The First Hokage, Hashirama Senju, suddenly released his chakra. It didn't exactly scare the Missing-nin out of their wits, but it was more than enough to intimidate them into not daring to act recklessly in Konoha or the Land of Fire.
"That's enough, big brother."
From behind him, Tobirama Senju reminded him calmly, "You're about to tear the house apart."
Hashirama Senju reined in his overflowing chakra and burst into laughter, looking as though he had just been messing with everyone.
Hidan, who had been acting like a rampaging delinquent just moments earlier, swallowed hard. After some hesitation, he asked as politely as he could manage, "Uh… are you sure this place is still livable?"
"No problem!" Hashirama Senju gave a thumbs-up. "This house was built by that ninja named Yamato using my Wood Release in the first place. I'll just reinforce and fix it up with Wood Release later!"
With that, Hashirama Senju clapped his hands together, clearly planning to use Wood Release to rebuild the house on the spot.
Tobirama Senju immediately stopped him. "Big brother, leave that sort of thing to the junior named Yamato. You're not as useful as he is in this regard."
Not as useful as him…
Not as useful…
"Tobirama is so cruel. So in Tobirama's eyes, big brother is completely useless…" The First Hokage turned to face the wall, dejectedly drawing circles on it.
With how smoothly his personality flipped, if someone said the First Hokage and "Tobi" were father and son, people might actually believe it.
Sensing the First Hokage's violent surge of chakra, Itachi Uchiha and Kisame Hoshigaki stepped out from their room in the Missing-nin guesthouse. When they saw Pain and the others, their expressions stiffened noticeably.
"To actually run into the leader of Akatsuki here… that's truly unbelievable," Kisame said, flashing a shark-toothed grin that didn't quite reach his eyes.
Hidan pointed at him and demanded, "Hey! You didn't betray the organization, did you?! The boss said Akatsuki absolutely forbids betrayal, right?!"
Kisame shook his head. "This shouldn't count as betrayal. After all, I came here temporarily at the will of the mastermind behind Akatsuki, who also happens to be our Mizukage-sama, didn't I?"
As he finished speaking, he turned to look at Adult Obito.
"Right? Former Mizukage-sama of Kirigakure, the Hidden Mist Village."
Being dragged out like this made Adult Obito's face stiffen with embarrassment. He looked like he wanted nothing more than to rip Kisame's mouth shut.
Kannabi Bridge Minato found it somewhat amusing. "Obito's childhood dream was clearly to become Hokage. Who would've thought that through a twist of fate, he'd end up becoming Mizukage instead? You could even call it a kind of training."
"Please don't tease me, Minato-sensei," Obito said, utterly mortified.
Itachi Uchiha, standing beside Kisame, said nothing. Instead, he walked straight over to the young Itachi and quietly asked whether he had brought back "that thing."
That thing…
Naturally, it referred to the Sharingan of the Uchiha Clan that Madara Uchiha and Obito Uchiha had collected over the years.
The Kamui in Adult Obito's right eye activated, and a scroll dropped out. He handed it to Itachi.
Itachi took the scroll, gave him a brief nod, and said nothing more.
Adult Obito pressed his lips together. When it came to Itachi Uchiha, he had always owed him far too much. He owed him a carefree youth, the bonds of comrades in Konoha, and the lives of his entire clan.
Yet ever since Itachi returned to Konoha, and Obito Uchiha had gradually begun living there as well, the two of them had barely spoken. Itachi never gave him a chance to apologize, even though Obito knew full well that some sins could never be made right with words alone.
At that moment, Team Minato and Team Kakashi, who had been dragged outside by Adult Kakashi for grueling training, finally returned. One reason was the violent chakra disturbance they sensed from this direction. The other was that it was about time for dinner anyway.
They should've gone out early and come back by the afternoon to the Missing-nin guesthouse, but unfortunately, the two Obito managed to be three hours late each…
"Hatake White Fang! Kakashi Hatake!"
The instant he saw Kakashi, Sasori's voice dropped several degrees on its own.
"Sasori, stop."
Pain stepped in to restrain Sasori of the Red Sand, while Konan's paper ninjutsu formed a shield just before Sasori could strike.
More importantly, both Adult Obito and Young Obito reacted instantly, positioning themselves in front of the two Kakashi without hesitation.
Young Obito was on full alert, unable to understand why that ugly freak on the other side suddenly wanted to attack Kakashi.
The cold, bone-chilling killing intent radiating from Adult Obito, however, made Pain and Konan recall the shadow of Madara Uchiha. Even Sasori, hidden inside Hiruko, frowned deeply.
Kakashi himself had no intention of waiting for protection. A kunai and his ninja blade were already clenched tightly in his hands. Naruto, Sasuke, Sakura, and Rin also pulled kunai from their leg holsters. It was clear that the recent intensive training had significantly sharpened their combat instincts.
The atmosphere grew tense once again. The First Hokage let out a quiet sigh. It seemed his earlier intimidation wouldn't last for long after all.
Both sides remained locked in that tense standoff for a moment. Then, aware of how complicated the situation was, they each took a step back, lowering their weapons and easing the deadlock.
Young Kakashi was completely confused, especially since he had heard his father's name come out of the other party's mouth.
Adult Kakashi was just as puzzled. "Do I have some kind of grudge against you?"
Ōtsutsuki Obito leaned over and explained, "It was White Fang-senpai who killed his parents. He's the grandson of that stubborn old woman Chiyo from Sunagakure."
With that, everything clicked for Kakashi and the others.
Adult Kakashi said calmly, "My father died when I was very young. Perhaps he and your parents have already met in the Pure Land."
Sasori knew that.
But once that murderous hatred surged up on instinct, even his puppet body couldn't suppress the fury in his heart.
Young Obito glanced sideways at Young Kakashi behind him. The boy's face was cold and stiff, but his eyes hid a deep, quiet sorrow.
He cut in, questioning his future self, "Why did you bring Akatsuki straight here?!"
"It's a new mission on the mission scroll. What was I supposed to do?" Adult Obito said helplessly. If he didn't like it, he could just hold it in.
Within Akatsuki, only Konan and Nagato, that is, Pain, knew about the mission scroll.
"It's an A-rank mission that requires everyone in Akatsuki to stay at Kakashi's family guesthouse for a while."
After explaining this to Young Obito, Minato Namikaze turned to the Akatsuki members.
"The reward for an A-rank mission is time travel. Since this mission involves you, I believe the reward will likely be synchronized to you as well. It's even possible that the era you'll travel to will be directly related to you, so it's best to prepare in advance."
"Time travel? Seriously?! Where would we go? It's not what I think it is, right?! All of us are going?" Hidan fired off five questions in one breath.
Compared to that, Kakuzu's concern was refreshingly straightforward. "If the reward is time travel, how much is that worth?"
Naruto, having once traveled to the time when Pain attacked Konoha, had met Pain, Nagato, and Konan there. He knew the story of Nagato, Konan, and Yahiko, and he knew how Nagato ultimately chose to resurrect everyone in Konoha as an act of atonement.
More importantly, Naruto's own father had been revived by Nagato in a parallel world.
Because of that, Naruto held no resentment toward Nagato or Akatsuki. If anything, he felt a certain fondness toward them.
Hearing Kakuzu and Hidan's questions, Naruto even invited them to join him for dinner, saying he could explain how the mission scroll could send them to the past, the future, or other parallel worlds.
Aside from black market corpse collectors, these Missing-nin had never been welcomed so warmly before, let alone by a kid. For a moment, they couldn't quite process it.
Was Konoha's style really this… naïve and sweet?
Pain didn't respond to Naruto's invitation. Instead, he stared at him for several seconds, using his Rinnegan to observe the flow of chakra within his body.
As he used the Rinnegan to push into that deeper layer of consciousness, his vision shifted from pitch-black to a dim, metallic gloom. Inside a dull yellow cage, a massive orange-red fox lay curled up, sound asleep. Its tail swished lazily, completely unbothered by the bars, as if the cage didn't exist at all.
"Nine-Tails…"
There was no way he wasn't shocked.
Konoha had really just let their Nine-Tails Jinchūriki stand right in front of him like this?
["Yo, Uzumaki Clan brat."]
The Nine-Tails sat up, shook out its ears and tail, yawned, and spoke directly to Pain.
Only then did Nagato realize that in front of the Nine-Tails, he wasn't Pain.
He was Nagato himself.
His goal had always been to capture the Tailed Beasts, but this was the first time he had ever spoken to one. Before today, he hadn't even known he had a clan, much less that it was the Uzumaki Clan of Konoha.
And yet the Nine-Tails knew it… even though this was their first meeting.
So Tailed Beasts weren't mindless, uncivilized monsters after all?
In this deep layer of consciousness, every thought in his mind was laid bare. The Nine-Tails could read him as easily as breathing. And when it caught that old belief of his, that Tailed Beasts were nothing but savage beasts, Kurama's displeasure was immediate.
It gave a cold snort.
"This isn't a place you're allowed to be."
And just like that, it shoved him out of Naruto's innermost mind.
In the instant he was forced out, he seemed to catch one more line.
["The savior that old man of Six Paths told us to wait for… isn't you…"]
...
On the other side, Captain Yamato had no choice. He had to reinforce the Missing-nin guesthouse all over again, and while he was at it, he added several extra rooms and bathrooms. Even the kitchen needed to be doubled in size. By the time he finished, he looked like he'd been worked to death.
Back from Naruto's deep consciousness, Pain finally reacted to what should've been obvious.
The blond boy in front of him seemed to be called Naruto Uzumaki.
Uzumaki…
The Nine-Tails' voice still felt like it was echoing in his ears.
Uzumaki Clan.
His own clan.