In a certain dark cave, Obito was sitting on a stone platform.
Just then, a White Zetsu crawled out from the dirt under his feet, with half its body still buried in the soil, and said, "Obito, in the border area between the Land of Fire and the Land of Hot Springs, the aura of one White Zetsu suddenly disappeared."
Obito opened his eyes and said, "Do not call me by my name, call me Madara."
Hearing this, the White Zetsu's mouth widened, as if it found Obito's persistence amusing.
"Alright, alright, Madara-sama. I have recorded the specific location where that White Zetsu disappeared. It's right at the border of the Land of Fire and the Land of Hot Springs."
Obito stood up, and vortex-like space ripples sucked his body into it.
When he appeared again, he was already standing on the battlefield where Naruto and A had fought.
Moonlight spilled onto the woods that had just been replanted by Yamato's Wood Release, and everything appeared unusually quiet.
Obito crouched down and pressed his palm against the ground to sense for a moment.
Deep in the soil, there remained extremely faint Lightning Chakra and Wind Chakra. The density and intensity of these two types of Chakra were not something an ordinary ninjas could leave behind.
"Lightning Release..."
"Wind Release..."
"These two types of Chakra residue haven't completely dissipated even now, it seems a great battle just took place here."
"However, the traces of the battle have been carefully cleaned up. The ground was filled in and even the trees were replanted. The person who did this is not only strong in power but also very meticulous in thought."
Obito stood up and walked around, trying to find more clues.
Obito recalled the intelligence from a short while ago about Kusagakure being destroyed by an unknown Wind Release user. The village had been blasted with craters a hundred meters in diameter, the remaining Jonin were all wiped out, and only traces of Wind Chakra remained at the scene.
"A Wind Release user, and both times near the Land of Fire, handled so cleanly. Who could it be?"
Obito furrowed his brow slightly, thinking for a long time as he went through every known Kage-level ninja in the Ninja World in his mind, then excluded them one by one.
In the end, without any confirmed target, he activated Kamui and vanished.
—
Meanwhile, deep within a desolate forest in the Land of Fire, a campfire was lit beside a clear stream.
Naruto and Sasuke sat by the campfire, where a large fish was roasting over the flames.
In the distance, on the river, Boruto was splashing around in the water with his clothes rolled up.
"Sasuke, aren't you going to go see Itachi?"
Naruto asked.
Hearing this, Sasuke's hand trembled slightly. He couldn't help but recall the scenes of the last time he saw Itachi.
The fought fighting side-by-side against Kabuto in Sage Mode. Itachi used Izanami to trap Kabuto in an infinite loop, and then controlled him to undo Edo Tensei. As Edo Tensei was undone, Itachi turned into countless specks of light and dissipated.
Before leaving, he pressed his forehead against Sasuke's and said, "No matter what path you choose, I will always love you."
Sasuke remained silent for a moment, thinking to himself, 'This timeline is not my past. Itachi is still alive, not resurrected by Edo Tensei, nor tormented by illness to his last breath. Theoretically, I could go see him, but the urgent priority is Urashiki.'
He regained his usual composure and spoke, "No."
Naruto rolled his eyes, then, as if thinking of something amusing, spoke with a tone of teasing, "You're still as boring as ever. But then again, if the Sasuke of this timeline saw you, his expression would definitely be priceless. A future self suddenly appearing in front of him—he'd probably stare so hard his Sharingan would evolve into a Mangekyo."
Sasuke turned the conversation to the question that had been bothering him all night. "Compared to that, I'm curious about what that 'Light' technique of yours is."
Naruto said in a flat tone, "I fused Wind, Lightning, and Fire nature transformation to obtain the Kekkei Tota, Light Release."
Sasuke's eyes widened.
Kekkei Tota? Isn't that like Ōnoki's Dust Release?
"Dust Release is the fusion of Wind, Fire, and Earth attributes. Did you figure out your Light Release on your own? Without any precedent, without any legacy, you just put three attributes together and fused them?" Sasuke's voice rose involuntarily as he spoke.
In his timeline, Naruto's talent for Ninjutsu theory was far inferior to his talent in Taijutsu and Senjutsu, let alone creating an entirely new Kekkei Tota that had never existed in the Ninja World.
"Yeah, I got lucky. It worked on the first try."
Naruto nodded, speaking nonchalantly.
Sasuke looked at his calm face, remaining silent for a good while.
The Naruto of this timeline is a monster. He couldn't help but mourn for the Sasuke of this timeline in his heart.
Would one's mentality not collapse from being friends with a guy like this?
He didn't know that the Sasuke of this timeline had already collapsed. After witnessing Naruto use a space-time Ninjutsu like Flying Thunder God Technique, the Sasuke of this timeline had run off overnight to Orochimaru for further training.
"By the way, you mentioned earlier that Urashiki can use a fishing rod to steal other people's Chakra. If I place a Fuinjutsu on myself before being hooked, could it block it?" Naruto brought the conversation back to business.
Sasuke thought for a moment and shook his head. "I don't know. But theoretically, Fuinjutsu can isolate Chakra leakage, so it should provide some protective effect. We can try it."
Naruto nodded and gestured for Sasuke to come over.
Sasuke walked over to Naruto. Naruto formed hand seals, and a Fuinjutsu formula lit up from his palm, which he pressed onto Sasuke's chest. The sealing runes spread along Sasuke's Chakra pathways, forming an invisible barrier within his body.
Sasuke closed his eyes and sensed for a moment. The Chakra flow within his body remained smooth but there was now a tight sealing barrier around the outer layer, like putting a jacket over his Chakra pathways.
"When did you learn this level of Fuinjutsu?" Sasuke asked out of curiosity.
"My mom taught me." Naruto replied.
He then called Boruto back from the river.
Boruto ran over, still clutching a fish he had just caught.
Naruto told him to stand still and placed the same Fuinjutsu on him as well.
Boruto touched the spot where the seal had been applied, then asked expectantly, "Dad, when will you teach me that Ninjutsu where your whole body glows?"
"That's called Light Release."
"Right, Light Release."
"Eat your food before you start training."
Naruto used a Kunai to cut a piece from the roasted fish and handed it to Boruto.
Boruto sat by the fire and took a big bite, mumbling in praise of how delicious it was. In the future, he mostly ate burgers and convenience store rice balls. A wild barbecue like this, where he caught and roasted the fish himself, was very novel to him, and it tasted much better than burgers.
Naruto cut another piece and handed it to Sasuke, who took it and ate quietly.
He also cut a piece for himself, and the three of them sat around the campfire, enjoying their dinner.
After eating, Naruto wiped the grease off his hands and looked at Sasuke, saying, "Sasuke, since you don't want to talk about the future, you won't stop me from teaching Boruto, right?"
Sasuke glanced at Boruto, then at Naruto, and nodded.
His current feelings were actually quite conflicted. After confirming that this timeline was not the past of their original world, he could have easily told Naruto everything that would happen in the future.
The true purpose of the Akatsuki, Madara's conspiracy, the Fourth Great Ninja War, the resurrection of Kaguya.
But deep in his heart, there was a voice holding him back.
If he told everything about the future, and Naruto went to change those things in advance, would it trigger a bigger chain reaction, leading to even more powerful enemies?
Most importantly, since this isn't their past, would the things that happened in their timeline still occur in this one?
If they weren't going to happen anyway, telling him about those things would only cause Naruto unnecessary trouble, and might even mislead his judgment.
So, he ultimately chose to remain silent and decided to trust Naruto.