Opening his eyes Yami was greeted by the sight of a clear blue sky , deciding to just be lazy for once in his life he laid starring into the sky with half lid eyes" I thought ya be asleep for longer " looking to the side he saw 2 toads sitting next to one another and lifted his head and looked down to his body and saw a slug on his chest , he rested his head again closing his eyes facing them and asked " what happened after I passed out " Fukasaku decided to answer him " well after you struck down the last pain , Naruto went to confront the real one that controls the bodies " Grunting as he struggled to sit up Shima went to help him " ya shouldn't be moving boyo" " thank you ,but I'm in need of somewhere else " thanking Shima for her help he looked at the amount of damage the forest took in their battle "I informed the remaining people that you defeated the last pain " Katsuyu said to Yami after crawling of him and looked at him , looking at her with tired eyes he responded " Thank you , but if someone asked you about what happened next time tell them it was Naruto and that you made a mistake, the people of Konoha don't know who I am,only team 7 and lady Tsunade know of me, it would be much more appreciated if it was someone they know than some stranger " smiling at her he continued " and plus if Naruto went to confront the real body than technically it is him that saved them " looking at him confused Shima asked " but what about you , don't ya wanna get acknowledge for ya work" looking at the old toad he replied" validation from those close to me is more than enough " "a fine to thing to say young man " Fukasaku complimented him ,Yami smiled broadly and went to rub the back of his head with his right hand but it started pulsing when he wanted to move it and grunted in pain moving his left hand to hold his right shoulder " it seems that traces of the nature chakra in your arm is acting up " looking at Fukasaku bewildered he asked " What!...what nature chakra ,isn't that what Naruto uses for that new mode "
"Yes, and it's called sage mode " stroking his beard he continued" when you absorb the natural lightning in your body you took in nature chakra as well I presume, normally that's impossible to do without training and will kill a normal person " Yami looked at him shocked and wide eye " well how do I get rid of it," he asked a little impatient " well the only way for you to release the excess chakra is either by someone hitting ya with a stick or to be used up, but seeing as you are in no condition for either of those the only way now is by storing it in someplace for later use with meditation" nodding he said ok and slowly went in a meditative state. Searching through his body he first looked at his chakra and then at his right arm and felt a more potent and stronger chakra fighting against his chakra, trying to take control of it only left half side of his body in pain and decided to stop doing that, he then tried to move the chakra to separate place. Traces of the chakra began moving as he guide it from his arm to his shoulder and finally to the middle of his forehead, until everything was gone from his chakra system he noticed that he was healing at a much faster rate than earlier, opening his eye he saw it was much later in the day, looking around him he saw Shima and Katsuyu gone and only Fukasaku remaining he asked the toad.
"How long was I meditating"
"You were about an hour, ya know boyo if you have time I could always teach you how to handle Senjutsu better next time this happens "
"Thank you for the offer sir, but I'll have to pass on it, yes Senjutsu is powerful but I already got plenty enough plus that's Naruto's thing I don't think I would fit with it, I'm not sage material " giving the toad a smile he stood up with what little chakra having left he used it with the first cells to accelerate his healing, he looked down at his right arm and flexed it testing out its mobility when the toad jumped on Yami's shoulder he glances at him, as the toad started talking " I want to thank you for helping Naruto, that pain fellow was a tough opponent that even Jiraiya boy couldn't handle, bless his resting soul " " yeah, well about that ...that old pervert is still alive.. " "w-what..." Fukasaku said in shock with wide eyes at the news and jumped down from his shoulder to stand in front of Yami to see if he was telling the truth, seeing the disbelief on the old toad's face Yami nodded and said" yeah, Tsunade informed me in that morning about where Jiraiyas last mission was and asked for my help, seeing as I was the fastest available shinobi at hand she sent me as back up, almost didn't make it out if I didn't leave my clones behind as decoys " Fukasaku looked into his eye's for any falsehood, finding neither he lowered his head and let out a single tear and began chuckling and erupted into outright laugher finishing with a low chuckle he said " You gave this o'l toad one of the best news he could get boyo... Thank you " he stretched his out his little hand for the leaf shinobi to shake, bending down a little while holding his stomach he brought his right hand for the handshake while still holding the shinobis hand Fukasaku said
" I am forever in your debt for saving one of my disciples if you need anything just ask"
" You're welcome sir and thank you "
"Call me Pa boyo, well we better get going and check on the village" after releasing Yami's hand he jumped up on his shoulder again and stayed there for the foreseeable trip to the village.
...
After reaching the hideout Naruto approached the real body of the paths introducing himself as Nagato one of Jiraiyas disciples. Naruto requested Nagato to tell his life story to him so he can understand him better why he attack the leaf village, after almost giving in to his anger as the Kyuubi's influence began showing on his face his pupils turning dark orange with a slit going through the bar like pupil. Hearing about how Nagato's village was in the middle of the war between the Hidden Rain village and the Leaf village, that his first pain was the death of his parents killed by leaf shinobi thinking they were shinobi in hiding, followed by him killing those shinobis in response, he then proceeds to tell him how he met Konan and Yahiko and how they met Jiraiya. The toad Sannin then proceed to teach them how to survive and with his work done he left them to fend for themselves, they then decided to create an organisation called the Akatsuki as a peace-seeking group to stop the ongoing war. Hanzo Ame's leader at that time decided to organise a meeting with Nagato and Yahiko to negotiate, but arriving at the meeting place they saw it was a trap with Konan being captured and Danzo's forces working together with Hanzo. By wanting to save Konan, Yahiko offered himself up but was denied by Hanzo and was told that the only way to get Konan back is for Nagato to stab Yahiko and take his life, not wanting to do it Yahiko threw himself on the kunai was held by Nagato. Hurt with rage and sadness he snapped and attack Hanzo and Danzo's forces, saving Konan in the process and having his legs injured badly by burns from exploding tags that were set as a trap. He summoned the Gedo statue and connected his body with chakra receiving rods to the summoning to power up and take all the surrounding shinobi's souls with dragon tendrils emerging from the mouth of the statue. After regaling his tale he asked Naruto.
"Now you have heard my story ..so let me hear your answer"
Taking out a book from his clothes he looked that the cover that was titled the legend of the gutsy ninja he replied " I understand you ...that the cycle of hatred will always be there ...but I still can't forgive you...I still hate you"
"Then let's finish this "
"But..." They confusedly looked at him " Pervy sage believed in me ...so I will believe in what he believed in.
That's my answer
So ...I won't kill you "
"You believe in what master Jiraiya believed in ...I see that is your final answer ?...you telling us to sit around and wait for you to bring peace to the world.
Go to hell you think I could put my faith in Jiraiya now, there is no peace and there never will be as long as we continue to live in this cursed!"
"I ...will lift the curse. if any kind of peace exists, I'll grab hold of it and never let go.
I refuse to quit "
With widened eyes, he looked at Naruto and said " Those words ...I..."
"Yeah, they're all from this book, the pervert hermit's first novel. he wanted to change the world through his writing" opening the last page of the book " the last page thanks a certain pupil for giving him the inspiration he needed to get started...
You Nagato "
"It can't... It must be a coincidence!"
"And the name of the main character it...
Is Naruto!!"
"My name's one of his gifts to me if I quit now, I'd disgrace him and everything he gave me!." He fiercely exclaimed" I'll become the Hokage and when I do I'll bring peace to the Hidden Rain along with everything else,
BELIEVE IT!"
"...why, why are you telling me you're not gonna change?...you have no idea how much pain you might have to go through. Not changing do you really think believing in yourself is going going to cut it can you really say that...can you really trust in yourself so thoroughly?"
"...if you change the main character, it becomes another story entirely..."
"The book my master left behind would become another book
It wouldn't be Naruto!
I don't have my master's knack for writing...that's why I'll have to conform my path to the one followed in the stories. I'll keep walking it. No matter how much I go through along the way
That's what "Naruto" is about." Naruto finished with conviction
"I was his pupil before you ... Earlier, I said that having shared a master should make it easy for us to understand one another...I meant it as sarcasm... you're a strange man. You remind me of my old self.."
"Nagato..."Konan said concerned
"I couldn't find strength the strength to have faith in Jiraiya...or myself...but you ...you choose a different path...and in you, I see the glimmer of a new future."
Forming his hands in a rat seal
"I will try putting my faith in you, Uzumaki Naruto
HERETICAL REBIRTH CYCLE"
Nagato don't!" Konan exclaimed concerned
"It's ok Konan ...I've chosen a new option...one we gave up on long ago..."
What is it?.what's that technique do? " Questioned Naruto
.
.
.
.
.
"The Rinnegan gives its owner power over all six of the unique"pain" techniques. Powers that exist outside the world of the living and dead. Nagato acts as the seventh path of pain ...his eye techniques give him power over life and death themselves.
The Heretic's Path " Konan explained to Naruto
...
A big puff of smoke went off in the middle of the crater that was once Konoha, revealing it to be the King of Death. Opening his mouth he released all the recently dead villager's souls back to them.
...
"What are you doing, what's happening now " Naruto questioned
"All the villagers are being revived" Katsuyu answered him crawling out of his collar
"I have enough time to save the people I killed in the leaf village. It's the least I can do to make up for all this," said Nagato
...
"Kakashi-sensei!" Exclaimed Choji
"So Kakashi's back too," said choza
"Where am I," he asked
"Allow me to explain..."Katsuyu began to explain what happen to the village after Naruto arrived at the village
...
Nagato started breathing hard and coughing blood
You're...
War is... mutually inflicted death...hatred..and pain. But only the death of those closest to you is impossible to accept...so you fool yourself into thinking they're safe... especially your generation... you're never known war...it's to be...you try to see a greater meaning behind the slaughter, but there...is only hatred ...and pain...and you can do nothing about it.
... Pointless death... bottomless hatred... unending Pain. That ...
..is War.
Naruto... it will be up to you to face it all. It's like the book ...and..you ...were all put here ...on purpose...
... Perhaps it's all been ... according to the real God's plan...
My role ends here.
Naruto...
Maybe you can really do it ...
...
After releasing the tree made of paper Konan wrapped the recently depart body of Nagato in a cacoon of papers and did the same to Deva's path.
"You're taking him too," Naruto asked Konan
"The Deva path was made from Yahikos corpse...he was very dear to us both. " Konan explained
"So he was Yahiko ...where will you go?..not back to Akatsuki I hope.."
"I'm through with Akatsuki, Yahiko and Nagato were all I ever cared about, their dreams now rest on your shoulders, I'll believe in you as Nagato did and the rest of the Hidden Rain village will keep working to make their dreams a reality, too ."
"The name "Naruto" the guts to never give up...and the knowledge of real pain.
They're what I received from my master and his other pupil." He replied determined
Slowly raising her she made a bouquet in the form of papers, and hand it over to him.
"Please...this time...be a flower of hope that blossoms eternally..."
...
The bouquet was left at the grave of three stones with kunai in each one with a string connecting them.