Seeing how Shikamaru Nara treated these people, the Konoha Genin behind him were dumbfounded.
What was going on?!
Iwabee Yuino kept shooting Shikadai Nara pointed looks, silently demanding an explanation.
Metal realized what this might mean and went rigid with nerves. When he remembered everything they had just said, he wanted to pull out a kunai and commit seppuku on the spot to atone.
Denki Kaminarimon was just as nervous.
But the worst off was undoubtedly the sharp-tongued Inojin Yamanaka. He looked utterly miserable, wondering whether a year's allowance would be enough to buy himself a new mouth, one that had never said any of those things.
Kakashi Hatake said, "Our situation is difficult to explain in a few words. Just don't try to understand our world according to what you know. The First Hokage-sama, the Second Hokage-sama, the Fourth Hokage-sama, and these people..."
He glanced toward Madara Uchiha, Obito Uchiha, Kaguya Ōtsutsuki, and the others.
"They all came here from eras in which they never participated in the Fourth Shinobi World War."
They had never participated in the Fourth Shinobi World War?!
Shikamaru Nara had truly learned something new today. These were former Hokage and some of the Ninja World's greatest villains, none of whom had taken part in the Fourth Shinobi World War.
Wait, that did not make sense!
Judging by Naruto's age, how could any of them have known about the Fourth Shinobi World War during this period?!
"That's why I told you not to judge our circumstances by your own common sense," Adult Kakashi said lazily to Shikamaru Nara, who was now the Hokage's advisor.
"Judging by how Konoha looks, everything seems to have turned out all right. Were the problems caused by those three members of the Ōtsutsuki Clan resolved?"
As soon as Adult Kakashi finished asking, Young Obito followed up with another question.
"Is Naruto from your world all right? That recording cut off halfway through. It's been bothering me."
Shikamaru glanced at the young ninja he had never seen before.
Although he did not recognize the boy, he recognized the silver-haired, masked youth standing beside him as Kakashi Hatake.
"I never imagined that you'd already have a son this old in this world. The Sixth Hokage-sama in our world is still single. Back when I served as his assistant, I had to turn away piles of marriage proposals every day. It was such a pain."
Adult Kakashi: "..."
Young Kakashi: "..."
The two Kakashis stared at Shikamaru Nara, who was probably already thirty-three, wearing identical expressions of speechless disbelief.
Adult Obito looked from Shikamaru to Kakashi. He actually wanted to ask why Kakashi was still single when he had so much going for him.
There were more important matters to deal with at the moment, though. He would have to wait and see whether he got the chance to meet this world's Sixth Hokage and ask him directly.
Hmm... This world's idiot Kakashi should be around forty-six by now. Well, that was fine. He was still in his prime...
Damn it! He was so curious about what forty-six-year-old Kakashi looked like!
"Curiosity is forbidden."
Kakashi whispered the words right beside Obito's ear, startling him badly.
"You don't even have to say it. I already know what you're thinking, idiot."
Shikamaru Nara glanced in their direction. When he saw the way they interacted and the Konoha Jōnin uniform Obito Uchiha was wearing, he felt a deep pang of sympathy for the Sixth Hokage-sama of his own world.
Young Kakashi said, "Minato-sensei and I both traveled here from the era of the Third Shinobi World War. I am Kakashi Hatake himself. I'm not this guy's son."
"This guy" referred to Adult Kakashi.
"Time Travel?!"
Shikamaru was so shocked that his cigarette fell from his mouth.
"No wonder. That explains everything."
His brilliant mind quickly pieced together most of the circumstances surrounding everyone present. Once he regained his composure, he began answering their questions.
"That recording is from a long time ago. Naruto was rescued by Sasuke and the other Five Kage, and Momoshiki Ōtsutsuki and Kinshiki Ōtsutsuki were both defeated."
"What about Urashiki Ōtsutsuki?"
"Oh, that bird-man traveled through time just like you did. Sasuke and Boruto killed him together."
As the Hokage's advisor, Shikamaru was the only person authorized to listen to Sasuke's report alongside Naruto.
"With Boruto?!!"
Naruto, Sasuke, Obito, Kakashi, Minato Namikaze, and the others were all astonished.
It would have made sense for the future Sasuke to be involved, but why had Boruto specifically gone with him?
Shikamaru smiled. "His personality is a lot like Sasuke's was back then, but that kid definitely inherited his unpredictability from you."
Shikamaru meant nothing unusual by it.
Unfortunately, everyone in front of him interpreted his words very differently!
The moment he finished speaking, Naruto and Sasuke's faces went from deathly pale to ashen gray.
The others swallowed hard, looking even more shocked and disturbed than they had when they learned that Naruto had once been captured by the Ōtsutsuki Clan.
"What's wrong with all of you?" Even Shikamaru Nara, with his IQ of two hundred, was completely baffled.
Naruto beckoned for Shikamaru to lean closer because he had something to ask him.
Though confused, Shikamaru bent down and cooperated.
Naruto lowered his voice, while Sasuke perked up his ears to listen.
"Hey, about that Boruto..."
"Yeah?"
"Is he really Sasuke's and my child? Which one of us gave birth to him? Can boys have children too, dattebayo?!"
Shikamaru Nara wondered whether he had heard correctly.
"No, Naruto. What exactly did I say that gave you that impression?"
Seriously...
No matter where or when it happened, he always ended up losing to that idiot Naruto!
"You said it yourself, didn't you? His personality takes after Sasuke, and his unpredictability takes after me." Naruto recalled the blond boy they had just seen and analyzed the matter with complete confidence. "His hair and eye color are almost the same as mine, and he has similar whisker marks on his face, but his refined features look more like Sasuke's."
Sasuke had been listening closely, and Naruto's reasoning pulled him along as well. Although he did not ask the question aloud, he had already settled on Boruto's full name in his mind.
Boruto Uchiha.
"What in the world are you two thinking?!"
Shikamaru Nara was thoroughly flustered.
"Even though the two of you... Anyway, there's no way you could become a couple! But telling you who your future wives are might change the course of the original future. This is such a pain!"
It was yet another day of Advisor Nara worrying himself sick over his Seventh Hokage.
Sasuke breathed a sigh of relief. That had nearly scared him to death. If Shikamaru had told him that Boruto Uchiha, blegh, Boruto Uzumaki, had been born to Naruto, then wouldn't that mean...
Stop thinking about it!!!!
He was only thirteen and knew nothing about romance. He could not even imagine himself growing up and being with some woman.
In the mind of the Uchiha Clan's second young master, women would only slow down the speed at which he drew his blade.
Yet a trace of possessiveness toward his younger brother, born from Indra's chakra, churned in his chest.
It left him furious at the thought that the idiot dead last had been beaten, begged on his knees, and even hyperventilated for his sake! Naruto had even said that they were each other's one and only, and that when Sasuke hurt, he hurt too...
"What part of that brat's personality resembles mine?!" Sasuke snapped, venting his frustration. The more he looked at Boruto, who was actually the same age as his current self, the more irritated he became. "He faced an enemy without knowing his limits and charged in using power that didn't belong to him! He accomplished nothing and only caused trouble for Naruto!"
Madara Uchiha looked silently at Sasuke Uchiha.
This kid...
He was angry, wasn't he?
Why did Madara find this so exasperating?
"Can't you people keep relationships between brothers simple? I truly don't understand any of you." After Tobirama Senju finished criticizing everyone indiscriminately, he changed the subject. "Let's return to the matter at hand."
"You're Shikamaru Nara, correct? I have a question for you."
The First Hokage-sama's strongest right-hand man, who was also the Second Hokage-sama himself, fixed Shikamaru with his narrow crimson eyes. Shikamaru Nara, advisor to the Seventh Hokage, put aside the shock and nostalgia he had felt upon seeing Young Naruto and composed himself.
"Have you ever heard of Isshiki Ōtsutsuki?"
"Isshiki Ōtsutsuki?"
Shikamaru Nara searched through all the intelligence in his memory. Before answering, however, he glanced at Kaguya Ōtsutsuki, the three young men beside her, and the ordinary-looking woman who appeared to be a maid.
"There's no need to concern yourself with them," Tobirama Senju said. "This Kaguya Ōtsutsuki comes from a time before she lost her love and consumed the Chakra Fruit. The woman beside her is her maid, Aino."
He pointed to the young man with long silver-blue hair standing to Kaguya's left.
"This is Hamura Ōtsutsuki, the second son of Kaguya Ōtsutsuki from another era, and the brother of Rikudō Sennin."
"And these two," Tobirama continued, indicating the two brown-haired young men standing slightly behind Kaguya, "are Rikudō Sennin's sons. The older brother is Indra, and the younger is Ashura."
"Indra and Ashura?! Then aren't they the ones connected to Naruto and Sasuke, as well as Madara Uchiha and the First Hokage-sama..."
"Correct. These are the two brothers whose feud continued through three lives and three eras."
Tobirama Senju spoke quickly and without mercy. He was not trying to be sarcastic, yet he still left them no dignity whatsoever.
Indra, Ashura, Madara Uchiha, and Hashirama Senju all looked somewhat awkward.
Hashirama hurriedly turned and gave everyone an apologetic smile. His expression practically had, "My brother means no harm, so please be patient with him," written across it.
Meanwhile, Shikamaru Nara's mind was flooded with a single thought.
First Hokage-sama, Second Hokage-sama, in a way, you two brothers are pretty unusual yourselves!
But there was something far more pressing than his complaints.
"You're Hamura Ōtsutsuki? The ancestor of the Byakugan Clan on the Moon?"
Hamura Ōtsutsuki became a little uneasy when Shikamaru asked him that, especially since the man's tone seemed to contain...
Resentment?
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