Orochimaru's snake-like pupils contracted as he stared at Jiraiya and let out an expressionless snort.
Although Orochimaru appeared perfectly calm on the surface, he was starting to feel uneasy inside.
For an idiot like Jiraiya to mock him right to his face...
His counterpart in the other timeline must have done something truly ridiculous!
The First Otokage?
What kind of ridiculous title was that...?
'Could it be that the other me expanded Konoha's territory outside the village, just like Sensei did? Maybe he brought some region under Konoha's control, like Sensei becoming the First Mizukage, and that's why they called him the First Otokage?'
Orochimaru tried to reassure himself by looking at it in the best possible light.
But then he saw Tsunade's face twisting as she desperately tried not to laugh...
And Danzō had already burst out laughing!
Orochimaru's heart sank.
This was bad...
It sounded like he'd gone off and started his own operation!
"Ahem..." Hiruzen cleared his throat.
At the Hokage's voice, the meeting room, which had grown somewhat noisy with discussion after the arrival of Naruto's group from the other timeline, instantly fell silent.
Everyone turned toward the Hokage.
Yamato, Naruto, and the others from the other timeline were startled.
Naruto stared at Hiruzen and thought to himself, 'Grandpa Third is just as kind as ever, but the one in this timeline is so strong...'
'It feels like he could even wrestle the Nine-Tails!'
The Nine-Tails from the other timeline was also staring at Hiruzen through Naruto, alarm bells ringing in its mind.
It didn't know anything about sensory abilities...
But its beastly instincts were telling it one thing.
Don't fight this man, and definitely don't cause any trouble in a place like this!
Otherwise, nothing good would come of it.
Just as the Nine-Tails was thinking this, it was stunned to discover that more people had entered the meeting room...
Hashirama had arrived, accompanied by Mito and the Nine-Tails perched on her shoulder.
Along with the little Five-Tails horse, who was yawning.
The Nine-Tails from the other timeline stared wide-eyed.
Wait, what was going on with this Nine-Tails?
How did you end up becoming practically family with Senju Hashirama and Uzumaki Mito?!
If you can't beat them, join them?
Where's your pride as a Tailed Beast?
Where's the dignity befitting the Nine-Tails, the strongest of all Tailed Beasts?
More importantly, where exactly do I sign up?!
The arrival of Hashirama, Mito, and the leader of the Tailed Beast faction, the Nine-Tails, caused no stir whatsoever in the meeting room.
Hashirama and his family quietly took the seats marked with their nameplates.
Clearly, despite being the village's founders, Senju Hashirama and Mito both showed Hiruzen an extraordinary degree of respect.
A village could only have one Hokage.
A former Hokage was still just a former Hokage...
"Orochimaru, come sit down."
Hiruzen glanced at the advisor's seat beside him, then swept his gaze across everyone in the room before speaking thoughtfully.
"Some unpleasant things certainly happened in the Konoha of the other timeline..."
"But those are merely different outcomes that grew from the same seeds. No matter what happened in another world, all we need to do is use it as a reference—correct ourselves where the same problems exist, and remain vigilant where they don't."
"But that's all it is: a reference. Every one of you has genuinely worked for the village and contributed to it, and we've all witnessed each other's efforts firsthand. That is the fundamental and only standard by which a Konoha shinobi should be judged."
Hiruzen emphasized, "Don't let any of this become a burden on your minds, much less allow it to disrupt the path we're already firmly walking."
Hiruzen had keenly realized that if even Orochimaru in the other timeline had defected and established his own village...
Then the others probably hadn't fared particularly well either.
Especially Jiraiya, who was still laughing at Orochimaru.
Naruto's reaction upon seeing him reminded Hiruzen of the shinobi from other villages when they encountered the reanimated bodies of their deceased friends and family...
Of course, this particular Jiraiya wasn't stuffed with Mutually Multiplying Explosive Tags.
The Konoha shinobi subconsciously nodded.
What had happened in the other timeline really was terrible. Orochimaru killing Lord Hokage, for example...
But the Orochimaru they had spent decades alongside, while he might once have strayed slightly from the right path, had been beyond reproach for the past ten years.
He diligently conducted research for the village, was easy enough to get along with in everyday life, and had provided Konoha's shinobi with revolutionary technologies involving kekkei genkai, cursed seals, prosthetics, medical scrolls, and much more.
He was unquestionably the village's successor to the Hokage.
That was precisely why Jiraiya could joke about Orochimaru being the First Otokage...
Because saying something like that wouldn't cause Orochimaru any real harm.
If Orochimaru's position had actually been unstable, Jiraiya never would have said it.
He would've been busy figuring out how to clear his brother's name instead...
"Since everyone's here, read the documents first."
"Afterward, I'd like our friends from the other timeline to tell us about their world."
Hiruzen stroked the back of the little Five-Tails horse that had wandered over to his side and sighed.
The shinobi attending the meeting picked up the documents in front of them.
They described the origins, identities, and mission of Naruto's group from the other timeline.
Along with everything currently known about Orochimaru.
Sitting beside Hiruzen, Orochimaru read through the document—and suddenly his eyes widened.
Wait!
He killed Sensei?
And then he launched some ridiculous Konoha Crush operation and even founded Otogakure himself?!
Orochimaru felt a little dizzy.
What kind of brain-dead version of himself would abandon the enormously resource-rich family that was Konoha, run off into the wilderness like a stray dog, and pretend to establish his own hidden village...?
Had failing to become Hokage broken him so badly that he went outside to play an ultra-realistic game of make-believe Kage?
And he'd even attacked Sensei, going so far as to kill his own teacher...
Worse still, he'd reanimated the First and Second Hokage to gang up on his teacher!
Orochimaru was genuinely shocked.
How could anyone sink that low?
The other version of himself somehow seemed even more outrageous than Lord Second...
"It's fine, it's fine..."
Hiruzen motioned for Orochimaru to lean closer and said softly, "If the you from that timeline ended up going that far, then the other me must have had problems too."
"Don't take it to heart. Just treat it as an amusing story."
"I don't know the Orochimaru from that timeline. I only know that you're my student."
"And whether my student is a good man or not isn't for people from some other timeline to decide..."
Although Hiruzen hadn't spoken loudly, everyone in the meeting room heard him clearly.
Orochimaru's heart trembled, and a smile unconsciously appeared on his face.
All the thoughts that had been running wild through his mind vanished in an instant, and his stiff body relaxed.
If someone wanted to use this against him, it would certainly make for one enormous accusation...
But once Sensei had made his position clear, Orochimaru could more or less treat the whole thing as an amusing anecdote.
Inside Hiruzen, Kaguya, who had been listening intently, froze.
Wasn't his temper and emotional state a little too stable?
Shouldn't they be having a huge argument right about now?!
If Kaguya had known a thousand years ago that the Sage of Six Paths from another timeline had sealed her away, then she really would've had to keep Hamura and Hagoromo under much tighter control...
But Hiruzen genuinely didn't care.
Because that was simply how the world worked. Choose wrongly at a few critical turning points, miss or catch a crucial opportunity, and the exact same person could end up living a completely different life.
And that was without even getting into something as nebulous as parallel timelines...
He trusted the village he had personally built and the Will of Fire.
The stars in Naruto's eyes from the other timeline seemed to shine even brighter as he stared fixedly at Hiruzen.
This Grandpa Third seemed even cooler!
Beside him, Yamato from the other timeline was deeply shaken by the sheer military strength of this Konoha...
Every shinobi qualified to enter this meeting room was at least at the level of a Kage.
There were a terrifying number of jinchūriki, and even the Tailed Beasts themselves seemed free to live openly in the village!
'That incredibly mysterious and powerful Akatsuki organization...'
'If they appeared in this timeline, would they even cause Konoha any trouble?'
Yamato couldn't help wondering, the corner of his mouth twitching involuntarily.
Those black cloaks with red clouds, symbols of power and danger—why did they suddenly make Akatsuki look a little like a troupe of comedians when compared with all these monsters from Konoha?
When Yamato saw the Nine-Tails on Mito's shoulder, it had genuinely startled him.
But the Nine-Tails merely looked at him curiously, with even a hint of affection in its gaze...
After all, the Nine-Tails had accompanied Yamato throughout his childhood as he grew up beside Mito. In a sense, it was one of his elders.
And Yamato was even more shocked to discover that Kakuzu, a member of Akatsuki, was somehow in Konoha too!
He seemed extremely familiar with the other Konoha shinobi, wore clothes patterned after the Hokage's robes, and carried himself entirely like an old veteran of the village.
He was even sitting beside Lord First Hokage, chatting and laughing with him...
Elsewhere, Guy from the other timeline had long since burst into tears as he stared at his father...
Might Duy had taken the initiative to sit beside him, and the two were quietly talking about something.
"Friends from the other timeline."
"Please tell us about the shinobi world and Konoha where you come from. Speak freely, but everything you tell us must be based on events that actually happened."
Hiruzen smiled at Yamato from the other timeline. "If you're not sure where to begin, you can go through the people in this room one by one."
As Yamato met Hiruzen's gaze, it felt as though a light had suddenly pierced through the chaos in his mind, and his stiff body relaxed.
That's right...
This was a Third Hokage capable of building Konoha into something this powerful...
All he needed to do was trust him!
Yamato steadied himself, took a deep breath, and thought, 'I need to listen to this Hokage-sama. This is an enormous opportunity to change our world!'
"Um..."
"Neji, Sai, why don't the three of us explain everything together...?"
After thinking for a moment, Yamato slowly spoke.
Among the eight members of their team, only three had a clear enough grasp of Konoha's history and current situation: Yamato and Sai, both former members of Root, and the exceptionally talented Neji, whose interests were comparatively broad.
As for the others, there was no need to mention Guy. He didn't pay attention to such matters.
Sakura and Tenten were certainly excellent students, but what they knew was mostly limited to what they'd learned from Ninja Academy textbooks.
As for Naruto...
He was unquestionably a good shinobi, but his academic knowledge was better left unmentioned.
"Hokage-sama, could you give me somewhere to start...?" Yamato asked awkwardly as he looked around the room.
Looking at all these people, was there anyone from their timeline who had actually ended up well?
No matter who he talked about, he felt like he was going to offend someone...
And they still needed to cooperate sincerely with this advanced Konoha and seek its help afterward...
Hiruzen blinked.
Why did it feel like Yamato had a great deal he wanted to say?
Hiruzen had already suspected that Orochimaru wouldn't be the only one whose counterpart had fared poorly in the other timeline.
But judging from Yamato's reaction, it seemed this went far beyond just one or two people...
They'd all done something!
"Let's start with me and the Uchiha Clan, Hokage-sama!"
Isshin spoke up heartily.
"The Uchiha Clan has always been the first to charge ahead whenever the village needs something!"
Hiruzen nodded. "All right."
"Young man, why don't you tell me about myself..." Isshin said to Neji with a smile.
This was that old man Tenzō's grandson and Hizashi's son...
Even if he came from another timeline, Isshin still felt a certain sense of familiarity toward him.
But Yamato's expression immediately changed.
They're starting with a heavyweight right off the bat?!
Yamato discreetly glanced at the smiling Fugaku nearby, the corner of his mouth twitching.
Fugaku-sama seemed surprisingly amiable...
Surely he wouldn't do anything to Itachi, right?
But to Isshin's surprise, Neji merely studied him seriously before a puzzled expression appeared on his face.
"You don't recognize me?" Isshin asked in surprise, immediately sensing something was wrong.
"This is the previous head of the Uchiha Clan..."
Sai, who had undergone cultural education in Root, spoke softly.
"Um... in this timeline, you're also the younger brother of Uchiha Setsuna, the man who once opposed Lord Second, correct?"
Isshin nodded.
"In our world, you eventually took your own life after years of despair."
"According to Root's records, your final words were, 'The Uchiha's thousand-year legacy will ultimately be destroyed by Konoha.' But that information wasn't widely circulated. The record only existed within Root..."
Sai did his best to keep his expression blank as he continued, "Danzō-sama from our timeline had Root members retrieve it from the Uchiha Clan and put it on display inside Root."
Isshin felt as though question marks were popping up all over his head.
The atmosphere abruptly became tense...
From the sound of things, the Uchiha Clan hadn't exactly been thriving in the other timeline!
Danzō frowned, sensing something was wrong.
How did this involve him too? That familiar rhythm of being saddled with the blame seemed to be coming back...
And who the hell steals someone's last words?!
"Did the other Danzō steal the offerings from Isshin's grave too?"
Orochimaru remarked dryly, "Looks like everyone has a bright future waiting for them in that other world. Everyone's doing their part under the Will of Fire. How wonderful."
The joke was so dark that neither Danzō nor Isshin could keep a straight face, and both let out a laugh.
"Oh, so I died consumed by grief and resentment..."
Isshin nodded thoughtfully. "What about him, then? Uchiha Seisui..."
This time, Sai studied Seisui for a long moment before slowly shaking his head.
"I don't know him. But he looks a lot like Uchiha Izuna, whom Danzō-sama is always mentioning. Are you one of his descendants?"
Tobirama's expression darkened.
How the hell was he supposed to answer that?!
Thank goodness Uchiha Izuna had already left. Otherwise, this would have been unbearably awkward...
Isshin vaguely brushed the question aside. "Well, yes... though he also has Hokage blood in him..."
Yamato likewise said that he didn't recognize Seisui.
"Have you studied the Complete History and Analysis of Konoha, the Records of the Shinobi Clans, and the Foreign Village Intelligence Archives?"
Danzō smiled at Sai and Yamato. "Since you were Root shinobi..."
Sai and Yamato from the other timeline tensed and nodded.
"Then that's enough."
Danzō pondered for a moment. "You at least have a basic foundation. It seems the other me did a decent job with the fundamentals... With that level of knowledge, we can communicate properly."
"Then it appears Seisui truly doesn't exist in the Konoha of their timeline."
Isshin sighed. "In other words, you've never sent troops against Kusagakure, right?"
Yamato and Sai nodded. "Never..."
The truth was now clear.
Seisui, who had been born in Kusagakure, had never received Konoha's intervention in that timeline. A perfectly good genius had simply died an obscure death in the prison of Hōzuki Castle.
Without a stable platform where talent could truly flourish, even a dragon would remain stranded in shallow waters.
At that moment, Isshin looked toward Hiruzen and said with some emotion, "Hokage-sama, it's fortunate that you sent troops into Kusagakure back then. Otherwise, Seisui..."
"Hey, don't say that." Hiruzen waved his hand.
"Was I the one who sent troops into Kusagakure? No. It was Konoha's shinobi as a whole who were outraged by Kusagakure's hyena-like behavior. What happened was the result of everyone's efforts and a shared consensus. Don't make it sound like it was all my doing."
"The Hokage is only one person. Without everyone else, there's very little he can accomplish."
The stars in Naruto's eyes from the other timeline grew even brighter.
Grandpa Third sounded so cool!
Yamato and Sai from the other timeline had also noticed that this Lord Third seemed to speak somewhat differently...
Was he just a little more impressive than the one from their world?
"What about me?"
Tomie pondered for a moment. "My name is Uchiha Tomie..."
"A talented female Uchiha shinobi. Due to a hereditary illness, you developed mental problems near the end of your life. You caused a public disturbance in the village and were killed on the spot..."
Sai spoke quietly.
Tomie immediately lost her composure.
She was one of the strongest contenders for the title of the Uchiha Clan's most powerful kunoichi, someone whose work had sent Konoha's research soaring forward, yet in the other timeline she'd gone berserk in the village like a madwoman and gotten herself killed?
That was far too undignified and miserable...
Uzumaki Shio laughed and teased, "You know, if the village hadn't cured your illness back then, you really might have ended up like that..."
When it came to an opportunity to make fun of a brother, Uzumaki Shio immediately joined the attack!
Isshin struggled to keep his expression under control.
Terrible...
This was terrible!
Seisui, himself, and Tomie—three Uchiha shinobi had already ended up with terrible fates in the other timeline...
Fugaku's expression beside them also became solemn.
Would he fare any better?
"What about her?"
Tomie, still struggling to contain herself, pointed at Uzumaki Shio. "What happened to her?"
Sai and Yamato looked at Uzumaki Shio again and shook their heads.
"May I ask if you're a shinobi of the Uzumaki Clan? If so, I'm sorry to tell you that the Uzumaki Clan no longer exists in our world..."
Mito's heart trembled.
No longer existed?
The Uzumaki Clan whose emblem was engraved on Konoha's very forehead protectors no longer existed!
Hashirama instinctively tightened his grip on Mito's hand and whispered, "It's a nightmare, just a nightmare... It's something that happened in another timeline..."
"I get it. You died in Kusagakure together with Seisui. You didn't fare any better than I did!" Tomie immediately felt a little better and chuckled.
Shio's face darkened.
That really did seem likely...
If Seisui hadn't managed to escape, how could the cowardly person she used to be possibly have done it?
Back then, she hadn't even known any decent ninjutsu...
"What about me? What happened to me...?"
Fugaku finally couldn't resist asking. The suspense was becoming unbearable.
Yamato and Sai exchanged glances.
This one was a real heavyweight...
The two remained silent for a moment before cautiously looking toward Hiruzen.
"Hokage-sama, this... Fugaku-sama's situation is rather unusual. Perhaps..."
"No." Fugaku's expression changed. "Tell me right here! Is that all right, Hokage-sama...?"
"I don't mind..."
Hiruzen stroked the Five-Tails' mane as he slowly picked up his pipe. "But stay calm, Fugaku."
"Rest assured, Hokage-sama."
Fugaku gave him a firm assurance.
"After the Third Shinobi World War, a mysterious Uchiha took control of the Nine-Tails and attacked the village. Fourth Hokage Namikaze Minato was killed, though he managed to drive the attacker away after a fierce battle."
"Minato-sama's wife, Uzumaki Kushina, also died that night."
"Minato-sama used the Dead Demon Consuming Seal to split the Nine-Tails into its Yin and Yang halves. One half was sealed inside the Shinigami, while the other was sealed inside Naruto—their son."
Yamato spoke quietly.
Naruto from the other timeline froze, undisguised shock spreading across his face.
Huh?
He was the Fourth Hokage's son?!
Why had nobody ever told him?!
Minato and Kushina, sitting nearby, were stunned as well.
The moment they'd seen Naruto, both of them had recognized him as their grown-up son...
After all, Naruto's appearance hadn't changed all that much since childhood.
But how had things ended up like this?!
Naruto didn't know who his parents were, both Minato and Kushina were dead, and after fighting for their lives they'd only managed to seal half of the Nine-Tails...
What in the world had they been doing?
Their family had been completely destroyed.
Thanks to his connection with Minato as well as his own seniority and contributions, Uchiha En was now a provisional member of the Konoha Council and was also attending the meeting.
En nudged Minato and lowered his voice.
"Kid, becoming Hokage is a good thing, but how did you screw things up this badly?"
"A single Nine-Tails forced you to use a technique like the Dead Demon Consuming Seal? And something about this doesn't sound right to me. It almost sounds like you two died together on purpose..."
"If you become Hokage someday, you'd better keep training. You can't let yourself stay this weak! And don't get too emotional either. Of course, I'm not trying to stir up trouble between you and Kushina..."
Even someone as cheerful as Minato found the situation unbearably awkward. All he could do was nod repeatedly.
Kushina lowered her head as well, her face turning red for the first time in ages—not from embarrassment, but because her cheeks were burning with humiliation.
How had her other self managed to be such a terrible jinchūriki?!
Councilor Nine-Tails was so easy to get along with...
The Nine-Tails also frowned deeply and began hopping up and down.
"What the hell is wrong with the Konoha in your world? I'm such an easy Tailed Beast to get along with! If you still couldn't get along with me, then you seriously need to reflect on yourselves!"
"And you split me in half? What were you even doing?!"
Naruto from the other timeline looked at the little Nine-Tails, his eyes lighting up.
If only the Nine-Tails inside him could be like this...
The Nine-Tails from the other timeline silently stared at Councilor Nine-Tails, feeling that the dignity of Tailed Beasts had truly fallen on hard times.
Since when could a Tailed Beast stand on Mito's shoulder and hop around like that?
"Unfair..."
"Old man, this isn't fair!"
The Nine-Tails from the other timeline let out an angry roar.
What it didn't know, however, was that...
As for fairness, the Sage of Six Paths was currently listening in with a solemn expression while pulling noodles.
If the Nine-Tails roared just a little louder, someone might actually hear it...
"Weren't we talking about me?"
Fugaku looked completely baffled. "How did we end up talking about everyone else...?"
"Your circumstances are rather complicated, so we needed to explain some of the background first."
Yamato phrased it as tactfully as possible. "Anyway, continuing from there, after the Night of the Nine-Tails, some people came to believe that the mysterious Uchiha was 'Madara'..."
The expressions of the Konoha shinobi in the room became rather strange.
Madara?
It was probably Senju Tobirama who couldn't bear to give up the Hokage's handsome desk!
'Something doesn't add up...'
'The other Great Clan Head might still be alive, but this is way too weak... How could Minato-sensei possibly have driven him off? What happened to the Rinnegan?'
Obito was considering the matter from a different angle.
"Very little information exists about that mysterious Uchiha. Lord Fourth only left behind the words 'space-time' before he died. After that, there was no further information..."
Yamato sighed.
Every hair on Obito's body suddenly stood on end!
Minato and Kushina both turned their heads and looked at him with smiles that somehow weren't quite smiles.
The other Konoha councilors who knew about his Kamui also cast inquisitive looks in his direction...
"Is that so?"
Obito forced himself to stand and demonstrated Kamui.
"Hey, now that you mention it..."
Yamato's eyes lit up.
"I don't know whether it's exactly the same ability as the one Lord Fourth encountered, but Naruto once encountered a member of the rogue organization Akatsuki named Tobi whose ability was very similar to yours..."
"Can you make attacks pass through you too?"
That single sentence drained all the strength from Obito's body.
The chain of logic wasn't a perfect match yet, but it was basically safe to assume that his counterpart in the other timeline had also awakened the Mangekyō and Kamui, only to become a rogue ninja from Konoha...
He'd even deliberately controlled the Nine-Tails to attack the village. Just like Orochimaru, he'd made the grand move of killing his own teacher, and had gotten Kushina, his teacher's wife, killed as well...
Obito was genuinely stunned.
Forget the Infinite Tsukuyomi—even if Obito spent ten years locked away in the Mountains' Graveyard, he couldn't imagine himself doing something that horrifying...
Just how insane would he have to become?
Did that version of him not have even the slightest trace of the Will of Fire in his heart?!
"Good job, kid. Really impressive. Just what I'd expect from my student..."
Minato's smile was as sunny as ever, but for some reason it looked strangely sinister at that moment. He gave Obito a thumbs-up.
"Great!"
Obito frantically waved his hands. "Sensei, that wasn't me!"
"It certainly wasn't you, Obito..."
"But after today's meeting, come over for dinner with Naruto..."
Kushina smiled sweetly. "You'd better come. Otherwise, I'll be angry."
Obito forced a smile. "I'll definitely come. Definitely..."
Fugaku was finding it increasingly difficult to hold himself together.
At this point, of the Uchiha Clan's five great champions...
Isshin, Tomie, Seisui, and Obito had already fallen. He was the only one left!
Would his fate be any better?
"After the Nine-Tails' attack, relations between the village and the Uchiha Clan grew increasingly tense, and the Uchiha compound was relocated even farther away..."
"Eventually, the conflict became irreconcilable, and the you from our timeline began planning a coup..."
Even Yamato was starting to struggle to keep a straight face.
"Itachi and Shisui tried to mediate between the two sides."
"Shisui awakened the Mangekyō, but Danzō-sama took one of his eyes. He then fell from a cliff and died, though his body was never found..."
Fugaku couldn't help asking, "Didn't Shisui try to mediate? Why would his eye still be taken...?"
His mood had actually improved a little by now.
He might have plotted a coup, but at least his son seemed to have turned out all right...
At least he knew enough to try mediating!
"That's just how Danzō-sama was. He thought Shisui's Mangekyō was too powerful, so he took it." Since the real Danzō from their world wasn't here, Yamato gradually became less restrained.
"Speaking of Danzō-sama, he didn't actually do that many bad things. He merely abducted talented people by force—for example, Torune, the son of Aburame Shikuro. Sai was the same, along with shinobi from the Yamanaka Clan..."
"Occasionally, he would order us to assassinate Lord Third, although those attempts never succeeded."
"I also heard that during the Nine-Tails' attack, Danzō-sama prevented the Uchiha Clan from joining the battle, which led most of Konoha's shinobi to believe that the Uchiha had already betrayed the village..."
"Let me think..."
The more Yamato spoke, the more enthusiastic he became. It was impossible to say he held no resentment toward Danzō.
Given a chance to unload on Danzō in another timeline, he had no intention of letting it slip away.
But Sai took over at that moment. As another Root shinobi, he also wanted to get a few hits in on Danzō.
Unfortunately, the Cursed Tongue Eradication Seal prevented him from doing so.
Sai helplessly revealed the cursed seal.
Danzō stared at him speechlessly, then walked over, patted him on the chest, and removed the seal.
Given the atmosphere and circumstances, he could hardly do anything except let the kid say everything he wanted...
Sai looked at Danzō gratefully.
"Um... you're different from Danzō-sama in our world!"
"Our Danzō-sama would occasionally purge shinobi from his own village as well..."
"For example, Yakushi Nono, the 'Wandering Miko.' Danzō-sama forced her to carry out missions, and in order to eliminate a potential liability, he devised an ingenious plan..."
"He repeatedly gave her adopted son, Kabuto, altered photographs of Yakushi Nono, gradually distorting Kabuto's memory of what she looked like until he eventually manipulated Kabuto into killing her..."
"Danzō-sama is currently trying to find a way to become the Sixth Hokage."
"Oh, right..."
Sai looked toward the part of the room where Yahiko, Hanzō, and Nagato were sitting.
"Danzō-sama also formed an alliance with Hanzō-sama and wiped out the organization known as 'Akatsuki' in the Land of Rain..."
"You were among its members, though I don't know the exact details. Even within Root, that information was highly classified."
Yamato pondered for a moment.
"Actually, according to the information provided by Sage Shima and Sage Fukasaku of Mount Myōboku, one of the people who killed Jiraiya-sama and ruled Amegakure while calling himself 'God' looked very much like you..."
"And you apparently took part as well."
Yamato pointed at Yahiko and Konan.
In their original timeline, Jiraiya and Fukasaku had persuaded Shima to return to Mount Myōboku ahead of them, while Fukasaku had survived despite his severe injuries and brought the intelligence back.
They'd even promised Shima they would return for dinner after the battle...
Yahiko and Konan stared in shock and instinctively pointed at themselves.
"Us?"
Hanzō rubbed his face beside them.
Having ruled Amegakure for many years, Hanzō knew perfectly well what his former self had been thinking...
Before recovering his health and ambition, Hanzō had been extremely wary of Yahiko and the others as they rapidly rose to prominence in the Land of Rain.
He'd considered killing them more than once...
Looking at it this way, Nagato and the others had eventually seized power, while his counterpart had died. It was obvious at a glance that he'd been overthrown and killed by the younger generation...
"Not bad, Yahiko, Nagato, Konan..."
Hanzō spoke dryly. "You've got some strength in you."
Yahiko frantically waved his hands, looking just like Obito.
"Hanzō-sama, I'm Yahiko! That wasn't me! I really have no idea why he did any of that..."
"Forget it. I don't blame you. Didn't Yamato from the other timeline just say that Danzō and I were the ones who deliberately set a trap for you? If the other me didn't even have that much tolerance, then he deserved to die..."
Hanzō waved his hand and sighed.
"Without Hiruzen, it seems the shinobi world would have become a terrible place. So terrible that killing one's sensei, oppressing one's own people, and driving them to their deaths had all become commonplace..."
The shinobi present subconsciously nodded.
Thinking about it carefully, all of these differences seemed to trace back to the changes Hiruzen had brought about...
Even if Lord Hokage himself refused to admit it...
"Sage Shima's intelligence also mentioned that the ruler of Amegakure had eyes resembling those of one of Jiraiya's former students. They seemed to be the legendary Rinnegan, the eyes said to have belonged only to the Sage of Six Paths..."
Yamato struggled to recall the details of the intelligence.
This time, Nagato's face darkened.
Damn it. Why was he involved too?!
The worst part wasn't actually anything his other self had done. Hokage-sama had already made it very clear that another timeline had nothing to do with this one...
But there was no way his companions were ever going to let him live down a ridiculously dramatic title like that!
"Oho..."
"So it turns out that Nagato-sama, the 'God' of Amegakure and the entire shinobi world, was the one controlling us!"
Yahiko bumped Nagato's shoulder and grinned.
"That's really impressive!"
Nagato covered his face without saying a word.
Inside him, the One-Tail burst into shrill laughter.
"God! God! God! Nagato-sama, Sage of Six Paths!"
Yahiko had already made up his mind.
The moment they got back, he was changing his Shinobi World Forum username to "Nagato-sama of the Six Paths, God of Amegakure"...
He'd make sure his brother got thoroughly desensitized to it!
The age of relentless trolling had arrived...
Orochimaru looked toward Jiraiya. Sitting in the Hokage advisor's seat, he gave him a thumbs-up.
"As expected of Konoha's famous master educator and the Sage of Mount Myōboku..."
"Truly incredible. The students you raised can become Hokage or even gods..."
"As soon as I get back, I'm changing my Shinobi World Forum username to 'Jiraiya, Best Sensei Ever'..."
Jiraiya covered his face and repeatedly waved his hands, barely managing to mutter, "Stop... Just stop..."
Fugaku finally couldn't take it anymore and shouted, "No! Stop talking about everyone else and tell me what happened to me first!"
"Please!"
It wasn't actually that Yamato and Sai kept getting sidetracked.
It was simply that none of these people seemed entirely uninvolved, so whenever they explained one person's story, someone else inevitably came up...
Everything was tangled together like a spiderweb.
"Your case is actually quite simple."
"The way your son Itachi chose to mediate the conflict was by killing every shinobi in the Uchiha Clan, including you and your wife Mikoto. Based on our analysis, it seems that mysterious Uchiha also acted alongside him..."
Yamato instinctively glanced at Obito.
"Only his younger brother Sasuke was spared."
"But Sasuke has become a rogue ninja too. Two years ago, he abandoned the village and went to join Orochimaru..."
"He killed them all? Including Mikoto and me?"
Fugaku's expression changed drastically as he asked again in disbelief.
"Yes. Though it's said that you didn't resist at the time, but I can't be certain..."
Yamato from the other timeline lowered his head.
"Itachi later returned to the village and, for reasons I don't know, beat Sasuke badly. His partner was Kisame, a former member of Kirigakure's Seven Ninja Swordsmen. This gentleman right here..."
The straightforward Kisame frowned.
"Huh?"
He would actually join a rogue ninja organization and attack Konoha?
Nakamaro shrugged. "Sounds about right. Did your Kirigakure ever go through the Bloody Mist era?"
"It did. In fact, it lasted until fairly recently. The Fourth Mizukage was Yagura Karatachi."
Yamato spoke softly. "It continued for almost twenty years after the Third Shinobi World War."
Nakamaro's relaxed posture vanished. He and Kisame were both dumbfounded.
The Bloody Mist lasted twenty years?
Were there even any people left alive in Kirigakure?!
How the hell did Yagura manage to serve as Fourth Mizukage?!
That was impressive in its own way...
"From what I've heard from Kirigakure, that also seems to have had something to do with the mysterious Uchiha..."
Yamato once again couldn't help glancing at Obito, prompting everyone else to look at him as well.
Obito was going numb.
He was starting to want to travel to the other timeline, grab that Obito by the collar, and blast the bastard into nothing with Kamui!
Why did you do every terrible thing there was to do?
Where the hell was your Will of Fire?!
Orochimaru was thinking much the same thing. His hands were beginning to itch.
This dark history really needed to be erased...
At the very least, he had to find some way to lure that bastard from the other timeline over here and ask him exactly what was wrong with his brain...
Of course, if Orochimaru knew that his counterpart coveted Itachi's body, he would probably lose his composure even more and find the whole thing utterly ridiculous...
A child of merely average talent, and you keep obsessing over him?
Besides, it's just the Sharingan. Couldn't you simply go to the Research Department's archives and get yourself a pair or two?
And if that wasn't enough, couldn't you just talk to Isshin and Fugaku? Was that really so difficult?
Getting caught in genjutsu over and over again—what an embarrassment to the Sarutobi Team!
How could you even get caught in genjutsu?
Wasn't that just a trick adults used to bully children?
Naturally, Orochimaru knew that his counterpart couldn't possibly do any of those things. It was easy for someone who had everything to mock someone who didn't.
But Orochimaru was determined to find an opportunity to completely crush his counterpart's pride!
He'd thoroughly distance himself from that man and mock him without mercy...
Afraid of genjutsu...
And from the sound of things, he hadn't even mastered Senjutsu. Yet he still called himself a successor of Ryūchi Cave!
"Hokage-sama, I'd like to step outside for some air..."
Fugaku's eyes kept drifting toward the Ninja Academy. On the surface, he appeared to be keeping himself under control, but the magnetic field unconsciously surging around him told everyone the truth...
He was furious!
His own son had personally brought the Uchiha Clan's thousand-year history to an end, while his other self had been such a worthless failure that he hadn't even resisted and had allowed the entire clan to be exterminated...
Fugaku felt a pain in his eyes. His Mangekyō Sharingan activated involuntarily, his eyes bloodshot as his emotions became increasingly unstable.
"Fugaku, did you not listen to what I said?"
Hiruzen spoke in a deep voice. White light flashed in his eyes, instantly snapping Fugaku back to his senses.
"No! How could I possibly ignore what you said, Hokage-sama...?" Fugaku immediately panicked.
"I just... I just..."
Compared with whatever his counterpart or anyone else had done in another timeline, none of that was truly important. After all, those things had happened in a world unrelated to theirs.
They genuinely weren't the same people.
But if, in this timeline, Fugaku gained a reputation for ignoring the Hokage's words, that would be far worse than anything that had happened in some other world!
"I understand how you feel, but you need to steady your emotions, sort out the logic of what happened, and not allow your emotions to override your reason."
"You have always been an outstanding Konoha shinobi, Fugaku. Remember this: I trust you."
Hiruzen's tone softened.
At those words, Fugaku's emotions gradually cooled. He looked seriously at Hiruzen and said, "I understand, Hokage-sama! I lost my composure just now..."
Yamato from the other timeline looked at Hiruzen with envy in his eyes.
He wanted one...
He really wanted a Hokage like this!
After collecting himself, Yamato followed the order around the room and looked toward Hiruko.
"Um, I've only seen your records. You became a rogue ninja after the Third Shinobi World War..."
"You attacked several major villages to collect kekkei genkai."
Hiruko wore the same bewildered expression as everyone before him.
"Me?"
"I would abandon the village?"
Yamato nodded solemnly. "And this gentleman, Kakuzu... you also joined Akatsuki and were killed by Naruto."
"Your partner in Akatsuki was named Hidan. Together, the two of you killed Asuma and Chiriku."
Kakuzu shot to his feet!
He killed Asuma?
That was his and Hiruko's most precious student—the Hokage's son!
Hiruzen looked helpless.
"Sit down, sit down..."
"I only have two sons: Shinnosuke and Asuma of this timeline. I've seen the Will of Fire that you and Hiruko uphold every day, and I've seen how well you treat Asuma."
Kakuzu's heart stirred. He let out a long sigh and sat back down.
Hashirama no longer knew what to say. All he could do was silently pat Kakuzu on the shoulder.
Why did it sound like there wasn't a single decent person left?
That other Konoha sounded like a rogue ninja convention combined with an association of the shinobi world's strangest people...
Even Hashirama, the founder of Konoha, was going numb from listening to it all.
He couldn't help wondering whether, if Konoha had really developed like that, perhaps Madara's arguments back then actually had some merit...
Staying in a village like that didn't sound particularly good for one's physical or mental health...
"Sakumo-sama..."
"You took your own life because of an incident, and Kakashi-senpai was deeply affected by it..."
Yamato briefly recounted what he knew about the death of the White Fang.
This was something the Konoha shinobi present could actually relate to.
It was quite similar to the "Yashiro Incident." The incident in their world had actually been more severe, but under the Hokage's mediation, it had been resolved perfectly.
Not only had it strengthened the Will of Fire, it had also brought Konoha and the Land of Fire into far deeper integration...
Hatake Sakumo spread his hands and chuckled.
"Well, I'm doing pretty well right now. I'll take Kakashi out for barbecue when I get home..."
His other self might have met a terrible end, but at least he hadn't attacked his own people.
Compared with everyone else, that was... barely acceptable, he supposed...
Sakumo's rather dark, deadpan remark made the Konoha shinobi in the room burst out laughing.
True...
At least they were all doing well now.
"As for you..."
"The Hyūga Clan wasn't wiped out, at least."
"But you were constantly antagonizing the village. When the war ended and Konoha was negotiating peace with Kumogakure, Root's records say that you were celebrating your granddaughter's birthday. Every shinobi in the village attended except the Hyūga..."
"Some things happened afterward. Hiashi-sama became the trigger for another conflict, and you offered Hizashi-sama up to the other side to appease their anger..."
As Yamato explained this to Hyūga Tenzō, the latter's faintly smug expression disappeared.
He'd been imagining that perhaps his counterpart had been more like Sakumo—at least someone who hadn't come into direct conflict with the village...
That fantasy was gone.
What the hell had he been doing?
He'd missed it because he was celebrating his granddaughter's birthday?
What kind of brain came up with an excuse that pathetic?!
Tenzō fell silent.
Hizashi beside him rolled his eyes.
To be fair, that behavior fit perfectly with the impression he'd once had of his father...
The old main-family patriarch and feudal clan head had always been exactly that kind of man...
"What about me?"
Nakamaro raised his hand. "I'm from the Kaguya Clan..."
"Oh. The Kaguya Clan was wiped out."
Yamato spread his hands.
Nakamaro rubbed his brow.
Great!
At least the Uchiha Clan had company in misery...
Though, to be fair, he wasn't particularly surprised...
"As for Tsunade-sama, you didn't really do anything else..."
"You just didn't handle much government work, drank heavily, generally ignored official business, and occasionally yelled at Advisors Koharu and Homura. It took quite a lot of effort to persuade you to become Hokage in the first place..."
"You said being Hokage wasn't as interesting as gambling, and that only an idiot would take the job..."
Yamato spoke in a dry tone.
Question marks seemed to pop up one after another above Tsunade's head.
Damn it, she'd been hit too!
Now it seemed a little awkward to keep making fun of Orochimaru for being the First Otokage...
All three Sannin had done something...
Or rather, nobody had escaped!
Kurama Genshin sighed and exchanged a glance with Hiruzen.
Secretly, he used Genjutsu: True Life to guide Yamato and Sai into relaxing so they would speak more freely.
They had also just learned about the decline of the Kurama Clan in the other timeline.
Mito and Hiruzen gave slight nods, indicating that what the visitors were saying was essentially credible.
And with that...
The first round of comparing accounts between the two shinobi worlds was basically complete.
Everyone had discovered something...
The other shinobi world was truly overflowing with "sages."
Every single person possessed their own remarkable talents. As for the Will of Fire, it would be generous to say they had even the slightest connection to it...
"What about Tobirama, then?"
Before Obito could carry out the task Izuna had given him, Mito narrowed her eyes and spoke.
"The other Orochimaru reanimated Hashirama and Tobirama and made them fight Hiruzen..."
"Which means Tobirama most likely never prepared any defenses against being reanimated himself."
"So..."
Tobirama's expression abruptly changed.
Mito, what are you trying to do?!
Why do you insist on going after your brother-in-law?!
A gleam flashed through Hiruzen's eyes.
He rapidly organized the consequences of this massive comparison in his mind.
First and foremost, he needed to eliminate any psychological problems this might cause among Konoha's shinobi.
He had already emphasized that point several times...
Deep in the human subconscious, there was always a tendency to believe that a person's fundamental nature and potential could never truly change, and therefore that what happened to someone in another timeline might also happen to their counterpart in this one.
But in reality, ideas of that sort—much like the belief that a dragon could only give birth to another dragon—reduced everything to heredity, when heredity was merely one factor influencing a person.
Environment, education acquired later in life, and an individual's own initiative were all extremely important as well.
Such thinking could lead to a self-fulfilling moral decline, causing people to become suspicious of one another and develop baseless prejudices.
The best way to prevent that was for Hiruzen to use his own authority. Through the Will of Fire, he would firmly establish the framework through which everyone understood the other timeline and prevent this mistaken way of thinking from taking root.
Likewise...
After this comparison, Hiruzen's prestige would rise even further. People always appreciated their own happiness more clearly when they had something else to compare it with.
However, Hiruzen had no intention of exempting his counterpart from blame. As a dead Hokage from another timeline, it was only natural for him to shoulder some of it...
Doing so would also tell every Konoha shinobi that the other Hiruzen had problems of his own.
That was an entirely different Konoha, completely unrelated to theirs.
After all, no one here would ever want to attack their kind and approachable Third Hokage, and the same principle applied to everyone else.
If all under heaven bears guilt, the blame rests with the ruler.
If the ruler bears guilt, the people should not bear it for him.
As for Tobirama-sensei...
Something occurred to Hiruzen. He looked toward Mito and, before the discussion could settle on any particular conclusion, said something that none of Konoha's shinobi—not even Tobirama himself—had expected.
Lord Hokage sighed with emotion.
"The way I see it, Tobirama-sensei saved Konoha!"
"It was he who appeared to me in a dream from the Pure Land and gave me the courage and determination to risk everything..."
"He always steps forward when it matters most!"
The Konoha shinobi looked at one another.
He actually found an angle to defend Lord Tobirama from this too?
Hashirama couldn't help laughing.
And once Hashirama started, the other Konoha shinobi who had barely been holding themselves back all burst out laughing as well.
What was Lord Hokage's anonymous username on the Shinobi World Forum, anyway?
Surely it wasn't "Tobirama's Number One Fan in the Shinobi World"...
Some of them even thought of one notorious troll account:
Flying Thunder God Never Loses!
That account and Hokage-sama were practically opposite extremes...
Tobirama's face darkened as he swept his gaze across the Konoha shinobi.
Wait...
What are all of you laughing at?
Kids, is this really that funny?
But when he looked at Hiruzen, who was doing his best to speak up for him, Tobirama couldn't help smiling too. His eyes were filled with emotion and contentment.
Having a student like this was enough for one lifetime...
Enough for two lifetimes!
{Izu—}
Tobirama instinctively started to boast to Izuna, only to realize that he wasn't there anymore.
Hiruzen silently watched the shinobi laughing around him, and their mood proved contagious. The corners of his mouth lifted as well.
For some reason...
Whenever he spoke, Konoha's shinobi treated him with the utmost respect.
But the moment Tobirama came up, everyone inexplicably wanted to laugh...
'He's not here anymore, huh?'
Tobirama sighed. The only thing inside him now was the monster known as Satori...
But at that very moment...
The mark of the "Yata Spirit" on his body suddenly grew hot...
It was almost like the mental link shared by Tobi, Hi-kun, and Obito.
Izuna's voice suddenly rang out inside Tobirama's mind.
"Hey! Hey! Hey!"
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