Minato looked at Naruto, his expression heavy with the burden of history.
"To be a shinobi is to struggle against this hatred."
"Every shinobi fights against it."
"Jiraiya-sensei entrusted the answer to ending this cycle of hatred to you and Kanon."
Naruto gritted his teeth, his voice filled with iron resolve. "Even so... I'll never forgive Pain! Or Kanon..."
"I just can't forgive them..."
Naruto stepped closer to Minato. "Fourth Hokage... tell me. What exactly am I supposed to do?"
Minato gazed into Naruto's eyes and slowly shook his head.
"The answer is something you must find for yourself. I no longer know what the answer is either."
Naruto's frustration boiled over instantly. "If it's something that even Pervy Sage and the Fourth Hokage don't know, how am I supposed to figure it out?!"
"You're all being so selfish! I'm not smart, and I'm not some incredible ninja!"
"And I—"
Suddenly, Minato placed his hand on Naruto's forehead. Naruto fell silent at once.
"If it's you... you will surely find that answer."
"I believe in you!"
"Really? Can I really find it?" Naruto asked, lowering his head.
"A parent's job is to believe in their child, no matter what." Minato's form began to flicker. "Well, it's about time for me to go. My chakra is fading."
"What? Wait a second!"
Minato turned his head, glancing toward a quiet corner of Naruto's consciousness. Naruto followed his gaze.
Naruto's pupils contracted sharply. For a fleeting moment, a six-year-old girl sat there, watching the father and son reunite. She sat quietly, her face buried in her knees.
Naruto recognized her instantly. It was Kanon as a child.
But the girl vanished a moment later. It was a lingering fragment of the chakra Kanon had left in Naruto's seal long ago, made visible now only by the presence of Minato's chakra.
"That chakra... it belongs to that girl, doesn't it? It seems you have a very precious friend, Naruto."
"I'm restoring the seal, but this is the last time."
"Konoha can be rebuilt. I'm counting on you, Naruto."
Naruto watched Minato's fading silhouette and the corner where the young girl had disappeared. His gaze hardened with determination.
"Thank you... Dad."
…
Within the Flower Realm, Kanon lay in the field of blossoms, bandages wrapped around her eyes.
A gentle breeze stirred her jet-black hair.
But her heart felt only a deep, penetrating cold. Blind and adrift, Kanon could only replay fragments of the past in her mind.
Every memory was a step deeper into the abyss. Family, teacher, brother, everyone had left her. It felt as though she were destined to be the tragic soul who loses everything.
"What are you thinking about?" Konin asked.
"Nothing," Kanon replied with a small shake of her head.
"Once your Eternal Mangekyō recovers its light, you can leave the Flower Realm."
"For now, please be patient."
Kanon sighed softly. Too much had happened in such a short time; she felt as though she could no longer feel anything at all.
…
BOOM!
A terrifying explosion rocked the battlefield.
Atop the Planetary Devastation sphere, the Nine-Tails roared as it tore its way out.
"To think it could escape the Planetary Devastation..."
"What incredible power," Pain remarked calmly.
"In that case, I'll just have to make a larger—"
Before Pain could initiate the jutsu, the Nine-Tails suddenly vanished.
"The Nine-Tails... disappeared?" Pain frowned.
In its place stood Naruto, suspended upside down in the air, his eyes marked by the orange pigment of Sage Mode.
"Has your hesitation vanished? What happened?"
"Have you already brought the Nine-Tails under control?"
Pain's expression grew grim. Far off in his concealed paper tree, Nagato coughed up a spray of blood.
"Nagato!" Konan cried out, rushing to his side.
As Nagato's strength faltered, the Planetary Devastation began to crumble.
Naruto winced. He felt his internal chakra becoming turbulent, a side effect of the recent rampage. The shadow clones he had used to store senjutsu chakra had also vanished during the transformation. All he had left was the Sage chakra currently in his body.
This was his final Sage Mode. He had to defeat Pain now.
Landing on the ground, Naruto faced the Deva Path, whose Akatsuki cloak was now tattered.
He's entered Sage Mode again... What a persistent brat, Pain thought, readying himself. He had intended to test the limits of the Nine-Tails, but even his ultimate jutsu hadn't been enough to hold it.
Suddenly, a small Katsuyu crawled out from Naruto's sleeve.
"Ah... I thought I was a goner..." the slug gasped for air.
Naruto looked toward the original site of the village, his expression one of confusion. "The village... how did it..."
"It was caused by you when you transformed into the Nine-Tails," Katsuyu explained. Naruto froze, a wave of self-loathing washing over him.
Had he killed Hinata and the villagers in his blind rage?
He used his Sage Senses to scan the area, then nodded slowly.
I can feel it! I can still feel Hinata's chakra.
"It was a close call, but your attacks in your Nine-Tails state didn't cause any casualties among the villagers."
"Was it just luck?" Katsuyu whispered.
"I see... Thank goodness. Thank goodness!" Tears of relief pricked Naruto's eyes.
Across from him, Pain took a combat stance.
"It's time we settled this."
Naruto nodded, closing the distance to Pain.
"Do you understand pain a little better now?"
"Unless you know the same pain, you can never truly understand another."
"And even if you could understand, people cannot truly empathize. Kanon has proven this time and again. That is the way of the world. Her kindness was met only with betrayal."
"Just as your pursuit of Sasuke is an exercise in futility."
Naruto stared at Pain with his horizontal Sage pupils. "Take me to your real body!"
"I want to speak with him directly!"
"Oh? So you've noticed the real body?"
Pain drew a black receiver.
"Jiraiya-sensei, the others... Konoha is quite capable."
"But I've said all I have to say. Nothing you say now can change anything."
"Just as you cannot convince Kanon to return, I can never go back to being Yahiko..."
"Just let me say a few words!" Naruto shouted.
"Your Sage Mode seems inferior to Kanon's. That troublesome chakra shuriken... you can only use it twice, can't you?"
"And once you do, your Sage Mode will expire."
"In the end, it always comes down to battle." Pain gripped his black receiver and began a rapid charge. His expression was no longer one of doubt, but of cold conviction.
"If you miss with that Rasenshuriken, you lose."
"I won't leave you any openings. If you miss, it's over. I'll break you and take you with me!"
"Then I guess I have no choice," Naruto muttered. "I'll find the real body myself!"
As Pain lunged with the black receiver, Naruto's Sage-enhanced reflexes took over. In a blur of motion, he snapped the receiver with one hand and sent the Deva Path flying with a powerful kick.
Holding the broken piece of the receiver, Naruto stabbed it into his own left arm. He forced his Sage chakra to flow back through the transmission. Far away, hidden within the artificial tree, Nagato felt the intrusion.
Nagato felt the Sage's gaze piercing through his concealment.
"This kid... he's using Sage Mode to track me back..."
On the battlefield, Naruto broke into a cold sweat, but he had confirmed Nagato's location.
"I found you!"
"You brat...!" The Deva Path roared in fury.
Naruto's response was a Shadow Clone Jutsu followed by the Sage Art: Wind Release: Rasenshuriken.
He used the familiar smoke screen to block Pain's vision. Pain expected the attack; he knew if he could just dodge two of them, the victory was his.
As predicted, the spinning blade of chakra sliced through the smoke.
"Almighty Push!"
POOF!
As the white smoke cleared, a second one appeared right behind the first!
He had launched two in an instant, the first was a decoy, the second was the killing blow!
"There's a five-second interval. This will work!" Naruto shouted.
Pain watched the trajectory of the Rasenshuriken. Suddenly, two rocks beside him transformed into Naruto's clones, reaching out to grab him.
But Pain had seen through the clones. His Almighty Push hadn't recharged yet, so he used the black receivers in his hands to impale the clones and performed a backflip to clear the second Rasenshuriken.
"Four seconds left. To think he set up those clones back then..."
"Three seconds until my power returns. Both of his shots missed."
"It's over!"
Just as Pain thought he had won, all the surrounding rubble transformed into Naruto clones.
"Two seconds left!"
"GOOOO!!!"
He had transformed dozens of clones into debris! Pain was horrified, there was still one second left before Almighty Push was available!
A swarm of Narutos descended upon him with raised fists. In the final fraction of a second:
"ALMIGHTY PUSH!!!"
BOOM!
Hundreds of clones were blasted away instantly. But as the real Naruto was blown backward, his clones appeared behind him, anchoring him and then launching him forward.
"You'll never convince Kanon! You'll never bring peace!"
"You have no answer! Just give up!!!" Pain screamed.
Suddenly, the voice of Jiraiya echoed in Naruto's mind.
"I believe that one day, an era will come where people truly understand one another."
"If I can't find the answer, I'll entrust the search to you and Kanon."
Minato's words followed.
"If it's you... you will surely find that answer... I believe in you."
Kakashi's voice: "The only shinobi who can surpass the Fourth Hokage is you! I am certain of it!"
Finally, the voice of a young girl filled his mind.
"Of course I believe in you! And I'll always be cheering for you!" It was Kanon, back when they first met, acknowledging his "impossible" dream.
"I will... become Hokage... Kanon!" A Rasengan materialized in Naruto's hand.
Pain saw the Rasengan and remained calm. A Rasengan couldn't be thrown. He had five seconds, and at this distance, he could recover.
But in the next heartbeat, Pain's eyes widened. Naruto's real body was hurled forward by his clones like a living projectile.
"Give up..."
"On trying to make me give up!"
CRASH!
Naruto slammed the Rasengan directly into Pain's abdomen.
"RASENGAN!!!"
Pain let out a final guttural cry as the spiraling sphere tore through him, sending him hurtling through the air until he collapsed into the ruins.