Year 63 of Konoha.
Otogakure – the Hidden Sound Village.
—
"So you're saying… you've gone through countless time loops and still found no way to break them. And now, you've come to seek my help?"
Standing before an experimental table, Orochimaru's golden eyes gleamed with interest as they swept over the boy before him—a youth who claimed to be from Konohagakure.
And not just any youth.
The Nine-Tails' jinchūriki.
Uzumaki Naruto.
Despite claiming to be the jinchūriki of the Nine-Tails, Naruto had not used a single jutsu.
He hadn't drawn on the Nine-Tails' chakra.
He hadn't even molded chakra at all.
And yet, he had walked straight into the deepest laboratory of Otogakure and found Orochimaru with unsettling ease.
The moment they met, Naruto had calmly described Orochimaru's likely reactions—
Even the jutsus he might attempt.
His "foresight" had been correct.
And so, Orochimaru chose to listen.
...
According to Naruto, no matter what he did between Year 63 and Year 68 of Konoha—
Everything ended on October 11th, Year 68.
And then he would awaken again, on some day in Year 63.
If that were true, Orochimaru calculated, then the boy must have begun yet another cycle the day before yesterday.
Naruto nodded. Fatigue weighed heavily in his voice.
"Yes. I've tested countless methods… but I can't escape the loop."
"Oh?" Orochimaru's movements stilled. His vertical pupils narrowed sharply, fascination fully ignited. "Tell me in detail."
"Coming to you was a last resort," Naruto admitted with a sigh. "But I'm out of options…"
"I've gone through many loops. As for how many?"
He gave a hollow chuckle.
"After the tenth, I stopped counting."
"The events of my very first life—before the loops began, were crystal clear at first. Every single moment."
"Though now… even those memories are starting to blur."
Orochimaru interrupted smoothly, offering his own analysis.
"What did you do in that original life, before the cycle began? What happened? That may be the key."
Naruto paused, fingers resting against his chin as he began recounting his life from childhood.
Skipping class. Pulling pranks.
The graduation exam.
Being deceived by Mizuki into stealing the Scroll of Seals.
Then Team 7's formation.
The Land of Waves mission.
The Chūnin Exams.
The search for Sasuke.
Battles against the Akatsuki.
The Fourth Great Ninja War.
Sealing Kaguya Ōtsutsuki.
And finally, his second and final battle with Sasuke at the Valley of the End—where both of them lost an arm.
When he finished, something strange flickered in Orochimaru's eyes.
It sounded unbelievable.
But it rang true.
From Reanimation Jutsu to the Sage of Six Paths—everything aligned too precisely to be fabricated.
Though even Orochimaru hadn't expected Kabuto to end up as he did.
Still, that was secondary.
"What happened next?" Orochimaru asked. "In your subsequent loops, what experiments did you conduct? And why come to me?"
Naruto leaned back against the cold laboratory wall, his voice drained.
"In the first loop, I didn't understand the seriousness of it yet."
"That time, I used my experience from my original life to pass the graduation exam with the Shadow Clone Jutsu. I secretly warned the Third Hokage about Mizuki's strange behavior—ANBU took him away."
"Then came the Land of Waves mission. I defeated Zabuza and Haku alone. Of course…" Naruto's expression darkened. "I was arrogant back then. I spared them, despite disagreeing with Kakashi-sensei."
"Later, during the Konoha Crush, I saved the Third Hokage. I saved Lady Chiyo. I saved the pervy sage. I captured Obito and prevented the Fourth Great Ninja War entirely."
He clenched his fist.
"But when October 11th, Year 68 came—when I turned seventeen—"
"I was sent back to Year 63."
...
"The second loop… I was irritated."
"I tried different approaches. I exposed Mizuki publicly and beat him down. I brought Zabuza and Haku back to Konoha."
Naruto's voice lowered.
"And before you ask—I need to make this clear."
"Genjutsu. Mental manipulation. Any kind of illusion…"
"It's impossible."
Orochimaru raised an eyebrow. "And you're certain?"
"I've tested every method of genjutsu release. I had Yamanaka clan specialists examine my brain. I had the Nine-Tails attempt to break any potential illusion."
He locked eyes with Orochimaru.
"And most importantly… if I were under a genjutsu, what would that make you?"
"A figment of my illusion? A construct of my subconscious?"
Orochimaru's pupils contracted briefly, then he smiled faintly.
"An elegant logical loop. Go on."
Naruto inhaled deeply.
"Whether I brought Obito back to Konoha… or killed him…"
"Or tried more extreme measures—like extracting the Nine-Tails. I died that time, of course. Then the cycle restarted."
"I tried extracting the Nine-Tails and surviving using Lady Chiyo's One's Own Life Reincarnation. I didn't die that time… but I still entered another loop immediately."
"I tried doing nothing."
"I tried deliberately making the wrong choices."
"I resurrected my parents with Reanimation Jutsu… then used the One's Own Life Reincarnation to restore them fully."
His voice trembled.
"But no matter what… when midnight struck on October 11th, Year 68—"
"Everything reset."
"I can't change anything!"
His fist smashed violently into the stone wall beside him. Rock cracked. Dust fell in sheets.
"As long as time reaches that point—or if I'm killed… or even if I kill myself, I return to Year 63."
"It's like someone flipping off a damn switch."
"Then I open my eyes—"
"And it's the day before the graduation exam."
"The same classroom."
"The same scene I've seen hundreds—no, thousands of times."
"I'm sick of this!"
"I've tried everything, Orochimaru! More power. Perfect strategies. Different decisions…"
His voice drained to a whisper.
"I even tried the Dragon Vein… I tried altering history itself. But the moment I interfered, the loop restarted instantly."
"I went to the Three Great Sage Regions. I sought answers from the sages. I even forced the Sage of Six Paths to manifest."
"No one had an answer."
"This damn loop… it's an unbreakable cage."
"I'm trapped inside it."
"Forever."
The final word echoed through the empty laboratory, heavy with despair.
...
Orochimaru watched him in silence for a long time.
The feverish excitement in his eyes gradually faded.
Replaced by something deeper.
Something almost philosophical.
Finally, he spoke.
"Naruto-kun… your experience is truly astonishing."
"This transcends mere immortality. It touches the cyclic nature of time itself—far beyond my current research."
"My domain is life. Genetics. Forbidden jutsus. The material laws of the shinobi world."
"But what you describe… borders on the realm of a god."
"Or perhaps a flaw… a curse embedded within the world's fundamental laws."
"Matters of spacetime are not my expertise."
Orochimaru admitted it plainly.
He could not solve this.
Naruto's last flicker of hope dimmed further.
"But…"
Orochimaru's golden eyes sharpened again.
"Perhaps we can systematically catalogue every loop. Identify the events that trigger the reset."
"And from there…"
"Attempt to deduce a method to break it."