Naruto hadn't even finished speaking yet.
From another stretch of forest, this world's Kakashi Hatake burst out, along with his summoned ninken, Pakkun.
That only made the situation even more chaotic…
So chaotic it was almost complete pandemonium.
"Sensei…?"
Kakashi Hatake, who had rushed over at full speed, froze when he saw Minato Namikaze, Rin Nohara, Obito, and even his younger self.
"Obito?! And Rin?!!"
Then his gaze landed on the man who looked exactly like him. The Adult Kakashi from the parallel world of the Valley of the End was completely stunned. At that moment, he couldn't even spare a thought for his two students. He stared rigidly at Team Minato just a few steps away, not even daring to rush forward to confirm whether they were real or an illusion.
Minato Namikaze and the others had thought that this world's regret lay in failing to remove Orochimaru's cursed seal from Sasuke.
They never expected that this world's true regret was that Kakashi hadn't arrived in time.
Originally, Kakashi Hatake would have been unable to stop his two students from going their separate ways. Arriving just a moment too late, all he would have seen at the Valley of the End was Naruto Uzumaki lying unconscious after desperately trying to hold Sasuke back.
But now, because of the presence of Team Minato and Team Kakashi, time had been delayed until the rain finally stopped.
As a result, when Kakashi of this era arrived at the Valley of the End, Sasuke Uchiha hadn't yet left to defect to Orochimaru, and Naruto Uzumaki had already regained consciousness.
Naruto's B-rank mission was complete.
The A-rank mission reward for the time-travel journey had also come to an end.
They still hadn't managed to persuade this world's Sasuke Uchiha, nor had they succeeded in sealing Orochimaru's cursed seal on his body.
With everything he had left, Naruto shouted to this world's Sasuke Uchiha,
"Listen to me, Sasuke! If you want revenge, then stay with Team 7! Stay with everyone! Wait for this world's Kakashi-sensei and this world's us to help you! There's no rule saying revenge has to be a one-man job! Listen to me, I—"
Before he could finish, their time-travel journey ended.
The latter half of Naruto's words were shouted toward Hashirama Senju, Ashura, and the others:
"Our enemy is the same! Madara Uchiha used Obito Uchiha, and Black Zetsu is the real mastermind!!"
The shout left Hashirama completely stunned.
Watching Team Minato and Team Kakashi disappear one moment and reappear the next, and sensing the powerful Space-Time Ninjutsu fluctuations around them, Tobirama Senju more or less pieced together what had happened.
"Who were you talking to?" he asked Naruto.
Naruto was anxious and furious, having failed to properly communicate with Sasuke from the previous parallel world.
Rin Nohara was even more worried. She feared that Naruto from the previous world, who hadn't heard the full explanation, might end up misunderstanding how everything unfolded.
[Dark Naruto Side Story?]
After two consecutive time jumps, both teams were visibly exhausted.
Indra pulled the door open. Ever since arriving in this world, his expression hadn't improved once.
"When are we going back?!" he snapped.
Sasuke was already in a foul mood because of what had happened in the previous world, and now he found everyone irritating to look at.
Minato Namikaze explained that the mission scroll's tasks and rewards were currently unstable and uncontrollable. How and when they could return would depend entirely on the mission scroll itself.
"Putting your hopes on a single scroll? Impressive," Indra said with a cold sneer.
Ashura quickly apologized to everyone for his brother's attitude. Since their last conflict, he hadn't seen his brother much. Their falling out had put their father in a difficult position, and Ashura himself had always felt guilty about it.
Now that they were in this future world, he hoped he could have a proper talk with his brother. If Indra truly wanted ninshū, Ashura was willing to step aside and leave it to him.
Edo Tensei Hashirama always saw Madara's shadow in Indra. Watching the brothers argue, he wanted to help, yet felt the same helplessness he had felt back then.
"Tobirama has considerable skill with Space-Time Ninjutsu," he said. "He can help research it and see if there's a way to send you all back safely."
Indra glanced toward the white-haired man sitting nearby and let out a cold laugh.
"Hand seals and ninjutsu were all developed by me. Relying on you descendants is worse than me researching it myself."
Edo Tensei Tobirama seemed to see Madara Uchiha's shadow in him as well, and his tone was anything but polite. "To be honest, I never planned on helping you in the first place. But if you're really that capable, you'd better figure out a way back today and leave as soon as possible."
He had always been on guard around those who possessed the Sharingan.
"Are you two really brothers?" Edo Tensei Tobirama turned to Ashura and asked. "Are you sure you weren't switched at birth?"
From him, Tobirama could faintly sense a chakra similar to his elder brother Hashirama Senju's.
Before Indra could flare up, Hashirama and Ashura quickly stepped in front of their respective brothers.
The atmosphere instantly became tense.
Sasuke and Obito were also visibly unsettled after the recent time-travel ordeal.
They had both seen the Sasuke Uchiha from the other world. That Chidori strike had genuinely been meant to kill Naruto Uzumaki. For the sake of power and revenge, they had witnessed just how far a Uchiha could go when pushed to madness.
Just as the Second Hokage had once said, the power of the Uchiha was a cursed power. A Uchiha who had lost love was like an unstable explosive tag, liable to detonate at any moment.
"What are you spacing out for?" Naruto said as he slapped Sasuke on the shoulder. "You and Obito both look awful."
"I'm fine," Sasuke replied curtly. "Your B-rank mission's finished, right? What about the intel?"
Naruto had been thinking about that too. It was just that the atmosphere had been too stiff earlier. With Sasuke's reminder, he went along with it and pulled the sealed scroll out of his ninja pouch to check it.
[Mission Rank: B-rank]
[Mission Objective: Stall until Kakashi Hatake arrives.]
[Mission Status: Completed.]
He found a familiar small scroll inside the pouch and opened it…
—Intelligence—
'Sasuke Uchiha and Madara Uchiha are the reincarnations of Indra.'
The moment he read that line, Sasuke's eyes flew wide open.
If it had been the Madara Uchiha they'd seen during Konoha's founding era, it might have been easier to accept. But when he thought of the Madara Uchiha from their world, manipulated by Black Zetsu and turned into the fuse that ignited everything, Sasuke couldn't help but feel overwhelmed. He didn't know whether the strongest emotion in his heart right now was anger, disbelief, or the same helpless despair Obito had felt when he learned he was the masked man.
Seeing everyone across from him staring blankly at the opened intelligence scroll, Edo Tensei Tobirama, who had been continuously radiating battle intent toward Indra, turned to Minato Namikaze and asked, "What does the scroll say? Why are you all so shocked?"
"..."
This time, even Minato Namikaze didn't answer right away.
What troubled them wasn't the fact that Sasuke Uchiha and Madara Uchiha were both reincarnations of Indra.
It was that, following that logic, wouldn't Sasuke Uchiha essentially be Madara Uchiha reborn?
Just a moment ago, they had still been in another world, placing much of the responsibility for everything on Madara Uchiha, Black Zetsu, and Danzō Shimura of their own world, trying to persuade that world's Sasuke to seek the truth and clearly identify his real enemy.
And then, in the very next moment, the crucial information given by the mission scroll turned out to be—
Sasuke Uchiha was the reincarnation of Madara Uchiha?
People had once speculated whether the masked man might be Madara Uchiha's reincarnation.
But who would have ever imagined that the reincarnated one would be Sasuke?!
Indra spoke up, "This thing you keep talking about is the scroll? Let me see it."
He intended to study it and figure out a way for himself and Ashura to return to their own era.
As soon as he said that, everyone who had already seen the scroll's contents instinctively turned to look at Indra.
If Madara Uchiha was this man's reincarnation…
Did that mean many of the unanswered questions actually originated from this man named Indra?
After all, he, his brother who looked nothing like him, and the Sage of Six Paths' younger brother, Hamura Ōtsutsuki, were all listed on the mission scroll as SS-rank mission targets with corresponding rewards.
…
Indra's presence was overwhelming, making it clear that if they didn't hand over the scroll, he was prepared to take it by force.
Considering that this matter needed to be discussed together, and that everyone present was either an Edo Tensei Hokage or a legendary progenitor of the ninja world, there was no need to doubt anyone's identity or stance.
Minato Namikaze nodded to the Edo Tensei Fourth Hokage.
After exchanging looks to confirm they were thinking the same thing, they had Naruto spread the scroll out flat on the table.
"Madara is Indra's reincarnation?!"
"So Madara Uchiha really did leave himself a backup plan!"
Those were the very different reactions Hashirama Senju and Tobirama Senju had upon seeing the information.
Indra himself didn't say a word. He merely swept an emotionless glance over Sasuke Uchiha.
The topic of reincarnation had already been brought up long ago by the man who claimed to be his uncle, Hamura Ōtsutsuki. What interested Indra more was why Hamura had said that Naruto Uzumaki and Sasuke Uchiha would become the "trigger."
Did that mean that in this generation, Sasuke Uchiha had defeated Naruto Uzumaki?
Naruto looked at Sasuke, then at Indra. "They don't look exactly alike, but the two of them do give off a very similar feeling."
Sasuke also looked at Indra, unsure how he was supposed to react.
Obito Uchiha glanced at the First Hokage, Hashirama Senju, then recalled the ancient ancestor he had once seen. He suddenly turned to Indra and Ashura and asked,
"The relationship between you two brothers… wasn't it really good when you were kids, but terrible once you grew up?"
Indra frowned, clearly unwilling to have that period brought up.
Ashura looked relaxed, but seeing his brother's expression, he didn't dare say much. He simply nodded at Obito.
"Is there a problem, Obito?" Minato Namikaze asked.
Obito replied, "Looking at them directly, I didn't notice it at first. But whenever I think about the statues at the Valley of the End… I can't help feeling that the First Hokage and the old ancestor give off the same kind of vibe as Ashura and Indra."