Episode Summaries

Nagato finishes telling Naruto his story, revealing that after Yahiko had died, he had scratched a horizontal line in his forehead protector and became the new leader of the Akatsuki. He then asks Naruto to give his answer to how the latter plans to achieve true peace. Naruto responds that he does not know how to achieve peace yet, but that someday he would break the curse of hatred in their shinobi world and that all he requires is the power to believe in it. Nagato is shocked at Naruto's words, recalling when he uttered those same words to Jiraiya, who was suffering from writer's block at the time. Pulling out Jiraiya's novel, The Tale of the Utterly Gutsy Shinobi, Naruto explains that he plucked his words from the book itself, and that the protagonist's dialogue was exactly what Nagato had said to Jiraiya then. Naruto goes on to reveal that the character of the book is named Naruto, and that Jiraiya had bestowed that name upon him. Naruto adds that since he does not know how to write novels, his life would serve as the sequel to Jiraiya's book, and that he would act in the same manner as the book's Naruto did, in accordance with their master's principles, and that he would find the way to true peace.

Nagato claims that Jiraiya's ideology is outdated and asks Naruto how he could have faith in him if there are no guarantees that Naruto would not stray from his optimistic path once he experiences pain, the same way he did. Naruto tells Nagato that he has already experienced pain, having been shunned and ostracised from birth due to being a jinchuriki, and that his pain was worsened when he fought against and lost his friend Sasuke as well as when he hurt another friend. He explains that he still has a lot of pain buried deep within him and that he would never forgive Nagato for what he did, and that he does wish to kill him as a result. However, Naruto decides to stick Jiraiya's hope of the curse of hatred being broken and people understanding one another in true peace and harmony and promises Nagato that when he becomes Hokage, he would bring peace to Amegakure.

Touched by Naruto's words, Nagato tells him that he reminds him of himself when he was younger, and adds that while he had joked that he and Naruto should be able to understand one another due to them sharing the same master, he truly understands Naruto's ideology. Deciding to put his faith in Naruto in the hopes that he truly can achieve peace, Nagato decides to use the last of chakra to use his Outer Path — Samsara of Heavenly Life Technique to atone for his actions; Konan realises that Nagato would die as a result of using the Outer Path and is shocked that Nagato would give up his life in order to place his trust in the idealistic Naruto.

Back at Mount Myōboku, Gamamaru tells Gamabunta that he never expected there to be two Children of the Prophecy and that he had never thought that Jiraiya's novel would play such a vital part in saving the world.