Turning the tides.

Both Konan and Nagato ended up spending the rest of the night mostly talking and figuring out what to do next as they stayed relatively close to the Village.

"Konan...so where exactly is the Nine Tails' host?" Nagato asked Konan curiously.

"Ah, well...something interesting has occurred." Konan rubbed her head, thinking about an explanation that Nagato would accept.

"Oh...? Did something out of your control happen to the Jinchūriki?" Nagato questioned her.

"Hmm...well...yes, actually." Konan nodded. 'That "something" happened to be this possession Jutsu, which I used on Konan...me, but he doesn't have to know that...' She thought to herself as she went to respond to Nagato. "What ended up happening is that the Jinchūriki somehow fell into a comatose state after being defeated..." Konan explained to Nagato.

"A comatose state...did you perhaps hit the host too hard?" Nagato prodded.

"N-No...of course not." Konan stammered a bit. "But regardless, I decided it would be best for him to stay within his apartment with a clone of mine watching over him...lest we risk anything else bizarre occurring."

"...Yes...I can agree." Nagato eventually nodded. "Well...for now, he will not be our priority..."

"I see, well, why don't we go back to the plans with the Akatsuki?" Konan suggested to him.

"So...you wanted to turn the Akatsuki against Madara and Zetsu...correct?" Nagato spoke, weighing the risks of trying to take on Madara and Zetsu. "It could be quite risky...you know? We still don't exactly know the true extent of Madara's powers, though we do have enough information on certain powers to be able to counter them in a proper manner." Nagato responded, rubbing his chin thoughtfully.

"Still, this is our best plan at the moment." Konan replied back. "If we can rally the rest of the Akatsuki against him and kill him, then finishing off whoever won't follow us afterwards...This will be our final major bloody massacre before we wipe the table clean..." She continued softly. "Once we finish this...let's move forward with the purpose of spreading peace...in a more peaceful way...with as little **** as possible. Obviously our blood stained pasts will continue to haunt us, since we've worked as mercenaries for hire for so long...."

"It will certainly be difficult to get people to see us as changed individuals...but we do have time on our hands...I'm sure eventually, we can clear our image...and make people see who we wanted to be so long ago...bringers of actual peace...just like Yahiko dreamed of..." Nagato smiled gently this time.

"Yes...that would certainly be quite the accomplishment, wouldn't it...?" Konan smiled as well, for both having that idea entertained, and seeing Nagato truly smiling without worry or being stressed to an extent did wonders. "For that...who do you think we should start with?" Konan asked Nagato.

"Hmm...if we had to start...wouldn't our best bet be Itachi Uchiha?" Nagato suggested to Konan. "Madara possesses the Sharingan...however, so does Itachi. If we can get Itachi onto our side, I'm confident that he will be able to counter Madara's Sharingan with his own..."

"Well...that implies that we'll be able to convince Itachi to begin with..." Konan replied, a bit downcast. "We don't have anything in particular that would interest him to joining our side. We have no idea as to what his relationship with Madara might be...Regardless, I do agree that having him on our side is something we should strive for first."

"The others might be a bit more...unpredictable, however...especially with the personalities they all have..." Nagato put out.

"Mm. Though, unlike Itachi, there are certainly things we can use to convince them to side with us." Konan reassured him as she explained the possible ways to convince the other majority of the other Akatsuki members as Nagato listened carefully.

"This could certainly work...especially with the offers you're willing to make to have them side in our ****." He spoke after a while. "The unfortunate part is that he hasn't shown himself back yet..." He sighed. "We'll need to plan the **** part of this part out very carefully...but there are too many unpredictable variables running amok for any plan to have even the smallest chances of succeeding... So for now... let's focus on what we know we should be capable of doing. Though I'm sure we can both agree as I believe you're thinking of the same individual as I...Who should we start trying to recruit to this plan...?"