Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or any of its characters, setting, etc.

Warning: Manga spoilers.

Roku

Hell Realm

Nagato thought that whoever said, "War is hell," had been right. The ruined buildings, the flames that the rain never seemed to completely quench, the bodies lying in the street, the screams of the wounded, the sobs of the bereaved--all these things served to turn the paradise that the Sage of the Six Paths had tried to create into a purgatory that he didn't know how to escape. All he could do was huddle behind a pile of rubble with his two friends, hoping that they would all make it through another day.

Hungry Ghost Realm

Nagato eagerly learned every jutsu Jiraiya taught him, training relentlessly until he had mastered each new technique. Yahiko and Konan practiced diligently as well, of course, but neither of them could match Nagato's seemingly insatiable appetite for knowledge and strength.

Animal Realm

Nagato looked at the tiny puppy that sat in front of him, ribs showing through its mangy, rain-soaked fur. Although his own stomach rumbled with hunger, the poor creature looked so pathetic that Nagato couldn't help tearing a corner off the piece of bread he grasped and holding it out.

Human Realm

Although a crowd of his subordinates surrounded him, expressing their own grief for Yahiko's death, Nagato still felt completely alone. Although Konan's arm was around his shoulders, her face buried in his hair and her tears dripping down his cheeks, Nagato still felt as though he was the only person in the world. One of the mercenaries they'd hired, who stood at the edge of the group, had been so desperate to escape the pain of being human that he had transferred his chakra into an artificial body. Nagato had never understood why anyone would want to do such a thing, until now.

Warrior Ghost Realm

Nagato and Hanzou battled furiously, hands forming seals too fast for their henchmen to follow, sunlight glinting off their blades. As time went on, it became clear that Nagato had the upper hand. Hanzou's face twisted in confusion when a blast of fire seemed to simply disappear a few inches from Nagato's face, or when an invisible force sent his own kunai flying back at him. "Kill him, you morons!" Hanzou shouted at his bodyguards, but none of them could even get close. Then he found himself being yanked off his feet, soaring towards Nagato with no way to stop himself. One of Nagato's hands grabbed his wrist, forcing his sword out of the way, while the other hand clamped itself on his forehead. Nagato pulled his hand back, and everyone watching gasped as they saw him pull a brightly glowing blue-tinged something from Hanzou's now-limp body and cast it aside.

God Realm

From his vantage point, hovering above what had been Hanzou's tower, Nagato looked down at the sector of Amegakure controlled by Hanzou's forces. A flurry of papers approached him and solidified into Konan's form. "Our platoon commanders report that all our troops have evacuated the target area," she told him. Nagato nodded in satisfaction. Hanzou's people undoubtedly thought that his forces were retreating because they believed the battle to be lost. Nagato raised his arms, and Konan drifted a bit higher to make sure that she would be safely outside the blast radius. Below him, he saw friends and enemies alike pointing skyward, catching sight of the two floating forms. A few of Hanzou's men threw projectile weapons or ninjutsu, but nothing had a hope of reaching them when they were this high up. Images of Yahiko and of the countless other friends and comrades that he'd lost flashed through Nagato's mind as he brought his arms down and released the chakra that had been building up inside him. When the wave of power hit the buildings below him, they disintegrated. Walls collapsed, bricks rained down from the sky, glass shattered, and steel twisted like wax. Fuel tanks exploded, giving rise to a myriad of fires. Pipes burst, causing geysers of water to gush into the air.

Nagato and Konan returned to the ground, and walked across debris-strewn bridges to their own sector of the city. Everywhere, people whispered that this was beyond mortal power, that even the strongest of human ninja couldn't wreak devastation on this level. This was like divine vengeance, they said. A messenger ran up to the two resistance leaders, calling Nagato's name.

"No," Nagato said simply, and the man looked puzzled, because he hadn't yet said anything other than Nagato's name.

"No," he repeated. "Not Nagato. I am Pain."

A/N: "Roku" is the Japanese word for "six."