Chapter 432: Sealed and Suppressed
Otsutsuki Urashiki's miserable screams tore through the void.
The sound echoed wildly, bouncing off the boundaries of the dimension. Yet, all his desperate struggling amounted to nothing against Uchiha Akira's absolute strength.
A pitch-black spatial vortex churned mercilessly, its gravitational pull locking onto Urashiki's mangled form and devouring him inch by inch.
"Let me go! I am willing to submit!" Urashiki shrieked, his pale skin tearing under the spatial pressure. "I can tell you all the secrets of the Ōtsutsuki Clan!"
Raw, animalistic panic finally shattered the celestial being's lofty pride. His golden Rinnegan spun frantically, searching for an escape that did not exist.
Uchiha Akira watched the pathetic display, his dark eyes entirely devoid of pity.
"Your secrets are worthless to me."
Akira abruptly clenched his outstretched hand into a fist.
The suction force of the vortex instantly multiplied tenfold. Space itself groaned under the sheer compression.
"Aaaahhh!!!"
Accompanied by one final, ear-piercing wail, Otsutsuki Urashiki's horned head was violently dragged into the black abyss.
The spatial tear snapped shut.
Absolute tranquility returned to the dimension.
Deep within Akira, the core of the Tianyu Space let out a pleasant, thrumming tremor. A surge of impossibly pure energy flooded back into his meridians. In that single instant, Akira felt his chakra reserves expand rapidly, his very life force elevating to a higher tier.
'Is this the taste of an Ōtsutsuki?' Akira thought, a faint smirk tugging at the corner of his lips.
Not bad.
Although this particular Ōtsutsuki possessed an inflated sense of his own strength, as pure fuel, his quality was more than acceptable.
With Urashiki completely suppressed and consumed, a small object dropped from the empty air where the alien had just been.
It was a small, crimson turtle.
The Ōtsutsuki Clan's temporal treasure tool—Karasuki. An artifact capable of traversing the river of time itself.
Akira stepped forward, his boots clicking against the solid air, and scooped the red shell into his palm.
The threat was neutralized.
Turning around, Akira cast his gaze toward the two figures standing a short distance away. Adult Sasuke and Boruto stood frozen, their faces painted with sheer disbelief.
"It's over," Akira stated, his voice calm, cutting through the heavy silence.
Adult Sasuke drew in a sharp, ragged breath, forcing his racing heart to steady.
His mismatched eyes locked onto the man before him. This was the Fifth Hokage, Uchiha Akira.
Outrageously strong. Terrifyingly absolute.
"Thank you for your intervention, Hokage-sama," Adult Sasuke said, bowing his head in a flawless, standard shinobi salute.
He knew the grim reality. If not for Uchiha Akira stepping in, relying solely on himself and Boruto to face an Otsutsuki Urashiki who had awakened the Golden Rinnegan would have ended in a brutal, bloody defeat.
"Let's go."
Akira offered no further pleasantries. With a mere thought, the fabric of reality warped around them.
A spatial tunnel tore open, swallowing the group. In the blink of an eye, they vanished from the Tianyu Space.
Konoha Village. The Hokage Building, top-floor office.
Spatial ripples distorted the air near the center of the room. Akira materialized out of thin air, the two time-travelers appearing right beside him. The familiar scent of ink, polished wood, and Konoha's afternoon breeze filled the office.
Akira walked behind his heavy oak desk and looked at the two guests.
"Since the threat has been resolved," Akira began, placing the crimson turtle onto the polished wood with a soft clack. "When do you plan to go back?"
He tapped a finger against Karasuki's shell. "This thing is in my hands now. I can send you back to your original timeline at any moment."
Adult Sasuke fell silent.
He slowly turned his head, his gaze drifting out the large office window. Below, the bustling streets of Konoha stretched out, vibrant and alive.
Go back?
He opened his mouth, but his throat felt lined with sandpaper. Cold logic dictated that he did not belong in this era. Staying even a single second longer risked shaking a heart he had long thought dead and buried beneath years of atonement.
Yet, his feet felt as heavy as lead, rooted to the floorboards. He couldn't move an inch.
"Uncle Sasuke."
Boruto's quiet voice broke the silence. The boy stepped closer, his fingers gently tugging at Adult Sasuke's empty left sleeve.
"Can we... can we leave a little later?"
Adult Sasuke looked down at his blond apprentice.
"Because..." Boruto bit his lower lip, a raw, pleading look shining in his blue eyes. "I still want to see more of this world."
The boy paused, turning his gaze toward the window, looking at the village that was both familiar and entirely alien.
"And..." Boruto added softly. "Uncle Sasuke, don't you want to go see it too?"
He looked back up. "Go see... your home."
Adult Sasuke's pupils contracted to pinpricks.
A violent shudder wracked his entire frame. Those two words struck the deepest, most agonizing nerve in his soul. It was the phantom pain of his midnight terrors, the unreachable, extravagant fantasy he had punished himself for dreaming about.
In this world, his mother was still breathing. His father was still alive.
Adult Sasuke's lone hand curled into a white-knuckled fist. The desperate, suffocating longing in his chest grew wildly, like thorny weeds choking his lungs. He could not suppress it.
Just one look.
Even if it was only from a distance, hidden in the shadows.
A heavy silence stretched across the office. Finally, Adult Sasuke's grip loosened. He exhaled a long, ragged breath, releasing the tension coiled in his spine.
"Let's stay for a while longer."
Akira leaned back in his chair, his expression entirely unsurprised.
Human nature was predictable. Who could truly sever all earthly desires and emotional tethers?
"Since you've decided," Akira said, his fingers resuming a light, rhythmic tapping against the desk. "Then go and see them."
His dark eyes locked onto the older Sasuke. "As a member of the Uchiha clan, since you are standing on this soil, there is absolutely no reason to pass by your own home without entering."
Without waiting for a response, Akira shifted his gaze to the empty air beside the door.
"Go. Bring Sasuke here."
A faint ripple of chakra disturbed the air currents. An Anbu operative, previously hidden in the room's blind spot, vanished instantly using the Body Flicker Technique.
Adult Sasuke's composure cracked. "Hokage-sama, this..."
He took a half-step forward, his voice tight with rising panic. "I don't necessarily have to see them face-to-face. I just want to look from afar—"
"What are you afraid of?"
Akira's voice sliced through the air, cold and sharp. His gaze turned piercing, pinning the older shinobi in place. "Afraid of seeing your living mother?"
Akira stood up, his tall frame casting a long shadow across the desk. He walked slowly toward Adult Sasuke. The sheer, suffocating pressure radiating from the Fifth Hokage made the battle-hardened veteran subconsciously want to step back.
"Lift your head."
The command left no room for defiance.
"You are Uchiha Sasuke," Akira stated, his tone heavy with absolute authority. "In any world, an Uchiha man should not wear such a cowardly expression."
He stopped just paces away, his dark eyes boring into Sasuke's mismatched ones. "This is not just your redemption. It is also the best comfort you can offer her as a mother."
Adult Sasuke stared blankly at the Hokage.
At some point, his vision had blurred. The edges of his eyes burned a fierce red. He slowly lowered his head, his voice coming out as a hoarse, fractured whisper.
"Thank you... Hokage-sama."
A few minutes later, the heavy office door creaked open.
Young Sasuke strode into the room.
"Hokage-sama, you were looking for me?" Young Sasuke offered a crisp salute, before his dark eyes swept sideways, landing on the two time-travelers standing near the window.
His expression tightened into a complicated knot.
Back in the Tianyu Space, he had already deduced the true identities of these strangers. Especially the tall, one-armed man wrapped in a dark cloak.
That was his future self. A version of him from an alternate timeline. A self who had endured the nightmare of clan extermination, the path of a missing-nin, the hollow pursuit of revenge, and had ultimately emerged covered in permanent, ugly scars.
Although this older man claimed to be 'at peace,'standing face-to-face with him made Young Sasuke's skin crawl with an indescribable awkwardness.'Will I... really become this weathered, exhausted middle-aged man in the future?'Young Sasuke thought, his jaw clenching.'And missing an arm, too. That really sucks.'
"Sasuke," Akira called out, snapping the boy out of his thoughts. He pointed a finger at the older counterpart. "Take him back to the Clan Grounds."
Akira paused, letting the words hang in the air. "To your home."
Young Sasuke blinked, momentarily stunned. "To my home?"
"That's right." Akira walked back to his chair and sat down. He picked up a mission report from the stack, his eyes scanning the text without looking up again. "Mikoto should be at home right now. Take him to see Mikoto."
Young Sasuke's brow furrowed. "But Father isn't there, and Mother..."
"Go when I tell you to go."
Akira's tone remained entirely flat, yet it carried a crushing, unquestionable weight that instantly silenced any further protests. "I think Mikoto will be very happy to see him."
Young Sasuke pressed his lips into a thin line. "Yes. I understand."
He turned on his heel, his dark eyes locking onto his older self.
"Let's go," Young Sasuke said. His tone was stiff, laced with a heavy dose of adolescent awkwardness.
Adult Sasuke took a deep, steadying breath. He reached over with his right hand, carefully adjusting the folds of his messy cloak to ensure the empty space where his left arm used to be was fully concealed.
He offered a slight, respectful nod to his younger self.
"Sorry for the trouble."
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