Disclaimer: Still don't own Naruto or Sandman.

Warning: This chapter includes spoilers for the Naruto manga.

Samsara

Nagato wandered through the streets of Amegakure, letting the rain hide the tears that streamed down his face.

Yahiko was dead.

He had left Konan behind in one of the towers near the center of the city, preparing Yahiko's body for the funeral. She had called his name as he left, but he had ignored her. Why does she even want me around? It's my fault he's gone!

He sniffled, and hated himself for doing it. Hadn't he promised himself that he wouldn't be a crybaby anymore? Hadn't he vowed to actually do something about the constant warfare that plagued his country, instead of just crying over it?

He had been walking for hours, taking an aimless path through the twisting streets of his home. The evidence of the continuing battles was everywhere: the charred and blackened ruins of buildings, the black wreaths or ribbons adorning the doors of households in mourning, the injured shinobi with their arms in slings or limping on crutches. He paid no attention to the ninja who called out to him, offering their condolences on the loss of his friend. He simply kept walking, as if hoping he might find a way to walk right out of the cursed world he inhabited.

In an alley behind a row of shops, he finally saw something that made him pause. There was a woman standing at one end of the alley, but she wasn't like any woman he'd ever seen. For one thing, she was completely naked. She was short and squat, and her skin had the dull grey tone of a corpse. Her hair was tangled and tied into a messy bun on top of her head. One of the rats that frequented back alleys like this skittered over her bare feet, and she didn't react at all.

"Are you all right, ma'am?" he called. His voice was hoarse and shaky, and he hated that almost as much as he hated the tears that were still leaking from his eyes.

The woman turned towards him, and he saw that her eyes, like his own, were sunken and red-rimmed. The rest of her face indicated a middle-aged person, but those eyes made her look much older. "And who are you?"

"My name's Nagato," he said, and for some reason added, "You've probably heard of me."

The woman walked over to him, feet splashing in the ever-present puddles. "Nagato, eh? I guess that explains a lot."

"It does?"

"Well, it explains why you can see me." She rubbed her chin thoughtfully. "Seems to me I can remember a young man a lot like you, from a long time back. A great Sage, he was. Do you know what he asked me, when he realized who I am?"

Nagato shook his head, not understanding where she was going with this.

"He asked me why Despair exists in this world. Why so many people live without hope, why nothing good ever seems to last."

"And what did you tell him?"

"I told him that Despair is necessary. Hope can't exist without Despair, after all. And besides, how did he think the most powerful people in the world got that way? No one ever got stronger by having an easy life. Only those who face adversity head-on, who struggle against obstacle after obstacle, can reach their full potential. He, himself, had overcome many difficulties, and he had felt hopeless at times. Without those experiences, he would have been just another mediocre warrior, instead of a legendary Sage. The real point, I guess, is that there are two ways to react to pain: you can let the weight of it crush you, or you can use it to make yourself stronger."

Nagato stared past the woman, at the rain that cascaded endlessly down from the sky. His pain did feel like a weight, one so heavy that he could barely even breathe. But didn't many shinobi use weights to train themselves for extra strength? Could one use an emotional weight the same way? What would Yahiko have said?

The woman shook her head. "It's really a shame. This place was so beautiful the last time I visited it. Everything was sparkling and new, and the people were so vibrant. Look at it now." She sighed. "What hope does this village really have? What hope does the world have?"

What would Yahiko have said? Nagato remembered Yahiko's unflagging determination to change things for the better, his insistence that it was possible to rise above the past and above one's own pain, and he knew the answer.

"It has me." He saw that the woman wore a ring with a barb on it shaped like a fish-hook. For the past few hours, he had felt as though a very similar barb had dug itself into his heart, and he had been walking through the city in an attempt to escape it. But perhaps, he thought, it was time to stop running away from his pain--perhaps it was time to confront it.

I won't allow my pain to master me anymore. From now on, I will be the master of my pain. He reached out and pressed one hand over the woman's ring, feeling the barb dig into his palm.

"It has me."

A/N: Yay, I finally updated this! "Samsara" is a concept in Buddhism that refers to the endless cycle of death and rebirth in the mortal world, with the ultimate goal being to escape from that cycle and achieve enlightenment.

I hope I managed to do okay with Despair's dialogue. She's the member of the Endless that I feel least sure of, in terms of characterization.

Thanks for reading!