UK:GSW Chapter 383 – Kabuto's Frustration, Team 7's Reunion and Bonding
The classic "arriving one step too late."
However, everyone only felt a bit of regret over this, not any surprise—because when they made the plan to take direct action against the blackened Obito and the others, they had already considered this possibility.
The key was Black Zetsu's special nature. Even now, Uchiha Kei and the others had no absolute confidence in capturing him. As long as he escaped, his only remaining reliance would be Nagato, the one holding Uchiha Madara's Rinnegan.
And, to avoid being taken down in one strike, Black Zetsu would definitely find a way to make Nagato hide. With Black Zetsu's slyness, Nagato's slow-witted nature made him easy to trick, and even with Konan there, it would be the same. Although Konan seemed shrewd and had her own ideas, she still followed Nagato's will—when Nagato made a decision, she would choose to support it.
So, coming to Amegakure now and not finding Nagato was within expectations.
Though they felt regret, they accepted it and immediately returned to the Hidden Leaf Village to continue doing what they needed to do.
As for Nagato and the others—they would deal with them when they appeared again.
Right now, the highest priority was to research a method to 100% restrain Black Zetsu. This time, they had a fragment of Black Zetsu in hand, instead of having no research material and relying purely on imagination.
Thus, Uchiha Kei believed there would be results soon. After all, the spiritual network world was truly useful—like having a super acceleration and success-rate cheat for developing all kinds of jutsu.
What Uchiha Kei needed to do now was simply wait for his capable subordinates and good friends to come up with a way to counter Black Zetsu.
As for himself, he would keep his consciousness in the main world.
Incidentally, while upheavals were occurring in the No. 2 world, over in the main world, the No. 2 world's Kabuto Yakushi's body had already been adjusted—most of his snake scales had receded, at least from exposed areas like his face and hands.
Of course, this was only in his normal state—if Kabuto fought at full power, he would still transform into that monstrous appearance.
After his body was restored, Kabuto was arranged to visit the main world's Hidden Leaf.
When he saw the main world's Hidden Leaf's prosperity, Kabuto, like others before him, was astonished. Although he had known from the start that this Leaf had developed greatly, as a pure native of the ninja world, without seeing it firsthand, the highest level of prosperity he could imagine was like that of the Land of Fire's capital.
That kind of prosperity belonged to nobles and the wealthy; commoners still struggled to survive, lacking vitality—like a tightly structured pyramid, one layer pressing down on the next, with prosperity belonging only to those at the top.
However, the Leaf's prosperity was different—it was prosperity from top to bottom. Even the most ordinary civilians brimmed with energy, with all of society bursting forth with vitality. Everyone's eyes shone with hope, believing the future would only get better.
This was something Kabuto could never have imagined, so on first seeing it, he was stunned.
Of course, that was all—at most, he felt some emotion. For Kabuto, the main purpose of coming here was to secretly look at the orphanage in this world.
Yes—secretly.
Although he was allowed to look openly, even directly interact with everyone in the orphanage, Kabuto chose to watch from a distance. In his mind, he was merely the failed remnant soul of another ninja world, incompatible with the beauty of the main world.
For someone like him, simply seeing—at a distance—the happiness that was once out of reach was the greatest comfort and encouragement. At least, that's what Kabuto claimed.
What he saw was an orphanage far better than in his memory.
This improvement was all-encompassing—not only were the buildings newer and larger than in his memory, but the facilities inside were also mostly brand new and of high quality. The children and staff were all full of life. Though their personalities varied, every one of them was filled with hope for the future, with no trace of anxiety about what lay ahead.
This was entirely different from the orphanage in his memories—because, in Kabuto's memory, the Hidden Leaf's orphanage had always been under the control of that damned Shimura Danzo, constantly suffering from his manipulation. Children were routinely selected from the orphanage to join Root, undergoing inhuman training until they became emotionless tools.
In that kind of environment, it was impossible for the orphanage to be in good condition.
However, the main world's orphanage was entirely different. Under Jiraiya's management, the already wealthy village not only allocated generous public funds to the orphanage, but Jiraiya himself also used his own earnings to support it. Life in the orphanage was like entering a paradise age—lighthearted joy was the main theme, and the worries and pains of the past would never happen again. This was a situation Kabuto could never have dreamed of.
Thus, upon seeing the orphanage's current state with his own eyes, Kabuto felt deeply conflicted—mainly toward Jiraiya. After all, according to Orochimaru, in this world his foster mother had actually fallen in love with Jiraiya and wanted to be with him, something that left Kabuto unable to calm down.
It could be said that, in recent days, the dream Kabuto had most often was a nightmare in which Jiraiya married Nonō Yakushi, but then Jiraiya rarely came home, disappeared after chasing women, and his foster mother stayed home like a living widow, silently crying.
Almost every night, he woke from this nightmare in fright—he truly wanted to stop this "tragedy" from happening.
But now, after seeing what Jiraiya had done for the orphanage and the changes he had brought, Kabuto understood why Nonō would fall for a man like Jiraiya, a former playboy.
Given the awful things Nonō had gone through, meeting someone like Jiraiya, who selflessly helped the orphanage, falling for him was inevitable.
In the ninja world, there were none of those melodramatic romance plots from love dramas—gratitude and offering oneself in return, though cliché, were the common reality. With Nonō's personality, falling completely for Jiraiya was inevitable.
In fact, after seeing this, Kabuto even thought that if he were a woman, not offering himself to Jiraiya would betray his own remaining conscience.
Fortunately, the main world's Jiraiya seemed to have matured—he no longer had such a strong playboy aura. In the orphanage, he was warmly welcomed by the children, often playing with them, and when interacting with Nonō, he would act shy and cautious, cherishing her as if reliving his pure-hearted youth.
Moreover, Jiraiya always wore a scarf around his neck, never taking it off wherever he went—it was the one Nonō had knitted for him.
Basically, whenever the two of them stood together, a pink, dazzling atmosphere radiated from them, making everyone feel stuffed with "dog food" on the spot.
One could only say—they were a match made in heaven, and anyone trying to sabotage them was unforgivable.
At least, that was how Kabuto felt—making his emotions even more conflicted.
In the end, all Kabuto could do was sigh and silently offer blessings to the orphanage and his foster mother in this world.
After that, Kabuto returned to the research facility in Rōran, throwing himself into assisting Orochimaru and the others in their research—completely becoming a hardworking research grunt.
Thus, the "No. 1 Dream-Realizer" of the original work transformed into a glorious research workhorse.
Orochimaru, Sasori, and Tobirama Senju all found him extremely useful—an excellent assistant who could always complete whatever they assigned him.
His talent as a research workhorse impressed them greatly, making him more and more valuable. They even considered taking good care of him to avoid wasting his abilities.
They even started thinking about raising the main world's Kabuto Yakushi early, to "train" him and bring him over to become their new research workhorse.
After all, Kabuto in this world was still only a few years old—having such a small child work in research would be no different from using child labor.
In short, the boy named Kabuto had already been marked for the future. That very day, in the orphanage, he sneezed several times in a row but couldn't find the cause, feeling puzzled. Still, he didn't dwell on it—instead, he happily played with his friends, already prepared to enter the ninja academy.
Meanwhile, Sasuke also returned to the main world's Hidden Leaf.
He did not return to the No. 2 world's Leaf—because he didn't want to.
The No. 2 world's Leaf shinobi found this awkward, because the truth about the Uchiha clan's massacre was no longer a secret among the inner circle. If Sasuke returned to the No. 2 Leaf, it would indeed cause many problems. Coming straight to the main world, while a bit shameful, was also a way to indirectly solve some issues.
At least, they no longer had to worry about Sasuke seeking revenge on the No. 2 Leaf.
Because of this, Naruto and Sakura also came to the main world's Leaf—and thus began the old Team 7's bonding time.
This time, the three reunited—things had changed, but their old bond remained. Having set aside many burdens and inner troubles, it seemed their past happiness had returned as well.
They didn't hesitate to enter the genjutsu game together, forming a Team 7 party, once again fighting side by side.
In the "original work," this kind of moment only happened during the climax of the Fourth Great Ninja War, when the previous Hokage had been reanimated and joined the battlefield—it was a tense time with little chance for reunion. But now, they had no such burdens—they could speak their minds freely, share their thoughts, set everything aside, and simply fight together in a pure way.
That day, in the genjutsu game Ultimate Storm, a new legend was born—Team 7's new three-man formation tore through the competition, showing overwhelming skill. They were all new faces, clearly new players.
For new players to have such skill directly proved they were experts in real life.
After a full day of playing, they went to eat barbecue together, talked about many things, and finally completed their heart-to-heart exchange with smiles.
Afterward, Naruto and Sakura left, returning to the No. 2 world—because in that world, they still had many things to do and missions to fulfill. Spending a day to reunite with Sasuke was already a luxury.
For Sasuke, this was also the complete resolution of past regrets and emotional knots—after speaking openly, letting go of grudges, and regaining past joy, he could set down his burdens and welcome his new life.
In this state, Sasuke finally decided to meet the Uchiha of the main world—to see his parents and older brother here.
Of course, Sasuke would not tell them everything, nor act openly. The truth of the No. 2 world's Uchiha massacre would be kept from all but a few Uchiha, to avoid causing turmoil.
Given the main world's current state, revealing the No. 2 world's Uchiha tragedy would bring great trouble with little benefit.
So, naturally, meeting his family required Uchiha Kei's help—and Uchiha Kei was not stingy, personally going to the Uchiha clan to quietly inform the Fugaku family about Sasuke.
This included Uchiha Fugaku, Uchiha Mikoto, and the still-living current clan head—Uchiha Masanobu—Sasuke's grandfather.
Sasuke naturally did not know him—in the No. 2 world, Uchiha Masanobu had died long before Sasuke's birth. Even in the main world, Masanobu was surprised he was still alive.
But thanks to the tonics brought by Uchiha Kei, the originally near-death Masanobu had been revived. Although he still could not fight freely, he had no immediate risk of death.
Thus, in the main world, barring accidents, Uchiha Masanobu could even see the birth and growth of the main world's Sasuke.
Only these three were told—Uchiha Itachi was not informed. After all, this world's Itachi was still a baby—though weaned, he still drank from a bottle every day, a pure infant with no reason to be told the truth.
Upon learning about the No. 2 world and Uchiha Sasuke, the Fugaku family was stunned, then felt disbelief and deep sorrow.
After all, what happened in the No. 2 world was a complete and utter tragedy—especially after learning how much suffering Uchiha Sasuke had endured, which pained them all the more.
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