This was their first time completing an SSS-rank mission since obtaining the mission scroll.
Yet the mission reward amounted to Itachi Uchiha receiving a compass, while the legendary ninja Madara Uchiha had somehow been revived as well. It left all of them utterly confused about what an SSS-rank mission reward was even supposed to be.
As the one who received the compass, Itachi Uchiha had made countless guesses.
He had even wondered whether it might be connected to the long-extinct ancient city of Rōran.
But there was no evidence to support any of it.
When Naruto asked about it, Itachi Uchiha could only shake his head.
"For now, we don't know how to use it. When Madara Uchiha was revived, this compass-like object didn't react at all."
Naruto frowned and tried hard to think, but this really wasn't his strong suit.
To him, the thing everyone kept calling a compass looked more like an antique timing device.
"Click, click."
Young Obito Uchiha pulled out the Polaroid camera he had previously won through Naruto's incredible luck, taking it from his Kamui space. He snapped several photos of the compass Itachi Uchiha had received.
"This thing looks really old. I'll take some pictures and ask the village grandmas. Maybe someone will know what it is and how to use it."
After leaving Itachi Uchiha, Naruto and Obito went to see Nagato.
Nagato and Konan weren't particularly interested in dealing with Konoha's kids, but Naruto unexpectedly brought up his future status as the student of the Pervy Sage, introducing himself as their junior and greeting Nagato as his senior.
After all, they had already heard Naruto call the Fourth Hokage "Dad," refer to the First and Second Hokage as "uncles," call Tsunade "Granny," and address Jiraiya as the Pervy Sage. Nagato and Konan could only marvel at how skilled this kid was at sorting out seniority.
Completely scrambled. Not a single one was correct.
Just like in another parallel world, when Naruto had thanked the Nine-Tails for willingly lending him chakra during the fight against Madara Uchiha, Naruto now thanked Nagato as well, saying that in another parallel world, Nagato had used the Gedo Art of Rinne Rebirth to bring his father back to life.
That left both Nagato and Konan stunned.
After listening to Naruto's full account, they couldn't help thinking that if he were making all of this up, his storytelling ability wouldn't be any worse than Jiraiya's. Even if he couldn't write The Tale of the Utterly Gutsy Shinobi, he could easily write a Naruto biography.
Yet the boy in front of them, who bore a striking resemblance to Yahiko, didn't seem like someone with such deep and intricate schemes.
"I used the Gedo Art of Rinne Rebirth to revive all the Konoha ninja who died under Shinra Tensei?" Pain asked in a low voice.
Naruto nodded. "Yeah, but it's kind of confusing, since you're using your companions' bodies right now, right? Back then, because he was summoned back from the Pure Land by the Second Hokage using Edo Tensei, he ended up being revived by red-haired Nagato, just like my dad, the First Hokage, the Second Hokage, and the Pervy Sage."
Konan looked at Pain and knew that Nagato's emotions must be in turmoil.
She then issued a polite dismissal. "I understand. As long as Konoha doesn't stir up trouble, I guarantee the organization's members will behave themselves. For now, we'll also take what you said into consideration."
They believed it seventy or eighty percent, but not completely.
For an S-rank missing-nin organization, that remaining thirty percent of uncertainty was already deadly.
They needed to personally experience an A-rank mission reward tied to themselves, to actually travel or glimpse the future. Otherwise, they wouldn't accept being manipulated by Konoha so easily.
The opportunity came early the next morning.
The missing-nin inn run by Boss Hatake had hired non-combat villagers to prepare three meals a day and clean the rooms.
Seeing three full plates of red bean cakes piled in front of several Obito Uchihas from different parallel worlds, and then looking at the three-color dango placed before Itachi Uchiha, the Akatsuki members came to a conclusion…
Uchiha might all have a serious sweet tooth.
In reality, Sasuke Uchiha was an Uchiha who didn't like sweets at all.
"Minato-sensei," adult Obito said, clearly at his limit from eating red bean cakes, "I talked it over with my counterpart from another world yesterday. We're planning to leave now and spread the mission out across other parallel worlds."
An SS-rank mission.
Six hundred billion red bean cakes were no joke.
The Fourth Hokage, Minato, agreed that this was a viable plan and allowed adult Obito and Ōtsutsuki Obito to depart.
Roughly speaking, the two of them would have to travel through tens of thousands of parallel worlds, make contact with the Obito Uchiha in each one, and get them to help eat red bean cakes if they wanted to finish that absurd, life-threatening number.
Just as the two Obito were about to leave, the A-rank mission in adult Obito's hands happened to be completed as well…
[Mission Rank: A-rank]
[Mission Content: Please have all Akatsuki members stay at the Missing-nin Inn.]
[Mission Status: Completed.]
The moment the time-travel countdown began, adult Obito nearly shouted out a curse.
For no special reason at all…
One second earlier, they had just finished breakfast in a warm house, stretching lazily and getting ready to move.
The next second, a torrential downpour drenched them completely, turning everyone into soaked messes.
Just as Minato-sensei had predicted, the people dragged along by this jump did include Akatsuki.
But when Obito looked around, only Minato-sensei's Team Minato and Kakashi's Team Kakashi were with him. None of the Akatsuki members were there at all. The parallel world's Ōtsutsuki Obito was nowhere to be seen either.
Because of the heavy rain, visibility was extremely poor. The sky was a dull bluish gray, completely shrouded by rain clouds.
"What a downpour," Rin said, looking up at the sky. "The clouds are thick and there's no wind. It probably won't stop anytime soon."
Sakura complained, "Why did we suddenly time travel? We didn't even have time to bring umbrellas."
"Let's find somewhere to take shelter," Sasuke said.
"But there's nowhere around here to hide from the rain, dattebayo," Naruto said, looking around.
The rain plastered down his normally spiky hair. Compared to his usual restless, noisy self, this version of Naruto oddly gave off a quiet, well-behaved impression.
Young Obito took off his goggles, shook the water out of them, and put them back on.
"This rain is insane. Konoha rarely gets rain this heavy, right? My clothes are completely stuck to me."
Young Kakashi shot them a look. "As ninja, you should always be ready to carry out missions in all kinds of harsh weather. It's just rain, not kunai falling from the sky."
After spending so much time together, Naruto and the others already knew that Kakashi as a kid was sharp-tongued but soft-hearted. They started pestering him to use Earth Release to build a wall to block the rain.
Young Kakashi replied flatly, "First, we need to figure out what era this is and where we are. Using ninjutsu carelessly before that could be dangerous."
Wearing his orange-and-blue outfit, young Obito argued back, "With my Mangekyō Sharingan, what kind of danger could there be?!"
Young Kakashi couldn't be bothered to argue and instead looked toward Minato-sensei and the future versions of himself and Obito.
Kannabi Bridge Minato said, "If nothing unexpected happened, this should be the Land of Rain, right?" He looked at adult Obito, waiting for confirmation.
Adult Obito had stayed here for a period of time before, back when he was trying to persuade Nagato to work for him.
Wait.
Trying to persuade Nagato to work for him!!
What exactly had he done back then?
In an instant, he figured it out.
He knew where this was. And he knew what time it was.
Seeing the change in adult Obito's expression, adult Kakashi couldn't help but tense up.
"You know where this is, Obito?"
"It's probably the Land of Rain… about fourteen or fifteen years before our time."
Fourteen or fifteen years ago.
That meant the Fourth Hokage was still alive, and Naruto and the others hadn't even been born yet.
If he wanted to find his counterpart from that era, the Flying Thunder God mark Minato-sensei had left on the 'Masked Man' would be useless. At that time, the Masked Man hadn't yet attacked the Nine-Tails Jinchūriki for the Nine-Tails, and the Fourth Hokage hadn't left a Flying Thunder God mark on him either.
Time was tight.
The only solution he could think of at that moment…
"Kakashi! Lend me your ninken!"
In the Land of Rain, scents were quickly washed away by the downpour, so ninken weren't all that useful. Even so, adult Kakashi didn't argue. He immediately pricked his finger with a kunai and summoned all of his ninken at once.
"Poof!"
White smoke burst out and then dispersed.
Shiba, Bisuke, Akino, Guruko, Ūhei, Urushi, Bull, and Pakkun—eight ninken—stood in the rain mist, sharp and steady.
Adult Obito said, "Help me find the me from this parallel world!"
Pakkun scratched at his ear with a hind paw. "You guys time-traveled again?"
"Forget that. Time's tight and we don't have the luxury. Move."
After glancing at their actual owner, Kakashi, and seeing that he was going along with Obito's orders, the eight ninken got serious and lowered their heads to sniff along the ground.
...
At the same time, in the Land of Rain, the newly rising Akatsuki organization was receiving a delegation said to have been sent by Hanzō of the Salamander to negotiate peace…
If these Konoha ninja had been there to witness it, they would have realized at once that the "peace delegation" was no subordinate of Hanzō at all.
It was Konoha's scheming old fox, Danzō Shimura.
Yahiko and Nagato, still young at the time, were overjoyed by the news. The other Akatsuki members were just as excited, waiting eagerly for their leader Yahiko to return with peace in hand.
"They didn't notice, did they?"
"Of course not."
Inside a secret meeting room in Amegakure, there were only two people.
Hanzō of the Salamander and Danzō Shimura.
"Good. Once that brat Yahiko is dead, Akatsuki will lose what's holding it together. It'll fall apart on its own soon enough."
"How are your preparations on your side?"
"You don't need to worry about that."
The candlelight flickered, casting their faces in shifting shadows. The two men exchanged a look, and no further words were needed.
Adult Obito kept close behind the eight ninken, with Team Minato and Team Kakashi following after.
They sprinted through the rain.
But they were still too late to save Konan, who had been ambushed during a mission.
In a village marked by bizarre deaths, the corpses detonated the moment Konan approached, spewing out thick poison gas.
Konan couldn't dodge in time. Her consciousness slipped away, and she crumpled to the ground.
"Now we've got a hostage we can use to threaten them."
The Amegakure ninja restrained the unconscious Konan, hoisted her up, and carried her away.
What those two Amegakure operatives never imagined was that on the way back to Amegakure, they would run into a few absolute monsters…