Taking a day to do his rounds in the Desert Fortress just to see that everything was running smoothly, Shiki made his way to Amegakure. It was time for a final talk with Nagato. Final in the sense that it would decided Nagato's own fate that is.
Once again, in the tallest building of the hidden village, Shiki met with Nagato and Konan, appearing out of nowhere in the room like always.
This of course, was done after checking for Zetsus, or any other kind of surveillance that might have been set up by Obito but it appeared that Nagato had the village closed down pretty good.
It looked as if only the masked man himself could come and go undetected since his jutsu allowed him to dodge the scrutiny anyone but Shiki who could see through dimensions.
So Nagato, Konan. Have you made your decisions?" Shiki asked, not even bothering with the usual small talk.
"Yes . . . We've decided to participate in your plan and support it to the best of our ability." Nagato replied.
"Excellent!" Shiki replied and the Soul Contract bound the both of them as soon as the words were said.
"Now then, to put the measures in effect. I'll send down some automata to start improving the infrastructure but this will be done under my real identity." Shiki started laying out the initial moves.
"It will be as if seeing the effectiveness of the relief efforts I directed in the small country you destroyed impressed you and you decided to hire my services."
"It's not like people know you were the one doing the destroying and the Akatsuki does not now the connection between the real me and the Reaper. We just have to make it look convincing." He concluded.
It was at this moment that Konan pointed out.
"We don't know your real identity either." She said.
"No? From What I just said, it should be easy to guess." Shiki pointed out.
"Uzumaki Shiki . . ." Nagato said.
Shiki took off his mask to reveal his beautiful visage and replied.
"In the flesh." With an exaggerated bow.
"Then going by what you had previously spoken, we should be distant relatives at least." Nagato said.
"Yes, that would be the case." Shiki confirmed.
"Now, first of all, I need to do some preliminary treatment so you won't die when I rip you out of that contraption. Then I'll haul you both to Mugetsu Hq to give the enhancement package for core members and that should fix you right up." He said before getting to work.
His professional work ethic as a medical nin surprised them both as he looked like a completely different person, warm, caregiving, providing the best possible treatment for his patient. The two Ame shinobi even fell into a bit of a trance watching him work.
Soon thought, he was done and pulled Nagato out of the contraption he was in without trouble before turning to Konan.
"Come here and touch me, I'll teleport us." He said.
Konan didn't delay and laid her had on his shoulder as Shiki princess carried Nagato which slightly embarrassed him.
Shiki skipped the main arrival portal room and used his admin privileges to teleport them straight to the enhancement chambers and put Nagato in one before starting to do some adjustments on the enhancement program.
"Nagato is currently very physically feeble so the process will have to be more gradual but he should be right as new by then end." Shiki told Konan.
"As for you, since your sound of health, you can just enter one of the chambers and let the magic happen, it won't take long." He added.
"Alright." Konan replied before doing as he said.
Having decided to trust Shiki, the give trust would not be half assed and they would be his loyal subordinates so long as he stayed true to his previous words.
'Now then . . . After Nagato leaves the Akatsuki with Konan, right before they start capturing jinchuuriki, Obito will be pushed into a corner.' Shiki deduced.
'But I'll have someone ready to conveniently fill up that hole and thus have direct influence over the course of events that lead to the war, making it happen exactly the way I want to . . .' He plotted in his mind with a devious grin on his face.
With all of this in place, he sat there waiting for Konan's enhancement to finish with a satisfied smile on his face as everything in this life was going truly amazingly great for him.
A while later, she came out of the chamber, feeling the welling power within her and having the specs burned into her mind by the chamber.
"No wonder all of your core members are so powerful." Konan said as soon as she came out.
"The difference is only that big when the vessel is good to start with. The reason your abilities improved so much was due to the fact you were already powerful to begin with." SHiki responded.
Konan looked a bit surprised at the high praise and slightly bowed.
"Thank you for the praise." She said.
"Come on." Shiki beckoned.
"I'll show the place and how things work around here and you can do the same for Nagato once his enhancement is finished. Though you'll probably not be spending much time here, there is a lot to take advantage of to complete your duties or even when you just want to relax and take a break."
"Once the link is set up in Amegakure, you'll be able to teleport here and back at a moment's notice after all." Shiki explained as he showed her around.
'We really had no idea what we were up against . . .' Konan though as she looked at the "boy" before her.
'At such a young age, he not only carries a vast ambition but has already gone so far to achieve it. So much of the world is moving under his direction, so many backups and alternatives in case something or someone fails . . .' She pondered.
True admiration and curiosity at how such an abnormal individual came to be was born within Konan and she started asking question of her own, not just about the fortress, but about Shiki himself as well.
Shiki was quite surprised by this but didn't think much of it at all. He sensed pure curiosity from Konan and nothing else and since she was bound by the Soul Contract he didn't feel like he needed to hide much of anything.
When it came to the part of his story of how he had managed to achieve such power personally, Konan was truly dumbfounded.
"If you can handle the pain of having your soul cut apart, stitched together, moulded like clay melted and reformed and so on so forth, getting close enough to my level of power is not impossible." Shiki explained.
Konan didn't know much about the mechanics of manipulating souls but she knew more than most. After all, the Rinnegan had such powers and Nagato spoke of them to her.
Enough for her to know the pain of the soul is countless times that of the body and nothing can compare to it. A great deal of Nagato's suffering came from the fact his very soul could not handle the terrifying power of the Rinnegan.
To know that weathering something countless times worse than that was merely the basic foundation of Shiki's power, a "boy" that by his own admission was only fourteen years old . . . It left Konan not knowing how to feel.
Although Shiki had told this story to others, they simply could not comprehend what the suffering he spoke of entailed but standing by Nagato who suffered for years and now knowing the individual in from of him suffered that same time but countless times magnified made her feel her trials in life were not that harrowing any more.
The motherly instincts hidden in every woman took over for a short bit and she hugged Shiki from behind before coming to her senses and immediately releasing him.
"My apologies." She bowed and apologized.
"No need, I quite enjoy it and it felt nice having someone who can at least imagine my pain, maybe I can find a good friend in Nagato as well . . ." Shiki pondered out loud.
Some of the heavy burden he was carrying showing, and the wear and tear behind his mask of omnipotence showing. This was a sight normally only reserve for Tsunade but Konan got a glimpsed of it today and it changed something within her.
As for what that would result in the future, who knew . . .
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P.a.t.r.e.o.n is officially up!
The link is: https://www.p.a.t.r.e.o.n.com/lusoba without the extra dots of course.
You'll get to read up to FOUR week ahead, a full month, but I'll still post here.
There's also my other novel Archon of DanMachi, do check it out!
I would greatly appreciate any support since this is going to be my breadwinner.