"Come on in."
Naruto slid open the door and led the two into the living room. He gestured for the two to sit on the opposite side of the table, then walked around to sit on the other side. He poured three cups of tea from the teapot nearby and pushed one to each of them.
"You two, shall we talk?"
Naruto leaned back against the chair, his gaze sweeping back and forth between the two.
"I don't know what you want to talk about?" Sasuke crossed his hands on his knees, his eyes watching Naruto vigilantly.
Boruto, on the other hand, picked up the teacup and took a sip.
"Let's just talk about what happened in the future."
Sasuke and Boruto's movements froze instantly.
In the Mindscape,
Kurama lying on the grass opened its eyes. Through Naruto's perspective, it looked at the two people opposite—Sasuke and Boruto.
One wore a cloak that covered half his face. The other had blonde hair and blue eyes, like Naruto.
"Naruto, are these two from the future?"
"That's right, Kurama. If I'm not mistaken, a tough battle is waiting for us soon." Naruto responded in his consciousness.
"A tough battle? Then I'll have to see it for myself."
In the living room.
After a brief shock, Sasuke quickly returned to a calm expression. He looked at Naruto, his tone probing. "I don't know what you mean by the future?"
Naruto turned to Boruto. "Boruto, look at my face."
Both Boruto and Sasuke looked at Naruto's face in confusion. They saw that on the skin on both sides of Naruto's cheeks, six whisker-like marks slowly appeared. Then, with a thought from Naruto, the marks faded back, and his skin returned to normal.
"Not just anyone has these whiskers. Plus, when you first saw me, you subconsciously called me 'Dad'."
"Someone who has never met me before wouldn't make that mistake the moment they saw me. So I just guessed that you came from the future."
"I'm right, aren't I, Boruto? Or should I call you, my son?"
Boruto felt as if he had been struck by lightning.
Sasuke said, "To be honest, I am shocked. You are completely different from the Naruto in my memories. The Naruto in my memories couldn't possibly have such sharp insight at this age, nor could he speak in this tone."
"You're also not quite what I imagined, Sasuke." Naruto shrugged.
Sasuke stiffened. "You recognized me?"
He had deliberately hidden his identity from the start, hadn't even given his name and had deliberately adjusted his tone and word choice.
"It would be hard not to recognize you, with a face exactly like Sasuke's."
Naruto changed the subject, "But compared to that, I'm more curious why you are so weak right now."
"I encountered a very strong enemy and fought him in the space-time rift. My Chakra hasn't recovered yet." Sasuke said.
Naruto nodded. "It seems the enemy is very powerful."
After saying this, he didn't continue to press, but turned to look at Boruto.
Boruto felt Naruto's gaze land on him, and sat up straight, placing both hands on his knees.
He lowered his head and called out, "Dad..."
Naruto looked at Boruto's restrained appearance and smiled. "Tell me about the situation in your future first. How you got here, who the enemy is, and what level of combat power they have—I need to know these things."
Sasuke's brow furrowed, and his voice carried a hint of serious warning. "Naruto, knowing what will happen in the future is a very dangerous thing."
"If, because of your interference, things that were supposed to happen don't, or things that shouldn't happen occur early, the entire space-time could trigger unpredictable chain reactions."
"So we cannot tell you specific events from the future, that would not be good for you or this space-time."
"Fine, I won't ask about specific events. Then I'll just ask one question: how strong am I in the future?" Naruto said.
This question triggered a switch in Sasuke's memory.
His expression relaxed slightly, and he said, "You fully mastered Nine-Tails's power and became the strongest ninja in the Ninja World. You ended the Great Ninja War and are the hero who saved the entire Ninja World."
"That's it? What about techniques?" Naruto asked.
"Besides Nine-Tails Chakra, you also learned Sage Mode. You integrated Wind Release Nature Transformation into the Rasengan and developed the Rasenshuriken."
"Is there anything else?" Naruto asked.
Sasuke frowned. "There are some Ninjutsu, and..."
Naruto raised his hand to interrupt Sasuke, showing a meaningful smile as he said, "Alright Sasuke, no need to list the Ninjutsu. Just tell me, will the future me be able to do this?"
As he spoke, he pulled a Flying Thunder God Kunai from his Ninja tool pouch and tossed it outside the courtyard, pinning it into the ground outside the courtyard gate.
The next moment, Naruto vanished from the living room and appeared next to the Kunai outside the courtyard gate, bending down to pull it from the ground.
Another flash of golden light, and he reappeared in front of the two of them.
"Is this the Flying Thunder God Technique?"
Sasuke's voice noticeably deepened.
The Flying Thunder God Technique, the signature Ninjutsu of the Fourth Hokage.
During the Fourth Great Ninja War, the Second Hokage Tobirama and the Fourth Hokage Minato both used this technique, especially Minato, who had mastered this space-time Ninjutsu to an incredible level.
In his memories, Naruto never learned the Flying Thunder God Technique even after becoming the Hokage, nor had he ever seen him use it in battle.
"No, I haven't seen you use the Flying Thunder God Technique."
Naruto returned the Kunai to his Ninja tool pouch and said, "Then I think I understand. The future you are from is not the future of this world."
Sasuke leaned back in his chair, the weight finally lifting from his chest. "I see. No wonder you are completely different from the Naruto we know."
Boruto's gaze darted back and forth between the two, unable to keep up with their train of thought. "What is going on? What parallel space-time? Dad, Sasuke-san, what are you two even talking about?"
Naruto looked at Boruto. "Boruto, have you heard of parallel space-time? Simply put, it means there are countless worlds in existence that are similar to each other but not exactly the same."
"Every world has a Naruto, a Sasuke, and a Konoha. But the path each world takes can be completely different."
"You and Sasuke did indeed travel back from the future, but you didn't travel to the past of your own world, you traveled to the present of another world. So the Naruto in your memories is not the same person as me."
"He might not know the Flying Thunder God Technique, he might have learned to control the Nine-Tails Chakra very late, and he might have an entirely different life trajectory."
Boruto nodded. "In other words, this world is not our past, but a brand new world."
Boruto looked at the Naruto sitting opposite him. It was his father, yet not his father.
Sasuke, on the other hand, was thinking, 'If it was my battle with Urashiki that caused the timeline to deviate, will Urashiki still follow us here?'
But he remembered that Karasuki said Urashiki would arrive in a few days and no matter how the space-time coordinates shifted, Urashiki's target was always the Nine-Tails Chakra inside Naruto. As long as Naruto and Nine-Tails existed in this world, Urashiki would definitely come after them.
Thinking of this, Sasuke felt relieved. At least the target was still there, the battle would still happen, and all they had to do was protect Naruto in this world.