Where are you, Nagato?
Not in Amegakure...
Not in Amegakure?
No...
I floated above Amegakure, looking over the city.
The Gedō Mazō was here, right down there, but Nagato himself was... absent.
Oh, hello Konan.
Where are you going, Konan?
Are you going to Nagato, Konan?
...
No.
You stopped.
Why did you stop, Konan?
Go. Keep going. Lead me to Nagato.
Is that fear, Konan?
Why are you fearing, Konan?
And there's caution. Anticipation, too. Why, Konan?
...
GET MOVING!
...
Her fear heightened.
I frowned.
A moment later, I vanished into a Corridor of Darkness, appearing in front of Konan.
I ignored the Kunai that flew through me, staring down at her.
"Konan, was it?" I needlessly asked. "Nagato's partner, I take it?"
Why are you so afraid, Konan?
"Well, I was hoping to start with him, but I guess his partner will do..."
We were inside a building. There was nobody else around. The entire building was empty. The positioning of the room placed it at the top of the building.
Nobody else would be in danger.
Good.
Very good.
Konan tensed, settling into a stance, her eyes staring at me.
You're so afraid.
I dove downwards, sinking into the floor of the room.
A dark scar was left where I did, slowly spreading about the rest of the room.
I pulled in more Darkness, assimilating it, spreading my wisp further and further throughout the room.
It wasn't much. The Darkness in that little wisp was absolutely nothing compared to the rest of me, even after absorbing what it had.
But still, it would be enough.
Konan rushed backwards, heading for the door-
NO ESCAPE!
- which shimmered as a barrier suddenly came into existence in front of it, blocking off her way out.
She reached it, and punched at the barrier, paper forming around her hand.
She accomplished nothing, her paper-clad hand slamming in the barrier and stopping, the invisible wall made visible at the touch, little waves of light pulsing through the air on some unseen medium.
"I'm sorry, you're not going to escape this one." I pulled my wisp out of the ground, the Darkness spreading underneath her feet and into the door behind her.
This is a boss battle. You can't run from a boss battle.
"I have unfinished business with you, see?" I gathered more Darkness, forming it into several small balls which began to hover around me. "Your leader killed Gaara. And I really don't like that."
I smiled. "'Really don't like that', I say. It's such an... Understatement!" My eyes flashed into a malevolent red as my smile twisted into a hateful gnash. "Oh, I'm sorry." My eyes returned to the previous blue, and my grin came back. "I'm normally much more composed. I'm just a little bit Absolutely Livid!"
I probably should calm down. Before I did something I'd come to regret.
"Perhaps... perhaps if I kill you, Nagato will stop hiding. He will stop hiding, or at least, he should. When I mentioned you, I couldn't help but see that love he had for you." I stopped, and looked at her. "Oh! And that love you have for him!"
Konan was silent, her face stony- a violent contrast to the state of her Heart.
"Well, let's find out, shall we?"
Fire blossomed, a wall of flames flowing through the room towards Konan.
She leapt to the side, quickly running through a number of handseals before spitting out a wave of water at the wall of fire, sending a burst of steam through the room.
She kept moving, flinging her arms out at me, a number of paper shuriken flying through me- to absolutely no effect.
She landed, and immediately had to dodge a spike that would have violently skewered her, shifting around it.
And the next.
And the next and the next and the next and the next.
A line of spikes extended across the room as Konan kept dodging, my spikes always missing by just that much.
Lightning crackled around me, lancing out an instant later- only for Konan to vanish, my lightning striking a wooden chair instead.
I turned around, still grinning and glaring at Konan. "This isn't going to end well, Konan. You can't kill me, and I won't stop trying to kill you. Not until Nagato himself finally stops hiding."
Slowly, she stood up, rising to her full height, poised.
Some of her sheets of paper drifted around the room.
"It is rather fortunate that he doesn't need to." She smirked.
Pulse.
A moment later, she burst into smoke- summoned away, taken to safety, taken away from me!
Gone.
Gone.
Just like that.
Just. Like. Nagato.
Nagato...
When I find you!
She ran away from a boss fight.
Darkness charged up, a sphere building up. I pulled the rest of my Darkness back into myself, the barrier collapsing, My Darkness stripped from the floor, the walls, and the ceiling.
"!"
I let the spell go, force and heat and light rushing out, an explosion so powerful that it utterly destroyed the room, sending metal and stone in every direction.
Rain poured down on me, passing through me, doing little more than disturbing my form.
Now that the room -what was once the room but was now the new roof- was opened to the air, I could hear the alarms that were ringing throughout Amegakure. Could see the Hearts of the ninja making their way towards me.
I didn't care.
What I did care about was the fact that I couldn't sense Konan anymore. Nor Nagato.
Nor Itachi, nor Kisame, nor Deidara, nor Sasori, nor fucking Obito.
"Wherever you are, I will find you." I promised.
A Kunai passed through me.
I ignored it entirely.
"You can only hide so long. And once your time runs out..."
Guess it was time to do a little searching.
I vanished.