was scrambled horrifically. Black Zetsu's raspy laugh followed her and her vision blurred at the speed of which she fell, the unceasing rain creating a vortex as she dropped.

Wings are shot, and can't form new ones. After a small pang of regret, she released the Asura Path from her grip, allowed it to fall away from her as she raised the arm not being held by Black Zetsu. It began to fragment into sheets of paper, like she had done many times before. But pain shot through her as she did so; the paper was loosening, but it was rapidly being left behind, separating from her body and getting outside of her chakra control. It was as if actual pieces of skin were being removed from her body, and she gasped. Her blue hair billowed all around her, everything was chaos-

"Let it happen, Konan," Black Zetsu wheezed, the yellow eyes looking hauntingly like lamp lights in the chaotic haze of rain. "There is no stopping it!"

She didn't reply, tried to find a new solution. She couldn't separate herself, and she couldn't heal her wings- she figured Zetsu was agitating her chakra-

Her free hand grabbed the small black creature by it's head, and it cried out in protest. Needle teeth dug itself into her hand, but her determination weighed out the pain. She pulled and pulled, all aware of the distance to the ground growing rapidly.

Instead of loosening, he seemed to become her arm, the pure blackness darkening out the cloak, skin, and hand. "You aren't getting rid of me so easily!" he hissed. "There's no point in stopping this. Nagato is being eliminated by Madara, and White Zetsu will have already killed Kisame. Akatsuki's purpose short-lived purpose is done- if it dies, you no longer of reason to live either!"

Warped, suggestive thoughts infiltrated her brain, slow and smooth like honey dripping.

She already lived in a world without Yahiko, her closest friend, her lover even. A brave, young man who had had the interests of Amegakrue at heart, with a talent for uniting disillusioned people under his wing and pitting them against the evils that plagued their land. When he had died on that Day, she had been certain it was Her Last Day. A world without the enigmatic young man was a world she did not belong in.

She already lived in a world without Nagato, the third person of their childhood triad. The young man had died on that Day, too, his sanity ripped to shreds by Danzo and Hanzo and leaving Pain in it's place. Sometimes, glimpses of his former self would shine through the persona of Pain, but they were often too short, too weak.

So what, indeed, was the point of living in a world alone? Wasn't it Madara controlling them anyways?

It wasn't Madara or Pain I saved when the Nine Tails attacked in the paper tree. She looked at her blackened arm, eyes narrowed. It wasn't Pain who I helped recover at the top of the Tower. Pain isn't Nagato!

Her free arm grabbed the Black Zetsu infested one at the shoulder joint, and she bit her lips as she allowed the sockets to turn to paper. Black Zetsu screamed as he, still attached to the now loosened paper arm, flew away to land somewhere else in the ground.

Her mind calmed, as did her chakra. The pain in her armless shoulder socket screamed for attention, and again she felt a blurriness, a desire to sleep, to let go and just-

Nagato's still alive! I can reach him!

The wings fanned out twenty meters from the ground, and like a parachute pulled too late they greatly slowed her momentum, but not enough to come crashing to the ground with enough force to cause the soggy ground to splinter and indent beneath her.

Her breaths came in short gasps, and she resisted to look over at her forsaken arm. She could make a new one overtime just from paper origami ninjutsu, but right now, with the time at hand-

She forced herself to get up, ignoring the pain all over her body. The rain came nonstop, mixing in with the blood dripping from her stump. She took a step forward, and another. Her papery wings shed off the water, but she could not bring herself to raise them. Amegakure was only a kilometer away, she had to make it. This was too much like that Day, when Hanzo had captured her, and Nagato and Yahiko knowing she was in pain and desperately trying to reach her, only for the events to turn against them anyway-

Only this time, the roles were reversed. And she had swore to herself that that Day would never repeat.

A figure barred her path, shrouded in the rain. She foolishly raised her fists, a rebellious smirk on her face. "Sorry, Zetsu, but whatever you and Tobi have in mind isn't going to work. Just stay out of the way."

The silhouette laughed. "Then it's a good thing neither of them are my friend right now."

XXX

Nagato

XXX

"Together, Nagato. Just like it's always been."

We were never together. Tobi's mocking tone didn't make him feel any more sympathetic to the clear distress the other had on his face. He was obviously still getting used to the Rinnegan- stolen, at that- and the matter at hand.

The shock had passed, and the defiance had returned. He would now bow to this fake Madara, and he hoped with all his heart that if Konan was somehow still alive, she would never do the same. Her loyalty to Pain was too high-

His chakra was potent and powerful, but even without this actually being Madara Uchiha, their chakra was still powerful. More than that, almost cleanly rested, due to him having left the fight much earlier. Using all the Pains at once was a draining effort-

Not that it would make any difference with this final jutsu. The Samasara of the Outer Path caused the user to give up their own life in exchange for reviving one other.

And Nagato knew, with the recent revelation, whom it was for. He tried to speak, but like what he had tried to say before, his lips were numb and non responsive. You'll never control him, he thought. You could control me... The thought was sickening to himself, and it must've appeared on his face as well for Madara chuckled.

"You look so unhappy? Why? The plan will proceed, just without you."

Anger welled up in him again. "Sh..."

"If you would stop resisting, you would be able to say those words so much faster." Madara's face turned into a curt smile. "Who's betraying their promise now? Konan and Kisame have followed through fully-"

A long time ago, Jiraiya would have told him that instead of utilizing his anger for violence, he should convert it into a passion for peaceful change. When his former sensei had come to Amegakure to find the Leader of Akatsuki, he had put those words to use, confronting Pain in all its glory and trying to talk him back to those teachings.

And he had not waited for words. He had attacked Jiraiya, and struck him down with the full power of Pain.

Nagato then thought back to when the Nine-Tails jiinchuriki- the former student of his sensei Naruto Uzumaki- had come to him in the paper tree. Not to attack, he had certainly had the opportunity, but seemingly to talk.

And he had not given him the chance to do so. He had attempted to quickly subvert the jiinchurki through his chakra, and when he had been unable to do so, his disciple Konan had done the job instead.

His hands formed the hand sign necessary for the Samsara technique, and as he did so it occurred to them he had failed as a student to Jiraiya, who had shown him what it was to be a shinobi. He had ignored his most passionate teachings, mastering those of jutsu, of attack, but not of peace. Yahiko had blossomed in that, but what had he done to Yahiko? Turned him into a weapon of war.

Anger turned to self-loathing, and self-loathing into an infinite fury. His Rinnegan burned in his head, and Tobi's eyes widened. "No-"

I am not a shinobi, never have I been. I am God, and I am not about to let myself be brought down like a ninja!

"SH- SHINRA TENSEI!"

The entire room exploded in blinding chakra. Tobi shouted, unable to use his space-time jutsu due to trying to keep Nagato under control. He slammed into the roof of the mouth with a groan while the entire tower trembled with the power of the detonation.

He was on the floor, the chains shredded and blown all about the rooms. There was no support for him, so he simply pulled himself with his bony arms to the nearest couch, pulled himself up.

Tobi lied motionless on the floor. His Akatsuki cloak had been completely away, leaving him in a wrecked skin tight shirt and pants. Nagato breathed deeply, one hand on the chakra receiver still embedded in his stomach. He yanked it out and he immediately felt his chakra return to calm, natural levels. His breathing steadied, and still balanced on the couch he did the hand signs for the summoning jutsu. He slammed his palm on the ground and the four Pains appeared, their chakra signals back without Tobi's interference. The Asura Path looked as if it had had a nasty fall, its mechanical limbs fractured but core intact. He wondered why until the crashing realization that Tobi's taunts were probably, in fact, true.

The Four Pains walked to him and picked him up, the Preta Path grabbing him by the folds on his cloak and quickly draining the chakra out of him. Tobi's head lulled, but a grin formed on his scarred face as the eyes narrowed. "As... resourceful as ever."

"Where is she?" the Preta Path asked calmly, though Nagato stood only a few meters away.

"Dead."

The Asura Path's good arm formed into a thin but short knife, and it rammed into Tobi's side. He did not cry out but continued to smile mirthlessly.

"Where is she?"

"If you kill me," Tobi murmured. "The Eye of the Moon Plan fails. Everything will have been for nothing- are you willing to give it all up just to know if she's even alive?"

Was he? Am I?

The Preta Path grabbed Tobi by the face and pulled him in. They stared at each other, and Tobi's crooked grin grew. "What I thought. You know you need me, Pain-"

"Pain needed you." The Preta turned his face towards Nagato.

Nagato, who's face was deathly pale and entire body shaking, but was standing upon his two feet, one hand of course using the couch for support. Tobi stared, apparently speechless for once.

"You used Pain. But you will not use me."

Tobi closed his eyes-

"Nagato!"

He stopped as, inexplicably, Konan flew through the window, looking ragged, worn, but alive. His cold anger melted away with warm relief. Held under her arms was an equally battered Kisame, the left side of his blue face coated in red with blood. His headband was held in his pocket, clearly cut off from his forehead. He paused to take in the Pain's and the captured Tobi, but Konan brushed past them all as if they weren't there. Not coming to hug him as normal beings might have done, but instead coming to his side and grabbing his other arm, keeping him standing. He appreciated the support sincerely.

"What happened?" he asked.

"Black Zetsu turned on me; and White Zetsu on Kisame. We both managed to overcome them; surprise was their only advantage."

"I'm glad you're safe." The words sounded very alien to him; he could not recall having expressed concern for someone since that Day. His kindness had died along with Yahiko.

She looked startled by the statement, but she chose not to reply to it. "You have Madara, then?"

"He's not Madara. I'm not entirely sure who he is."

Tobi laughed bitterly but gave no suggestion. Kisame approached him silently. "But I know who he is."

"Really?" Nagato said.

"Yes; but the question that more on my mind is who the hell are you?"

It was one surprise after another. Nagato stared across the room at Kisame, in his private quarters where no one had ever been besides those already in the room, at an ally who had betrayed his village on the impulse of distrust and who now might just as easily come for him.

He laughed. And what a wonderful feeling it was.

In the arms of the Preta Path, Tobi shook his head in bewilderment. "Never before did I think I would meet God; but after actually meeting the ones at Kumogakure, I can safely say you are nothing like one."

And maybe, Nagato thought as he beckoned Kisame to sit on one of the couches. That isn't such a bad thing after all.