"Face reality! Rasengan!" Naruto Uzumaki's Rasengan struck the Deva Path in the abdomen, sending his body flying backward like a cannonball. With a tremendous crash, the Deva Path's body smashed heavily through the rocks behind him. At this point, every Pain had been defeated.
Within a deep, ancient tree, Nagato raised his head at the same time and said in a low voice, "So they failed."
Naruto stood before the Deva Path's corpse. Though it was already nothing more than a dead body, he still reached out and pulled the black chakra rods from it one by one.
Yet his mind replayed every moment of the battle so far, along with the Fourth Hokage he had met within the realm of consciousness—his father.
There had not been much time, so father and son had not spoken much. Even so, Naruto had felt the fatherly love he had always longed for.
Afterward, the Nine-Tails was naturally sealed away again. Naruto broke through Planetary Devastation and took down the Deva Path. Everything proceeded as it should have.
"What exactly are this so-called peace and mutual understanding... Pervy Sage?" Holding one of the chakra rods pulled from the Deva Path, Naruto looked up at the sky as if seeking an answer from Jiraiya in heaven.
A moment later, he clenched his teeth and drove the chakra rod into his arm. Blood continuously seeped out as pain spread through him.
At that moment, he made a certain decision. Hatred had to end, and the cycle of resentment had to stop with him.
At last, he somewhat understood what Jiraiya had meant by "mutual understanding." Unfortunately, the price had been far too heavy.
He gathered his focus and entered Sage Mode once more, carefully sensing the location of the other's true body through the black