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"It's you!"
Sasuke's pupils shrank to pinpricks. He recognized the man instantly—the fourth face carved into the Hokage Monument, the one who had taken Minato Namikaze's place.
"…Just who are you?!"
Sasuke's expression hardened. He subtly shifted, putting Boruto behind him, every muscle coiled to strike. A man from the past who knew his name? That wasn't just odd. It was like this person had peered across decades of history. Every instinct screamed at him: this man was the source of this timeline's divergence. And… he was dangerous.
"Easy there, Sasuke, Boruto." The man, Qianyu, raised his hands with a disarming smile. "I recognized you because I'm like you. I don't belong in this era. I came here… by other means." He added, "Trust me, Sasuke. Here, in this time, I'm a close friend to both your parents and Naruto's. That should tell you something about my character."
Before revealing himself, Qianyu had layered on numerous seals, actively suppressing his power. To Sasuke, he now appeared as nothing more than an unremarkable Kage-level shinobi. Nothing to panic over.
"…"
Sasuke remained silent. He didn't believe the man, not fully, but the edge of his tension eased a fraction.
Qianyu didn't push. He waited, confident he knew how this would go.
"Fine. We'll—" Sasuke began, his decision made after a long pause.
"What a coincidence, Qianyu! You actually left the house today."
The voice came from behind Qianyu—sweet, familiar. A voice carved so deep into Sasuke's soul it made his very spirit tremble.
"O-… Okaasan (Mom)?"
Sasuke's body locked up. His mind went utterly blank.
Qianyu froze too.
Don't hug me, Mikoto. Please don't hug me. For the love of—oh, fuck.
He couldn't send a mental message, not with Sasuke right there. He could only pray. And of course, the universe loved irony.
Mikoto, oblivious to the nuclear tension, beamed as she walked up. She wrapped her arms around Qianyu's waist from behind, resting her head on his shoulder with casual, intimate ease.
Sasuke: "?!!"
The visual impact hit him like a physical blow. His brain short-circuited. A ringing filled his ears. His lips moved soundlessly, the air catching in his throat.
His mother. His gentle, devoted mother. Was… was cuddling another man right in front of him?!
Close friends?
Sasuke's eyes met Qianyu's. A torrent of unspoken, profoundly complicated understanding passed between them. The silence that followed was thick enough to choke on.
"Hm? Qianyu, are these friends of yours…?" Mikoto glanced at the stunned pair. "Qianyu? Why are you so quiet?"
"Mr. Sasuke?" Boruto whispered, equally lost. "What's wrong?"
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
Explosions ripped through the air beyond the village walls. Flames licked the sky, followed by plumes of dark smoke. An alarm shrieked to life inside Konoha.
"ENEMY ATTACK!"
The piercing wail echoed over the rooftops. Squads of shinobi streamed toward the village gates. Civilians scrambled off the streets. Konoha plunged into brief, controlled chaos.
Swish.
Qianyu's gaze flicked toward the disturbance. When he looked back, Sasuke was gone.
"Whew." Qianyu let out a breath he didn't realize he was holding. He patted Mikoto's thigh. "Go home, Mikoto. I'll handle this and come find you later."
He turned to leave, but a slender hand caught his sleeve.
"Wait, you busy man." Mikoto pointed a delicate finger at her own cheek, a playful glint in her eye. "Aren't you forgetting something before you go?"
Mwah.
Qianyu pressed a light, quick kiss to her lips. In his mind, this wasn't a lie to Sasuke. If there was no negative distance between a man and a woman, wasn't it just… lip-friendship?
On the other side of the village, Boruto struggled to keep up as Sasuke practically sprinted through the disordered streets, heading straight for Kushina's house.
"Mr. Sasuke, what just happened?" Boruto finally managed between breaths. "That guy clearly knew stuff! Why didn't we stay and get information?"
"…"
Sasuke's silence was a physical weight. How could he explain? That woman hugging him was my mother. The words died in his throat. His quiet was louder than any shout.
"Those two idiots messed up the Karasuki. The spatiotemporal coordinates are a complete mess… but the fox's scent is definitely here."
High above Konoha, a figure clad in pristine white materialized. He watched with a smirk as squads of Leaf shinobi scurried from their nest like disturbed ants.
"And now the village is an empty shell. Herd mentality. Humans are so pathetically stupid."
The figure was Urashiki Ōtsutsuki, who had just arrived. After sensing the Nine-Tails' chakra, he'd set his plan in motion. A few explosions to draw out the guards. A subtle genjutsu on the first responders, making them see each other as enemies, chasing each other deeper into the forest and drawing out more reinforcements.
"All this work… time for the payoff."
Urashiki gripped his fishing rod, a hunter's gleam in his eyes. He plummeted toward the village in a streak of white light. A true angler never goes home empty-handed.
"…Strange. This is going a little too smoothly."
He flew unopposed toward the potent chakra signature. No real resistance. It made him uneasy.
"Are the defenses here really this lax? Don't they fear invasion?"
WHAM!
"SHINRA TENSEI!"
A figure blurred into existence behind him. An overwhelming force of repulsion slammed into his back, hurling him like a ragdoll into a nearby wall.
"Damn humans! Vermin! Why won't you just die?!"
Urashiki landed in a crouch, glaring at the source of his frustration: the ever-persistent Sasuke and Boruto.
"Vermin?"
Before Sasuke could retort, another man appeared beside them. He wore the distinct Uchiha clan robes, arms crossed over his chest, his expression ice-cold. He stared at Urashiki, clearly displeased with the choice of word.
"This guy…"
Urashiki's face tightened. This newcomer, appearing from nowhere, radiated a threat far greater than Sasuke's.
Tap. Tap. Tap.
Slow, measured footsteps echoed from the street. Qianyu walked into view, his approach casual and unhurried.
A cold sweat instantly drenched Urashiki's back.
What kind of cosmic joke is this?! How can a being this dangerous exist on this backwater planet?!
He stood rooted to the spot, not daring to move a muscle. Suddenly, the lack of village guards made horrifying sense. This was… this was insane!
A stampede of frustration galloped through Urashiki's mind. He was an Ōtsutsuki—he didn't know the local profanity for a situation this utterly fucked.
For so long, he'd looked down on the natives of this world from a great height. It was like bringing a flintlock to raid a primitive village, only to watch the chief calmly pull out a rocket launcher.
Unlucky, unlucky, UNLUCKY!
The Nine-Tails was forgotten. Survival was the only thought. His mind raced, searching for an escape route.
Is… is he scared of them?
Sasuke stared, utterly bewildered by the sudden shift. Was his judgment wrong?
Urashiki Ōtsutsuki is being intimidated by… Wait. That man looks familiar. That chakra… Madara Uchiha?! How is Madara in Konoha at this point in time?! And that young man… he seems even more terrifying to the Ōtsutsuki than Madara?!
Questions bombarded Sasuke's mind, one after another.
Then, Madara Uchiha lowered his arms. His cold gaze shifted from Urashiki to Qianyu.
"You took Kaguya Ōtsutsuki last time. This one is mine. Don't interfere."
"As you wish." Qianyu took two leisurely steps back and shrugged, the picture of indifference.
What… is happening…?
The casual exchange between the two men carried a universe of implications. Sasuke's brain, already overloaded, threatened to blue-screen completely.
What was this world? That was an Ōtsutsuki! One of the universe's most powerful races! A foe he and Naruto had struggled against together! And these two were treating it like a minor inconvenience?!
Sasuke Uchiha, in that moment, deeply suspected that every single one of his 720 episodes of life experience had been a complete fabrication.
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