Soon, everyone learned the full story.
On the screen—
Naruto pulled out all the black rods from Tendo Pain's body, physically eliminating any possibility of Nagato continuing to control the Pain puppets.
Naruto then inserted a black rod into his own palm to sense Nagato's location. And in an instant, he dashed into the forest, leaping from tree to tree.
Meanwhile, Konoha's sensory team had also located Nagato and was heading toward the same destination. When they met in the forest, Naruto didn't explain much, he simply said he wanted to face Nagato alone.
Nara Shikaku believed that since Naruto was the one who had stopped Pain, he had the right to speak with Nagato alone, so he agreed to Naruto's request.
Of course, even if the others present had disagreed, there was nothing they could have done to stop Naruto anyway.
Soon, Naruto arrived at a large tree disguised by paper tags. After activating Sage Mode, he landed lightly and pulled the paper tree open like a zipper, walking straight inside.
Sensing Naruto's arrival, Konan blocked his path, but Nagato's somewhat weak voice called out from behind her: "Konan, step back."
Konan hesitated for a moment, then looking at Nagato's expression she eventually stepped aside, leaving the space to Naruto and Nagato.
[Actually, there's not much left to say at this point. With Naruto arriving in Sage Mode, and with all Six Paths of Pain gone, Nagato's main body was practically defenseless against Sage Naruto.]
[Even though Konan was still there, her Paper-Style wasn't that powerful without explosions, and as for the 600 billion Explosive Tags, whether she had them prepared or not was another matter, but Nagato would be the biggest liability. If they detonated, he would definitely die before Nar uto.]
[And that's not even mentioning the Konoha shinobis watching from a distance, or the possibility of Danzō jumping in to claim the spoils if the fight continued. In reality, under these circumstances, Nagato was truly at the end of his rope, which is why he chose to sit down and talk, and he also wanted to know what Naruto wanted to say by coming alone.]
Just then, the scene suddenly shifted to Mount Myōboku, where an aged toad gazed into a crystal ball, his voice carrying a hint of surprise:
"The two Children of Prophecy have met. How will things turn out?"
---
[Timeline of Konoha, Year 60]
Nagato instantly felt a bit uncomfortable watching this scene. Meanwhile, Jiraiya, far away in the Land of Waves, held his breath; he really wanted to know what kind of ideological clash would unfold between his two disciples in the future.
[To put it bluntly, Nagato was ultimately a man of low conviction. Yahiko could convince him, Jiraiya could convince him, Obito could convince him, and Naruto could convince him too.]
[For someone his age, he had no real will of his own—no ideas of his own. He just went along with whatever someone told him. No wonder Madara chose to give him his eyes. Madara probably knew all along that Nagato was easy to control, nothing more than a tool.]
The moment these words were spoken, the secrets within instantly shocked the people of the Shinobi World.
"The Rinnegan… belonged to Uchiha Madara?!"
"Good grief, he was willing to give away eyes like those?"
"Wait—didn't Madara have the Sharingan?"
On the other hand, the Tobiramas of various Timelines of the Shinobi World nodded slightly; as expected, this matter was just as they had previously guessed.
---
[Akatsuki Hideout]
Aside from Konan, who was watching Tendo Pain with concern, everyone else's eyes darted between Pain and Obito.
After all, Obito had been playing the role of Madara all along. Now, with the Sky Screen's latest revelation, the Akatsuki members naturally smelled a conspiracy.
Tendo Pain on the scene remained expressionless. But in Amegakure, at the top of the Rain Tower, Nagato's true body had turned deathly pale—his entire body lurching forward, nearly falling out of his wheelchair.
This time, the Sky Screen had shattered any lingering hope, even revealing the name of the Rinnegan's true owner.
Uchiha Madara!
The legendary "Asura of the Shinobi World"!
His pair of Rinnegan actually belonged to him!
Then what has his entire life been?
In an instant, Amegakure was engulfed by violent winds, the gentle drizzle transforming into a raging storm.
[Both Nagato's parents and his companion Yahiko died because of war. This caused the Akatsuki, which had originally advocated achieving peace through negotiation, not force, to devolve into a mercenary organization that waged war.]
[So just as the weak Amegakure was ravaged by the conflicts between the great nations, Nagato, now wielding overwhelming power, manipulated the Six Paths of Pain to invade Konoha, leveling the entire village with Shinra Tensei forcing Konoha's shinobi to experience the same senseless suffering he had endured as a child.]
[Nagato didn't even hesitate to kill his sensei, Jiraiya, in order to carry out his plan for peace in the Shinobi World, so why was he swayed by Naruto's Talk-no-Jutsu?]
[First is the issue of power as mentioned just now.]
[Naruto was able to meet Nagato, and even use Talk-no-Jutsu on him, because he had defeated the Six Paths of Pain; allowing him to stand on equal footing and negotiate with Nagato.]
[And Naruto, who had the ability to seek revenge against Nagato, did not retaliate. Instead, he chose to speak calmly about Jiraiya's ideals, and that was what truly shook Nagato's belief in "ending war with war, and violence with violence."]
[Second, both Naruto and Nagato had suffered tragic pasts. If you look closely, everyone Naruto converted with Talk-no-Jutsu had been through terrible ordeals—Gaara, Sasuke, Obito, Nagato, and all others were like this.]
[Among them, Nagato had perhaps the closest connection to Naruto. Because Nagato was Naruto's senior in the same master-disciple lineage as they shared the same teacher, Jiraiya, and both were "Children of Prophecy."]
[Naruto lost both parents as a child, and as a Jinchuriki, he grew up alone while being ostracized by the villagers; Nagato's parents were mistakenly killed by Konoha shinobis, leaving him to wander and steal to survive with Yahiko and Konan, and later Yahiko, who founded the Akatsuki, was killed by Hanzo.]
[Thus, Naruto, who "shared the same plight" as Nagato, could use his words to reopen Nagato's long-sealed heart. Of course, Naruto's Talk-no-Jutsu only works on those whose nature isn't inherently evil. For people like Hidan, who enjoy killing, it would be impossible to convince them even if Naruto's whole body was covered in mouths.]
[And third, both Naruto and Nagato longed for peace.]
[At first, Nagato's worldview was exactly the same as the later Naruto's; he firmly believed in Jiraiya's words: "The day will come when people truly understand one another."]
[And although "The Tale of the Utterly Gutsy Shinobi" written by Jiraiya was the first book written with his own life trajectory as a reference, the inspiration for the protagonist's characterization came from Nagato, because the famous line "If there is such a thing as peace, I'll seize it" came from Nagato himself.]
[Unfortunately, Nagato later strayed from Jiraiya's ideals and adopted the extreme method of fighting violence with violence to create peace.]
[As Tendo Pain once said: "You strive for your justice, and I strive for mine. We're both just ordinary men who have been driven to seek vengeance in the name of justice."]
[That statement applies to almost everyone. But Naruto, for the sake of his ideal peace, was willing to forgive Nagato, even after he killed their sensei and destroyed Konoha. Naruto tried to understand the pain Nagato had endured, and that was enough to make Nagato, who also longed for peace to trust him, and entrust him with his dream of achieving world peace.]
[Speaking of which, did Naruto ultimately succeed? Well, it can only be said to be a partial success.]
[With Naruto around, the Shinobi World was certainly at peace. But Amegakure was unlucky, it later became a base for the Kara organization, and the village fell into ruin and chaos, far from the way it had been during Nagato's rule.]
[Even Kirigakure, once known as the "Bloody Mist Village," became a modernized city in the future. One can only wonder how Nagato would feel if he saw what had become of Amegakure.]
*****
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