"Um, in the parallel world I come from, after my brother and I sealed Mother-sama away, I did indeed choose to go to the Moon alone and keep her company out of guilt and a desire to atone."
At this point, Hamura Ōtsutsuki was merely a handsome, clean-cut young man who looked shy but actually loved joking around.
Shikamaru Nara sighed and gestured into the empty air.
An ANBU member who had been following him immediately appeared.
"Find a way to bring the Fifth and Sixth Hokage back. I'm afraid we may have serious trouble on our hands."
"Yes."
After accepting the order, the ANBU member vanished from everyone's sight.
Only then did Shikamaru turn back to Hamura Ōtsutsuki.
"If you ever decide to leave a warning for your descendants, make sure you explain everything clearly. Don't leave any room for misunderstanding. Above all, leaving behind a Stone Monument for future generations is a terrible idea."
After all, the people interpreting those Stone Monuments were the Uchiha on Earth and the Byakugan-wielding Ōtsutsuki on the Moon. Their minds worked brilliantly at times and failed spectacularly at others.
"Huh? Why do you say that?"
Faced with Hamura Ōtsutsuki's bewildered expression, Shikamaru had no choice but to tell him the truth.
"You may not know this yet, but thirteen years ago, Earth nearly faced total destruction."
"!!!"
Sure enough, the ninja who had come from the mission scroll world were all stunned by the news.
Hashirama anxiously asked, "What happened? What happened?! Did someone revive Madara again?!!"
Madara Uchiha desperately wanted to shove the head of this spiritually younger brother of his straight into the ground!
"Hehe, I'm only worried about you."
"I have Izuna! I don't need you worrying about me!!"
Thud.
Watching the two of them interact, Shikamaru Nara unexpectedly recalled the Fourth Shinobi World War. It had been a brutal conflict, yet Naruto's will had led them to one miracle after another.
Fifteen years had passed. Now that he suddenly found himself remembering the events of his youth, he felt an unexpected sense of melancholy.
The children behind him, however, were having a much harder time processing the fact that they were seeing the real First Hokage for the first time.
Shikadai Nara had been the first to guess their identities. Inojin Yamanaka and the others gradually caught on afterward.
Maybe... perhaps... possibly...
Could the people standing before them really be the Hokage from throughout history who had traveled through time?!!!!
The Sev... Sev... Sev...
The Seventh Hokage-sama?!!!
What were they supposed to do?! How had the noisy, unremarkable kid their own age suddenly become so tall and imposing?!!
But...
Was the person clinging to the Second Hokage-sama and curling himself into a ball really the man described in the Ninja Academy textbooks?
The man who had kindled the flame of peace amid the chaos of the Warring States Period and founded Konohagakure.
The overwhelmingly powerful shinobi who had forced the other ninja nations to restrain themselves and sign ceasefire agreements.
The man who had proposed establishing the Ninja Academy and implemented countless other policies, passing down the Will of Fire and guiding Konoha step by step toward everything it had become.
The God of Shinobi, Hashirama Senju?!!!
Who had written the Ninja Academy textbooks?
Come out here. We need to have a private conversation!
To these children, the chance to see nearly all seven Hokage gathered in one place was so precious and rare that the Hokage seemed to be shining with genuine golden light.
C-could they ask for autographs now?
That enormous... ahem, Hashirama-sama did not seem to put on any airs at all. The person beside him looked rather frightening, though. Was he related to Sarada?
Unfortunately, this was a conversation between adults. The young Genin, who desperately wanted to learn ninjutsu, Taijutsu, and even academic subjects from the Seventh Hokage-sama as a child, could only suppress the excitement rising into their throats.
Shikamaru Nara continued, "Thirteen years ago, a coup broke out between the main and branch families of the Ōtsutsuki Clan on the Moon. The branch family misinterpreted the Stone Monument left behind by their ancestor, Hamura Ōtsutsuki. Not only did they slaughter the entire main family, but they also came to believe that the Earth guided by Rikudō Sennin was a mistake and should never have existed."
Hamura Ōtsutsuki's white eyes nearly popped out of their sockets.
Tobirama Senju sighed and muttered under his breath, "Why is it always a Stone Monument?"
Izuna shot him a fierce warning glare.
Shikamaru continued, "If Naruto hadn't fought with everything he had and defeated Toneri Ōtsutsuki, the Byakugan device they developed might really have destroyed the entire Earth."
"That's right, that's right!! The Seventh Hokage-sama is Konoha's hero! No, he's the hero of the entire world!!!"
"The Seventh Hokage-sama really is the greatest Hokage in the world!"
Here they went again.
The praise was so overwhelming that even Naruto did not dare accept it.
He had always claimed that he would become a Hokage even greater than his dad, the greatest Hokage of all. Saying it himself was one thing, but hearing other people praise him like this was more than his pride could handle.
Especially with his dad, Kakashi-sensei, the Second Hokage, and the First Hokage all standing right there!
"Hey, what are all of you doing gathered here? Shikadai, Uncle Shikamaru is here too?"
The sound of a boy yawning nearby made everyone turn their heads.
Wasn't that the "Boruto" they had been talking about earlier?!!
They had never expected to meet him in person so soon!
Standing beside Boruto was Mitsuki, whom they had met once before and who had even helped them.
Then a girl's voice rang out.
"Boys are all idiots. When they gather like this, they're either playing cards or planning some new trouble."
The chubby, dark-skinned girl had orange-yellow hair. Despite her build, she paid close attention to her appearance and was already wearing makeup at such a young age.
Beside her stood a black-haired girl in red clothes and red-framed glasses.
"Hey!" Boruto raised a hand in greeting. "Sarada, Chōchō."
"Boruto, aren't you supposed to be training? What are you doing here?"
Sarada pushed up her glasses. When she turned to face Boruto, the Uchiha ancestors, along with Naruto and Sasuke, caught sight of the red and white fan emblem on the back of her red clothes.
Madara Uchiha had always preferred daughters to troublesome brats like Obito Uchiha and Sasuke Uchiha. Because of the Eye of the Moon Plan, he had never married in his entire life.
The moment he saw Sarada, the instinctive affection of an elder toward a younger descendant surged within him. He immediately took a liking to the little girl.
As expected of an Uchiha. She looked adorable no matter how he looked at her!
The one whose thoughts aligned with their ancestor was not Sasuke Uchiha, but Adult Obito Uchiha, who shared the same doting uncle mentality. Izuna Uchiha also stared wide-eyed at the future hope of the clan.
The three showed nothing on their faces, but they were deeply shaken inside.
After greeting Boruto, Sarada walked over to them as well.
Boruto, who had originally been heading to the Hokage Tower to find his father, muttered, "Great, more idiots cosplaying my stupid dad."
His displeased tone poured a bucket of cold water over Naruto, who had been so nervous and flustered while wondering how to make a good first impression on his future son.
Naruto rolled up his sleeves and charged forward to argue with him.
"You little brat!! Who calls their own dad stupid?!!"
Boruto stared at the furious Naruto and suddenly froze.
He remembered traveling back in time with Sasuke-san and seeing what his father had truly been like as a child.
"Skinny, afraid of being alone, loves ramen, incredibly stupid, but determined and full of dreams. Sometimes he shows an expression that makes your heart ache..."
Boruto muttered to himself.
Naruto, who had been about to rush over and argue with him, froze in place, his entire body going numb.
"It's really Dad?!!!!"
Once Boruto realized what was happening, he was so startled that he nearly leaped onto Mitsuki.
Mitsuki, however, was not surprised in the slightest. Instead, he smiled and greeted the person across from him.
"It's good to see you again, Young Seventh Hokage-sama."
Again...
Naruto exclaimed, "Ah!! Could you be..."
"Hm? I've visited your world before, and I know about the mission scrolls. Is Orochimaru doing well?"
That was right!!
The Orochimaru from their world had followed Mitsuki and been brought back by that little toad, Travel Frog. Meanwhile, the future Orochimaru had remained behind in the mission scroll world.
"What is this all about?"
Seeing that both Boruto and Mitsuki knew these people made Sarada feel as though she had been excluded from Team 7, and she did not like it at all.
"Explain everything clearly, Boruto. Are these people acquaintances of yours?"
Sarada's gaze passed over Sasuke Uchiha before accidentally settling on Izuna Uchiha.
"Papa!"
Although she knew he was only playing a role, he looked so much like him!
Sarada greeted Izuna Uchiha warmly.
"You look just like my dad in almost every way, but he doesn't wear a small braid, and he lost his left arm a long time ago."
Someone who looked very much like Izuna Uchiha and had lost his left arm...
"Aaaaaah!!!!"
Naruto let out a bizarre scream. He looked at Sarada, then at Sasuke, so shocked that he could not form a proper sentence and could only scream to express himself.
"What are you screaming for, dead last?"
Sasuke maintained his usual cool demeanor, as though he could not quite accept the sudden appearance of a daughter.
Izuna Uchiha, the person Sarada had mistaken for her father, was equally bewildered.
He only calmed down after realizing that if Boruto was Naruto's future son, then this little girl must be Sasuke's future child.
Looking at the girl across from him, a young sapling of his own clan and a female ninja at that, Izuna found himself liking her just as much as his brother did.
"Your name is Sarada? Sarada Uchiha?"
Izuna crouched down and beckoned the girl over.
For some reason, Sarada felt as though an elder was looking after her.
Without even realizing it, she obediently walked over to Izuna Uchiha and told him that her name was indeed Sarada Uchiha.
"Have you activated your Sharingan?"
Sarada was very intelligent. The moment she heard the question, she immediately realized something was wrong.
Information about the Uchiha Clan, and even Sasuke Uchiha himself, was classified as highly confidential. How did this person know so much about the Sharingan?
Noticing the girl's wariness, Izuna activated his Sharingan first.
Madara Uchiha and Obito Uchiha beside him revealed the same eyes.
Suddenly surrounded by several members of her own clan, Sarada grew so nervous that she instinctively took a step back.
"Sh-Sharingan?! I always thought the Uchiha Clan only had Dad and me left!"
She had discovered Shin Uchiha and those pitiful clones before.
However, Sarada Uchiha was perfectly capable of distinguishing the people before her from Shin Uchiha.
When the people from the mission scroll world heard the trace of hurt in Sarada's voice, their hearts ached.
Unlike their own world, the Sasuke Uchiha of this world truly had no clan members left besides his daughter.
The thought made Naruto's heart ache for this world's Sasuke.
No one knew a son better than his father. Minato Namikaze patted Naruto on the shoulder and said, "The only thing in this world that cannot be changed is the main storyline."