must be reading different manga .......
naruto perfect host when he was vs nagato?lol
anyway the manga i read was naruto and bee getting owned by nagato easily

nagato taking their chakara and becoming full strength and allowing him to move and then itachi comes rescues them.
all the battle they were liabilities and in the end they helped itachi by destroying a rock which he does not need destroyed cause he edo proven by mardara when he dropped a rock on himself

and u call me a fan boy lol
fan boys are like you who always find excuses to make their char best even at a lose find excuses (nagato fan boy)
here is some of the ppl who can own itachi (not mentioning all of them)
1-madara
2-tobi
3-sarutobi
4-minato etc
nagato is one of the strongest in naruto anime but putting him above itachi is ridicules specially when itachi has yata mirror and legendary sealing sword.
nagato(prime)>itachi (prime)
nagato(prime)<itachi +legendry stuff (prime)
nagato (crippled)==itachi sick can go both ways