Talks in Amegakure I

"Hello Pain, or should I say Nagato." Shiki greeted.

Instantly, Konan turned around battle ready while Nagato glared at Shiki with his Rinnegan.

"Why the glares, I just came to talk and you started our little conflict in the first place did you not?" Shiki said.

"Is that so?" Nagato responded, hinting at something.

"If you're talking about the business in the Land of Water, that was just a little fuck you to your masked friend, not an attack on the Akatsuki." Shiki explained.

"I bet he's the one that had you attack our turf to eh?" He added.

Nagato fell into silence.

"Nothing to say?" Shiki asked.

"What does it matter? Our goals conflict with each other's so coming to blows is inevitable." Nagato declared.

"Are you sure about that?" Shiki countered.

Nagato's eyebrow raised and he asked.

"What is your opinion then?"

"Our end goals are not to dissimilar." Shiki said.

"It's our paths to reach said goals that differ greatly, mostly due to gap in our respective understanding of this world." He added.

"Oh?" Nagato was not impressed but was actually slightly intrigued and, although he did not expect to be told anything that would shake him, he was interested in hearing what Shiki had to say.

"What is your understanding of what I want and how I plan to achieve this?" Nagato inquired, aiming to see if his opponent had indeed figured him out.

Shiki did not have much to lose and quite a bit to gain so, much like he had planned, he started his moves to shake up Nagato a bit.

"You seem like a man that dislikes war, probably because your country has been a contested battlefield in the wars of larger nations and so you desire peace." Shiki started.

". . ." Nagato kept silent, acquiescing to his evaluation.

"Your group, the Akatsuki was founded by your fried Yahiko if I remember correctly, at the encouragement of that masked friend of yours though I don't think you know that part." Shiki continued.

This time Nagato was slightly shocked as his eyes narrowed, especially at that last part but he still kept his thoughts to himself.

"Your group grew quite a bit as many were dissatisfied with the wars and wanted peace for their home village and, in the ned, the then leader of Ame, Hanzo, began worrying about your growing power with a man from Konoha named Danzo encouraging him to deal with you all." Shiki kept going.

"Under the guise of negotiations, Hanzo and Danzo trapped you and tried to kill all of you off, leading to the death of your friend Yahiko but did you know the other members of the Akatsuki learned about this betrayal and were rushing to assist you?" Shiki stopped and asked.

"I don't seem to remember that happening, the others were caught unaware by Hanzo's forces and decimated." Nagato responded.

"From what I've learned, it was someone else that intercepted and killed them all, not Hanzo or even Danzo." Shiki hinted at the true culprit.

"Madara . . ." Nagato said under his breath, silently considering the possibility that the words of the man in front of him were true but not yet fully believing him, even though the story made some actual sense.

"Well, he's not actually Madara, just a pawn under the real Madara's manipulations but well, you can call him what you like." Shiki shrugged but this part was ignored by Nagato since the masked man's identity was not really that important for their discussion.

Konan was possibly more shaken than Nagato. Unlike him, she who was used to being the voice of reason and considering other routes so as to try and help her friend in his endeavours, thought Shiki's version of the events made a lot more sense and, much like Yahiko had, she greatly distrusted the masked man calling himself Madara.

"Moving on, after that happened, you were disillusioned and convinced that people would never be able to fully come to an understanding, a point of view I actually agree with. Humans are predisposed for conflict after all." Shiki continued.

The fact that Shiki agreed with that view of his surprised Nagato but then again, being a leader of a criminal organization didn't make much sense if Shiki was an idealist so once he came to that conclusion, Nagato was not that surprised anymore.

"What I don't agree with, is your plan to achieve a semblance of peace." Shiki declared.

"And what do you think my plan is?" Nagato asked.

By this point, he was beginning to get shocked not by what Shiki said exactly but by just how much he knew and so he was beginning to think that the other things he had said, might be true since all Shiki had said about Nagato himself was also true.

Shiki realizing his words were having an even better effect than anticipated, continued to talk.

"First the "official" plan which is divided into three steps:

1st Step: Obtain enough money to support the organisation.

2nd Step: Provide mercenary services at well under the competitive rate, using the money gathered in the first step to offset costs.

This will make countries increasingly dependent on Akatsuki's services, corner the entire market for shinobi missions, and eventually put all of the shinobi villages out of business because they can't compete with Akatsuki's prices.

By capturing and strategically deploying the tailed beasts, Akatsuki could quickly start and then quell wars, thereby speeding up the process.

3rd Step: Once all other major shinobi forces have dissolved, Akatsuki would be able to quickly conquer all the countries of the world."

Shiki detailed the Akatsuki's plan perfectly, shocking Nagato and Konan at how much he actually knew about their operations and how terrifying of an enemy Shiki was for them.

"As for your personal idea, it is to create a Tailed Beast weapon to continuously crush one side of any conflict that occurs and inflict such suffering and destruction that the world will want peace and, should they forget the pain they endured, you would use the weapon to remind them once again."

"Hence you took the name "Pain"." Shiki concluded.

If they were shocked before, right now, Nagato and Konan were actually scared. How much did he know? How was he okay to come into the enemy's territory and say all of that without a care in the world? How powerful was he actually? All of those questions were swimming around in their heads.

"And why is it, that you do not agree with that method." Nagato asked, this time, he was extremely interested in the answer but the one he received, was not at all what he expected.

Nagato thought he would hear concern over how his peace is a false one or other ideological concerns but he couldn't be any more wrong.

"Simple, I disagree with your methods because they will not work." Shiki said, making Nagato freeze for a bit.

"Setting aside the very important question of whether you can actually succeed in gathering what you require for the implementation of your plan, even if you manage that, it will still result in failure." Shiki declared.

"Why?" Was all Nagato could say.

"Eventually, the people's dissatisfaction with you and their greed for the power you wield would cause them to disregard any and all consequences to strike at you. You could use the weapon to annihilate them but the lessor would never be learned." Shiki explained.

"Eventually, you'd be forced to kill so many people that humanity's survival would be in question or, they would somehow succeed in toppling you from power. Those two ends are the only possible results to your plan." He concluded.

"Either way, the destruction and regression of civilization and the weakening of the entire world would both be inevitable, which is bad for various reasons." Shiki added.

Nagato stayed in silence for a long time, pondering on Shiki's words before speaking once again to ask one final question.

"You said your goal was similar to mine so what is it that you want and how do you plan on achieving it?" Nagato inquired.

"Now, now. I don't mind telling you the gist of the first but just because I know your hand, it doesn't mean I should reveal mine to you now does it?" Shiki responded

"Then tell me what your willing to and we'll start from there." nagato compromised.

"Fair enough. Conflict is intrinsic to human nature and even though it can be destructive, it is also often a drive from progress and innovation. Too much conflict will lead to destruction, too little will result in stagnation, both terrible ends in their own right." Shiki started to explain his views.

"My goal is to attain a position and power that would allow me to guide this conflict in such a way to not grow out of proportion while simultaneously giving people the impression that they are in control and thus they will not try to overthrow me as, in their mind, I am not in control."

"In actual fact, I really do not want to be in control, not absolutely anyway, more like guide people into a pre prepared path. If it goes well, it won't even need my direct input anymore. As for how exactly I'm planning to achieve this, that's a secret reserved for those that earned my trust."

Shiki finally said his piece.

"So . . . What do you think?" Shiki asked.

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