Nagato, or rather his Deva path body which had once been his best friend Yahiko stood at his usual high perch at the top of the tallest building in Amegakure. In Ame, he ruled over the land as a benevolent god who protected all of those under him with his friend's beloved Konan who was practically worshiped as an angel at his side the way Yahiko had wanted to. As he watched over the land, he noted that the ever falling rain that served as a security net had identified a foreign presence. Another one of the Rokudaime Hokage's spies had been spotted in the country. Sighing, he sent one of his other bodies to dispose of it.
He had nothing to say to Jiraiya. The man had abandoned him, Konan, and Yahiko to their fates when they'd needed him the most and had later become ruler of the village which had brought him nothing but the pain he had taken his new name from. While he hadn't quite deigned to wipe it off the map, Konoha was his enemy, and always would be.
Despite the fact that the Kuubi had completely vanished, he'd had the Akatsuki continue with their normal routines, and hadn't stopped the mission to collect the other Biju. If he didn't give the group of missing-nin something to do, they would end up causing him no end of trouble. Kisame already was that, as he had killed his last two partners since Itachi, who had always managed to reign him in before he died. Whether or not they had been killed deliberately or accidentally, he neither knew nor cared. When it came to the missing Kyuubi, it would either reappear and cause some destruction, or it wouldn't. There were already rumors of Shukaku forming in the desert, and it was only a matter of time before the Sanbi which had vanished upon the Mizukage's death reappeared.
While Madara continued to hang around in the background doing whatever he was doing, he was the leader of the Akatsuki, and it was his plan that would be going forward, his plan where he would give everyone a large enough taste of destruction that they would never want war again. His plan where the Akatsuki would destroy the village system by undercutting it and holding the Biju back as their ace in the hole should the villages try to violently object, would be the Akatsuki's main goal.
From her spot beside Yahiko's body which was currently being controlled by Nagato Konan sighed as she watched yet another of Jiraiya-sensei's emissaries die. The man had stepped up his attempts at getting into contact with them when he had learned for a fact that she and Nagato were in Ame. Ten dead spies had obviously not been enough of an answer for the man.
Despite the fact that Nagato loved Jiraiya like a father, he also hated him, and didn't want to see him again. After Jiraiya had abandoned them to their fate, life had been hard. It had gotten even harder after Yahiko died thanks to interference from Konoha. While she and Nagato who had been calling himself Pain since Yahiko's death intellectually knew that Jiraiya had had nothing to do with Yahiko's passing, they still blamed him. They blamed him because he had done exactly that, nothing.
She sometimes thought that Nagato had held out hope right up until the end that Jiraiya would appear and rescue them like he had rescued them when they were a trio of starving children who had been orphaned by the war that had raged through their country. Jiraiya had failed to miraculously appear that day however, and Yahiko had sacrificed himself to save her and Jiraiya had continued to fail to appear for several years afterward.
There were times that she wished that Nagato would just send the man an angry letter telling him off. It had been nearly three years since Jiraiya had found them again, and Nagato had spent much of that time silently stewing over the issue. Had he been Yahiko, she would have been afraid that he would boil over, and do something completely stupid like storm over and destroy Konoha. Yahiko had been a great leader, but he'd also had a hot temper. Nagato however had been more the sort to either wallow in his misery or use it to drive him forward. With the Jiraiya issue however, he was wallowing.
She held her peace in this matter though. What Nagato chose to do about the Jiraiya situation was his business, and she had vowed to support him in any decision he chose to make in that regard. With Yahiko gone, Nagato was all she had left.
In another quiet corner of the world Tobi sighed. While certain parts of the plan had pretty much been ruined, there was enough of it left to continue forward and hope that Madara would have the answers when the time came. He had devoted his life to the plan, and it was all he had left in the world. According to the timetable he'd been given, it was time to step up the game and finish what could be finished with only eight Biju in the running. Madara-sama would know what to do about the ninth when he returned.
Until Madara returned, he would have to be Madara. He was Madara's living avatar until it was time to remake the world after all. After his world had started sliding irrevocably into hell, Madara had been the one who had remade him and given him purpose. Madara would be returning soon. As soon as the eight Biju that could be found in the world were collected, Nagato would be using the Rinne Tensei in order to bring Madara back. He would have to have patience, and make sure everything went well until then.
Part of making sure that everything went well at this stage was joining the Akatsuki in active operations. Fortunately, there was still a ring available despite the fact that the one Orochimaru had taken had been destroyed when Itachi had destroyed Otogakure since they hadn't managed to convince the terrorist bomber Deidara to join. The boy had chosen to blow himself up instead, nearly destroying Sasori of the Red Sands in the process.
He'd heard that Konoha had gotten their hands on the Sanbi as soon as its location had been confirmed. Whether or not that rumor was true however...Well, he'd always wanted to destroy Konoha for everything that place had done to him, and Itachi had said he could have at it before he died.
Edited 12-3-12