Because they were all staying in Kakashi's old house, Sasuke guessed that Naruto's newly accepted A-rank mission would be declared complete by morning at the latest. So the night before, he reminded Naruto to change into his everyday clothes early in the morning, check his ninja tool pouch, and keep it on him at all times.
That still was not enough. Without realizing it, Sasuke had already slipped into the role of an older brother. Before dawn, he had finished getting ready, knocked on Sakura's door to remind her to wake up, then went straight to Naruto's side to drag him up, make him wash his face, change his clothes, and put on his ninja tool pouch.
Things were about the same with Young Kakashi and Young Obito.
The two of them shared a room. Obito was still having sweet dreams when Kakashi kicked him awake and made him change clothes and pack his ninja tools.
Rin and Sakura shared a room as well. Before Sasuke knocked, Young Kakashi had already reminded them once. Besides, the two girls had set alarms, so they would not have delayed things even without being reminded.
When they crossed over into another parallel world together, Naruto and Obito were still half-asleep, yawning as they asked what was for breakfast.
The ones who crossed over with them included the newly revived Butsuma Senju, Tajima Uchiha, Minato Namikaze from the Kannabi Bridge world, Adult Kakashi, the First Hokage, and the Second Hokage.
And...
Madara Uchiha and Izuna Uchiha.
The first person Madara saw was Hashirama Senju. "Hashirama, what is..." Just as he was about to ask what had happened, Madara's gaze drifted to Izuna Uchiha, who was standing not far away, and he looked as if he had been struck by lightning. His Mangekyō Sharingan flared as he confirmed over and over that the figure before him was not Genjutsu and not a Clone Technique.
"Izuna...?"
Madara Uchiha was completely stunned.
It was not only Izuna. Tajima Uchiha, standing beside Izuna, left both brothers numb with shock!
The two brothers stared in terror, their Mangekyō Sharingan wide open.
Tajima Uchiha, Butsuma Senju...
What on earth was going on?!
"Hashirama/Tobirama, what on earth is going on?!"
The two brothers each questioned the Senju they were familiar with. They did not even have time to call out "Father," which showed just how thoroughly the situation had thrown them off.
Tobirama sighed and said, "Simply put, because of Itachi Uchiha's Mission Scroll and Sasuke Uchiha's wish, the Uchiha Clan is being revived in a way that is hard to control."
"A way that is hard to control?" the brothers asked in confusion.
Minato Namikaze smiled awkwardly. "I think the Mission Scroll may have interpreted Sasuke-kun's wish, to revive the Uchiha Clan, as reviving the powerful Uchiha of the past one by one. Since you were once the Clan Head and deputy Clan Head, and both awakened the Mangekyō Sharingan, you were naturally marked as priority targets for revival."
Hashirama Senju said, "Then why was my and Tobirama's father revived too? Could it be because..." Because their father actually had Uchiha blood in him.
Tobirama clapped a hand over the rest of that sentence.
Otherwise, his brother might not live to see tomorrow's sun.
Butsuma Senju knew exactly what kind of two-faced idiot his son could be, the kind who would even drag his own father and younger brother into trouble when he got stupid. He glared hard at his eldest son, signaling for Tobirama to keep his brother under control, then said, "Back then, I died together with Tajima Uchiha in the explosion of a large number of explosive tags. Our remains were mixed together and could not be separated. That may be why I was revived along with him."
"Hah. Then you had better thank the Uchiha properly."
"Bah."
At that moment, Madara Uchiha still wore the same awkward expression he had when Hashirama Senju refused him and told him, "Wait a moment!"
"Izuna... Izuna..."
For a moment, Madara did not know how to face his younger brother, who had returned from the dead. Shame showed on his face.
"Back then, you told me to protect the Uchiha Clan. I'm afraid I..." failed to do it.
Tobirama said, "Not only that, you also indirectly made the people of Konoha fear the Uchiha and fear the Nine-Tails, forcing the Uzumaki Clan to become sacrifices for the village, the Jinchūriki of the Nine-Tails."
"Tobirama! Didn't I tell you not to bring this up again?"
"Big Brother! These are all facts. There's nothing wrong with saying them plainly. Instead of revealing bits and pieces one at a time, it's better to explain it all at once. Better to get the pain over with quickly!"
"But..."
"Enough! Shut up!"
"Uh..."
Izuna Uchiha had never known that the Senju brothers got along like this. He stared with those big, Uchiha-style eyes as he watched Tobirama Senju scold his elder brother, Hashirama Senju, straight into gloomy withdrawal. His feelings were complicated, and he did not know whether to laugh or admire Tobirama Senju for having guts.
His brother spoiled him too, but Izuna knew he would never dare embarrass his brother like that in front of outsiders.
Otherwise, his brother would definitely make him understand who truly had the final say in the Uchiha Clan.
So this was enough to prove that Tobirama Senju...might actually have been spoiled rotten by Hashirama Senju too?
Madara Uchiha had originally been waiting for Tobirama Senju to explain everything, so he could accept Izuna and his father's questioning. But thanks to this jaw-dropping brotherly exchange between Hashirama Senju and Tobirama Senju, the earlier tension had been completely broken.
Tajima Uchiha said, "I already know about the Uchiha. At this point, thinking about how to solve it is far more useful than blaming and resenting each other. Besides, I know your and Izuna's personalities. The Uchiha Sharingan driving people toward obsession has been true since ancient times."
"Exactly!" Naruto pointed back at Obito. "I still can't figure out how Obito turned into the Masked Man in the future. In another world, Sasuke lost Itachi and got used by that world's Obito too, and he spent every day going on about destroying the world or whatever. It was seriously unbearable, dattebayo."
Obito immediately started arguing noisily with Naruto, while Sasuke jabbed Naruto in the head and called him a dead last.
It seemed that wherever Ashura's soul was, laughter and trust followed.
Madara Uchiha suddenly realized that maybe he, that boy named Sasuke, and even Indra had all, deep down in their subconscious, envied and chased after Hashirama, Naruto, and Ashura.
"Speaking of which, where are we?" Naruto turned his head left and right.
He had never seen trees or scenery like this in Konoha or anywhere near Konoha.
"Did we end up in another country again? It's not raining, and the climate isn't dry either. Could it be the Land of Hot Water or the Land of Tea?"
Madara and Hashirama also looked around, both feeling that the terrain was strangely familiar.
With a few leaps, they rushed out of the forest and, sure enough, saw that familiar river.
The river that divided the Uchiha and Senju. The place where he and Madara/Hashirama had first met.
Before they crossed over, the Fourth Hokage had said that the era they were likely crossing into this time was the Warring States Period.
Then what point in time was this?!
Had he and Madara already fallen out?!
Or was it after Izuna had been wounded by Tobirama, before they crossed over?!
At that thought, Hashirama Senju, Tobirama Senju, and Butsuma Senju, who had once lived through the Warring States Period, and on the other side Madara Uchiha, Izuna Uchiha, and Tajima Uchiha, each rushed at full speed toward the Senju and Uchiha clan lands in their memories.
As for the Mission Scroll, they might have experienced it themselves, or they might have learned about it from the Fourth Hokage over the past few days.
Born in an age of war, the grief in their hearts was so brutal that later generations, even ninjas who had lived through the Shinobi World Wars, could not imagine it.
They had never thought that one day they would return to the Warring States Period.
But now that they truly had...
How could they not care?!
"Kawarama!"
"Itama!"
The God of Shinobi, his expression grave, and the white-haired ninja behind him, who possessed the greatest speed in the Ninja World, could not wait to see them again.
To see the smiling faces of their younger brothers from memory.
It was the same on the other side. The brothers whose faces had grown blurred in Madara's memory, were they still alive now?
Team Minato and Team Kakashi, who had been left behind, stood there in a daze.
Unlike the time long ago when they had crossed over to the era of Konoha's founding, back then, at least they could return to the village and think of a way to go back.
But now, Konohagakure had not even been founded yet.
The hundred clans of the Ninja World were everywhere, and everywhere was war.
"Obito and Sasuke should be able to go back to the Uchiha, right? Then what about us?!" Naruto was restless. His instincts told him they would not be able to return quickly this time either. He, his dad, Sakura, Rin, Kakashi-sensei, and the others could not just keep sleeping on the ground here forever, right?
This time, they had only brought ordinary ninja tool pouches. They had no sleeping bags or anything like that!
Sakura said, "Naruto, you could actually enter the Senju as an Uzumaki. We're the ones in trouble. I bet whether we enter the Uchiha Clan or the Senju Clan, we'll be treated as spies and arrested."
"Kakashi should be able to return to the Hatake Clan, right?" Rin said.
Young Kakashi said, "I'll stay with you."
Naruto and Obito felt the same way. How could they possibly abandon comrades like Sakura and Rin?
Sasuke did not know anyone in the Warring States Period either. Unless all of them could live inside the Uchiha Clan together, he had no intention of going back alone.
After discussing it, Minato Namikaze and Adult Kakashi temporarily decided to search for a nearby village.
Finding a guesthouse would be best. If they could not, they still had Obito.
The Wood Release Technique from Hashirama's cells could fight, defend, and build houses. It was a must-have for home life and travel.
And if even that did not work, they could just live inside Obito's Kamui's Dimension.
"That's amazing, Obito!" Rin Nohara, an outstanding member of the Praise-Praise Church, praised him, making Young Obito scratch his head and grin foolishly in embarrassment.
The eight members of Team Kakashi and Team Minato searched through the mountain forest for a village or a place to stay.
"The average lifespan in the Warring States Period is only a little over thirty. Even if people desperately have children, the population still can't really grow."
When Naruto asked why they had walked for so long without seeing the slightest sign of people, Minato Namikaze told him.
"That's why it's perfectly normal for this era to have so much land and so few people."
Adult Kakashi said, "And because we don't have any direction in this era, we're only heading opposite the direction the First Hokage and Madara took. We have no idea how long it'll be before we find a village."
Seeing that Rin and Kakashi were both tired, Young Obito suggested using Intangibility Mode to travel faster and scout ahead for them.
Minato Namikaze shook his head and refused. "This is the Warring States Period. We're not familiar with this place. It would be dangerous for you to move alone."
"Right, let's stay together," Rin said, comforting Obito in return. "It's fine if we go a little slower. If we're tired, we can rest here first."
Now that they thought about it, the reason they were so tired was that they had been forced to time travel before they had fully woken up that morning. Not only had they not slept enough, they had not eaten breakfast or even had a sip of water.
Naruto was lively and restless by nature, and he had long since been unable to resist the urge to wander around the Warring States Period.
After thinking it over, Minato Namikaze arranged a wilderness training lesson in the Warring States Period.
"Groups of two. If there's danger, send a signal immediately," Minato Namikaze said, handing each of them one of his special kunai. "As long as you inject chakra into the kunai, you can return here at once."
He planted a Flying Thunder God kunai in a hidden spot. "Use this place as the starting point. You absolutely cannot go beyond five kilometers from here."
A five-kilometer radius was only a small part of this forest.
But they could faintly hear the sound of flowing water. It should be enough for fetching water, gathering firewood, fishing, and hunting.
Sasuke asked, "Are we not going to keep moving and try to find a village as soon as possible?"
As Team Kakashi's instructor, Adult Kakashi shook his head. "Resources in the Warring States Period are scarcer than you imagine. Even if we find a village, putting aside whether our currency works here, even if it does, the villagers probably won't have any extra grain, vegetables, or meat to sell us.
"You have to understand, in the Warring States Period, even major ninja clans like the Senju and Uchiha rarely had spare money to waste. Backward technology, years of war, and outdated thinking all made this era's harvests fall far short of the standards of Konoha sixty years after its founding.
"Only peace can drive development."
Although the six of them were young, after time travelling so many times and witnessing the regrets of one era after another being changed, they had long since gained thoughts far beyond their age.
The groups were Minato and Rin, and Adult Kakashi and Sakura, making it easier to protect the girls on the team at any time. Naruto and Sasuke were together, while Young Obito and Young Kakashi formed the last pair.
Not long after they split up, Naruto's law of good luck triggered once again.
Deep in the forest, near the grass by the river, they smelled a faint trace of blood.