It was the fifth day since Nagato refined Chakra.
That day, Yahiko suggested exploring the woods east of the shrine.
He mentioned having seen a wild fruit tree there last time, saying if they could find more food, their rations for the next few days would be more plentiful.
Luna had no objection.
Her training had hit a bottleneck in recent days, and she needed a break to relax.
Konan wanted to go as well, so the four of them headed out together, following the path east of the shrine deeper into the woods.
After walking for about half an hour, they stopped to rest by a small stream.
Yahiko squatted by the stream to wash his face.
Looking up, he suddenly noticed something floating upstream—a palm-sized fish, belly up, slowly drifting down with the current.
“Fish!” Yahiko’s eyes lit up, and he immediately rolled up his pant legs and stepped into the water.
“Wait here, I’ll catch a few to bring back and make fish soup tonight!”
Luna wanted to stop him—the stream didn’t look fast-flowing, but the underwater rocks were slippery and easy to fall on—but Yahiko had already strode into the water.
He took just two steps before his foot slipped.
“Whoa!”
Yahiko pitched forward, on the verge of falling headfirst into the water.
In that split second, Nagato, standing on the bank, subconsciously reached out his hand as if trying to grab him.
Then, an invisible force suddenly erupted from around Nagato.
Luna felt a powerful repulsive force slam into her face, as if an invisible giant hand had pushed her violently.
Her body flew backward uncontrollably, landing heavily on the grass two meters away, her head hitting a tree Root as her vision went dark for a moment.
Konan was also blown away by that force, crashing onto the gravel beach by the stream.
Her palm was cut by a sharp rock, and blood seeped out.
Yahiko was pushed the furthest, flying through the air and crashing into the bushes on the opposite side of the stream, followed by a dull thud and a cry of Pain.
Luna’s head was buzzing.
Lying on the ground, it took her three seconds to snap back to her senses.
She raised her head and looked toward where Nagato was standing.
Nagato was still standing in the same spot, but his whole body was trembling.
His hands were outstretched, holding that “pushing” pose.
His pupils were slightly dilated, and those eyes, which were originally purple…
…had turned into concentric purple ripples.
The Rinnegan.
Luna gasped sharply.
Although she had known all along that Nagato possessed the Rinnegan, witnessing the exact moment those eyes truly awakened still filled her with an indescribable shock.
Those eyes—the legendary eyes belonging to the Six Paths Sage—were now sitting in the sockets of a frail boy under ten years old, emanating an ominous, suffocating aura.
Then Nagato spoke, his voice trembling:
“I… I didn’t mean to…”
His gaze swept over the three people on the ground, seeing the blood on Konan’s palm, Yahiko clutching his waist as he climbed out of the bushes, and the red mark on Luna’s forehead.
His expression turned from panic to terror, and from terror into a desperate, breaking self-blame.
“I… I…” His voice grew fainter.
“I didn’t want to… I wasn’t…”
“Nagato!” Luna called out.
But Nagato didn’t look back.
He plunged into the woods, his footsteps rapidly receding until he vanished into the depths of the dense forest.
…
When Luna found Nagato, he was curled up at the Root of a large tree, hugging his knees with his face buried in his arms.
He wasn’t weeping aloud, but Luna could see his shoulders trembling.
Luna stood a few steps away, not approaching immediately.
She knew what Nagato’s Rinnegan was, where it came from, and how powerful its strength was.
But Nagato didn’t know.
In his eyes, he was just an ordinary child, an orphan trying to survive in the midst of war alongside Yahiko and Konan.
And then one day, an invisible power suddenly erupted from his eyes, blasting away the three people he cherished most in the world.
He saw Konan bleed.
He threw Yahiko into the bushes.
He knocked Luna against a tree.
In his eyes, he wasn’t protecting his companions—he was hurting them.
Luna walked over slowly and sat down beside Nagato.
She didn’t speak, just sitting there quietly.
After a long time, Nagato’s muffled voice came from behind his arms:
“…Am I… a monster?”
Luna didn’t answer immediately.
She thought of Nagato from the original story—the man consumed by hatred who became Pain, attempting to guide the world through Pain.
When did that dark path begin?
Was it the moment Yahiko died?
Or even earlier, from the first time he discovered his eyes were different, from the moment people around him looked at him with fear in their eyes?
Luna turned her head to look at Nagato curled into a ball.
His red hair looked strikingly bright in the dim woods.
“No.”
She said.
Nagato’s shoulders moved slightly, but he didn’t raise his head.
“You are not a monster,” Luna repeated, her voice not loud, but firm.
“Your eyes are indeed different from others, but that doesn’t mean you’re a monster.”
“…Then what is it?” Nagato’s voice was very low, carrying a fragile vulnerability that seemed ready to shatter.
“I almost hurt you guys just now.”
“That is power,” Luna said.
“A power you don’t know how to control yet.”
Nagato finally raised his head.
His eyes had returned to their normal purple, but his eye sockets were red, showing he had clearly been crying.
Luna looked into his reddened eyes and said earnestly, “Power itself isn’t wrong. What’s wrong is the person who can’t control it.”
“But I… I don’t even know what it is.”
“No one is born knowing how to control everything. When Yahiko used Chakra to reinforce his fist for the first time, didn’t he knock himself down too? Konan’s paper flowers could only float for a second at first. We all started from scratch.”
Nagato didn’t speak; he just lowered his head, staring at his hands.
Luna reached out and held his cold hand.
Nagato froze for a moment, then raised his head, looking at Luna in surprise.
“What you did just now did push us back,” Luna said.
“But did you notice? Yahiko fell into the bushes, but he wasn’t injured. Konan’s hand was cut by a rock, not hurt by your power. I hit the tree Root, but it’s just a little bruise.”
Nagato froze, stunned.
“Your power is indeed very strong,” Luna said, looking into his eyes.
“But you were subconsciously controlling it. You didn’t aim for vital spots, and you didn’t use full force. Your body instinctively protected us instead of hurting us.”
“…Protecting?” Nagato repeated the word in a low voice.
“Mhm. Protecting.” Luna nodded.
“You stepped in when you saw Yahiko was about to fall. Even if the way you did it was a bit rough, you were saving him.”
Nagato looked into Luna’s serious eyes and opened his mouth to say something, but his throat felt choked up.
Only after a long while did he open his mouth, his voice raspy and faint:
“Is that true?”
“It’s true,” Luna said.
“I promise.”
Nagato’s eyes grew red again.
He lowered his head and blinked hard a few times, forcing back those embarrassingly wet tears.
Luna didn’t let go.
She kept holding his hand until he stopped shaking.
That night, the four of them sat around the campfire in a somewhat quiet atmosphere.
Yahiko had a simple bandage made of a clean strip of cloth on his arm.
He had been scratched by a branch when he fell into the bushes; it wasn’t very serious, but it looked quite noticeable.
Nagato kept his head lowered, not daring to look at Yahiko.
Yahiko noticed, stood up, walked over to Nagato, reached out, and gave his head a firm rub.
“What are you doing?” Nagato asked, startled by the rough pat.
“You’re amazing, kid!” Yahiko grinned, his tone exaggerated.
“That move earlier blew me completely away! How did you do that? Demonstrate it for me again!”
Nagato was stunned.
Watching from the side, Luna couldn’t help but give Yahiko a mental thumbs-up.
He always knew how to resolve an awkward situation in the simplest way possible.
Nagato’s lips twitched; he wanted to smile, but couldn’t quite manage it.
In the end, he just lowered his head and whispered softly:
“…I’m sorry.”
“What are you apologizing for?” Yahiko sat down beside him and patted his shoulder.
“Just be careful next time. Give me a heads-up before you push so I can strike a cool pose before flying off!”
Konan finally couldn’t help but burst into a chuckle.
Then Luna did too.
Nagato himself smiled as well.
The campfire flickered inside the cave, reflecting the smiling faces of the four children.