After losing his last younger brother and then failing to become Hokage, Madara Uchiha's reputation in both Konoha and the Uchiha clan only continued to deteriorate.
Everything he saw, without exception, was the darkness of the Ninja World.
From the bloodshed of the Warring States Period to the First, Second, and Third Shinobi World Wars that followed.
Using his Sharingan, Madara Uchiha showed all of it to the people of the ancient era through Genjutsu.
Because the Sharingan shared Madara's perspective and thoughts, those caught in his Genjutsu saw nothing but the darkest side of everything.
In an age when warfare was still fought with bows, arrows, and blades, witnessing battles on such a scale was more than enough to make them fear the power known as "chakra."
Judging by their reactions, Madara Uchiha had actually managed to do something useful for once.
Kurama seized the opportunity. Naruto would play the good cop, while he played the bad cop.
With his ferocious appearance, bared fangs, and glaring eyes, he frightened the people who had only just emerged from Madara Uchiha's Genjutsu.
["You saw it, didn't you?! This is what happens when the power of the God Tree is abused! You and all your descendants will suffer the God Tree's curse! You will never escape war, plague, or disaster!!"]
Combined with Madara Uchiha's Genjutsu, the Nine-Tails' words left the people of the ancient era deathly pale.
Compared to everything else, war was at least something humans could prevent. Plagues and disasters, however, were calamities they could neither stop nor predict. Faced with the threat of the God Tree, none of them dared act recklessly. Some were so frightened that they nearly wanted to return the power they had just received on the spot.
At that moment, Naruto, transformed into Sage Mode and wrapped in his fox demon cloak, began playing the good cop. His heroic bearing was mixed with a strangely bewitching quality.
"These powers were given to you so that you could unite and, once every six months, travel to the outer perimeter of the God Tree to clear away its roots. Think of them as tools for that purpose."
"How you choose to use these tools will depend on your own intentions, as well as whether the 'leader' guiding you is worthy of the position he holds."
Naruto was simply parroting Kurama's words from deep within his mind.
The Tailed Beasts had existed in the Ninja World for thousands of years. They had watched one dynasty after another rise and fall before their eyes, so when it came to political theory, their knowledge naturally far surpassed that of the thirteen-year-old Naruto Uzumaki.
The enormous fox head formed from the fox-cloaks of Naruto's countless Shadow Clones continued threatening the ancient humans who had only just obtained this power.
["The God Tree can only control its power within the boundaries of the Flower Realm Tree and the Gate of the Great God! Do not even think about destroying the God Tree once and for all. Doing so will only bring catastrophic disaster upon you even sooner."]
["What you can do... is follow your hearts."]
Kurama remembered the life of "Naruto Uzumaki" during the Fourth Shinobi World War, which he and Naruto had experienced together in the illusory realm.
Everyone had united behind that boy, a boy whom even the Tailed Beasts themselves had wanted to follow. He led the Allied Shinobi Forces from every ninja village in the Ninja World, turning them into a peregrine falcon spreading its wings of freedom as they severed the Ten-Tails' connection to Obito Uchiha and Madara Uchiha.
["All you can do is unite as one, treat one another as family and brothers, and use the power I have granted you to complete every mission of pruning the God Tree's roots."]
"But if it's only pruning roots..."
"That doesn't sound very difficult, does it?"
"Yeah. Don't we just have to cut away the excess roots? Compared to war, plague, and natural disasters..."
["Don't you dare think this is a simple task!!!"]
The Nine-Tails' roar terrified the ancient people.
The gigantic fox head before them had eyes nearly larger than their entire bodies. It looked as though a single casual bite could crush and tear them apart.
["Even outside the barrier, the God Tree's roots can still attack you on their own! If they touch you even once, all your vitality will be drained away in an instant, leaving you nothing but a dried-up husk!"]
Following the Nine-Tails' explanation, Naruto had one of his Shadow Clones use the Transformation Technique and chakra control to demonstrate what would happen if the God Tree's roots drained someone's vitality.
The fox cloak that had been brimming with chakra vanished, and the person instantly shriveled up.
If someone who knew the truth, like Sasuke, had been there to see such an exaggerated performance, he probably would have smacked Naruto and told him to take it seriously.
Unfortunately, the people of the ancient era had no way of knowing it was all an act.
Thoroughly frightened, they immediately began taking the Nine-Tails' mission of pruning the God Tree's roots seriously again.
"I-if we don't go prune them..."
["Idiots! No matter which direction it happens in, once the God Tree's roots find a way through, they'll quickly bypass the barrier and spread into other regions!!"]
["Eventually, all of you, even your livestock, will have your vitality drained by the God Tree. This world will become a hellish realm inhabited only by the dead!"]
A world of the dead...
The suffocating despair they had witnessed in Madara Uchiha's Genjutsu was exactly the sort of horrifying future they could imagine.
The people of the ancient era fell silent in thought.
"Are we really going to have to coexist with the God Tree like this forever?"
"Then let's treat today, and another day six months from now, as days of sacrifice every year! Each village can send four of its strongest warriors to challenge the God Tree using the power bestowed upon us by the Messenger!"
"That seems workable."
"But without the Emperor's decree, what we think doesn't really matter."
That was true.
The decisions of those who guided the people were what ultimately determined the path the world and its future would take.
The Tailed Beasts, who had lived for thousands of years, understood that better than anyone.
At that moment...
Naruto's main body sent word to the Shadow Clones scattered across the land that the God Tree had finally settled down. Apparently, the Nine-Tails and the Three-Tails had drained so much from it that it no longer had the energy to put up a fight.
Or perhaps Hashirama Senju's method of taking power from the God Tree and then using that very power against it, together with an enormous Wood Release and Senjutsu sealing technique, had stunned the God Tree with just how shamelessly effective it was.
Whatever the reason, the God Tree's growth had noticeably slowed, almost to the point of stopping entirely.
As for how they knew...
The mission scroll inside Naruto's main body's ninja gear pouch showed that the mission had been completed.
"You can call your Shadow Clones back now, kid."
Madara Uchiha poked Naruto on the head, then held out a hand for the reward from the mission.
The messages Kurama and Naruto had delivered were more or less enough for the time being. As for orders from the kings of places like the Land of Ancestors and the Land of That, neither Naruto nor Kurama could think of a better solution.
If those in power truly intended to use the lives of their people as bargaining chips for territory and authority, then that could only be called the people's misfortune.
Naruto could not think of any way to solve that problem.
But he still refused to accept it.
He dispelled his Shadow Clones.
The enormous "human carpet" vanished in rapid succession with a series of pops and crackles.
Bang, bang, bang.
Cloud after cloud of white smoke burst into the air like popcorn.
The sight once again left the people of the ancient era stunned. The Messenger of the God Tree truly had come and gone in the blink of an eye.
The Sage Mode Narutos waved to them.
"The rest of the mission is up to you!"
With a flourish of their crimson divine robes, they left behind bright, trusting smiles full of confidence in the people they were leaving behind.
That sunny expression did not quite match the bewitching air of Naruto's Sage Mode.
Still...
He looked good.
"As expected of a divine messenger."
"Mm-hmm."
And so, a thousand years later in this parallel world, the legend that survived claimed that the Nine-Tailed Fox Immortal, the Messenger of the God Tree, was not only a woman, but also possessed the power to enchant all living beings.
She even became, in the hearts of certain kings, an unforgettable beauty they would yearn for forever but never have the chance to meet again.
But that was a story for another time.
After Naruto recalled all his Shadow Clones, his excessive chakra reserves were finally reduced somewhat.
Aside from the absurd number of Shadow Clones, comparable to six hundred billion explosive tags, Madara Uchiha and Hashirama Senju had also helped Naruto burn through a considerable amount of chakra with their colossal Advent of a World of Flowering Trees, enormous Gate of the Great God, and gigantic Susanoo.
They were essentially using the God Tree's own chakra to bully the God Tree.
Naruto first pulled the mission scroll from his ninja gear pouch.
He opened it and found it packed with completed missions.
"Come to think of it, I've had this mission scroll way longer than Obito and the others have had theirs, haven't I?"
"Is that what it means to be the Chosen One?"
"No, the Child of the Prophecy."
[Mission Rank: B-rank]
[Mission Details: Delay the growth of the God Tree.]
[Mission Status: Already Completed.]
Naruto closed the mission scroll and handed it to his dad, then rummaged around inside his ninja gear pouch again.
Sure enough, tucked into a tiny gap, he found an extremely small scroll.
"Hurry up and open it! Let's see what intel is inside!"
Young Obito was too impatient to wait and immediately urged Naruto to open the miniature scroll.
Naruto unrolled it, and everyone else crowded around to take a look.
But honestly, none of them understood what it meant.
[Isshiki Ōtsutsuki is still alive.]
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