Chapter 37: Talk no Jutsu

Having reached the makeshift tree, Naruto asked Nagato why he hated Konoha, and what had made him the way he was.

Nagato, still wanting to know Naruto's reply to his question, answered with two stories.

The first was how his parents were killed during the Second Shinobi World War, which led to the activation of his Rinnegan.

The second he began with how he met his friends Konan and Yahiko, the boy whose body would later become the Deva Path. Yahiko had revealed to the small makeshift family that he wanted to rule the world, to stop the world's wars.

After their dog, Chibi was killed by an explosive tag as collateral damage from the Sannin's battle with Salamander Hanzō, Yahiko declared he wouldn't just rule the world but would become a god, a dream that sparked the same desire in Nagato.

Nagato then revealed how Yahiko approached Jiraiya to ask him to train himself, Nagato, and Konan to be ninja. During the training, Nagato had used the Rinnegan to save Yahiko.

Seeing this, Jiraiya told Nagato about the time of never-ending wars, when a "messiah", the Sage of the Six Paths, appeared and spread his religion across the world, which came to be the ninja techniques that the shinobi used today.

Jiraiya thought the Sage had been "reborn" as Nagato and entrusted him to find the "answer" and spread peace in the world, before leaving the three orphans.

Years later, the three formed a gang in Amegakure, led by Yahiko, to abolish wars and bring peace to the world. Their fame captured the attention of Hanzō, who approached Yahiko to join hands and work together to bring peace among the war-torn countries of Earth, Fire, and Wind.

But this association turned out to be a trap laid by Hanzō, as he feared that Yahiko's group would take over the leadership of Amegakure. He lured Yahiko and Nagato to an area that was surrounded by many Konoha Anbu Root shinobi, with Danzō leading them.

Hanzō had kidnapped Konan and then proposed for Yahiko to die to save Konan's life. He threw a kunai in Nagato's direction and ordered him to kill Yahiko. Yahiko agreed to die, but Nagato refused to kill him. Seeing this, Yahiko forcibly held Nagato's hand with the kunai and slit his own throat with it.

A dying Yahiko told Nagato that he had to live, as he was the "messiah". Nagato told Naruto that Yahiko's death was the second great source of pain for him.

This incident led Nagato to go berserk, as he used his Rinnegan's abilities to subdue and backfire all attacks on him by Hanzō's men. But in the midst of all this, Nagato's legs were burnt by Hanzō's Fire Release technique while he was saving Konan.

He ultimately summoned a large, animated statue for battle, which imbued several chakra rods from its body into Nagato's back to use the latter's chakra. The statue then released a soul-removing dragon which killed many of Hanzō's men, but as Nagato was about to target Hanzō himself, he fled the scene with the Body Flicker Technique.

Nagato told Naruto that he had become the leader of their gang, and had carried on Yahiko's agenda to bring peace to the world.

After hearing Nagato's story, Naruto reflected on everything he had heard. Naruto agreed that some of the things Nagato mentioned were true, but he also said that Jiraiya had believed in him and that he would believe in what Jiraiya had believed in, and that was why he would not kill Nagato.

Nagato questioned this, and Naruto pulled out the book that Jiraiya had written. He began reading from it and told Nagato the main character's name was Naruto. Naruto then said that he would become Hokage, and he promised peace for Amegakure as well.

Nagato then stated that Naruto was like him when he was younger. He said that he would believe in Naruto, and prepared to use a technique.

Upon using the technique, Nagato used his Outer Path to release all the souls that had been captured and used it to also revive those who had died, including Kakashi, Fukasaku, and Shizune.

At Mount Myōboku, the Great Toad Sage was shown telling Gamabunta that everyone had been revived and that he found it surprising that it was two of Jiraiya's pupils that would bring about the revolution to the Ninja World.

Nagato then entrusted his will to Naruto and passed away. Konan decided to leave the Akatsuki, and took both Nagato and Yahiko's bodies, telling Naruto that she would believe in him.

She then used her paper to create a bouquet as a sign of peace and gave them to Naruto.

Naruto erected a shrine in the forest in honor of his sensei and started to make his way back to the ruins of Konoha. He almost succumbed to exhaustion but was caught by a newly revived Kakashi, who carried Naruto on his back to the border of the village. Awaiting them were his friends and companions.

As the villagers congratulated Naruto, Ebisu and Iruka thought about how their opinion of Naruto had undergone an immense change over the years; he was once considered a nuisance and a demon, but as his deeds were recognized he became a true hero through the eyes of many. Naruto's ultimate dream of acknowledgment had come true at last.

Tsunade was left in a comatose state after using all of her chakra to protect the villagers.

Meanwhile, during the council meeting after the invasion, Danzō was able to persuade the Fire Daimyō to make him the acting Sixth Hokage.

Having finally acquired the title, he labeled Sasuke Uchiha a missing-nin and ordered his assassination. Team Samui of Kumogakure arrived in Konoha with news that Sasuke's team had kidnapped Killer B, and was looking for whatever information Konoha had on Sasuke.

-------

Next will be the war preparation arc