Game of Shadows by Adrian King1

Chapter 132

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto nor The Gamer. I own nothing, really.

Cover Art: Kissuli.

Chapter 132

[Nagato]

It wasn't the first time someone tried to betray Nagato. Nor was it the first time a new recruit decided it was a better idea to attack them. It was the kind of thing one expected when dealing with S ranked missing nin, really. He certainly wasn't shocked when Tobi had chosen to do what he had.

What had surprised him was that the evident Uchiha could, maybe, get to accomplish what he set out to do.

Maybe it was arrogant of him, but Nagato hadn't often found people that could fight him and actually stand a chance. However, he wasn't as taken off guard by Tobi as he probably should have been. He could thank that to the Weaver, since he'd beaten the Uchiha to the punch on that front. Regardless, it wasn't like being better prepared for that helped Nagato overly much.

Konan and him had barely managed to get away from Tobi, depressing as that was. Once a person feared by many, there he was, the leader of Akatsuki, running away with his tail between his legs. If it had been just him, he'd have stayed and fought, even if his chances weren't good. He wouldn't do that to Konan though, his only remaining friend. No, he'd do what he needed to for her to live. He wouldn't be losing anyone else, if he could help it.

Thus, they'd run away while buying themselves time.

It took liberal use of Konan's paper and some desperate uses of Nagato's powers to keep the man away. His debilitated state didn't help matters, but they'd managed. Things were getting out of hand though, mainly because they just couldn't beat Tobi no matter what. How did you fight someone you couldn't even really touch? Nagato's push seemed to work to some extent, but any other type of attack was ignored like it wasn't even there. Even worse, the man seemed to always manage to find them, no matter where they hid.

So, the two of them had made a desperate call.

Nagato had already been considering the idea that maybe, just maybe, his method wasn't the only way to get peace. Eiji Satou seemed to have worked out another one, similar, but not quite the same. Furthermore, The Weaver seemed to have succeeded. Nagato still thought that was likely due to circumstances though, like how it depended on a bigger threat for Nations to unite, but it seemed to have worked anyway. Who was he to criticize the means one used to achieve their ends?

Maybe that wouldn't have been enough for him and Konan to call for him to help them, at least in other people's minds. However, what were they to do? It wasn't like they had anymore allies around. There was Jiraiya, who would undoubtedly be very disappointed and disgusted with them, but even if they might have preferred to call for him, the pair didn't even know where the Sannin was at the moment. Thus...

Desperate measures were taken.

From what Konan said, it had worked surprisingly well. Too well, one could say. Nagato was half sure that it had nothing to do with the two of them asking for help and more to do with who they were asking for help against. He rather doubted that Satou was coming to their aid as much as he was coming to take care of Tobi. There was next to no reason for him to actually offer any assistance to people that had attacked him and endangered someone he cared for. Even they hadn't thought it would work, after all.

Yes, Nagato had added plenty of text to the first letter explaining his thoughts on peace and what he thought of what Satou had accomplished. However, he didn't have all that much faith in managing to sway the man in any way. No, especially considering what Konan reported from her paper creations gathered intelligence. There was more going on here than Eiji Satou possibly accepting their change of mind.