Konohagakure – Maximum Security Council Chamber
The door had barely clicked shut behind the last departing Kage when Naruto let out a long, explosive sigh, slumping back in his chair. The weight of the brief, initial summary hung in the air, but it was a sketch, not the full portrait.
Naruto: "Alright. They're gone. Now, for us… the real talk." He rubbed his temples, the whiskered lines on his face deepening with fatigue and concentration. He looked at Sasuke, then at Boruto, who had been waiting impatiently in an adjacent observation room and was now ushered back in by Shikamaru. "You gave them the cliff notes. Now I need the whole scroll. Every detail. The fight, the tech, the training… everything. And I think we need to call in a few… special consultants."
Sasuke, who had remained standing, gave a curt nod. He understood. The council had received the strategic overview. The inner circle needed the tactile, experiential truth.
Sasuke: "The Genjutsu I shared was filtered, a highlight reel. To understand the scale, the nuance, you need to see it through our eyes, moment by moment. And some parties have a direct stake in certain revelations."
He looked at Naruto meaningfully. Naruto's eyes widened slightly, then he nodded, a determined set to his jaw. He placed a hand over his stomach, closing his eyes for a moment in concentration.
Naruto: "Hey, guys. You all caught that, right? We need a family meeting. Now-ish."
A moment passed. Then, the air in the sealed chamber seemed to thicken, to grow heavy with ancient, distinct chakra signatures. One by one, ethereal forms began to manifest around the table—not full physical bodies, but conscious projections, chakra constructs shaped by Naruto's bond and will.
First, a massive, nine-tailed fox of shimmering orange chakra, its eyes slitted and intelligent—Kurama.
Then, a towering, eight-tailed ox-octopus hybrid—Gyūki.
A five-tailed dolphin-horse—Kokuō.
A four-tailed ape—Son Gokū.
A three-tailed turtle—Isobu.
A two-tailed cat—Matatabi.
A one-tailed tanuki—Shukaku.
The six-tailed slug—Saiken.
And the seven-tailed beetle—Chōmei.
The chamber was now host to the collective consciousness of the Nine-Tailed Beasts. Their forms radiated power, curiosity, and a wary intelligence.
Kurama: (His voice a deep, resonant growl in their minds) "This had better be good, knucklehead. Interrupting my nap."
Shukaku: (Squeaky and irritable) "Yeah, yeah! What's so important you gotta drag us all into this stuffy hole?!"
Matatabi: (A calm, dual-toned voice) "Peace, Shukaku. The Hokage does not call us lightly. The energy in this room… it tastes of displaced time."
Gyūki: (Booming and curious) "I feel a weird… ping. Like an echo of myself, but different. Spill it, brat."
Naruto held up his hands. "I know, I know. Thanks for coming. This is Sasuke and Boruto. They just got back from… well, a really long trip to a different version of our world. They saw things. Things about you guys, about threats, and about… a different way of living. Sasuke's gonna show you. And tell you."
All Biju's attention focused on Sasuke. The pressure was immense.
Sasuke took a steadying breath. "I will show you in detail, through shared memory. It will be… vivid. Brace yourselves."
He raised his hand, his Rinnegan glowing. This time, instead of a broad overview, he began to channel a specific, deep memory stream.
Sasuke's Memory Projection – The Jonin Exhibition Match: Indra vs. Rias
The council chamber melted away, replaced by the stark, massive arena carved into a Kumo mountainside. The air was thin, cold, and crackling with anticipatory chakra. The stands were packed with Kumo shinobi and civilians, their faces a sea of eager pride.
They saw through Sasuke's eyes.
Indra and Rias stood in the center, fifty meters apart. He wore his grey commander uniform, she in a form-fitting dark blue combat outfit, her crimson hair tied back in a severe ponytail, the hairpin that was her spear tucked securely.
The proctor, a Kumo Jonin, dropped his hand. "Begin!"
There was no bluster, no wasted movement.
Rias moved first. Her body vanished in a blur of Shunshin so fast it left after-images. She appeared above Indra, her spear already extended from the hairpin in her hand, a thrust aimed not at his body, but at the space he occupied. The tip glowed with a spiraling blue chakra—a High-Pressure Water Drill technique fused with piercing Fuinjutsu.
Indra didn't look up. His Sharingan wasn't even active. He simply took a half-step to the side. The spear thrust hit the ground where he had been, and the earth didn't just crater; it dissolved in a perfect cylindrical hole ten meters deep, the matter seemingly unraveled by the sealing array.
Rias was already spinning, using the thrust's momentum to swing the spear shaft in a devastating arc. Indra raised his left arm, blocking it with his forearm. The impact didn't sound like flesh on metal; it was a deep gong, like two ancient bells colliding. The ground under Indra's feet remained flawless.
"His physical strength is on par with the Raikage," Sasuke's mental commentary noted. "No visible chakra enhancement. Pure body."
Indra finally moved offensively. His hand shot out, fingers aiming for her wrist. Rias retracted the spear; it shrank back to a hairpin, and she ducked under his grasp, her leg sweeping for his ankles in a move that would shatter granite.
Indra jumped, but Rias was already forming one-handed seals with her free hand. "Water Release: Thousand Feeding Sharks!"
From the moisture in the thin air, a swarm of vicious, chakra-formed sharks erupted, homing in on Indra mid-air. He was surrounded.
For the first time, his Sharingan activated. The geometric Mangekyō pattern spun lazily.
"Palkia."
The space around him folded. It was visible as a heat-haze distortion. The sharks, diving in from all angles, suddenly found their trajectories bent, their forms passing through empty air as the spatial coordinates of Indra's location were subtly shifted. They collided with each other in a massive explosion of water and chakra behind him.
He landed gracefully as Rias landed twenty meters away, already resetting her stance.
Indra: "Good opener. The spatial seal on the thrust was a nice touch. Trying to lock me in place?"
Rias: (A fierce grin) "Had to try. Your turn."
Indra nodded. He raised a hand, palm open. "Creation: Adamantium Binding Chains."
From the shimmering air above his palm, solid, dark grey chains with a metallic sheen erupted, not flying at Rias, but appearing in complex interlocking patterns around her, attempting to cage her instantly. The speed of materialization was instantaneous.
Rias's eyes widened. She didn't try to dodge. Instead, she slammed the hairpin-spear into the ground. "Uzumaki Style: Barrier Spire!"
A dome of glowing, intricate red seals erupted from the point of impact, meeting the forming chains. The adamantium clashed against the barrier with a screech of protesting energy. For a second, they held.
Then Indra clenched his fist. The chains contracted. The barrier spire cracked, then shattered into motes of red light.
But Rias was gone. At the moment the barrier took the impact, she had performed the Summoning: Reverse Teleportation Jutsu. A small scroll at her feet, prepared beforehand, activated.
She reappeared directly behind Indra, her spear now glowing with a furious, condensed Lightning Release: Chidori Spear. She thrust for his back.
Indra didn't turn. His left Mangekyō, Dialga, glowed.
Time around Rias's arm slowed. Her thrust, which should have been lightning-fast, became a snail's crawl. Indra had all the time in the world to step aside. He reached out and tapped her on the shoulder with a finger crackling with harmless lightning.
He released the temporal field.
Rias stumbled forward as her momentum suddenly returned, her spear stabbing empty air. She caught herself, whirling, a mix of frustration and admiration on her face.
Indra: "Predictable teleport to the only pre-placed marker. You're better than that."
Rias: "Hmph. You try fighting someone who can cheat time and space."
Indra: (A small, genuine smile) "I am. And you're holding your own."
The fight escalated. Rias began layering techniques: Wind Release to enhance her speed, Earth Release to alter the terrain, complex Genjutsu cast through eye contact, and the shimmer of her water techniques. Indra parried, analyzed, and countered with breathtaking economy. He used space to redirect her lightning, time to outpace her wind, and his sheer physical prowess to match her taijutsu.
The climax came when Rias, breathing heavily but eyes blazing, performed a sequence of hand seals so fast they were a blur, channeling an immense amount of chakra.
Rias: "Forbidden Art: Crimson Uzumaki Nine Phoenix Seal!"
Nine massive, spectral phoenixes of crimson chakra and sealing formulae erupted around her, each screaming with sonic and spiritual force, before diving towards Indra from all directions, sealing the very space in a net of annihilating energy.
Indra finally looked serious. Both his Mangekyō blazed.
Indra: "Arceus Decree: Localized Nullification."
He didn't shout. He stated it.
A sphere of perfect, silent blackness, about three meters in diameter, appeared around him. The nine phoenixes of sealing energy struck the sphere's surface and simply… ceased. Not exploded, not negated in a flashy clash. They were unmade. Their energy, their form, their very conceptual existence within that defined space was deleted from reality.
The black sphere vanished. Indra stood, unharmed, but a single trail of blood trickled from his left eye. The cost was visible.
Rias sank to one knee, her chakra visibly depleted. She looked up, panting, and gave a wry, exhausted smile.
Rias: "Show-off."
Indra: (Wiping the blood, his smile tired but warm) "Had to end it before you decided to pull out the really forbidden stuff. You were magnificent."
He walked over, offering a hand. She took it, and he pulled her up. The arena erupted in thunderous applause, not just for the victory, but for the sheer, awe-inspiring spectacle of power and partnership.
The memory faded back to the council chamber.
The room was utterly silent. Kakashi had his hand over his visible eye, as if trying to comprehend the spatial manipulation. Tsunade's medic brain was analyzing the physical feats and the regenerative cost of that final move. The Raikage, Darui, was staring at where the image had been, a slow whistle escaping his lips.
Darui: "Cool. And terrifying. That final move… it wasn't a ninjutsu. It was… an administrative deletion."
Orochimaru: "Conceptual unmaking. The pinnacle of space-time manipulation theory. And he used it in a spar. The control… the cost management… fascinating."
Naruto turned to his son, who was practically vibrating to share. "Boruto. Your turn. What was it like? The training? The people?"
Boruto's face lit up. "It was awesome! And weird! And awesome! After they realized we weren't spies or whatever, they kinda just… folded us in. I got assigned to train with their Genin and Chunin corps. My team leader was Samui! She's super strict and serious, but really smart. And Karui and Omoi were around too. Omoi's always snacking and overthinking, and Karui just yells at him."
He launched into a detailed description.
"Their training is nothing like ours. It's all about systemic efficiency. They have these Gravity Chambers—rooms where you can train under 2, 5, even 10 times normal gravity! It makes every movement a workout. They have obstacle courses that use barrier tech to create shifting walls and platforms. And their sparring is always in teams, with earpieces and linked communication seals. They fight like a single organism.
"I trained under Darui-taichou for a week on Lightning Release refinement. He's so cool! He taught me a variant of the Laser Circus that uses smaller, faster orbs for area denial. And he said my fighting style was 'flashy but predictable' and made me drill fundamentals for hours."
Boruto's expression softened. "And the Uzumaki compound… Dad, you have to see it. It's like a little village inside Kumo. There's a big central hall with the Uzumaki spiral everywhere. Everyone knows everyone. They have their own school, their own hospital wing run by Lady Venelana—Rias's mom. And they have so many kids!"
He grinned. "One day, a bunch of the moms had to go to a clan meeting, and Lady Venelana asked me to watch the nursery. There were ten newborn Uzumaki babies! All in one room! It was chaos! But they have these… I don't know, chakra-soothing seals on the cribs that keep them calm. And some of the older kids, the 'Storm-Born' ones, helped. They're like, super strong for their age and really responsible. It was… nice."
He dug into his pocket and pulled out a small, ornately bound book with a soft crimson cover. He handed it to Naruto, his expression suddenly shy.
Boruto: "Lady Venelana gave this to me. She said… she said since we're family across worlds, you should have it."
Naruto took the book with trembling hands. He opened it. On the first page was a faded but beautifully rendered portrait of a young, smiling woman with vibrant red hair and warm, violet eyes—Kushina Uzumaki. It was a baby album. Photos of Kushina as an infant in Uzushiogakure, being held by her parents, playing with other Uzumaki children. Notes in elegant script detailing her first steps, her first words ("Believe it!" was underlined with a laugh), her early chakra exercises. There were pictures of her as a young girl, then as a teen after coming to Konoha, looking fierce and lonely, then happier ones with a young Mikoto Uchiha, and later… with Minato.
Tears welled in Naruto's blue eyes, spilling over. He couldn't speak. He just traced the face of his mother, a face he'd only seen in photos and psychic visions. This was an intimate, personal history, preserved in another world and gifted back to him.
Tsunade looked away, her own eyes shimmering. Kakashi's head bowed.
Shikamaru said softly, "That's… a powerful gesture."
Boruto nodded. "She said the Uzumaki in their world remember everyone. They keep records of all their kin, even the lost ones. She said this is a copy, but it's made with the same love as the original."
Sasuke: The Spar and the Insult
Sasuke took over again, his voice cutting through the emotional silence. "My interactions were less… domestic. After Boruto was settled, Indra approached me. He said, 'Your chakra is a desert. Your fighting style is a patchwork. Let's see what remains of the Uchiha legacy in your timeline.' He challenged me to a spar."
He reactivated the Rinnegan, sharing the memory.
They stood in a stark white training ground within Kumo's R&D sector. Indra was in a simple training gi, his Sharingan active.
Indra: "No killing blows. Show me your current peak."
Sasuke: (Drawing the Kusanagi) "Don't regret it."
Sasuke moved with the speed and precision of a veteran, closing the distance, Kusanagi aimed in a fluid iaijutsu draw. Indra sidestepped, not with a shunshin, but by making the space between them lengthen for a fraction of a second, causing Sasuke's perfect strike to miss by a hair. Sasuke followed up with Chidori Senbon from his left hand, the needles of lightning filling the air.
Indra didn't block. He raised a hand, and a small, localized time dilation field formed around the senbon. They slowed to a crawl, and he walked through them casually.
Sasuke activated his Rinnegan, pulling Indra towards him with Shinra Tensei's variant, while simultaneously launching Amaterasu flames from his right eye.
Indra's left Mangekyō glowed. "Dialga: Temporal Rewind – Localized, Non-Biological."
The Amaterasu flames, mid-air, reversed. They shrank back into the point of origin in Sasuke's eye and vanished, as if never cast. The gravitational pull dissipated as the space around Indra locked, becoming immovable.
Sasuke, undeterred, formed hand seals. "Fire Release: Great Fireball!" Followed instantly by "Wind Release: Great Breakthrough!" to amplify it into a raging inferno.
Indra sighed, almost sounding bored. He pointed a finger. "Palkia: Spatial Excison."
A rectangular section of the oncoming firestorm, a cube three meters wide, simply disappeared, leaving a gaping hole through which Indra was perfectly visible. The fire parted around him harmlessly.
The spar continued for five minutes. Sasuke used every technique in his arsenal: Susano'o ribs for defense, Chidori variants, genjutsu cast through the Sharingan. Indra countered, deflected, or nullified everything with an infuriating, calm efficiency, using minimal movement and chakra. He wasn't even breathing heavily.
Finally, as Sasuke paused, chakra reserves draining rapidly (a chronic issue since the loss of his arm and constant dimensional travel), Indra lowered his hand.
Indra: "Enough. I've seen it."
Sasuke: (Panting slightly) "Your assessment?"
Indra: "You are trying to be Kakashi Hatake. 50-50. Half-power in too many areas. A master of none in this state. Your Rinnegan is a crutch for your depleted reserves. Your taijutsu is adequate, but built for a different body. Your ninjutsu is broad but shallow in execution. You have no core combat philosophy anymore. You're copying a style built for a man with one Sharingan and limited chakra, but you have a Rinnegan and the legacy of both my clans. It's wasteful."
The insult was delivered not with malice, but with the dispassionate accuracy of a surgeon pointing out a tumor.
Indra continued. "In my world, Kakashi Hatake is a competent, retired Jonin-sensei. A good teacher. Not a template for the last Uchiha. You have the potential for so much more, but you're clinging to a style designed for scarcity. You have a universe of power in your blood and your eye, and you fight like a man with a single borrowed trick."
The memory faded. In the council chamber, Kakashi had the decency to look slightly abashed, rubbing the back of his head.
Kakashi: "Well… he's not wrong. My style was built around conservation and precision because of my limitations. Sasuke, you never needed those limitations."
Sasuke: "He was correct. The spar and his subsequent analysis during my arm's integration identified the holes in my approach. My training there focused on efficiency, on rebuilding a core style that utilizes the Rinnegan and my heritage as a primary, not a supplemental, weapon."
Sasuke: The Contracts and the Beasts
Sasuke turned his attention to the spectral forms of the Tailed Beasts. "Now, for the most relevant intelligence for you all."
He focused on Matatabi and Gyūki's projections. "In that timeline, you two have a… different relationship with your Jinchuriki and with Kumo."
He shared quick, vivid flashes:
Matatabi, in her small, elegant blue-flamed cat avatar, curled on Yugito Nii's lap as the woman read a report. Gyūki, a spiky blue-black octopus-ball the size of a melon, perched on Killer Bee's shoulder, arguing passionately about the rhyme scheme in Bee's latest rap. The two avatars sitting on a Kumo rooftop at night, watching the village lights, discussing in low, contented tones.
Matatabi's projection shifted, her twin tails flickering with interest. "We are… free? In that way?"
Gyūki: "An avatar that can taste food? Argue with Bee? Without causing panic? How?"
Sasuke: "Indra Uzumaki-Uchiha developed what he called the 'Benign Avatar Technique.' It is a collaboration of advanced Fuinjutsu, the Jinchuriki's control, and the beast's consent. It creates a stable, small-scale physical projection of the beast, linked to the main consciousness but operating independently. It allows for direct sensory experience of the world without the risk of rampage or the strain of full manifestation. The chakra cost is shared and minimal."
He paused. "More importantly, he developed three derivative techniques, designed as collaborative ultimate defenses between Jinchuriki and Beast. He successfully tested them with Gyūki and Matatabi. They are named, whimsically, after fairy tales."
Sasuke projected the concepts, the chakra formations a,s Indra had explained them.
Fairy Law: A massive area-of-effect purification technique. The beast and Jinchuriki combine their chakra to release a wave of devastating, holy-sealing light that annihilates malignant chakra (curses, genjutsu, poison, Zetsu spores) and disintegrates inorganic matter. It is harmless to living beings with pure intent, but vaporizes weapons, traps, and structures. A battlefield reset button. Fairy Glitter: A precision-targeting beam of condensed, star-like chakra. It homes in on a target's unique chakra signature (like a Rinnegan or a specific curse mark) and severs the connection, purging foreign chakra influences. It was theorized to be able to break the Gedo Statue's control and absorption links. Fairy Sphere: The ultimate defense. The beast and Jinchuriki create a perfect, spherical barrier around a target area. Within this sphere, time is stopped completely. Nothing can enter or leave, no energy can penetrate. It is a perfect stasis field. The caster can maintain it from inside, frozen in a moment, for a theoretically infinite duration, or until they choose to release it. It is a sanctuary against any attack, including the Ten-Tails' Biju Dama.
Gyūki's projection rumbled with awe. "A time-stop barrier… collaborated. That… changes everything."
Matatabi: "These techniques require absolute trust and synchronization. They are not weapons of domination, but of unity."
Sasuke nodded. "Indra's stated goal was to make you two, and by extension any beast-Jinchuriki pair that mastered these, impossible for the Gedo Statue to absorb. The Fairy Glitter would sever the pulling chakra chains. The Fairy Sphere would make you untouchable. In that timeline, the Akatsuki's entire plan is fundamentally countered by this development."
Kurama snarled, but it was thoughtful. "Hmph. The brat thinks of everything. So in that world, Bee and the Two-Tails girl are safe."
Naruto: "It's a way to protect you without locking you away. To fight with you, not just use your power."
Sasuke then addressed the Raikage, Darui. "The Summoning Contracts. They are not mere alliances. The Elephant Clan, led by Airavat, and the Eagle Clan, led by Garuda, are primordial beings. They are older than the Tailed Beasts. They fought the Ten-Tails alongside the Sage of Six Paths, not out of allegiance to him, but because they viewed it as a cosmic infection threatening all realms. Their power is not of the standard summoning paradigm. They are sovereign nations that have chosen to ally with Kumo because Indra presented a vision of order and stability that they respect. Airavat's footsteps can calm earthquakes. Garuda's wings can blot out the sun, and his cry shatters evil intent. They are integrated into Kumo's Thunderhead defense network as living, intelligent components of a continental shield."
Darui's usual lazy demeanor was gone. "Primordial… like the Sage's era. And they're on his speed dial. Cool. And utterly terrifying for anyone thinking of invading."
Sasuke's expression turned grim. "Now, for the evidence that catalyzed that timeline's shift." His Rinnegan glowed again, but this time he projected not memories, but documents—crisp, clear images of scrolls, photos, and ledgers he had photographed with a discreet ocular technique while in the other Konoha's archives.
Image 1: A ROOT mission scroll authorizing the sabotage of Uzushiogakure's perimeter seals, with Danzo's personal cipher seal at the bottom.
Image 2: A financial ledger showing payments from a "Earth & Stone Mercantile" (an Iwa front) to a "Konoha Internal Security Fund" (a ROOT shell), dated just before the Uzushiogakure invasion.
Image 3: A chillingly clinical log of Senju clan members, their new civilian identities, and their subsequent "Termination: Asset Denial" entries.
*Image 4: Psychiatric profiles of Uchiha clan members, annotated by Danzo with comments like "Increasingly paranoid – useful," and "Loyal to clan over village – requires monitoring/pruning."*
*Image 5: Blueprints of the underground labs, with subject holding cells numbered 1-1243.*
*Image 6:AnA A inventory list: "Sharingan – Stock: 14. Mangekyō – Stock: 1 (Subject: Shisui). Compatibility: 30% success rate with non-Uchiha."*
Image 7: The damning fragment of the coded message to "Ghost" (Obito) with the coordinates of Kushina's birthing location.
He saved the most visceral for last. Image 8: Photographs from the labs. Not of the experiments themselves—Sasuke had spared them that—but of the victims before. A young Uzumaki woman with bright red hair, smiling in a Konoha headband. A Senju man with kind eyes holding a baby. A child with the pale eyes of the Hyūga branch family. Their faces, full of life, followed by their assigned subject numbers.
Tsunade erupted from her chair, her fist slamming into the stone table, cracking it radially from the point of impact. Her chakra flared, a visible golden aura of fury. "HE WAS FARMING MY CLAN! LIKE LIVESTOCK! FOR PARTS!"
Her voice was a raw, wounded roar. The grief of decades—for Nawaki, for Dan, for her shattered clan—exploded out of her. The diamond on her forehead gleamed with murderous light.
Kakashi's single eye was a black pit of cold, silent rage. He was looking at the list, at Sakumo Hatake's name indirectly referenced in the "personnel morale" reports as a "negative influence requiring correction." His hands were clenched so tight his knuckles were white.
Gaara's sand, usually controlled, swirled violently around him, his eyes wide with a horror that mirrored his own childhood as a weapon. "Children… he experimented on children."
Darui's easygoing face was set in stone. "A monster. Plain and simple."
Kurotsuchi looked sick. "And we wondered why Konoha was weak in that world. This cancer was eating it from the inside out."
The Tailed Beasts were radiating waves of anger and disgust. Kurama's growl was sub-audible, shaking the very air. "This… worm… was behind the fox attack. Behind the misery that creates simy blings and megs. He deserves a fate worse than the Pure Lands."
Naruto was shaking, not with tears now, but with a cold, Hokage-level wrath. "All of it… the Uzumaki massacre… my parents… the Uchiha… Sakumo-san… it all leads back to him. To his fear and his hunger." He looked at Sasuke. "And in that world? He paid?"
Sasuke showed the final image: Danzo Shimura, broken, armless, in the sealed box in the Land of Iron, and then a later, discreet image of his headless body after the samurai's execution.
Sasuke: "He was tried before the Five Kage, his crimes laid bare. The Lightning Daimyo demanded his head. The Samurai executed him publicly. His stolen eyes were removed and destroyed. ROOT was annihilated. Konoha, under Tsunade, began a painful, public atonement."
A long, heavy silence followed, broken only by Tsunade's harsh breathing as she fought to control her rage.
Shikamaru finally spoke, his voice weary. "So. We have the full picture. A world where the rot was cut out, albeit late, and a new power rose from the ashes of that purification. A power built on unity, innovation, and an absolute rejection of the cycle of hatred and sacrifice. They have tools to protect their people and their tailed beasts. They have alliances with ancient powers. And they have a leader who, at sixteen, possesses the power and intellect to make Kage look like students."
He looked around. "We have our work cut out for us. Not to copy them, but to learn. To strengthen our own unions. To develop our own defenses against the threats we know are coming—the Ōtsutsuki, and any who would follow the Akatsuki's blueprint. And to ensure that the kind of darkness Danzo represented never finds fertile soil again, in any village."
Naruto wiped his eyes, closing the baby album with reverence. He looked at the scroll on the table, then at Sasuke's. "We open them. Tomorrow. With everyone here who needs to be. And we see what knowledge our… cousin from another world has sent us."
He stood up, Hokage cloak settling around him. "We've seen the echoes of tomorrow. Some are nightmares. Some are… hope. It's up to us to decide which echo we become."
The chapter ends with the chamber clearing, each person carrying the weight of a thousand revelations, and the twin scrolls on the table pulsing softly with the promise and peril of a different path's knowledge.
End of Chapter – 48.