Using the Rinnegan's Power for the First Time!

[Boruto Uzumaki: "We've had it pretty easy in our time, haven't we..."]

[Sasuke Uchiha (young adult): "Yeah, but even so, the nature of a ninja will never change!"]

[Boruto Uzumaki: "Is that so..."]

The footage continued.

"Whoa, there's so much food!"

Nagato looked around the warehouse, his eyes full of surprise.

"If you want to stay here, you have to get some food too!" Yahiko looked at Nagato sternly.

"Get food? How am I supposed to do that?" Nagato tilted his head, looking utterly confused.

"Steal it!"

"Steal? But isn't that wrong...?"

"Are you stupid? In times like these, we have to find our own way to fill our stomachs, or forget about all that talk of right and wrong!" Yahiko glared at Nagato.

"That makes sense..." Nagato's tone was complicated.

"Whether we steal or find some other way, we can't survive unless we do it. Got it?"

"Yeah, I understand..." Nagato nodded.

The scene changed,

Nagato and Konan were walking down a shopping street.

Though it was called a shopping street,

it was really just a series of makeshift tents amid a bleak landscape of ruins.

"Could you spare us something to eat...?"

"Just a little, please!" Konan pressed her palms together and pleaded desperately.

"What fish have I got to spare for you? Get lost!" The shopkeeper glared at the two of them in annoyance.

"Hmph, cheapskate!" Konan frowned slightly.

Just then,

behind the shopkeeper's back, where he couldn't see, Yahiko was reaching out to steal fish.

The scene changed again,

Nagato's dog picked up an apple in its mouth,

instantly drawing the shopkeeper's attention. The shopkeeper saw it and gave chase.

The next second,

the three of them took out a bag and quickly filled it with apples.

But the shopkeeper caught them, and the three took off running.

The three exchanged glances and smiled at one another.

"Nice work, Little One!"

Yahiko reached out and patted the puppy's head.

The scene changed again,

The three kept stealing. As the saying went, if you walked by the river often enough, your shoes were bound to get wet.

Before long,

a man caught Yahiko.

So,

the three were given a brutal beating and thrown onto a garbage heap.

"Small countries ravaged by war simply don't have the resources or facilities to take in orphans. For children left alone with no one to depend on, stealing is the only way to survive..."

"Even under those circumstances, Yahiko still didn't give up hope..."

The scene shifted,

"Are you two all right? Sigh, this sort of thing happens sometimes..." Yahiko shook his head.

"Yeah..."

"Nagato, do you have a dream?" Yahiko looked at Nagato curiously.

"A dream?"

"I'm not going to die in a place like this. I have a big dream: I'm going to conquer the world!"

"Conquer... the world?" Nagato looked bewildered.

Konan followed behind the two boys and gave a soft laugh.

"That's right. If I can stand at the top of the world, I won't have to live such a miserable life anymore, right?"

"Is that how it works...?"

"Besides, if I just died like this, how could I face my parents? Isn't that right, Konan?"

"Yeah!" Konan nodded.

"At the top of the world, I could do whatever I wanted!"

"Wouldn't that make you just like a god? You could even put an end to war..." Nagato had just started to speak.

Suddenly,

a Kunai with an Explosive Tag attached came hurtling down from high above, blasting all three of them away.

The three struggled weakly to their feet.

What was going on?

Had war broken out again?

Yahiko poked his head out,

and soon,

he saw three Konoha Ninja locked in a fierce battle with Hanzo of the Salamander.

[Sarada Uchiha: "This is history from our textbooks, the battle that made the Sannin famous!!"]

[Hanzo of the Salamander: "A textbook? What's that?"]

[Mitsuki: "It's what we study in our peaceful era..."]

[Jiraiya: "...I never expected future generations to remember me, hahaha!!"]

[Tsunade: "Idiot..."]

The footage continued,

"The ones fighting there were Master Jiraiya and the others,

who were later called the Sannin, and their opponent was the Demigod of the Ninja World..."

The shock waves from the four combatants' fight

killed Nagato's Little One in an instant.

Konan and Nagato looked worried,

and quickly turned to Yahiko, their leader.

"Yahiko, what do we do? Little One isn't breathing..."

"Never mind Little One for now. We have to get out of here!" Yahiko's eyes were full of anxiety.

The scene changed,

Nagato held the dead puppy, tears streaming down his face.

"Damn it! Damn it! Damn it all..."

Watching this, Yahiko pounded the wall in helpless anger.

He couldn't do a thing!!!

In this world of endless war...

they were all just nobodies...

They couldn't do anything!

"I'm going to become the god of the world!"

Yahiko's gaze was resolute,

and his teeth ground together. No matter what, he would have his revenge.

"It was then that Yahiko's dream also gave rise to my own dream..."

Nagato's narration rang out over the footage.

[Uchiha Itachi: "This is war... how foolish!"]

[Sasuke Uchiha: "Itachi, you murderer, how dare you speak? Why didn't you kill me that night?!!"]

[Uchiha Fugaku: "That's enough, Sasuke!!"]

[Uchiha Mikoto: "Does it have to be this way..."]

The footage continued,

Nagato buried the dead puppy.

"Nagato, why are you still crying? Crying won't change anything!"

"I want to change this country," Yahiko said angrily. "I can't just talk about it without doing anything. I need power!"

"Power?" Nagato looked puzzled.

"I'm going to learn ninjutsu!"

"From whom?" Nagato asked, tilting his head.

"From the Konoha Ninja who fought Hanzō.

I went to check on them, and they aren't dead. If they survived a fight with Hanzō, they must be really strong..." Yahiko said calmly.

"But..."

Nagato started to say something, then stopped.

His parents had been killed by Konoha Ninja...

"I hate Hanzō. He's the one who turned Amegakure into a battlefield. I have to get stronger..." Yahiko watched the rain falling outside.

Before long,

the three decided to set out and packed food into their backpacks.

"Goodbye, Little One."

The three pressed their palms together, then left.

The scene changed,

The three returned the stolen fruit and vegetables to the man from before.

"I'm sorry." Konan bowed.

The scene changed again,

To find the Sannin,

the three traveled all over.

Because there was poison gas in the air, they wore helmets.

After an unknown amount of time,

they ventured deep into the battlefield and saw many gruesome sights.

Soon,

they encountered ninja.

An explosion rang out,

and Nagato saw the blast approaching.

In his panic, he used the Rinnegan

to create a white shield that blocked it. This was the Sealing Absorption Technique!

Although the three escaped the explosion,

the ground collapsed beneath them, and they fell into a river.

[Mizukage Mei Terumi: "He could use the Rinnegan's power when he was that young...?"]

(You're so good-looking, you'll surely give me a five-star review, right?)