Back then, war broke out in the Land of Rain.
Hanzo of the Salamander fought against the Land of Fire, seeking power for both his nation and himself.
In the end, the Land of Rain lost.
They became a defeated country.
Back then, Nagato lost his parents and became a war orphan.
Back then, he met Yahiko and Konan.
When no one needed him, he lived just for himself.
Back then, everyone thought the same way—except Yahiko.
He wanted to live for others, for the Land of Rain…
And maybe not just for the Land of Rain.
A lot of things happened back then.
But looking back now, it feels like… not much really happened.
It's just that memory has a way of holding onto little things, turning simple moments into complicated emotions…
Making them unsettling.
Nagato lifted his head, his eyes completely void of light.
"Let's go back, Konan."
Konan supported Nagato, her face filled with sorrow but also a hint of relief.
"…Okay."
Let's go back.
Back to the Land of Rain.
Yahiko… let him rest beside the person he respected the most.
And when we see him again someday, he can scold us all he wants.
That will be our punishment…
For abandoning him.
Just as that thought settled in Nagato's mind, Jiraiya's voice suddenly reached his ears.
"Nagato… are you trying to run away?"
Even though he could no longer control the Deva Path, he could still hear what was spoken near it.
Nagato lifted his head.
Through the darkness, he seemed to see Jiraiya standing beside Yahiko.
His face was filled with sorrow.
Jiraiya stood next to Yahiko's lifeless body, his expression both sad and firm.
"Nagato, do you want to run away?
Abandon Yahiko and escape?
Keep hiding in the shadows, doing the very things Yahiko hated?
Do you really think… that will make your heart any less uneasy?"
Nagato lowered his head.
He wanted to argue… but had no words to refute it.
Jiraiya looked up at the sky.
"You used to love looking at the sky, didn't you?
No, not just the sky… the stars."
"Their light is different from the brightness of the sun.
Those tiny specks in the night sky, like guiding lights, quietly shine for lost travelers.
They may seem small and insignificant… but they never stop shining."
"Just like… Yahiko."
Jiraiya's voice was soft, almost as if he was speaking to himself.
"In a sky full of stars, a single light is hardly noticeable.
But together, they create something beautiful."
"…It's beautiful, isn't it?"
Nagato closed his eyes.
The image of the stars surfaced in his mind.
"They are small, yet beautiful…
So fleeting that no one remembers them.
Even if someone does… they can't recall their names."
"They are too small… too unrealistic."
Nagato looked up.
In the darkness, there was no light to be seen.
"Jiraiya-sensei… you are like the sun, always shining."
"I… am not the sun."
Jiraiya's gaze became distant, as if he were seeing a figure that shone like the sun.
"The Tale of Jiraiya the Gallant…
Final Chapter—The Frog at the Bottom of the Well, Lost at Sea…
Yes… that's who I am.
A frog at the bottom of the well."
Jiraiya lowered his head, looking at Yahiko's body before him.
Tears fell from his eyes without him realizing it.
"In my story, I was never the main character.
Just a speck of dust, reflecting the sun's light with all its might, but never truly noticed."
"I couldn't stop Yahiko from dying.
I couldn't stop the people I loved from leaving.
I couldn't stop my best friend from betraying me.
I couldn't stop my students from dying.
Looking back… my life has been nothing but failure."
"The worth of a ninja's life…
Isn't determined by how they live…
But by what they accomplish before they die."
Jiraiya let out a self-deprecating chuckle.
"Compared to the great achievements of the Hokage, everything I've done is nothing more than trivial."
"I wanted to die like them, even if it meant failing.
I believed that every hardship was just a test to make me stronger."
"And in the end, what makes a story truly great…
Is how it ends."
"I wanted to accomplish something big, erase all my past failures, and die as a great ninja…
As the 'sun' you spoke of."
"That's how it was supposed to be."
Jiraiya closed his eyes.
A wry smile appeared on his face.
"What a boring story."
Yes.
The final chapter of *The Tale of Jiraiya the Gallant—The Frog at the Bottom of the Well, Lost at Sea*…
What a boring story indeed.
Nagato stood in silence, staring ahead as if his gaze could pierce through the endless darkness and see that figure.
A figure as bright as the sun.
A warm presence that once lit their path in the gloomy Land of Rain. But now, that very light was telling him—he had never been the sun, only a speck of dust desperately reflecting its glow.
He had no brilliance of his own, no real presence. He was so small that people wouldn't even notice him.
Yes, he was just a tiny speck of dust.
"If you're just dust… then what does that make us?" Nagato's voice was hoarse, trembling slightly.
"You're different…" Jiraiya's voice was gentle, as if he had heard Nagato's words. "You are the future. The future Yahiko believed in, the future I believed in, the future Nagato believed in, and the future Konan believed in."
"Naruto once said, 'The future hasn't arrived yet, which means it holds endless possibilities.' We shouldn't change ourselves to fit the future—we should search for our own path within those endless possibilities."
"The future is limitless. This fight isn't just because we are enemies, but because we believe in different futures. And for the futures we believe in, we fight with everything we have."
"I… believe in Naruto. I believe in the future he speaks of. I believe he can lead this world to something better, something more peaceful. And for that… I will stop you. I will stop you from destroying the future I believe in."
Jiraiya looked at Yahiko, his unwavering gaze as steady as ever. "Nagato, if you've made your choice, don't give up. Even if our paths are different, you will always be my proudest student. Just like you believed in Yahiko, he believed in you completely."
Tsunade stood beside Jiraiya, arms crossed as she watched him. The moment he spoke those words, a small smile tugged at the corner of her lips.
Nagato closed his eyes, his voice growing even rougher. "I thought… you would tell us to give up on our beliefs."
After all, Pain had already lost.
"What kind of teacher tells his students to give up?" Jiraiya laughed.
For a moment, time and space seemed to lose all meaning. Nagato and Jiraiya's chakra intertwined, forming a bridge between them. In the darkness, it shone brightly. Standing on either side of that bridge were Konan and Yahiko, while Jiraiya and Nagato stood in the center.
All four of them were smiling, just like they used to.
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