Chapter 83: Which Disabled Guy Is the Seventh Hokage?
Tsunade realized she was still holding the finishing pose of her punch. One of her calves was still caught between Shiromo's legs, as if her entire body had passed straight through him just now.
But as for what exactly had happened a moment ago, she had no memory of it at all.
She had already made her move as suddenly as possible, yet the other party had still reacted.
Could it be that he really could see the future?
"Did you move just now?"
Tsunade casually withdrew her leg, straightened up, and swept her gaze over the ground beneath Shiromo's feet.
"I originally didn't want to move. It was supposed to be a reference for you."
"Hm? What do you mean?"
"To prevent 'clipping.'"
Shiromo pointed to the spot Tsunade had been standing on earlier.
Tsunade compared it in her mind. If Shiromo hadn't stepped back slightly, then when she passed through his body and maintained that pose…
It seemed like part of her body would overlap with the space where Shiromo had originally been standing.
So that was what he meant by "clipping"?
Tsunade fell into thought.
If Shiromo hadn't used his ability, the result would have been him being sent flying, and there would've been no issue with her standing there.
But after using time erasure, her movements didn't change at all, yet Shiromo wasn't knocked away. That was why he needed to move slightly.
"So how does this prove anything?"
Tsunade was a little disappointed that she hadn't hit Shiromo, but she didn't press the issue. She shook out her arm and looked at him.
"It's not over yet. Let's do it a second time for comparison."
As he spoke, Shiromo walked in front of Tsunade again and turned his back to her.
Orochimaru watched from behind without saying anything.
He could tell that Shiromo's so-called proof wasn't finished yet.
"Hmph."
Tsunade pursed her lips and twisted her wrist, thinking about how she could land a hit on Shiromo.
"I'm attacking."
"I'm attacking… "
"I'm attacking…"
Behind Shiromo, Tsunade kept raising her hand, making feint after feint.
Even Orochimaru found the scene a bit hard to watch.
Shizune slapped a hand to her face and covered it, feeling deeply embarrassed.
She seriously suspected that Tsunade-sama had been pretending to be a child for too long lately and had gotten too immersed in the role.
Why was she being so childish today?
"Hah!"
Tsunade finally launched her attack.
A fierce gust from her punch swept up behind Shiromo.
"There's no need to hit yourself, right?"
"Huh?"
Her fist was still flying toward Shiromo when his voice suddenly rang out. Tsunade froze instantly.
Her punch stopped midair.
She really had been planning to fake an attack on Shiromo, only to strike herself at the last moment, pulling off a surprise move.
It was just that…
"See? I saw the future where 'Tsunade attacks herself.' Logically speaking, once I see that future, it should inevitably happen, I shouldn't be able to change it."
"According to the paradox Orochimaru proposed earlier, if I can speak up like I just did and change the fact that 'Tsunade attacks herself,' then my past self shouldn't have been able to see that future in the first place."
"That's another paradox loop, but I broke out of it."
Shiromo turned around and explained to everyone.
Just as he had said before, he only used the names of JoJo Stand abilities to label his powers. That didn't mean his abilities actually functioned exactly like those Stands.
In fact, Shiromo had realized this a long time ago.
Back when he had just arrived in this era, in the Amegakure Village, he had already noticed it.
In JoJo, King Crimson worked exactly as Shiromo had just described: once a future was seen, the result couldn't be changed. You could only use time erasure to remove the parts that were disadvantageous to you.
But Shiromo?
In the Amegakure Village, he saw the "future," walked to the spot where Konan would land, raised his hand, and made a catching motion, causing Konan to change that "future" and land somewhere else.
That incident itself was also a paradox.
After Shiromo finished speaking, both Orochimaru and Tsunade fell silent.
That was indeed the case.
Tsunade herself knew best, her punch hadn't even reached the stage where she would retract it and redirect it toward herself.
In fact, to prevent Shiromo from having mind-reading–type techniques, she had attacked the instant the thought appeared.
"So… why is this happening?"
Tsunade's brows knit tightly.
"I don't know. If I knew why, would I still need to recruit Orochimaru?"
Shiromo shrugged.
"..."
"Instead of thinking about why, it's better to think about how."
"In this regard, you should learn more from the Uchiha way of thinking."
Shiromo adopted a lecturing tone.
"Uchiha way of thinking?"
Tsunade was puzzled.
What was there to learn from the Uchiha clan's mindset?
The thing she'd heard her grand-uncle scold people with most often was, This is typical Uchiha thinking.
"Don't overthink it. Before you start suspecting that there's something wrong with a person, first suspect that there's something wrong with the world itself."
"In the future, there's a divine technique of the Ōtsutsuki clan that can swap the identities of two people across the entire ninja world, directly within everyone's memories."
"And having the Uchiha mindset allows you to counter it easily."
"Because when choosing between 'something's wrong with my family' and 'something's wrong with the world,' an Uchiha will unhesitatingly choose the latter."
"..."
Shiromo's explanation of the "Uchiha mindset" left Tsunade and Orochimaru speechless once again.
The key point was, it was strangely accurate.
"An Ōtsutsuki divine technique… to modify everyone's will? That's terrifying."
Orochimaru's expression grew heavy.
He was beginning to understand why Shiromo had chosen to return to this point in time to change the future.
"Why does that ability sound kind of indecent? Like something that would only appear in one of Jiraiya's novels…"
Tsunade muttered halfway through her sentence before…
"Ahem! Tsunade-sama, please watch your words! There are children here!"
Shizune forcefully cut her off with a cough.
"Alright. Most of my doubts have been resolved. We'll talk about the rest slowly after we return, Tsunade, have you made your decision?"
Orochimaru stood up.
"You've only proven that you can change the future. As for whether you really came from the future, I still…"
Tsunade hadn't finished speaking when she saw Shiromo hand over a photograph, then take out a piece of paper and a pen and rapidly sketch something before handing that over as well.
"This is…?"
The first photo was very simple: a panoramic view of Konoha with the Hokage Rock in the background.
Except instead of four faces like now, there were seven.
Tsunade saw herself, the fifth Hokage.
"The sixth is Kakashi, right?"
She looked at the sixth face. The iconic mask was unmistakable.
"Which disabled guy is the Seventh Hokage? Why is part of his head missing?"
Tsunade looked at Shiromo in confusion.
"Uh, this was taken the day after it happened. The Hokage's son and a rich kid's son crashed a Thunder Rail into it."
"..."
Tsunade carefully put away the photo and then looked at the sketch Shiromo had handed over.
"And this is?"
"Uchiha Sasuke and Uzumaki Boruto. They may appear in this time period together with an Ōtsutsuki before long. After you return and take over as Hokage, if you encounter them, make sure to notify us immediately."
"You're saying… what?!"
Tsunade looked utterly shocked. She had always thought that only Shiromo had made it here, and that the others had failed. She hadn't expected that it was simply a matter of arriving at different times.
After giving her promise, Tsunade left with a troubled expression.
She truly intended to return and assume the position of Hokage.
As for whether Shiromo really came from the future, no further proof was needed.
As long as the future Uchiha Sasuke and that "Ōtsutsuki" appeared, it would prove that everything Shiromo had said was true.
"It seems we need to start preparing in advance to deal with that Ōtsutsuki enemy. I wonder how strong future Sasuke-kun will be."
Orochimaru licked his lips.
"...Future Sasuke is still very strong. It's just that… forget it. You'd better pray he's a bit weaker. He and that other one might both end up being our enemies."
Shiromo shook his head with a wry smile.
(End of this chapter)