Accompanied by a burst of time and space distortion, both Naruto and Nagato returned to their own era.
After staring at each other for a while, the two quickly distanced themselves, retreating to opposite corners of the Dragon Vein Altar at the same time. Space-time was still unstable. If the Dragon Vein was touched again, who knew what kind of accident might occur.
At this time, Nagato noticed the deformed corpse on the ground. Frowning, he said, "Menma… is that Danzō's corpse? Did you kill him in the past?"
Naruto glanced at Nagato and asked with some confusion, "Your target was Danzō too?"
Nagato nodded. "I did come here to hunt down Danzō, but I didn't expect you to beat me to it. Did you run into anything interesting in the past?"
Naruto narrowed his eyes, staring at Nagato. "I didn't interfere much with the past aside from dealing with Danzō. If space-time gets disturbed, even the present might completely change. No need to take that kind of risk."
He had no intention of letting Nagato know what really happened, nor did he want him trying to change the past.
Nagato pondered for a few seconds, then said, "What are you going to do with the Dragon Vein core in front of you? If someone else tries to change history, it won't be good for either of us."
"The remaining power of the Dragon Vein can no longer support time travel. It'll take at least several decades to recover. I plan to use my clan's sealing technique to lock it down so no one else can take advantage of it."
Not let others use it… and then use it yourself later?
Nagato didn't quite believe Naruto would truly seal the Dragon Vein. Who could resist the temptation to change the past?
Still, the Dragon Vein was undeniably weakened. Compared to before, only a small fraction of its chakra remained. But in the future, it might recover enough for time travel again—and that thought made him slightly tempted.
However, he still hadn't reestablished contact with the Six Paths of Pain, and for now, he wasn't Naruto's opponent.
After weighing it silently, Nagato gave up the idea of seizing the Dragon Vein and said slowly, "I'll trust you to guard it properly. But you've seen Danzō's fate—this power isn't something we should covet."
After speaking, Nagato walked out of the Dragon Vein Altar and disappeared into the shadows.
After Nagato left, Naruto's expression relaxed slightly. If this had been anywhere else, he wouldn't have minded fighting Nagato. But near the Dragon Vein core, the risks were too great—he could get dragged into some bizarre timeline and never return.
If it hadn't been for dealing with Danzō, he wouldn't have taken such a risk in the first place.
Nagato clearly understood that as well, which was why he chose to back off instead of fighting.
Shaking off his wandering thoughts, Naruto looked down at his abdomen. He had more important matters to deal with.
After entering the sealed space, Naruto finally relaxed when he saw Kurama—who had previously disappeared—back inside.
"Kurama, it's great that you're okay."
Kurama pushed Naruto away and said suspiciously, "Haven't I been here the whole time? What are you talking about? Did I leave or something?"
Hearing this, Naruto's expression shifted slightly, and he almost started explaining what had happened in the past.
Kurama rubbed his chin and thought for a moment. "I don't know much about these Dragon Veins… maybe it has something to do with the Ten-Tails and the Divine Tree."
Then Kurama's expression turned playful. "Kid Naruto, without my power, are you worthless or something? Struggling just to deal with a guy like Danzō… that's pretty embarrassing for a Nine-Tails Jinchūriki."
"You're so strong, yet you still got beaten by Senju Hashirama and Uchiha Madara back then."
Naruto immediately struck Kurama's weak spot with surgical precision.
Kurama fell silent for a moment, then said in a philosophical tone, "Naruto, a ninja shouldn't dwell on the past… but look toward the future."
Clearly, he had chosen to avoid the topic entirely.
In terms of raw power, Kurama wasn't actually inferior to those two monsters—but Wood Release and the Sharingan countered him far too hard.
Both of those abilities originated from the Divine Tree—the very source that birthed the tailed beasts.
Naruto didn't expect to get much useful information from Kurama anyway. In some ways, Kurama knew less about the ninja world than he did. At the very least, Naruto knew that Black Zetsu was still lurking within the Akatsuki, and that the Sage of Six Paths was silently watching everything unfold.
After stabilizing his chakra, Naruto picked up Danzō's corpse and walked out of the Lost Tower.
Shisui had been waiting there for a long time. Beside him lay the corpse of a Root ninja. Upon seeing Naruto, he immediately stepped forward.
"Lord Menma, you're finally back."
"How long was I gone?"
"About an hour or so… By the way, is that Danzō's body in your hand?"
Naruto didn't bother hiding it. He casually tossed the corpse to Shisui and said, "You guessed right. This is Danzō's body. The Akatsuki leader and I were both dragged into a separate space—Danzō died there."
"Speaking of which, Danzō was also a target of the Akatsuki leader. His luck's pretty wild… running into the two strongest ninjas in the world on the same day."
Shisui was speechless. When your own leader makes all the sarcastic remarks, there's really nothing left to say.
But the moment he saw Danzō's body, his breathing grew heavy.
This high-ranking Konoha elder—who had targeted the Uchiha clan for decades, who had stolen Shisui's Kotoamatsukami under the guise of trust—was now lying dead in front of him.
From this day forward, the Uchiha would no longer have to fear Danzō's schemes.
All of this was because he made the right choice—trusting Menma and leading the clan away from Konoha.
At that moment, Naruto seemed to recall something and said to Shisui, "Shisui, I recovered your Kotoamatsukami Sharingan from Danzō. I'll need a few days to study it before returning it to you."
Shisui froze. He hadn't expected Naruto to actually return the Mangekyō to him.
After all, once Danzō stole it, it technically no longer belonged to him. Ownership in the ninja world often followed strength.
Naruto, however, wasn't thinking that deeply. To him, the Mangekyō had become somewhat unnecessary.
Years ago, he took Shisui's eye partly to guard against Sharingan genjutsu—and partly because of Kurama.
But now, his relationship with Kurama had changed. He could even enter Sage Mode combined with Kurama's chakra.
A perfect Jinchūriki was resistant to most genjutsu, and after fighting Danzō, Naruto realized that Kotoamatsukami wasn't as invincible as it seemed—it could be countered with preparation.
So instead of keeping it, returning it to Shisui would strengthen the village as a whole.
Relationships between people might change, but interests rarely did. Under the unified leadership of the Uchiha, Shisui had no reason to betray Uzushio Village.
At that moment, Shisui asked, "Lord Menma, what should we do next?"
Naruto glanced toward a figure hiding behind the ruins.
"Go check the surroundings first. See if there are any remaining Root members."
A faint smile appeared on his face.
"I'm going to meet an old friend."
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