Now, back to the present.
Everything happening before his eyes was too surreal. Naruto, who had suddenly become a father, instantly entered a state of system shutdown.
Boruto, realizing he had spoken wrongly in his haste, quickly scrambled up from the ground, flustered and stammering as he tried to explain. "Um... I..."
"I apologize, it seems he mistook you for someone else. We've caused you trouble."
A man next to him, whose body was thoroughly concealed by clothing, quickly grabbed Boruto's arm. After finishing his hurried explanation, he immediately led Boruto back a few steps, deliberately creating distance.
However, that deep and familiar voice was impossible for Naruto to mistake, because it was too familiar.
"Mr. Sasuke? Why? Didn't you say we wouldn't affect this timeline? Why don't we just explain everything to Dad and let him allow us to stay with him?" Boruto lowered his voice, confusedly questioning his companion and Master.
"Calm down, Boruto. Strictly speaking, this Naruto is not your father. We can't be sure what effect revealing too much about the future will have on this world, so it's best we keep our identities secret."
... That must be Uzumaki Boruto, right?
Watching the two people in front of him deliberately conversing in low voices, Naruto had already reached a definitive conclusion. At the same time, that familiar voice allowed him to almost confirm the identity of the other person. Two options flashed quickly through his mind:
A: Emiya Shirou
B: Uchiha Sasuke
The answer was self-evident.
The two, still deliberating cautiously, were completely unaware that their identities had been exposed. Sasuke was racking his brain, thinking about how to naturally stay near the Naruto they had just met without arousing suspicion.
At the same time, he noticed that many details in this world were significantly different from his memories. The most obvious was the height of this Naruto before himhe was noticeably taller than the Naruto of the same period in Sasuke's memory, perhaps slightly taller than Sasuke himself during his teenage years, and his figure seemed more imposing.
This discovery made Sasuke even more certain that they had indeed arrived in a parallel Universe different from their original timeline.
Speaking of which, Naruto vaguely remembered that in discussions related to Boruto: Naruto Next Generations, someone seemed to have mentioned an original arc where the adult Sasuke and Boruto Transmigrated to the past Konoha for some reason. However, Naruto had not actually seen the specific content of that part.
But if this truly was a Transmigration plot, according to this world's settings, the one standing before him should be the adult female version, Satsuki.
Could it be that this was the male Sasuke and Boruto from the main world? This conjecture plunged Naruto into deeper thought.
"Yo, Naruto, I found you. Long time no see."
A casual yet familiar voice came from not far away, breaking the delicate atmosphere. Jiraiya was walking toward them; most of the bandages on his body had been removed, with only a small piece of white gauze remaining on his forehead. After half a month of recuperation, his injuries were finally mostly healed, although his walking still carried a hint of caution.
Boruto and Sasuke simultaneously turned their heads at the sound. Boruto's eyes immediately widened, recognizing the newcomerhe had recently seen a photo of this person in an album; he was his father's Master, one of the legendary Sannin.
"Oh, Mr. Jiraiya, have your injuries healed? That's wonderful." Naruto replied politely, a gentle smile on his lips. Then, changing the subject, his tone held a hint of teasing, "But next time, try not to peep."
"You brat, don't say things like that so politely," Jiraiya grumbled irritably, reaching up to rub his forehead where the bandage had not yet been completely removed.
Naruto, of course, knew that Jiraiya had most likely been beaten into the hospital by his own mother, but Kushina, out of guilt, fabricated the excuse that Jiraiya had been injured after being caught peeping. This excuse, however, unexpectedly fit Jiraiya's image in the eyes of the public.
Jiraiya was indeed quite troubled at the moment. He had finally regained his freedom, but he couldn't engage in his favorite "research" activities. This was partly due to his special statusas the designated next Hokage, if a scandal broke out about "the Hokage peeping into a women's hot spring," even the Third Hokage would probably chew him out.
On the other hand, although Kushina respected him and called him Master, just like Minato, her attitude toward this kind of behavior was identical to Tsunade's. If she caught him, she would truly beat him half to death, which forced him to restrain himself significantly.
"Hmm? Who are you two? I don't think I've seen you in Konoha before. You're not villagers, are you?"
Jiraiya noticed the two strangers behind Naruto who had been staring at them. He narrowed his eyes slightly, sensing a strange familiarity about them, yet he was certain he had never seen these two faces before.
"Um... we..." Boruto was momentarily speechless, unsure how to handle this sudden situation, and subconsciously looked toward Sasuke beside him.
"We are street performers," Sasuke quickly interjected, his voice steady and devoid of emotion. He fabricated a seemingly plausible identity. "We travel through the Land of Fire, going from town to town, just like this."
To make the lie more convincing, Sasuke had somehow pulled a bright red balloon from his sleeve. He gently tossed the balloon into the air, then snapped his fingers crisply.
"Pop."
The balloon burst instantly, and the colorful glitter pre-loaded inside scattered down, shimmering with brilliant light in the afternoon sun, looking quite beautiful.
But according to Naruto's memory, Sasuke's covered eye at this time should be hiding a Rinnegan. Could this seemingly simple trick be a simplified version of Chibaku Tensei?
"Although we can't compare to proper Ninja, we know a little bit of simple Ninjutsu, and we earn money through performing with it," Sasuke continued to fabricate the lie without changing his expression.
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