In another timeline, different from the one Obito Uchiha was living in...
Konohagakure.
The Hokage's Office.
The Hokage's desk was buried beneath mountains of paperwork, yet Naruto's attention was not on a single page.
Dark circles lingered beneath his blue eyes.
His blond hair was slightly disheveled, and the fatigue on his face was impossible to hide.
For days, he had barely slept.
His gaze remained fixed on the village beyond the window.
Days had passed.
Then weeks.
And still, there was no trace of Sasuke or Boruto.
They had searched the Land of Fire and every neighboring nation willing to cooperate with Konoha.
But they found nothing.
It was as if the two of them had vanished from existence.
Standing nearby with a folder tucked beneath one arm, Shikamaru watched his friend in silence.
After a long moment, he let out a weary sigh.
"What a drag…"
"You should get some rest."
Naruto let out a tired laugh.
"Rest?"
He rubbed his face.
"How am I supposed to do that when my own son and my best friend are missing?"
"I don't even know where they are… or if they're even alive."
Shikamaru understood that feeling.
Not because Boruto and Sasuke were his family, but because he knew Naruto.
To Naruto, every person precious to him was family.
After a moment, Shikamaru finally spoke.
"Naruto."
"You've already done everything that can be done."
"And more importantly, Sasuke isn't some rookie shinobi who gets lost."
A grim expression crossed his face.
"If something happened to him, then it's probably already beyond the scope of ordinary shinobi."
Before Naruto could argue, Shikamaru continued smoothly.
He knew simple words alone would not be enough to deal with this idiot.
"This situation needs you to keep a clear head, Naruto. And…"
He paused briefly.
"If Sasuke were standing here right now, he'd probably call you an idiot for destroying your own health."
At that, a faint smile tugged at Naruto's lips.
But before he could respond, his expression suddenly changed.
Shikamaru noticed it almost at the same time.
The two men turned toward the window simultaneously.
A terrifying pressure had appeared above Konohagakure.
...
High above Konohagakure.
Three figures stood suspended in the sky.
The moment they arrived, the surrounding space rippled faintly before stabilizing.
Obito looked down at the village below.
It was different from the one he knew.
This wasn't the world he had just left.
That much was obvious at a glance.
Beside him, Tobi folded two of his arms behind his back while another scratched thoughtfully at his chin.
"Hmmm..."
He tilted his head.
"This looks like the Hidden Leaf Village from the past."
White Zetsu immediately snorted.
"Hmph. Idiot."
"What did you call me?"
"Idiot."
White Zetsu repeated without the slightest hesitation.
Then he pointed toward the village below.
"Look carefully at the stone faces."
"Oh?"
Tobi raised a hand across his forehead like a scout searching the horizon.
He squinted dramatically.
A few seconds passed.
Then his eyes widened.
"Oh."
"Ohhhhh."
"Wait a second."
"Kakashi?"
"And Naruto?"
His expression immediately turned horrified.
"What kind of nightmare world is this?!"
He pointed accusingly at the Hokage Monument.
"Who allowed this to happen?!"
"Who approved this?!"
"Who looked at Naruto and said, 'Yes, this man should be responsible for an entire village'?"
Tobi grabbed his head with all four hands.
"Get him out of there right now!"
"You two, stop causing trouble," Obito said, his voice low and steady, a faint smirk tugging at the corner of his lips. "Someone is already here to welcome us."
The moment those words fell
Whoosh!
Two figures shot into the sky.
The instant they appeared, the air seemed to tighten.
Both men's expressions turned sharp at once.
Naruto's gaze swept over the three strangers, his eyes cold and heavy.
"Who the hell are you guys?"
His voice carried none of the warmth he once had.
This was not the naive, bright-eyed Naruto from long ago.
This Naruto had changed.
The years had worn him down, sharpened him, and stripped away much of the softness he once showed the world.
The instant Naruto got a clear look at the man... snow-white hair, striking features, and crescent-moon blue eyes—his breath caught.
There was no mistaking that presence.
"O-Obito…? Is that really you?" he whispered, confusion and a whirlwind of emotions flashing across his face.
Deep inside the seal, Kurama's own eyes flew open. A heavy dread settled in the great fox's chest, every instinct screamed that something was terribly wrong.
Before Naruto could say more, Shikamaru stepped forward.
"Naruto, what are you talking about? There's no way that's him."
His gaze never left the trio hovering above them.
None of the newcomers radiated goodwill—especially the bizarre, four-armed figure, whose monstrous silhouette set every nerve on edge.
Obito's low chuckle drifted across the air.
"Been a while, Naruto."
The words carried a gentle, almost nostalgic warmth as he eased downward, cloak rippling softly behind him.
Naruto's eyes shot open. That voice—those features—left no room for doubt.
A flood of questions slammed into him.
Why is Obito alive? Why has his hair turned white? What's with the crescent-blue eyes? And more than anything…
Why is he here, now?
Confusion coiled tight in Naruto's chest.
What in the world is going on?
"Obito, wait—"
Before he could finish speaking...
BOOM!
A fist buried itself deep into Naruto's stomach.
The impact was so violent that Naruto's eyes nearly bulged from their sockets.
Blood sprayed from his mouth.
For a split second, his mind went completely blank.
Then his body shot downward like a meteor.
The sky exploded with a deafening sonic boom.
Naruto crashed straight through the roof of the Hokage Building.
The entire structure trembled violently.
A massive cloud of dust erupted into the sky.
"Naruto!"
Shikamaru's eyes narrowed to pin-points, his mind balking at the scene in front of him.
"Damn it!"
His shadow burst outward, stretching like black water across the rubble-strewn rooftop.
"Shadow Possession Jutsu!"
Ink-dark tendrils whipped up toward Obito, eager to lock him in place.
But before they could close the distance, a chilling voice sliced through the air.
"Dismantle."
Shikamaru froze, his hands still locked in the seal of his technique.
His eyes slid from Obito to the hooded figure he had scarcely noticed.
White Zetsu lowered his raised hand, two fingers extended as though cutting something.
A hair-thin crimson line traced itself across Shikamaru's torso. His face went deathly pale.
"W-wha—"
The word never finished.
His body split cleanly in two, blood burst into the air.
In the span of a heartbeat, the halves divided again and again, invisible blades slicing from every direction until his form shattered into a drifting cascade of neat, crimson cubes that rained toward the ground.
The village's genius strategist.
The Seventh Hokage's right-hand man.
Nara Shikamaru.
was erased in a single heartbeat.
Below, shinobi from every corner of Konoha stared skyward in stunned horror. They had converged on the Hokage Residence after sensing the brazen chakra signatures of the intruders overhead, yet in mere heartbeats they witnessed two impossibilities:
First, the Seventh Hokage himself was blasted straight through the Hokage Residence.
Then, before anyone could react, Nara Shikamaru's body disintegrated—neatly sliced into countless crimson cubes that rained across the village—right before their eyes.
A tidal wave of chakra erupted without warning.
The shattered husk of the Hokage Residence burst outward as molten-gold energy flooded the sky.
From the billowing debris stepped Naruto Uzumaki, clad in Kurama Chakra Mode. His wounds had already sealed, but blood still streaked from the corner of his mouth. Shock, fury, and fresh grief contorted his face.
His eyes trembled as they locked onto the drifting crimson cubes—the last remnants of his closest friend.
"…Shikamaru."
"Naruto! Don't let your feelings cloud your judgment. Whatever that thing is up there, it's not the Obito Uchiha you knew… The chakra it's giving off feels just like those other Ōtsutsuki monsters."
"I know, Kurama—I know!" Naruto gritted his teeth, golden chakra flaring around him as he forced himself to stay focused.
Whoosh—whoosh—whoosh!
A dozen figures flashed in beside Naruto, forming a protective arc:
Sakura Haruno and Ino Yamanaka landed first.
Rock Lee and Tenten followed, bristling with determination.
Sai, brush in hand, and Konohamaru Sarutobi dropped in next.
Behind them came a contingent of Konoha's elite jōnin and ANBU.
The grisly sight of Shikamaru's scattered remains and the trio still hovering above—turned every face stark with shock and rising fury.
High above, Obito didn't spare the shinobi below so much as a glance. His crescent-moon eyes stayed calm—coldly indifferent to their grief and anger.
"Handle them," he said, voice soft yet absolute.
"Make it quick."
"Understood, Captain."
"Roger that, Captain."
White Zetsu and Tobi answered simultaneously.
Obito drifted higher, black motes swirling to shape a vast throne from the void itself. He settled onto it with leisurely grace, one elbow propped on the armrest, his cheek resting against his knuckles as he surveyed the village below—an audience watching mere spectacle.
Why such a ruthless order? Because he intended to drench this world in blood and absorb every scrap of data it contained. To do that, the most powerful shinobi had to fall and Konoha was the perfect starting point.
This would be his first attempt… his first time devouring an entire world.
Even so, he granted them a single privilege: the chance to resist. It was the last vestige of mercy he cared to offer.
Meanwhile...
Tobi rolled his shoulders, all four arms stretching in a slow, languid arc. A wicked grin split his half-spiral face.
"Ku-ha-ha-ha!"
"How about we start with something nice and flashy?"
He brought his palms together—four hands forming a single, intricate seal.
"OPEN."
A sign that instantly made White Zetsu glance sideways.
"Oh?"
The surrounding temperature suddenly began to rise.
The air grew stifling. Heat rolled across the rooftops as the sky itself flushed crimson.
Between Tobi's four up-turned palms a sphere of blazing chakra swelled, as though he were absently toying with a miniature sun.
Slowly—almost playfully—he drew his arms apart, sculpting the inferno into a single, titanic arrow.
A divine arrow of pure destruction now hovered in the heavens, its point trained unerringly on Konohagakure.
"Fūga."
Inside Naruto's consciousness.
"Naruto!" the Nine-Tails thundered, chakra rippling through his crimson fur. "This is bad."
Kurama's tails bristled, the air itself trembling with his alarm.
"The power packed into that attack isn't ordinary... it's catastrophic. If it strikes the village head-on…" His gaze hardened, voice dropping to a grim growl.
"Konoha will be obliterated in an instant."
Naruto's expression hardened. He knew at a glance—this attack was beyond anything an ordinary shinobi could hope to stop.
"Everyone—close in on me, now!"
"Sakura! Summon Katsuyu—have her spread out and be ready to relay healing chakra wherever it's needed."
"Ino! Get every sensor on the net. Tell the villagers to move to the deepest shelters—immediately!"
"Lee, Tenten—set a perimeter! Sai, Konohamaru—evacuate the academy sector and back up the med-nin!"
Hearing the seriousness in Naruto's voice, nobody hesitated.
"Right!"
"Understood!"
Everyone moved instantly.
But Tobi never meant to grant them breathing room.
"Too slow!"
The blazing arrow of chakra dropped from the crimson sky like a sentence of divine judgment, shrieking toward Konoha.
Naruto's eyes flew wide.
"Damn it!"
He slammed his palms together.
BOOM!!
Golden chakra flared even brighter around him as he hurled himself upward, resolve and desperation melding into a single motion, coalescing into a colossal avatar of the Nine-Tails.
The incandescent fox reared back, its ear-splitting roar rattling every rooftop.
"ROOOOAAARRR!"
Using the ground as a springboard, Naruto vaulted upward—straight toward the descending arrow of flame.
In the space of a heartbeat, power against power met head-on.
BOOOOOOOM!
A searing white flash swallowed the sky, blotting out the battlefield below.
Within the blinding flash, Tobi's wicked grin spread even wider.
"Ku-ha-ha-ha!"
This wasn't Sukuna's Fuga.
Everything he possessed had long since been strengthened by Obito.
The power hidden inside that single attack was something beyond ordinary understanding.
And Naruto...
Had underestimated him.
A mistake he was about to pay for dearly.
--
The blinding flash finally receded, leaving only swirling ash and crackling embers.
Crash!
Naruto burst up through a slab of shattered masonry, shoving the debris aside as he pulled himself to his feet. His gaze swept the scene—and his heart clenched.
Konoha lay scorched and blackened. Streets had become molten trenches, rooftops smoldered, and the bitter smell of burning wood and stone choked the air.
Even after pouring every last fragment of chakra into Kurama's avatar, he hadn't been able to fully contain the blaze.
Those flames had burned hotter than magma itself—consuming everything in their path.
Crash!
Shifting rubble snagged Naruto's attention.
"B-Big Bro Naruto… I'm glad… you're okay…"
"K-Konohamaru!"
Naruto caught Konohamaru before the younger shinobi could slump back into the rubble, pulling him close. The burns were so severe Naruto could hardly recognize him—yet Konohamaru still tried to smile.
"Konohamaru… stay with me. I'll fix this—I swear it."
"Don't make that face, Big Bro… I'm—"
Plop.
Something wet struck the shattered tiles... Konohamaru's eyes, dislodged and rolling across the scorched ground.
His body was a charred ruin, that he had clung to life this long was a miracle in itself, but sheer will could take him no further.
"Ah… how can I…"
Grief thundered through Naruto's mind, threatening to shatter it.
Everyone…
"Everyone, are you okay!?"
He reached out with the limit of his sensory ability—only to find agonizing silence where the life-signs of his comrades should have been.
That means …
No.
"Himawari …"
"Hinata!"
"Kurama—Kurama, can you sense them? I can't feel their chakra… Can you—"
"Naruto…"
"There has to be something! Maybe I'm too hurt... check again, you—"
"Naruto."
"Kurama!"
"NARUTO!"
Naruto jerked upright, tears blazing in his eyes.
He understood.
There was no way they had survived.
"The guy up there won't give us time to mourn," Kurama rumbled—voice thick with sorrow yet edged with iron resolve. "But listen: I'm still picking up one chakra signature. It's faint, but it's definitely Sakura."
The words hit Naruto like a lifeline. Grief burned behind his eyes, but Kurama's steady growl forced him to focus.
"Sakura!?"
"We can still fight, Naruto—every second counts."
Naruto swallowed hard, wiping the tears from his cheeks. Golden chakra blazed to life around him once more.
In a flash of golden light, Naruto shunshinned to Sakura's side.
The Strength of a Hundred Seal on her forehead pulsed—its violet mark gleaming as torrents of chakra stitched torn muscle and burned skin back together. Even so, she looked as though she had crawled from the heart of an inferno.
Sakura forced her head up, emerald eyes wavering.
"Na-Naruto…"
Her voice cracked. "What just happened?"
She tried to scan the ruined street, but smoke and heat-shimmers distorted everything.
"E-Everyone's… okay, right?"
Naruto bit his lip until blood trickled from the corner of his mouth.
Then, slowly, he shook his head.
His gaze fell to the ruined ground beneath his feet.
That one small motion said everything.
Sakura's eyes dimmed.
The last trace of hope inside them shattered.
Her fists clenched so tightly that her nails dug into her palms.
"...I see."
A terrifying amount of chakra suddenly erupted from her body.
Steam rose from her skin.
The Strength of a Hundred Seal spread across her body as the stored chakra was released without restraint.
Her recovery accelerated once more.
Far beyond what was normally necessary.
She was burning through her own vitality to force her body back into fighting condition.
Under normal circumstances, Sakura would never do something so reckless.
But right now...
She didn't care.
First, Sasuke had disappeared without a trace.
Now...
Even her daughter might have been killed.
The thought alone made her heart feel as though it was being torn apart.
A heavy silence hung over them.
Then...
"Oh my, oh my."
A familiar voice drifted down from above.
"You two actually survived."
"Tsk, tsk."
"What lucky people you are."
The moment that voice reached their ears, Naruto and Sakura's expressions turned ice-cold.
Their heads snapped upward at the same time.
A suffocating killing intent exploded from both of them.
Naruto's eyes burned with fury.
"No matter who you are... I swear I'll make you pay for this!"
At that moment, there was nothing left inside him but pure, overwhelming rage.
"Oh?"
Tobi tilted his head, one hand resting against the side of his neck while another stroked his chin. The arrogant smirk visible on the exposed half of his face only deepened.
"And what makes you think you can win?"
BOOM!
His answer came in the form of an immense surge of chakra.
A violent aura erupted from Naruto's body, tearing through the air and shaking the surrounding ruins.
Tobi's eyes narrowed slightly.
"Kurama! Is it true!? You really have a method like that? Why didn't you tell me sooner? If we had this, I could've—"
"I'm sorry, Naruto..."
Kurama's voice was unusually heavy.
"I underestimated him. But now we have our chance. With this, we can make them pay."
Naruto fell silent.
A few moments later, he let out a slow breath.
"Yeah..."
His clenched fists trembled.
"There's no point dwelling on that now."
"Then there is one thing that matters. As long as everyone responsible answers for this, I'll be satisfied."
Naruto opened his eyes. His hair shot upward in sharper, wilder spikes, tufts flaring on either side like fox ears. The whisker marks on his cheeks thickened, the upper lines curling beneath his eyes. Black pigmentation spread from his eyelids, and his irises burned crimson, pupils narrowing to slits.
His clothing deepened to a darker orange as a translucent chakra cloak blossomed around him, nine blazing tails unfurling behind his back.
Naruto had entered...
Baryon Mode.
"Oh? Interesting… So, Tobi, how will you answer this?"
Obito's eyes glinted with amusement as Naruto completed his transformation. An ordinary Naruto could never have matched the Tobi he had fortified with Isshiki's data—yet this Naruto might actually become a problem.
"What frightening eyes… Do you hate me that much? I—" Tobi drawled, still caught up in his own arrogance. The sentence died the moment a fist smashed into his cheek.
Bang!
He was sent hurtling through the air, but before he could even steady himself, Naruto flashed in front of him. A Rasengan roared in the jinchūriki's palm and drove straight into Tobi's mid-section.
Crunch!
Blood burst from Tobi's mouth as the spiraling sphere drilled clean through him, and a heartbeat later Naruto slammed him into the ground.
Boom!
"That's one down… who's next?"
In a red blur, Naruto appeared before White Zetsu and drove a chakra-charged kick into his gut, launching him across the battlefield.
In the space of a heartbeat, Naruto's new form made its overwhelming power clear.
Bang!
"You're awfully calm for a white-haired bastard who's next in line," Naruto growled. "Coming down on your own, or do I have to drag you?"
He slipped into a fighting stance, one hand tucked behind his back, eyes locked on Obito—whose interest only seemed to deepen.
"I wouldn't be so hasty if I were you," Obito replied, tone lightly teasing.
Naruto narrowed his gaze. "And just what do you mean by that…?"
"He means the fight isn't over yet."
The voice snapped Naruto's attention around.
His pupils constricted as he saw Tobi—the four-armed monster he'd just driven a Rasengan clean through—standing tall once more. The jagged hole in his torso had sealed itself, leaving not a trace of the wound.
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