As Kaguya had said, as long as the Ōtsutsuki Clan possessed enough energy, they could achieve true immortality.
Even when she had once come close to actually killing Isshiki Ōtsutsuki, that was only because the Ten-Tails had devoured Isshiki Ōtsutsuki as sustenance.
But the reason Isshiki Ōtsutsuki was now so desperate to find "Kawaki" was that his current body, which had originally belonged to the monk Jigen whom he encountered over a thousand years ago, had long since reached its limit.
Using the "Kāma" to take over Kawaki's body had become an urgent necessity.
Originally, if he had only been facing a severely weakened Seventh Hokage and an equally weakened Sasuke Uchiha, victory would have been assured.
But now, nearly all the strongest Hokages in history had gathered here, and the Uchiha who accompanied them had somehow inexplicably appeared in this era as well!
Isshiki Ōtsutsuki was having a miserable time.
Worst of all, the previously weakened Seventh Hokage and Sasuke Uchiha were actually growing stronger the longer they fought. Shadow Clones, Susanoo, Nine-Tails Chakra, Senjutsu, the Rinne Sharingan, combined with their flawless teamwork, had brought back the will, mindset, and combat prowess of their youth!
Even when he tried to rely on the Ōtsutsuki Clan's special ability to absorb their chakra, Izuna Uchiha, Tobirama Senju, and the others would interfere.
Compared to his own ability to freely enlarge and shrink objects, Izuna Uchiha's Mangekyō Sharingan and Madara Uchiha's Rinnegan were practically operating on an entirely different level.
And Indra's Rinnegan, which he had only recently awakened and was still developing, was an even more direct counter to Isshiki!
His so-called "Reincarnation" could essentially nullify everything Isshiki Ōtsutsuki had just done.
For example, the moment Isshiki finished absorbing Madara Uchiha's chakra, Indra's Rinnegan would take effect. However Isshiki had swallowed that chakra, he would be forced to spit it right back out and return it to Madara Uchiha.
Madara Uchiha, meanwhile, looked thoroughly disgusted, as though his chakra had been dirtied.
Just as Obito, the Ten-Tails Jinchūriki during the Fourth Shinobi World War, had been unable to overcome Senjutsu, the Ōtsutsuki Clan's abilities seemed to be countered by Senjutsu because the two belonged to entirely different systems.
Hashirama Senju's Senjutsu technique, Gate of the Great God, and Seventh Hokage Naruto's Senjutsu technique, Frog Kata, also gave Isshiki Ōtsutsuki a merciless beating.
Afterward, the Seventh Hokage even jumped over beside his Uchiha and smugly said to Sasuke, "This guy Amado was so afraid of isn't actually that strong~"
"Stop showing off, dead last. I'm surprised you even remember how to use Mount Myōboku's Senjutsu," Sasuke said with a snort.
"Of course I do! This is part of what the Pervy Sage entrusted to me!" The Seventh Hokage leaned close to Sasuke Uchiha's ear and whispered, "Don't call me dead last in front of Dad! Idiot Sasuke!"
Even so, Sasuke was right.
For some reason, when Naruto fought enemies nowadays, it was as though he had forgotten every ability he possessed aside from the Nine-Tails' power and the Rasengan.
He rarely used huge numbers of Shadow Clones anymore. Even the Senjutsu he had learned on Mount Myōboku while carrying his mission and his master's will seemed to have been left to gather dust.
Now, it felt as though all he had left were Nine-Tails Chakra Mode and the Rasengan. Even the passion and fighting spirit of his youth had gradually faded away over the years.
He was only thirty-two. That shouldn't be considered particularly old.
Wasn't Obito about the same age when he fought the entire Allied Shinobi Forces by himself?
So why did it seem as though both he and Sasuke had gotten weaker?
That was so strange...
"Idiot! What are you spacing out for?!"
While Naruto was lost in thought, one of the enormous black cubes Isshiki Ōtsutsuki kept inside Daikokuten, the timeless space in his right eye, came crashing down toward him.
Sasuke used Amenotejikara to swap Naruto's position with a kunai, saving him and pulling him into his own protective range.
At the same time, Naruto's foolish mistake once again earned him a round of ridicule from the Second Hokage.
It was almost as though they had returned to the Fourth Shinobi World War.
The only difference was that this time, Obito Uchiha and Madara Uchiha had been on their side from the very beginning.
...
Outside Young Obito's Kamui Dimension, Teenage Naruto shared fragments of his and Sasuke's memories.
More importantly, the feelings they held toward the "Hokage," toward "Konoha," and toward their "comrades" were conveyed to the young ninjas of this world, children who had grown up in peace and had no real direction to struggle toward.
Sarada had always resented her father for never coming home. Even when his missions ended and he returned to Konoha, he would not even stop by to see her and her mother.
Then there was Boruto, who spent every day complaining about one thing or another his dad did wrong.
And all the Genin of this era.
The feelings Naruto conveyed to them were things no movie about the Seventh Hokage had ever shown them.
They had not even known that the Seventh Hokage was no genius. In fact, he had once been a dead last, something they could hardly imagine.
Aside from Boruto, who had once experienced Time Travel into the past, none of them could have imagined that Kurama had not always been Konoha's mascot, the special being who helped Seventh Hokage-sama reach the pinnacle of the shinobi world.
He had once been known as a Yōkai fox, a "natural disaster" that made everyone avoid Naruto.
Their own lives were peaceful and secure.
The Naruto Uzumaki of the past, however, had needed to throw himself into causing trouble and playing pranks just to make people look at him, only to receive a few angry shouts and curses in return.
Boruto suddenly remembered something his master, Sasuke Uchiha, had once told him...
"What you need to understand isn't the Naruto of today, but how the Naruto of the past became who he is today, step by step."
Compared to the "Naruto Uzumaki" he had met during his Time Travel adventure...
The memories Naruto and Sasuke were showing them now still were not enough for them to fully understand everything Seventh Hokage Naruto Uzumaki and Sasuke Uchiha had experienced throughout their lives.
But there was one thing they could be certain of.
The lives those two had lived were as gripping as a storybook filled with twists and turns.
And if they had to describe the story of those two in a few words...
Passion, Bonds, Perseverance (Guts), and Conviction!
"In short," Naruto began.
"The Uchiha Clan, including Sasuke, genuinely wanted to pursue peace. But they were manipulated by the enemies we just saw into searching for a shortcut, a way to achieve peace once and for all."
"A shortcut?" Boruto repeated blankly.
He was particularly sensitive to that word because he suddenly realized that, in a sense, his own life had been built on a shortcut.
His status as the Hokage's son caused many people to overlook how hard he worked, but compared to being called "the young master of the Seventh Hokage's family," Naruto had once been known as "that thing that killed the Fourth Hokage."
Boruto really had spent his whole life basking in the advantages of his identity.
And after experiencing the memories and emotions of Naruto's era, they were grateful for the nuclear peace they enjoyed now, yet they envied the bonds and passion of Naruto's generation even more.
Sarada looked aggrieved as she gazed at the thirteen-year-old Seventh Hokage-sama before her.
"So... was the Fourth Shinobi World War really started by members of the Uchiha Clan?"
"That's right," Teenage Sasuke answered without hesitation.
Naruto stared at him. "Hey!! Couldn't you put that a little more tactfully?!"
"I didn't know you were such a gentleman around girls."
"That's your future daughter, dattebayo! And what's gotten into you anyway?!"
"I already told you, this isn't our future!"
Those words made Sarada, Boruto, and the others freeze. It would be impossible to say they were not at least a little hurt.
"How can you say something like that?!" Naruto glared at him, shooting him a meaningful look to remind him to consider Sarada's feelings.
Sasuke took a deep breath and forced himself to calm down.
He knew he disliked the outcome this world had reached. In fact, he seemed to resist it almost instinctively.
Sakura and Young Obito stepped between Naruto and Sasuke to keep them apart.
The last thing they needed was for those two to start fighting before the crisis with Isshiki Ōtsutsuki had even been resolved.
Young Kakashi remained the calmest person there and went straight to the heart of the issue.
He explained to everyone from this parallel world, "We aren't from what you consider the main timeline. Because of something called a 'mission scroll,' the future trajectories of both our world and Naruto's world have been altered to a considerable extent."
"I'm sorry, but I think our two parallel worlds will probably reach completely different endings from yours."
"In our futures, you might be born in different circumstances, or you might not appear in our parallel worlds at all. Either possibility exists."
Shikamaru Nara, who had been sitting at another table the entire time, finally heard something he actually wanted to know.
"Mission scroll? Explain that in more detail."
Young Obito's mission scroll had already transformed into a wish scroll.
Naruto pulled his own mission scroll out of his ninja gear pouch.
More than a dozen completed missions, perhaps close to twenty, were densely packed across it.
Because Minato Namikaze was not beside him, Naruto did not discover that a new mission had appeared until the moment he opened the mission scroll.
[Mission Rank: SS-rank]
[Mission Details: Make the unburnable burn.]
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