Tobirama moved with lightning speed, yanking up Naruto's tracksuit and exposing the black Eight Trigrams Seal on his abdomen.
Hashirama's face darkened immediately.
"Give me an explanation."
Madara's expression was equally grim as he stared at Minato Namikaze.
"Tell me—why is a tailed beast sealed inside this child?"
Before Minato could answer, Tobirama pressed, "Which one?"
Rumor said there were nine Tailed Beasts, and the strongest of them was...
"The Nine-Tails."
Boom—
Madara's chakra surged, on the verge of bursting out, but he restrained himself, not wanting to terrify the young boys on the other side.
Was this really the future of the village they had created?
Using a child—barely eleven or twelve years old—as the vessel of the strongest monster?
And earlier… the Third Shinobi World War?
If war still existed, if children still had to be sent to the battlefield—then what was the point of founding a village at all?
Minato Namikaze had revealed far too much information at once.
Not only Madara Uchiha—even Hashirama Senju found himself shaken, suddenly uncertain of everything they were working toward.
Tobirama frowned. "Why are all of you staring at Madara? Is there something wrong with him?"
Sasuke remembered the night of the Nine-Tails' rampage, remembered Naruto twisted by the fox's chakra, crawling across the ground like a monster.
The answer he couldn't say aloud pressed against the back of his throat.
What future awaited the Uchiha?
What future awaited the village?
Minato Namikaze was about to explain the mission scroll and the masked man… and seeing Madara Uchiha in person only confirmed it further—the masked man who claimed to be Madara could not be the real Madara.
But before Minato could speak, Sasuke exploded first.
"Who do you think brought the Nine-Tails to attack Konoha?! Who do you think made the villagers fear the Uchiha clan?!!"
Madara Uchiha's face turned pitch black.
"What do you mean?"
A killing aura—unconscious, instinctive—spread from him like a battlefield's shadow.
Minato drew a breath. "Everyone, please remain calm. Let me explain step by step."
"According to the elders of Konoha's founding generation, the Nine-Tails first appeared in the village when Madara Uchiha, the clan head at the time, brought it to attack Konoha. The reason is said to be a conflict with Hashirama-sama's ideals for governing the village. He later left the village alone, and years afterward, returned with the Nine-Tails to destroy the village that had been built through great hardship."
Hashirama rose to his feet instantly.
"Impossible! Madara is a gentle person! He would never do something like that!!"
"Calm down, big brother! Let the younger ones finish speaking!"
Tobirama snapped, irritated by how his older brother lost all reason whenever the subject was Madara.
Because none of what Minato described had actually occurred yet in their timeline, even hearing such a catastrophic future did not anger Madara to the point of storming out.
He shot Tobirama a brief, unreadable glance, then stared at Minato and uttered a single word.
"Speak."
Minato Namikaze continued, "According to those rumors, Madara Uchiha did attack Konoha with the Nine-Tails. But the First Hokage—Hashirama-sama—ended that conflict. He later captured the remaining tailed beasts and divided them equally among the other ninja villages."
Tobirama Senju nodded.
"The emergence of other ninja villages is within my expectations. The Sarutobi and Shimura clans also intend to join us. The Yamanaka, Nara, and Akimichi clans—the Ino–Shika–Chō—are still undecided. Seeing our development, other clans will surely take action as well."
Hashirama had hoped to tell Madara all this as good news—to help him recover from losing Izuna by showing that building the village would create bonds of its own.
"But!" Hashirama suddenly protested, "About the position of Hokage, I intend for Madara to—"
"You're too naïve, Hashirama! / Big brother!" x2
Madara Uchiha and Tobirama Senju said simultaneously.
Hashirama froze, devastated by his brother's scolding.
Under the confused gazes of the future shinobi, Hashirama muttered in a tiny, wounded voice, "It's only when you're yelling at me that the two of you get along so well…"
Madara and Tobirama exchanged a glance, snorted, and both turned away, refusing to acknowledge the other.
The First Hokage's dignity crumbled in an instant, leaving the room filled with awkward silence.
Minato Namikaze resumed. "Leaving aside which of you will become Hokage, this isn't our first time traveling back into the past. Yet our return has never altered the future we came from. So I believe that our arrival here has created a new world—one that will develop completely differently from the history we know."
"You're saying… parallel worlds?!"
Tobirama's interest sharpened instantly.
Hashirama and Madara exchanged a look. "Parallel worlds?"
Tobirama explained, "Put simply: because these youths have arrived in a past era that already existed, their presence has altered the decisions of the people of this era. From that point, a parallel world branches off—one in which they truly exist."
Madara and Hashirama were not fools; they understood him immediately.
Minato continued, "In our world, Hashirama-sama did become the First Hokage. But if all of you believe that choice was inappropriate, choosing someone else as Hokage isn't impossible."
"Don't speak so irresponsibly," Tobirama Senju said. "How do you know that replacing the Hokage would fix the future? It could just as easily create an even worse one."
Minato said, "That possibility exists. I once tried desperately to prevent such an outcome, but because of it, I no longer believe simply stopping it can resolve the problem."
"'It'?"
Hashirama, Madara, and Tobirama watched as Minato Namikaze signaled Naruto and Obito to take out a scroll each.
"The power of Space-Time Ninjutsu?!"
Tobirama immediately sensed the familiar chakra from the two scrolls and looked sharply at Minato.
Minato said, "This is what keeps sending us to the past and the future."
"Speaking of that…" Naruto said, "Obito and I still haven't even finished our missions, dattebayo. So why did we time-travel again?"
"No…"
Minato took Obito's scroll and opened it.
"Obito's mission is already complete."
The final line on the scroll read:
[Mission Rating: A-rank]
[Mission Content: Bring Itachi Uchiha to Konoha.]
[Mission Status: Completed]
"!!!"
Itachi… came to Konoha?!
What… what was happening?!
Sasuke's Sharingan flared open instantly.
At that moment, a voice came rushing in. "Madara-sama!"
A young Uchiha stepped inside. "Four intruders have appeared within our territory!!"
"Four?!"
Tobirama demanded, "What's the situation?!"
The youth answered, "Unclear, but it seems they're fighting among themselves. All four were engaged when I left to deliver the message!"
Madara and Hashirama immediately rose to their feet.
Since this era was still steeped in war, with the village barely founded, most conflicts required Hashirama, Madara, and Tobirama to personally intervene.
Before departing, the three instructed Minato and his group to remain here—and under no circumstances reveal any future information to unrelated individuals.
...
Elsewhere—
One of the Legendary Sannin, Jiraiya.
And Konoha's elite jōnin, Kakashi Hatake.
Several days earlier, Kakashi had accepted a mission to locate Jiraiya-sama. With reliable intel, sharp analysis, and a bit of well-placed bait, he reeled Jiraiya in with surprising ease.
Jiraiya hadn't planned to return to Konoha so soon. But upon hearing news related to Minato Namikaze, his eyes bulged like those of a bronze ox.
Without hesitation, he boarded transport with Kakashi and hurried back—eager to see his student again, and that now-grown son of his… his own disciple's child.
They arrived in Konoha today—only to run straight into Itachi and Kisame , sent by "Madara" to infiltrate the village.
Just as battle was about to break out, everything plunged into darkness.
A distinct weightlessness overtook them and lasted several minutes.
Finally, light appeared below. From hundreds of meters up, they descended, each relying on their own abilities.
Jiraiya's enormous summoned toad in particular sent shock through the surrounding Konoha guards.
He barely had time to wonder how he'd summoned a toad he'd never seen before—or how its massive size had exposed their location—before Kisame Hoshigaki, charging straight at him, broke his concentration.
A fierce melee erupted, dragging on far longer than expected. The Senju and Uchiha shinobi had originally planned to subdue the four intruders and bring them to their clan heads for judgment. But these four were far stronger than anticipated. Despite prolonged combat, they still couldn't restrain them—and instead their own forces suffered heavy losses, especially from the shark-faced man wielding that strange greatsword.
Finally, one shinobi broke away from the fight and sprinted back to summon the two clan heads.
When Madara Uchiha arrived at the battlefield and laid eyes on the four figures—
He froze.
So did Hashirama and Tobirama.
Their gazes locked on the youth in the distance, wearing a black cloak dotted with red clouds. His black hair was tied casually into a small ponytail, his features strikingly handsome, those vermilion Sharingan eyes glowing...
"Izuna!!"
At that exact moment, Jiraiya was preparing to fire a Toad Oil Flame Bullet at Itachi Uchiha.
Madara didn't even think.
He unleashed Susanoo instantly.
His instinct to protect his younger brother made his eyes widen in fury. His expression twisted into something terrifyingly fierce.
The dark blue chakra giant raised an arm, shielding the Uchiha youth behind him, then swung back to smack away the incoming Fire Release.
"Madara!"
Seeing his friend rush forward, Hashirama immediately charged after him. Tobirama followed right behind his older brother...
Itachi Uchiha looked toward the newcomer and, for a fleeting moment, felt as if he were seeing Sasuke all grown up.
The clash between Jiraiya, Kisame, and Kakashi also broke off just in time.
Only when they got closer did Madara finally see clearly that the person before him wasn't Izuna. The real Izuna had died long ago, bleeding out right in front of him.
The realization hit him again, hollow and agonizing. Madara Uchiha had always known the truth, yet he had still wished—desperately—for a miracle.
When Madara Uchiha, Hashirama Senju, and Tobirama Senju stepped into view, Itachi and Kakashi froze for a moment.
Jiraiya said,
"I thought something was off earlier… seeing members of the Uchiha clan around. But now, seeing you two—" He nodded toward Hashirama and Tobirama. "If I'm right… are we in the past?"
"The past?!" Adult Kakashi stiffened, then immediately thought, "Did Obito and Naruto's scrolls trigger a new mission?!!"
He had already explained the strange mission scrolls to Jiraiya along the way. But even Jiraiya, who had wandered across almost the entire ninja world, had absolutely no clue what these things were.
Of course, the masked man had come up in their discussion. Jiraiya didn't know who he was, nor did he have any intel on him, but none of that lessened his anger after learning his disciple's entire family had been killed in the masked man's plot.
And Madara's gaze on Itachi was far too telling...
Kisame, partnering beside Itachi, asked,
"State your name. Who are you?"
Madara stayed silent for a moment, still staring at Itachi.
"I am… Madara Uchiha."