When the train of history that was supposed to follow a fixed track suddenly shifts rails midway—
What happens next?
Kyusei didn't know.
And right now, he didn't have the leisure to think about it either.
Because he was getting beaten senseless.
Bang!
The red-haired boy was kicked away again, sent flying by Hatake Sakumo with a single, clean strike.
"Pff—pff—!"
Kyusei crashed to the ground, spat out a mouthful of dust, and glared viciously at his annoyingly stylish teacher.
"This won't do at all," Sakumo said calmly, smiling faintly.
"Brute force with no technique might work on ordinary shinobi—but the opponents you'll face in the future will be anything but ordinary."
"So mastering technique as soon as possible—that's your top priority."
Sakumo looked at his dust-covered disciple with clear amusement.
To be honest, he was extremely satisfied with Kyusei.
The boy met nearly all his expectations in every aspect.
The only flaw… was his mouth.
"Sakumo-sensei," Kyusei sneered as he stood up,
"are you getting weak? That kick just now felt like a toddler girl learning how to walk. Barely a scratch!"
His hands flew through the seals.
Poof! Poof! Poof! Poof!
Four shadow clones appeared in white smoke around him.
It wasn't that Kyusei couldn't make more.
It was completely pointless.
There was only so much space around Sakumo—at most four or five people could engage him at once. Any extra clones would just stand around watching.
Sakumo showed no concern as the clones surrounded him.
He hadn't used a single shadow clone himself.
Not because he couldn't defeat Kyusei with them—
—but because he wanted this brat to clearly understand the gap between them.
So Kyusei wouldn't grow arrogant just because of the Nine-Tails' power.
There was always someone stronger.
The sky was always higher.
Humility mattered more than anything.
Sakumo casually dodged a clone wielding a Rasengan—
then kicked it square in the face.
The clone's face visibly caved in before it exploded like a dead dog.
Kyusei twitched.
That was brutal.
The other three clones rushed in simultaneously.
While evading, Sakumo casually drove a kick into one clone's kidney.
The poor thing's eyes rolled back before it detonated.
Another clone down.
As Sakumo prepared to deal with the remaining two—
they split front and back, golden chains erupting from their bodies at the same time.
Adamantine Sealing Chains!
The chains whipped around with the clones' movements, lashing toward Sakumo like tails.
"Take this—Iron Tail!"
Two golden chains shot forward from opposite directions, tearing through the air.
Sakumo's lips curved slightly.
He's starting to grow.
But—
still not enough.
With a single leap, Sakumo launched himself into the air.
The moment he vanished upward, the two chains collided, smashing together with a screeching metallic clang.
Mid-air—
Sakumo's legs snapped out.
One kick each.
Boom! Boom!
Both remaining clones exploded simultaneously.
Four clones—wiped out.
From start to finish, Sakumo hadn't used his hands even once.
Yet—
Kyusei's real body was nowhere to be seen.
Sakumo scanned the empty training ground, unfazed.
If Kyusei had really kept charging in head-on, that would have been disappointing.
Then—
Chains erupted.
From the forest.
From the water.
From underground.
From every direction.
A dense web of golden chains emerged toward him, leaving almost no room to dodge.
"...Interesting."
Sakumo's expression sharpened.
This time, he became serious.
One hand slipped out of his pocket.
With a simple clench—
a massive ball of lightning burst to life in his palm.
This was a technique he'd discussed with Kakashi just a few days ago—Kakashi's self-created jutsu.
Sakumo was already highly proficient in Lightning Release, so he'd picked it up almost immediately.
Chidori.
A technique centered on piercing and thrusting—requiring extreme speed from the user.
In the next instant—
Sakumo vanished.
A white streak towers across the field as the cry of a thousand birds explodes into the air.
Shhhhhh!
Bang! Bang! Bang!
The Adamantine Chains couldn't even track his speed.
Hidden clones detonated one after another, collapsing like dominoes.
—
Naruko sat beneath a tree, chin resting in her hand, watching her young father get absolutely crushed by Kakashi-sensei's father.
Her still-teenage mother was training with the perverted sage.
Her young father was desperately training too.
They were all pushing themselves to prepare for the future crisis.
As for her and Kakashi—
they still hadn't found a way back.
From information leaked by someone from another parallel world, there was likely a teleportation formation connected to the Dragon Vein .
That was why Kakashi had practically moved into Kyusei's house, burying himself day and night in books about space-time and sealing arrays.
Three days in—
and Kakashi was already drowning in the ocean of knowledge.
That morning, he'd shown up with heavy dark circles, looking like he might collapse at any second.
So lame.
What a waste of such an awesome dad.
"Na… Naruko…"
"I'm done…"
Kyusei collapsed beside her, eyes lifeless as he stared at the sky.
God knew what he'd just been through.
Sakumo's speed might not equal Minato's—
but it was definitely not far off.
And he was spamming Chidori while doing it.
Did he have any idea that when shadow clones were destroyed, the sensation fed back to the original?
In other words—
Sakumo had just killed him over a hundred times .
Yeah.
Her dad was pretty lame too.
Naruko looked at Kyusei—who was even younger than her—and sighed softly.
She gently patted his hair.
Honestly…
She kind of liked it here.
This world's parents were younger than her, but when she looked at them, it felt more like watching younger siblings.
There was gentle Uncle Sakumo.
A younger Tsunade-baa-chan.
The perverted sage.
Her young dad always cooked for her after training.
And everyone here treated her kindly.
But—
when she thought of the black-haired boy in her heart…
None of this seemed important anymore.
No matter how beautiful this place was—
it belonged to a version of herself that hadn't even been born yet.
Back in her own world, there were people waiting for her too.
The golden-haired girl rested her chin in her hand, gazing at the clear blue sky—
lost in thought.
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