A faint, familiar voice drifted through Jiraiya's fading consciousness like an echo from a distant memory.
His instincts screamed for him to stand, to shield Naruto as he had always done, but his body no longer obeyed.
Naruto took in the sight of Jiraiya's broken form, and fury surged through him like a rising storm.
Crackling energy erupted around him.
In an instant, Naruto entered Sage Fox Mode, golden chakra roaring to life, his cloak shifting into patterns of black ink-like markings that rippled with power.
After becoming a perfect jinchuriki with Kurama, the Nine-Tails could absorb natural energy alongside the toad sages, feeding it directly back into Naruto.
He no longer needed time to meditate. Sage Mode came to him instantly, effortless and complete.
A state akin to Hashirama's legendary sage transformation.
Naruto crouched beside Jiraiya and pressed his hand over him.
"Sage Art: Yang Release, Eightfold Restoration."
Brilliant golden light washed over Jiraiya's mangled body, seeping into flesh and bone.
The dull, unfocused eyes slowly sharpened. His failing heartbeat steadied. Breath returned to him in a gentle rhythm.
Six chakra arms unfurled from Naruto's back like divine appendages, each glowing with radiant power. One by one, he ripped the black receivers from Jiraiya's flesh and cast them aside.
Tendo Pain turned, pupils narrowing as he watched Jiraiya reform before his eyes.
His heart had already stopped, yet he lived again.
A test volley of rockets blasted forward from Asura Path.
Three detonations lit the battlefield.
Boom. Boom. Boom.
But every missile collided with a golden chakra hand suspended before Naruto, unable to touch him.
Reinforcements?
Pain stared at the boy gently healing his dying teacher.
Naruto exhaled in relief only once Jiraiya stabilized.
If he had arrived moments later, there would have been nothing left to save.
"Grandpa Fukasaku, take Pervy Sage back to the Leaf. I will handle the rest from here." Naruto said firmly.
"Na… Naruto…" Jiraiya's voice trembled with pain, weak and broken. His vocal cords were still damaged.
"What is it?" Naruto asked gently.
"The real body… is not here…" Jiraiya forced the words out.
Naruto nodded.
"Yeah. I saw it in your chakra when I healed you."
He turned to Fukasaku.
"Please return with him to Konoha and have Lady Tsunade handle his treatment. Once I finish here, I will come home."
"Be careful, little Naruto." Fukasaku replied softly. He disappeared first, and moments later Jiraiya's body dispersed into smoke. Reverse summoning had taken him back.
Pain watched it all with cold indifference.
"Uzumaki Naruto. The Nine-Tails jinchuriki. Good. Saves me the trouble of hunting you down. Capture of the Nine-Tails begins now."
Naruto stood slowly, turning his head.
His azure eyes sharpened like ice.
"You are welcome to try."
Pain met that killing intent without a trace of fear. His eyes narrowed.
"Ridiculous."
He leapt forward first, black rod extending to strike.
Naruto barely glanced his way. With a simple motion, he snapped the receiver clean in half and seized Pain's wrist.
"What?" Pain's eyes widened.
"Constructs of Yin-Yang Release? Compared to Truth-Seeking Orbs, this is nothing." Naruto murmured.
A Rasengan swirled to life in his palm, swirling with sage aura, and he drove it toward Pain's head.
"Shinra Tensei!"
Repulsive force slammed into Naruto like a wall.
He staggered for a fraction of a second.
But that was all.
His attack never stopped.
The Rasengan crushed into Pain's skull.
Light burst like a sun exploding.
Tendo Pain's head and upper torso vanished in a flash.
Naruto looked down at the half-destroyed puppet.
"Your ability is impressive, but your power is lacking."
The remaining five Paths of Pain lunged toward him together.
Naruto responded only with a glance.
Then he moved.
A golden streak blazed across the battlefield, swift as thunder.
Lines of light cut through the air like strokes of a brush painting the sky.
Naruto halted.
Five heads hit the ground a heartbeat later.
He bent to retrieve a black receiver from one puppet corpse, closed his eyes, and traced the faint chakra connection through it.
A signal.
A direction.
He snapped his eyes open and vanished.
Deep within Amegakure, hidden in a dark chamber, Nagato's eyes widened.
"So this is his power?"
"What is wrong, Nagato?" Konan asked softly, preparing to attack.
"Naruto came to Jiraiya-sensei's aid. His strength is… overwhelming." Nagato's voice was grave.
Konan's brow furrowed. She turned toward the entrance just as footsteps echoed through the hall.
Naruto stepped into the chamber, golden cloak flickering like a living flame.
"So this is your real body? You look terrible." Naruto said calmly, taking in Nagato's frail frame bound to the machine.
Konan surged forward to protect him, paper wings unfurling.
Naruto's gaze cut to her like a blade.
"Stand down, Konan. You cannot defeat him."
Nagato stopped her with a weak command.
He had seen Naruto kill all six Pains in the span of breaths.
If Konan rushed him, she would die instantly.
Konan bit her lip and held her ground beside him, but her eyes never left Naruto.
"If you had charged just now, you would already be dead." Naruto said without cruelty, only fact.
Even as Jiraiya's students, they were still strangers bound by conflict. Distance was safer.
"So the strong have come to chastise the weak? That is the truth of this world after all." Nagato replied, expression unreadable.
He gathered chakra silently behind his words, preparing to strike.
Naruto closed his eyes briefly.
"With my speed, there is no point in trying to ambush me. If I wanted to end you, you would already be gone. I did not come to kill you. I want to talk."
His Sage Fox senses detected every flicker of chakra within Nagato.
Nagato fell silent.
After a long breath, he dispelled his killing intent.
"…What do you want to say?"
"Through Jiraiya's chakra, I saw your past." Naruto answered.
"You were his students. You inherited the Rinnegan and once dreamed of ending war in the shinobi world. So why did you become this?"
Even if Naruto sought peace in his own future, hearing the paths others took mattered.
Lessons born from pain might guide him toward a better answer.
Nagato lowered his gaze.
"Very well. I will tell you our story."
His so-called godhood lay shattered.
He no longer spoke as a deity, but as a man.
He wanted Naruto to hear it.
To understand why his path led to blood.
Because they were all Jiraiya's children.
Disciples of the same teacher, yet walking different destinies.
Nagato exhaled softly.
"This is the story of our beginning."