Combined Decision

Sato was walking towards his newly built Raikage office.

On the way to the office, Sato's eyes were drawn towards the window; looking outside, the familiar towering mountains were back in the village.

"Nagato rebuilt the village."

Sato whistled with wonder.

"This village was a crater after the previous attack. But Nagato rallied the Akatsuki to fix our village."

"In the end to prove his surrender, he even let us plant a curse seal in his heart."

Knowing about his actions, some might respect Nagato's determination. But in Sato's eyes, he was a fool.

Not only did Nagato trust Raikage Sato, in the original story he also trusted Hokage Naruto.

Both of these decisions, were very bad ideas.

Naruto was incapable of fulfilling his promise to Nagato; he was too supid to know how the world works. In the end, Naruto ignored his promise to Nagato, and let hidden rain rot after Pain's defeat.

As for Sato, Sato was unwilling to consider Nagato a partner. Sato was pretty vengeful; Nagato had done a lot of harm to the hidden cloud. Sato would not consider Nagato an equal.

That's why Sato subtly manipulated, and convinced Nagato to plant a curse seal in his heart. Now he could kill Nagato anytime, if he ever acted against the hidden cloud.

"Forgive me Nagato. You trust me but I can't trust you."

Sato whispered an apology in his heart.

"You are the leader of Akatsuki; I need you in my team to convince Akatsuki to surrender."

"But most importantly, I have to do this for the Rinnegan. I tried to use the eye myself, but like Obito, I can't handle the eye's strain."

"Only a Sage descendent can use the rinnegan efficiently. I am a civilian; I can't physically handle this eye."

"I need an Uzumaki, to use the rinnegan for me; Karin is my choice. She is dead loyal to me and is the purest Uzumaki alive."

Nagato on the other hand, was the only one who could teach her. He was the sole remaining Uzumaki who knew about his heritage, and he also knew about the Rinnegan.

Keeping Nagato alive was far more useful to Sato than killing him outright. Even if Sato had to deceive him for it.

"Raikage Sama, You are just in time. The five-kage summit is about to begin."

Sato's distant eyes refocused after hearing Mabui talk. Mabui spoke calmly, like she hadn't seen Raikage spacing out before his office.

"As per your suggestion, the five Kage have agreed to hold the meeting through a video conference."

"It would be in our best interest, if we aren't late to the conference call ourselves."

Sato nodded while rubbing his hair with irritation. After Akatsuki's attack, Mabui became his new assistant. And Sato couldn't help but notice, that her personality didn't match his own.

Mabui was used to dealing with muscle-headed Raikages. She habitually explained things, like she was talking to an ignorant person.

She was treating Sato the same way as she treated Raikage A. This made Sato uncomfortable, like she was trying to babysit him.

"I get it, Mabui. I was thinking about something just now."

Regardless, Sato smiled and thanked Mabui politely, burying his dissatisfaction deep in his heart.

"There is one minute remaining before the video conference begins; get everything in order Mabui."

"And remember, even if it's a long distance call, we must visually show them our strength. We have to look strong for the camera."

Removing his shirt, Sato dropped it on the ground, flexed his muscles, and walked forward. His Raikage's tattoo was glowing with vigor.

He was going to look powerful for this one.

Mabui on the other hand, had to do double take, but she was professional; she removed her eyes from Sato's body and picked up his shirt.

As a secretary, she regularly dealt with all kinds of mess. Picking up discarded clothing lying around the office was a normal for her.

'And my friends say why I act like a mother, it's because I have to work like one.'

Mabui folded Sato's shirt and kept it on the shelf, closing the door behind her; she sealed the office.

By the time she stood behind Sato, the conference had begun.

Mabui remained patient and kept her ears open. Just in case Raikage insults the other Kage, or makes major decisions in a fit of rage.

But time passed, and Mabui started to get nervous. Sato wasn't breaking the table in anger, nor did he start cursing like a raikage should.

Instead, Raikage Sato was talking like a normal person; this situation was so bizarre to her, she almost didn't know what to say.

She suddenly felt like a novice secretary; she had little experience dealing with a normal boss, much less a boss who seemed smarter than her.

Her go-to attitude for Raikage was that of a mother. But maybe, this type of strategy won't work on Sato.

'Acting like I usually do, isn't working with Sato sama. Maybe I should act like a friend instead?'

Mabui wondered; she wasn't much older than Sato; she could make this work.

'Oh no, I got distracted and missed what they were talking about.'

'The Kage meeting is over, I hope I didn't miss anything important. I messed up.'

Mabui cursed herself for ignoring the last few minutes of the meeting.

But she was the secretary; she had to know what happened. She bit the bullet and asked Sato.

"Raikage Sama, sorry I missed the conclusion of the meeting."

Mabui smiled awkwardly at Sato.

"Can you tell me what happened? What was the conclusion the five kage summit?"

Sato yawned and gave Mabui the side eye; he had noticed her being distracted during the meeting, but that didn't bother him.

After all during the meeting, he purposely acted in a way which would make her confused. Sato didn't feel comfortable with her babysitting attitude, so had decided to change that.

When he dropped his shirt carelessly, he reinforced her babying nature; and made her feel needed. But immediately after that, he created a gap in her expectations and reality.

He didn't act in a way that would need her help. As time passed, she got more and more uncomfortable.

In her nervousness, she started missing details, which made her even more nervous in return.

Raikage Sato had trapped her in a loop, making her question her capability as an assistant. This forced her to make a change, if she wanted to remain relevant.

And from the looks of it, she had changed her attitude somewhat. She was less like a babysitter now.

"Did you miss the conclusion? What were you thinking, Mabui?"

Sato shook his head with fake dissatisfaction.

"Listen closely this time. We have decided to hunt down Tobi."

"The villages want to stop him before he collects the tailed beasts, or revive Madara and starts a war."

"Thanks to Black Zetsu, we know their plan. Nobody wants Tobi to cast infinite tsukuyomi on the ninja world."

Sato smiled lightly; he had used black Zetsu's name to warn the Kage, about Infinite Tsukuyomi.

Even Madara's name was mentioned by him, just to scare them as much as possible.

Sato had played all his cards, but he himself had other plans.

"Next, we will pretend to hunt Tobi. But remember, don't actually hunt him down."

Sato narrowed his eyes with a sly look.

"Tobi would not target us; he already has the two tails and eight tail's chakra."

"Let him attack other villages; let them injure each other as much as possible."

"When the fight's over, everyone will be injured, only we will remain powerful."

After Sato finished speaking, Mabui realized his real intentions.

"I get it, as long as we stay out of this fight, our village will retain it's full strength."

"Without lifting a finger, we would become the strongest village in the world."

Sato smiled, leaned back in his chair with folded hands. Mabui was sweating but still noted down Sato's intentions.

Sato was certainly different from fourth Raikage. But he was also a big troublemaker. And the trouble he caused was on a global scale.

She would rather Sato cause trouble in the village, at least she could handle that.

"Raikage sama, I will prepare plans to take down the villages when they get injured."

Ignoring her own thoughts, Mabui maintained her professional look.

"Although, I must remind you that your idea has risks."

"The villages might understand what we want to do, and unite against us."

"But if we succeed, we would have successfully conquered the great nations."

"I suggest you think carefully about this."

Mabui did her duty and warned Sato of the potential dangers with his idea. Sato politely smiled and nodded.

She was not wrong to think so, this was risky, but he would not back down.

Uniting the villages was necessary. The ninja world needs to come together, if they want to survive.

The Otsutsuki clan doesn't care about ninja world's division. They will attack regardless.

Without the fourth Ninja War, Sato had to unite the planet in a different way.

'This is the most effective way; I have some confidence in this plan.'

Sato tapped the office table.

'Unless someone deliberately creates trouble for me, hidden cloud will be the ultimate winner.'

'Obito will keep attacking, and the great villages will keep getting damaged.'

'Without lifting a finger, I will be named leader of the allied Shinobi forces.'

'Solely due to how much power we would retain in the end.'

Sato smiled with satisfaction. Using enemies to get the job done—that was the way a ninja should act.