Konoha, Year 79 (Boruto Era).
Konoha Village, Archaeological Research Institute.
Two figures rushed inside.
All the guards at the institute's entrance lay dead.
Within the institute, a pale figure stood before an artifact, a green light emanating from his palm.
The artifact transformed into a turtle.
This was none other than the treasure of the Ōtsutsuki Clan, the Kāma.
Ōtsutsuki Urashiki was preparing to travel back in time to capture the Nine-Tails Jinchūriki, Uzumaki Naruto, before he had reached his full power.
The two who arrived were Uchiha Sasuke and Uzumaki Boruto.
Seeing the glowing Kāma, the two rushed in without a word.
However, they failed to notice that another person had followed them inside.
—
Thump.
Bai Mo, carrying a large satchel, landed on the ground.
A drop of rain fell on his head.
"I'm back? No, wait... I am."
Bai Mo looked around, confirming that he had not returned to the Hidden Rain Village of his time, but to the "Hidden Rain Village of the past."
Bai Mo was a transmigrator who had arrived in the Hidden Rain Village during the Boruto era.
At that time, the entire Land of Rain was dilapidated, with crumbling walls, overflowing with garbage and toxic gas—essentially a massive waste disposal site for the Five Great Nations.
The ruined Hidden Rain Village stood in stark contrast to the prosperous Konoha.
It was a pity that none of the villagers then knew that the Seventh Hokage, Uzumaki Naruto, had once promised the leader of the Hidden Rain Village that he would lead it to prosperity.
Nagato, the leader of the Hidden Rain Village, had chosen to believe him, sacrificing his own life to revive the people of Konoha, ending the cycle of hatred, and entrusting the village to him.
The result, however, was this.
Due to his unique nature and his revelation of the Seventh Hokage's promise to the villagers, Bai Mo was regarded as a beacon of hope by the refugees of the Hidden Rain.
The refugees handed over all the village's remaining supplies to Bai Mo, pooling enough resources to send him to the Land of Fire.
Bai Mo had kept a low profile after arriving in Konoha, until this day.
He had met a young blond man who asked him if he knew where to buy Icha Icha Paradise, and then he knew the time-travel plot was imminent.
Thus, the previous scene unfolded.
Having made thorough preparations, Bai Mo had returned to the ninja world of the past.
The moment he stepped into the Kāma, a special power within Bai Mo was activated upon contact with the Ōtsutsuki clan's space-time ninjutsu.
In that instant—Time Deletion!
In the world of Time Deletion, even Uchiha Sasuke could not perceive that someone else had followed them into the space-time tunnel.
And due to the Time Deletion, the landing point of the space-time tunnel seemed to have shifted slightly.
But none of that mattered anymore.
Uchiha Sasuke and Uzumaki Boruto, after dealing with Ōtsutsuki Urashiki, would use genjutsu to erase the memories of relevant individuals, believing they had not altered the past, and return directly to the future.
They would never even perceive Bai Mo's existence.
"Don't get me wrong, I'm not a spy."
Bai Mo suddenly spoke.
Simultaneously, a muscular hand was reaching for him from behind.
Hearing Bai Mo's words, it stopped mid-air.
"Then who are you?"
A cold question came from behind Bai Mo.
Bai Mo knew that upon arriving in the Hidden Rain Village, he would inevitably be detected by Pain's Rain Tiger at Will Technique.
So he had activated the ability that awoke when he touched the Kāma's space-time ninjutsu—Time Deletion. Because the ability felt strangely familiar, Bai Mo had named it "Crimson King."
Using a derivative ability of Time Deletion, Bai Mo saw what would happen in the next few tens of seconds.
He had anticipated the Preta Path appearing behind him.
"I am the leader of the future Hidden Rain Village, and I request an audience with the current leader, 'Pain'—or rather, Nagato."
Bai Mo spoke bluntly, then stood up and looked toward the tallest building in the Hidden Rain Village.
That was where Nagato's true body resided.
Hearing Bai Mo's answer, Nagato, sitting in his wheelchair on the top floor of the command tower, opened his eyes.
"Is the intruder troublesome?"
Konan, standing beside Nagato, asked calmly.
Because Bai Mo had "suddenly" appeared inside the village and was detected, to Nagato, who relied on the Rain Tiger at Will Technique for perception, it was no different from when Jiraiya had infiltrated using his frogs.
Knowing the opponent was a "master," he had dispatched the Six Paths of Pain to probe and capture him.
"He says he is the leader of the future Hidden Rain Village and wants to see me... and he called me by my real name."
Nagato's expression was grave.
"Is he another one like 'Madara'? I'll go test him."
Wary, Konan walked out of the room, came to the edge of the high tower, sprouted a pair of white paper wings from her back, and flew down.
As soon as Konan saw Bai Mo's figure, she found him very strange.
Bai Mo below was standing in the rain, raising his right hand, doing something unknown.
The Preta Path of Pain was in another location.
This indicated that Bai Mo had suddenly moved and changed his position.
Why?
Konan descended with a questioning attitude.
After descending to a certain height, Konan's face suddenly darkened. She paused in mid-air, then drifted a short distance to the right before gracefully landing in front of Bai Mo's right side.
Indeed, after descending a certain distance, Konan had realized that if she landed at that angle, she would directly sit on Bai Mo's raised hand.
Unbelievable.
The opponent was indeed a master, capable of predicting to such an extent.
Similarly, the opponent's mind was indeed a bit problematic.
Konan made a judgment in her heart.
After bringing Bai Mo to a spacious area on a lower level of the command tower, Konan was about to speak when she saw Bai Mo take out a storage seal scroll from his waist and pull out a pile of items.
Most were photos, along with some old papers with writing on them.
"These are photos of the future Hidden Rain Village, and messages the future villagers want to convey to you."
Bai Mo explained the origin of these items.
When he decided to go to Konoha, he had already made relevant plans, so he had naturally prepared in advance.
Konan stepped forward, knelt, and picked up the photos to examine them.
Each shocking photo made Konan's pupils contract.
The buildings in these photos were exactly what the current Hidden Rain Village's structures would look like after becoming dilapidated and damaged.
Familiar streets, familiar pipes, familiar buildings... After looking through the photos, Konan remained skeptical, wondering if Bai Mo was fabricating this lie to stop their plan.
But when Konan picked up those old letters and read their contents, she completely abandoned that idea.
"How did these letters come to be?"
Konan put down the letters and looked up at Bai Mo.
"My return from the future to the present was planned, so I naturally made some self-verifying preparations beforehand. I explained to the villagers of the Hidden Rain that if they wanted to speak to the deceased, they only needed to burn the letters they had written. So they wrote down their true feelings for you and gave them to me, asking me to help burn them during the ritual."
Bai Mo answered calmly.
After a moment of silence, Konan told Bai Mo to pack his things, then took him to the top floor.
Nagato was somewhat surprised to see Konan bringing the intruder here, but he believed she must have had her reasons.
Konan, holding a letter, walked forward and handed it to Nagato.
Nagato's pupils contracted upon seeing it.
......
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