I DO NOT OWN NARUTO

"Hanzō of the Salamander. Whoop-dee-do," Nagato muttered sarcastically under his breath. Damn his nephew was really rubbing off on him.

Yahiko raised an eyebrow at his redheaded friend but otherwise said nothing. 

Earlier that week, Hanzō had approached them and offered them an alliance. And now, the Rain and Leaf combined together to take them down, with Konan as hostage. Everything was going as the Rain and Leaf had planned, except for the fact that didn't know that the redheaded Uzumaki had a counterattack plan.

Hanzō pointed a kunai at Yahiko as he forced Konan to her knees. "Yahiko, you're the leader. You must die. If you resist, I'll kill her instead," Hanzō threatened, placing a kunai at Konan's neck.

Yahiko growled lowly as Hanzō narrowed his eyes. 

A kunai was thrown to the ground.

"You, redhead," Hanzō called. "Use it to kill Yahiko. If you do, I'll spare you and the girl."

"Don't Nagato!" Konan yelled. "Forget about me, just get away both of you!"

Nagato, with his outward appearance of indecision and fear, was internally rolling his eyes and wishing for a bowl of popcorn. Honestly, his friends were acting as if they didn't know the outcome. Hadn't Naruto already told them? Or was it just that their memory was terrible?

"Nagato," Yahiko spoke lowly as he turned to the redhead. "Just kill me."

Nagato's eyebrow twitched. 'I think I am already on the verge of killing you, because it seems like you are trying to make me laugh.'

"Nagato!" Yahiko shouted.

"Don't do it!" Konan screamed.

'Ah, the contradiction,' Nagato thought happily. 'What if they did become a couple? Ooh, now I'm actually shipping them! '

"Hurry up," Hanzō ordered. "Do you want this woman to die?"

'Alright alright, keep your pants on. Geez, talk about impatience,' Nagato thought as he rolled his eyes for what seemed like the millionth time that day, picking up the kunai. 

Twirling it on his finger, he unconsciously placed it to his lips as his train of thought continued. 'Now if they had a kid, what would his or her personality be like? Probably bipolar and pretty indecisive. But then, there's Konan and Itachi -'

"NAGATO!" Yahiko shouted again, bringing him back to reality.

The redhead winced as he accidentally sliced his lip in his rough jolt back to reality. 'Thanks a bunch Yahiko,' he thought crossly as he wiped some blood away.

"Nagato no!" Konan screamed again.

Nagato groaned. "So one says yes, one says no, and what about me? I don't know!" he complained, making nearly everyone sweatdrop at both his childish response and the fact that his complaint rhymed and was said somewhat like a rap.

Including the four hidden around the clearing.

At the corner of his eye, Nagato could see Yahiko prepare himself to run at him.

"Okay, I've made my decision," Nagato said suddenly.

Three pairs of eyes bored into him, making him feel extremely pressured. Mentally shrugging, Nagato slowly moved his arm down.

'One. . .'

His arm was fully outstretched.

'Two. . .' 

Nagato released the kunai, his fingers forming a "ram" sign that was pointed down. At the corner of his eye, he saw Konan slumping in relief, her eyes thanking him as Yahiko tensed up, his eyes full of anger and betrayal.

'Three.'

The Uzumaki smirked as the kunai hit the floor. He raised his eyes to meet Hanzō's, and his mouth moved in one syllable. 

"Boom."

Immediately, large explosives went off around Hanzō and his men, as well as the Leaf shinobi. 

"Nagato!" Yahiko shouted, racing towards the still figure of the redhead. "What were you thinking?!" Reaching Nagato, Yahiko shook him violently, anger evident in his voice. "You could've killed Konan! I told you to kill me! Why didn't you listen to me?!"

"Because," Nagato said softly. "No one can hurt you as much as the ones you love. And love breeds sacrifices, sacrifices breed hatred, hatred breeds violence, and violence breeds war. If I listened to you, the Akatsuki's goal would be unreachable."

Yahiko's brown eyes widened slightly as he let go of Nagato's shoulders. 

"You. . . planned this?"

He received only a slight nod of the head.

Yahiko's hands balled into fists, his anger returning. "What about Konan?! Did you even think about her safety?! What if she was hurt in the explosion?!"

"I thought about it too," Nagato said calmly. "But she can move as pieces of paper, deform and then reform."

"I. . . but the explosives, who set them off?"

"Naruto, Sasuke, Sakura and Kakashi."

"I thought they left!" Yahiko exclaimed in surprise.

"No, they left so Hanzō could approach us. Together with me, we devised a plan to save Konan and you. Didn't you listen to Naruto? He said there would be a choice, and I didn't want to make the outcome the same way he said it would be. We are changing what fate originally had in store for us."

"Fate. . ." 

The two men watched as four shinobi cut down the Rain and Leaf forces as if they were nothing. A blue-haired angel was aiding them in their attack.

"Is Konan. . . fighting? " Yahiko breathed in disbelief. Konan was always so sweet and gentle. As they always abided by the Akatsuki's rule of "no violence",  it was a great shock to him.

"Yahiko, when this is over, I will not be staying."

Nagato's words made Yahiko spin around, shock and disbelief, as well as a faint hint of betrayal on his face. "What?"

Nagato turned to face him, smiling slightly. "I am a shinobi, and that means I fight. I may not be fighting now, but this is only because there was nothing for me to do, except to initiate the attack. The pacifist way of the Akatsuki. . . is not for me."

"What are you saying?" Yahiko shouted in rage. "We founded the Akatsuki together! We made it with a goal to bring about world peace! And now you're saying you don't want it anymore?! That you don't care about peace?!"

"I still want peace, Yahiko," Nagato said in a calm voice that only succeeded in infuriating Yahiko even more. "But the way the Akatsuki is going about it. . . it's not what it means to be a shinobi. The Akatsuki's goals are for the good of the world, yes, but it's like you are shielding the members of what it means to truly be a shinobi."

"Then what does being a shinobi truly mean?"

"To be a shinobi, is to endure. That means we must go through pain and suffering, but also happiness and achievement. We take lives to save lives. And that is something that the Akatsuki go against."

"Konan," Yahiko turned to the woman who landed just then. "Do you also think like this?"

Konan lowered her head. When the explosives started, Sakura had quickly swapped into her place with a Substitution, and Sasuke had then restored her memory. As much as it pained her to admit it, she didn't think she could live as a pacifist in the Akatsuki after being so used to fighting in the former future.

So that left only one answer.

"Yes."

"I don't believe it," Yahiko whispered, backing away from his friends. Betrayal and hurt were the only emotions seen in his features, heard in his voice.

"Nagato. . . you're taking everything from me!"

Nagato's eyes widened. "What? Yahiko, that's not what I'm doing! I'm choosing a different path for myself, not the one that we travelled down together as children! I can't go down that path that you are going, because I couldn't believe in what Jiraiya-sensei believed in, or in the man himself! But in you -"

Nagato was cut off by Yahiko, his eyes wild with rage. "YOU'RE TAKING EVERYTHING FROM ME!" Yahiko suddenly attacked him, acting as if he was possessed by the devil himself.

"Yahiko, listen to me!" Nagato shouted, dodging Yahiko's attacks. "I don't want to fight you! LISTEN, Yahiko!"

"Yahiko stop it!" Konan screamed, rushing forward as she tried to restrain him with her paper. In his rage, Yahiko broke free and charged with a kunai.

A tear formed and slid silently down Nagato's pale cheek as the face of the one he considered a brother, contorted with anger, rush closer and closer. He could feel the malicious aura radiating off the other, and his brown eyes gleamed with the intent to kill.

"At that time, we didn't realize how this would affect you. At that time, we were only thinking of how we could preserve the Akatsuki for the greater good. I never thought that our decisions would affect you that badly. I never realized how great the betrayal you felt was. The two friends you loved and spent your childhood with, suddenly deciding that they would leave for a better shinobi life, going against everything we once lived for. As it was our chance to re-do the future, we wanted to stop evil from arising. But we blew it. Instead, we formed an even greater evil.

I will always regret making that choice. I will always regret going behind your back. What if we informed you of the future events? What if we restored your memory? There are so many "what if's" we can choose to say, but as it stands, this is the present. I know every living being out there isn't perfect. We all commit mistakes, be it for the good or for the bad, we all do something we regret. Now, all Naruto and I can do now is prepare for what you may have in store for us. All Konan and I can do is wish and hope and pray that you will return to us.  

By the time you read this, you may be so deep into the darkness that you have passed the point of turning back to the light. But Yahiko, if Sasuke could return to the light, I believe you can too. Naruto was there for him as a dedicated friend, and I want to be there for you. 

I'm sorry Yahiko.

I will never lose faith in you."