The Boy Returned

Year 128 of Konoha, on an unnamed island a hundred li from the Land of Water.

Deep inside a cave, candlelight flickered dimly.

On a stone bed lay a man with graying hair and a face full of wrinkles. His life was nearing its end.

If not for his blue eyes and the three symmetrical whisker marks on each cheek, no one would have believed he was the former Seventh Hokage, Naruto Uzumaki!

He had risen from oppression, achieved glory, and ultimately fallen into desolation.

At twelve, he graduated from the Ninja Academy and became a Genin of Konoha.

At sixteen, he defeated Pain and became Konoha's hero. That same year, he fought in the Fourth Shinobi World War and joined forces with Sasuke Uchiha to seal Kaguya, bringing peace to the shinobi world.

But the shinobi world's calamities did not end with Kaguya's sealing.

After that, Kinshiki, Momoshiki, Urashiki, Isshiki... each brought another war!

In their battle against Ōtsutsuki Isshiki, Naruto lost the Nine-Tails, and Sasuke lost his Rinnegan.

Left with no other choice, they entrusted the shinobi world's future to the new generation, led by Boruto.

Boruto lived up to their hopes. After growing through his trials, he used his Jōgan and Momoshiki's Ōtsutsuki power to surpass even his father at his peak, resolving crisis after crisis and bringing new prosperity to the shinobi world.

But that prosperity turned to ashes with the arrival of Ōtsutsuki Shinshiki!

Shinshiki possessed overwhelming power, several times greater than Kaguya's had been!

The shinobi world marshaled all its strength to face him, but the battle ended in catastrophe!

His closest friend, his wife, his children, his comrades... all died in battle!

Their cries before they died echoed through Naruto's mind for countless days and nights afterward, tormenting his anguished soul!

"Naruto, our powers aren't working..."

"Naruto-kun, please live on. Please forgive me for not being able to stay by your side..."

"Father, I've already... done everything I could!"

"Lord Seventh, please retreat! You're our last hope!!!"

At the end of the battle, with Naruto utterly exhausted, the Kumogakure shinobi sent him away using a secret technique. When he awoke, the enemy had already left, leaving the shinobi world a scorched wasteland!

Naruto fell to his knees and wept until his tears ran dry. Then his life in exile began.

He had thought of doing something, but in his twilight years, he no longer had the strength!

He had drifted aimlessly until now, when he was finally about to bid this world farewell.

Beside the candleholder sat an ancient-looking turtle. It was Rei, a time-travel treasure of the Ōtsutsuki Clan, brought by Urashiki years ago. After passing through several hands, it had ended up with Naruto.

But Rei was broken. Not only had it lost its ability to travel through time, it could no longer even speak.

Alone in his old age, Naruto had only Rei to confide in.

"Hey, you know, Turtle, the greatest mistake of my life was underestimating that clan's power..."

During his battles against the Ōtsutsuki, Naruto had learned the cruel truth.

Far out among the stars, an unfathomable distance from the shinobi world's planet, lay Takamagahara, the planet where the Ōtsutsuki Clan originated!

On Takamagahara, beings stronger than Kaguya were everywhere!

"Back then, we worked together and sealed Kaguya. Then we defeated Momoshiki, and I assumed that was all our enemies amounted to... I was too naive. I actually thought that as long as everyone worked together, we could defeat those enemies from beyond the stars."

"We humans lost from the starting line. Reality proved that the Sage of Six Paths' path wasn't entirely right. Everything Kaguya feared back then came true. In the end, we were too shortsighted... cough, cough, cough!"

At that, Naruto began coughing heavily, his vision growing ever blurrier.

The candle flame fluttered on the verge of going out. There was little time left.

Just then, Rei, silent for years, actually spoke. "If you could start over, would you seek revenge against them?"

Naruto merely assumed he was hearing things in his dying moments and paid it little mind.

His gaze was calm, his voice weathered. "Revenge only brings a chain of hatred. I won't take that path. But if I really could start over, I'd pay any price to gain enough power to stand against them. Only then could I truly protect the people most important to me..."

Rei fell silent for a moment. "Any price? That doesn't sound like something you'd say."

Naruto slowly closed his eyes, a desolate smile touching his lips. "That innocent Naruto Uzumaki who did nothing but spout ideals died the day his homeland and family were destroyed..."

Rei remained silent for a long time. "Perhaps... I can grant your wish."

Naruto murmured, "Can you send me back to the past?"

Rei said, "If I send only your soul, yes. But it's a one-way journey. You'll never be able to return. You'll remain in that era forever. Are you willing, even so?"

Naruto smiled. "Why would I come back to a world where everyone's gone...?"

Rei said, "Then reach out your hand."

With the last of his strength, Naruto shakily reached over... Whoosh! Rei absorbed the final trace of chakra remaining in his body!

Hum!

The treasure activated!

Naruto's soul left his body and returned to the past, carried by the torrent of time!

Whoosh!

The candle went out...

The Naruto of this era closed his eyes forever.

Crack! Crack!

Cracks spread across Rei's body. It was about to be destroyed completely...

"I've witnessed so much in my travels through time. Naruto Uzumaki, if anyone can stop that clan's atrocities, it's you. Rise again, in a timeline neither too early nor too late..."

Naruto felt his consciousness sinking through a tunnel... when he opened his eyes again, he was inside a sealed gray space!

In his hands was a book: The Tale of the Utterly Gutsy Shinobi, written by Jiraiya!

Before him, the skeletal Nagato sat in a mechanical apparatus, with Konan standing beside him!

What was going on? Was this a dream!?

For a moment, Naruto was completely bewildered... he pinched his leg hard, and the pain jolted him to awareness.

This wasn't a dream!!

Nagato spoke sorrowfully. "Change the protagonist, and it becomes a different story..."

"I'm your senior, a fellow student who admired the same teacher. I said before that we should be able to understand each other."

"Though I was only joking at the time."

"You're truly an incredible person."

"You can't help but remind me of who I used to be...!"

"Nagato..." His unusual tone made Konan realize something.

"I can't believe in Jiraiya."

"No, I can't believe in myself either..."

"But... I sense that the paths we take will lead to different futures!"

"I'll try believing in you... Naruto Uzumaki!"

As his words faded... Nagato pulled both hands free of the viscous restraints and formed those momentous hand seals!

-Outer Path: Rinne Rebirth!

Konan cried out, "Nagato... you!"

Nagato said resolutely, "Konan, enough. I've made a new choice! A choice I once abandoned!"

Naruto abruptly came to his senses. "This is...!?"

Thinking Naruto was asking about the technique before him, Konan explained, "Someone with the Rinnegan can not only control the Six Paths of Pain, but is also said to transcend the cycle of life and death. Nagato's ocular power is a technique that governs life and death-the seventh Pain!"

"I know..." Naruto clenched his hand. What he knew was that the voice he had heard before dying had not been a hallucination. It had been Rei!

I'm back. I'm really back. My soul returned to the moment I negotiated with Nagato after defeating Pain!

His heart pounded so hard it nearly leaped into his throat. His trembling hands had nowhere to settle, and the book's cover was soaked with his sweat!

The Naruto standing there was still Naruto, but his soul was Naruto's, returned from the future!

Of course, Konan had no way of knowing any of this. She watched Nagato in anguish. With the chakra Nagato has left, using this technique will immediately... he's willing to go this far just to help this child.

She turned to Naruto, marveling inwardly. This incredible child changed Nagato.

"Outer Path...!!" Nagato's hands trembled as he formed the seals. Sweat poured down his gaunt torso. Pushing his life force and chakra beyond their limits turned even his trademark Uzumaki Clan red hair a desolate white!

The technique complete... Nagato's hands fell limply. "Consider it... a small act of atonement."

Rustle, rustle, rustle!

The small Katsuyu hidden in Naruto's clothes crawled out and told him, "People in the village are coming back to life..."

"Yeah... I know." Everything before him was something Naruto had personally experienced all those years ago, etched into the deepest recesses of his memory!

Only... his state of mind was entirely different now!

With his breath barely a whisper, Nagato spoke his final words.

"War brings death and injury to both sides."

"The more important someone is to you, the harder their death is to accept."

"You feel that the people precious to you didn't have to die."

"Especially for your generation, who haven't known war, it's even harder..."

"You try to find meaning in death."

"But all that remains is pain, and hatred with nowhere to go."

"Deaths like those of ants..."

"Hatred that lasts forever, and pain that never heals..."

"That is war."

"Naruto, that's something you, too, will have to face..."

"It seems my mission ends here. Naruto... perhaps you really can do it."

With a rustle... the great tree created as a disguise by the technique scattered into sheets of paper.

Naruto lowered his eyes, burying his face deep in shadow.

Yes, I understand, my senior... everything you've said today, I experienced later, and it was carved into my very bones!

I feel your pain... more deeply than I did back then!

So now that I've returned, I'll change it all!

The corners of Nagato's mouth lifted. "Both the book and you... it feels as though someone arranged this for me. No, perhaps this truly was God's design..."

With a grief-stricken expression, Konan extended her sleeve... Swish! Sheets of paper curled around Nagato's body.

Swish!

"..." Naruto took a deep breath. Suddenly, he grabbed the small Katsuyu on his shoulder and clenched his hand hard.

Pop!

"Ah!!" The small Katsuyu... vanished.

The sight caught Konan completely off guard. "Naruto, what are you...?"

Naruto said gravely, "What we're about to discuss isn't something others should hear. Konan, my senior, for the future of this shinobi world, I'm going to inherit Nagato's Rinnegan!"