The Countdown Ends. Who Do You Want to See Next?
[Senju Tobirama:"Danzo, you bastard, why did you have to go and provoke the Akatsuki when everything was fine!!!"]
[Shimura Danzō:"Sensei, you don't understand. The Akatsuki had grown too large at the time. It would have threatened peace in the Shinobi World!!!"]
[Tobirama Senju:"Danzo, I really want to slap you to death!!!"]
The footage continued.
"I've finished telling my story. Now let me hear your answer."
Nagato looked at Naruto with a complicated expression.
Naruto pulled a novel from inside his clothes. It was written by Jiraiya-sensei.
Jiraiya-sensei's words surfaced in his mind, and his tone was complicated.
"Maybe you're right... I understand you now..."
"But even so, I still can't forgive you!" Naruto's brow furrowed.
"I really hate you!"
"Then let's settle this!" Nagato said firmly.
"But..." Naruto interrupted Nagato.
The two looked at Naruto in surprise.
"Jiraiya-sensei trusted me and entrusted everything to me, so I'm going to choose to believe in him too!
That's my answer!" Naruto looked at Nagato with determination.
"I won't kill you..."
Nagato's pupils contracted sharply at Naruto's answer.
"I see... So that's your answer?
You want us to believe you can bring peace to the world, and then just keep waiting?
Don't joke around. True peace doesn't exist!" Nagato said heatedly.
"As long as we live in this world, there can be no peace!"
"Then I'll break that curse!!" Naruto's gaze was especially resolute.
"If peace really does exist, I'll seize it and never let go!"
"You... That's..." Nagato's voice was full of shock.
"That's right. It's a line from this book, a novel Jiraiya-sensei wrote," Naruto said in a complicated tone.
"At the end of the book, he wrote about his students. Your name is in there, Nagato..."
Sweat beaded on Nagato's forehead. "How could that be..."
The scene changed.
Nagato recalled his childhood.
Back then, he had always asked his teacher how to achieve peace, and he had said with conviction:
"Someday, I'll break the curse on this world!
If peace really exists, I'll seize it and never let go! More important than the method is the power to believe!"
Inspired by this, Jiraiya decided to write a new book using Nagato's name.
"Now I can return to the village without worrying. From here on, it's up to you...
You three have worked hard these past three years!"
Jiraiya looked at his three students, reluctant to leave them.
A flute played softly,
gradually growing melancholy...
When would this war finally end...
Lost in his childhood memories, Nagato's eyes were full of pain.
"Thank you, Sensei..."
The scene changed.
"My name is..."
Naruto's words brought back Nagato's memories.
In Naruto, Nagato seemed to see himself as a child.
"You're the savior of the world. Maybe what you say really can come true..."
A glimmer of hope gradually lit up Nagato's eyes.
[Ōnoki:"I've got sand in my eyes..."]
[Kurotsuchi:"I'm crying. Nagato found his childhood self in Naruto..."]
[Kakashi Hatake:"I'm still in the revival round, kids..."]
[Sakura Haruno:"Kakashi-sensei (ó﹏ò｡)"]
The footage continued.
"And then, the name of the main character in this book... is..."
Naruto raised his head and looked Nagato straight in the eye.
"Naruto!"
"So my name is a precious gift Jiraiya-sensei left me. I can never give up!
I'll become Hokage, and then I'll bring peace to Amegakure! Please believe me!"
Naruto's voice rang with conviction.
"Why... Why are you so sure you won't fail? Can you really believe in yourself?!"
"I have my own pain too..."
Naruto's thoughts drifted back to his childhood.
Back then,
everyone had shunned him because he was the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki.
"I don't know what pain might be waiting for me in the future, but...
If I lose faith because I'm afraid of pain,
then I won't be the main character of the story anymore, and what my master left behind will become someone else's story.
I can't write books like my master, so my life is the next chapter of the story he hoped for!"
"No matter how painful the things I face are, I'll keep moving forward. That's the real Naruto!"
As Nagato listened to Naruto's words,
the faintest hint of a smile touched his lips.
"I have a feeling that the paths you and I walk will lead to completely different futures."
As Nagato spoke, he slowly pulled out his hand.
"I choose to believe in you, Naruto Uzumaki!"
Nagato stared at Naruto with determination, then quickly brought his hands together and formed a seal.
"Outer Path: Samsara of Heavenly Life Technique!"
"Nagato, you..." Konan's voice was full of anxiety and concern.
"Konan, enough.
I've made a new choice, the choice I once abandoned..."
"What's that... a new Ninjutsu?" Naruto could barely hide his shock.
"With the Rinnegan, one can not only control various abilities, but also free the deceased from the cycle of life and death..."
"Their ocular power can perform a technique that controls life and death. That is the power of the seventh Pain!" Konan's gaze was complicated.
At that moment,
Nagato's body was weak to the extreme.
He was ready to face death calmly!
The scene changed.
Above the ruins of Konoha,
an enormous gate of the King of Hell appeared.
The King of Hell slowly opened his bloody maw,
from which a steady stream of ghostly green lights poured out.
The green lights rose high into the sky, then drifted down, enveloping every one of the dead!
The green light surrounded all of Konoha!
Everything seemed to have settled...
Everyone had been given a new life...
Without a doubt,
Naruto might really have the power to change this world!
[Madara Uchiha:"Nagato, you bastard!!!!"]
In the Pure Land,
Madara was practically bursting with rage as he watched the footage!
Those Rinnegan were his.
He hadn't even been willing to use them himself!
And yet Nagato
had used them to revive his enemies—and so many of them!
"What the hell is Obito doing?!"
Madara clenched his teeth as he looked at Obito's avatar in the chat group.
[Hashirama Senju:"Madara, why are you so worked up?"]
[Tobirama Senju:"Evil Madara Uchiha, were you the one who implanted Nagato's Rinnegan?"]
[Madara Uchiha:"?"]
[Tobirama Senju:"Heh, that's my many years of experience talking!"]
[Nagato Uzumaki:"Second Hokage, please don't get it wrong. My Rinnegan have been mine from the very beginning!"]
[Sage Fukasaku:"However you look at it, at least everyone came back to life..."]
[Hagoromo Otsutsuki:"That child Naruto really does have the power to change the world!"]
[Hashirama Senju:"Hahaha, that kid Naruto is outstanding!!"]
[Tobirama Senju:"Indeed. He cast aside his hatred and faced himself. That's far better than those evil Uchiha!"]
The footage continued.
Naruto was stunned to learn that everyone in the village had come back to life.
"The people I killed after coming to Konoha can still be saved. Consider this my atonement for now..."
Nagato said weakly.
Seeing Nagato's haggard state
and his pale hair, Naruto couldn't stop his lips from trembling.
"War always leaves both sides dead and wounded. The more important the person who dies, the harder it is to accept.
In truth, those important people didn't have to die."
As Nagato spoke, a mouthful of blood dripped to the ground.
He decided to place all his hopes on Naruto.
"When hatred goes on endlessly, it leads to war. Naruto, that's what you'll have to face next."
"Whether it's me in the book or in reality, it all feels as though it was arranged... Could this be God's plan?"
"It seems my mission ends here. Naruto, if it were you, perhaps you really could do it..."
The leaves slowly fell away, turning into sheets of white paper that drifted into the distance...
"The countdown of Sage Naruto's explosive entrance is over!"
[System:"Ding! Calculating Naruto's reward..."]
[System:"Calculation complete. Reward: Rasengan: Uzuhiko!"]
[Naruto Uzumaki:"What kind of Ninjutsu is that?"]
[Boruto Uzumaki (young adult):"!!!!"]
(This book is intended to be different from the previous one, taking a completely new approach...)
(You're so good-looking, and you've read this far. Could you add this book to your bookshelf?)
(Thank you (ᐡっ ̫ •̥⸝⸝ᐡ))