The Past

Kawaki relives his boyhood in a village crushed by recession, where the wood he cut earned almost nothing. A merchant selling goldfish catches his eye, and though the boy has no coins, the seller mentions a festival where the fish can be viewed for free. A bystander fills the merchant in on Kawaki's home life: a drunken father who beats him and pours every earning into liquor. When that father discovers the festival pamphlet, he denies the boy dinner, and Kawaki keeps chopping wood only to buy more drink. One day physicians arrive asking for a blood sample to check the region's spreading plague.

Fleeing, Kawaki collides with two older boys who mock his father, and when he defends the man they beat him down. The goldfish seller drives them off with a staff, claims a shared past, and offers to take the boy on as an apprentice, handing him a tissue for his cut. Kawaki refuses to leave his father and hurries home with a bottle, which shatters when he trips; Delta quietly recovers the bloodied tissue he dropped. His father locks him away for the broken bottle. Jigen then appears, offering money to purchase the boy outright, and the father sells him, beating Kawaki with a bottle when he objects.

Jigen leads Kawaki toward the lone tunnel out of the village, where the goldfish seller resurfaces and admits he is a trafficker who wants the boy for the effort he spent earning his trust. Jigen sends Kawaki ahead and emerges from the tunnel alone. The boy confesses that all he ever wanted was a goldfish. Brought to a Kara base, he is entrusted to Amado with orders to be treated well and promised a special gift. Kawaki wakes to find Naruto, Shikamaru, and Konohamaru at his side, with Naruto assuring him he is somewhere safe.