Sixteen years old, the Fourth Mizukage

When Sasuke Uchiha slowly opened his eyes from deep sleep, the sun outside was already approaching the center of the sky.

Standing before the window, looking at the brilliant sunlight outside, and then looking at the men, women, elderly, and children coming and going inside the Uchiha clan compound while talking and laughing, a warm curve slowly appeared on Sasuke Uchiha’s face, which had not revealed a sincere smile in a very, very long time.

During the time he traveled through time together with Boruto Uzumaki to pursue Urashiki Otsutsuki, Sasuke Uchiha had once told Boruto that, as people going against the flow of history, they should not interfere too much with the events that formed history itself.

But if the time he had returned to then had not been the point immediately after he defected from Konoha, but instead the Nine-Tails’ rampage, which made the opposition and estrangement between the Uchiha clan and Konoha Village even clearer, or the night of the Uchiha clan massacre—

Could he truly have endured and not interfered with the progression of history?

“Sasuke, how was your rest? If you still feel uncomfortable, I will go apply to Lord Fourth right now and postpone the meeting a little later…”

Hearing Itachi Uchiha’s voice from outside the door, Sasuke Uchiha slowly withdrew his gaze from the window.

While secretly feeling fortunate that he did not need to make such a difficult and agonizing choice, he neatly put on his black cloak, hung his Kusanagi Sword at his waist, then pushed open the door with a relaxed expression and responded, “No. Rather, I rested to the point of becoming a little too relaxed and loose… Let us go, Itachi. We should not make the people who hurried back because of my matter wait too long.”

“Is your left eye all right?”

“No need to worry about it. It will slowly recover on its own… Where is the other me?”

Sasuke Uchiha gently shook his head, then asked Itachi Uchiha with some curiosity.

“He went to the Ninja Academy.”

Itachi Uchiha smiled, his tone very gentle.

“At his current age, studying properly, making as many friends as possible, and absorbing knowledge are the things he should be doing…”

“Even though this matter is closely related to him?”

“Nations, shinobi villages, clans, parents, older brothers—such existences are there so children who have yet to grow up can have a stable environment to mature in…

“No matter when, and no matter for what reason, any situation where a child must risk himself for the survival and safety of the world or the village only proves that the adults who pushed him out to solve the problem are incompetent and cowardly trash who should be completely eliminated and buried by the era and the world.”

At this point, Itachi Uchiha paused slightly, then spoke with some emotion.

“That passage just now is something I heard from Lord Mizukage… Although I think his evaluation of adults is somewhat too sharp, I very much agree with the viewpoint that trouble caused by adults themselves absolutely should not be solved by children who have not yet grown up.”

From the corner of his eye, Sasuke Uchiha looked at Itachi Uchiha’s gentle profile, which glowed slightly with warmth under the sunlight. With a complicated feeling that he himself could not quite define, he murmured, “Compared to the Itachi I knew, you have changed a lot too.”

“When the course of history and the environment of the shinobi world change, it is only normal for people’s personalities and thoughts to change in accordance with the era, Sasuke.”

Itachi Uchiha habitually wanted to raise his hand and lightly tap his younger brother’s forehead, only to suddenly realize that the Sasuke walking beside him right now was more than half a head taller than him.

An awkward and subtle emotion flashed through his heart. The hand he had already raised slightly was also quickly withdrawn to its original position. From an ordinary person’s perspective, they would not even notice that Itachi Uchiha had ever had such a thought.

But Sasuke Uchiha, who possessed the Eternal Mangekyo Sharingan and the Rinne Sharingan, was not an ordinary person.

So he could only look at the action Itachi Uchiha had somewhat stiffly stopped, and let out an almost imperceptible sigh.

In the end, they are still different people and different worlds, huh? Although this is far more real than a scene created by genjutsu, precisely because of that reality, it so frankly displays the differences before my eyes…

With such feelings in his heart, Sasuke Uchiha followed behind Itachi Uchiha, left the Uchiha clan residence, and headed toward the council hall where an unknown number of familiar and unfamiliar Konoha higher-ups had gathered.

Not long after they left, two sneaky little figures, believing no one knew of their movements, slipped into the Uchiha house.

After “carefully and cautiously” confirming that no one remained inside, they quietly slipped away from the place again and headed straight toward the same destination as Itachi and Sasuke.

On the wind, the conversation between the two little brats who had skipped class and snuck out could faintly be heard.

“Are you really sure we can successfully eavesdrop under the senses of so many powerful shinobi, Naruto?”

“I am not sure. But if we do not try, then maybe until everything ends, we will never get to know any more inside information… Damn it. Adult Sasuke was clearly saved by me, and he is basically no different from you, but just because we are both too young, they are not even willing to give us a chance to listen in on the inside story. Can you really tolerate something like that, Sasuke!?”

“Compared to that, you should first think about how to hide your aura for as long as possible, Naruto… If your terrible concealment technique causes us to be discovered by the adults early and kicked out of the meeting hall before we can hear any useful intelligence, I absolutely will not forgive you!”

“Hah!? Do you think I am the kind of dead last who cannot do anything!?”

Namikaze Naruto immediately showed an anxious expression.

“Are you not?”

The young Sasuke Uchiha cast Namikaze Naruto a look of contempt.

“I-I am just not interested in some subjects! A simple technique like hiding my aura—if I get serious for a little bit, I can definitely get better grades than you, Sasuke! Definitely!”

…

A little earlier. Kirigakure.

Naruto Uzumaki, who had tossed and turned in Rei Kaguya’s guest room for an entire night, was currently sitting in the dining room of Rei Kaguya’s home with a numb and slightly bewildered expression.

Across from him sat a white-haired little girl. Her appearance was clearly very sweet and cute, but her indifferent expression and emotionless Byakugan always made him involuntarily think of Kaguya Otsutsuki.

“Um, nice to meet you. My name is Naruto Uzumaki. I am the future Seventh Hokage of Konoha… Can you tell me your name?”

After silence continued for a while, Naruto Uzumaki, truly unwilling to keep enduring this strange atmosphere, took the initiative to speak and asked the little girl sitting across from him at the dining table, waiting for breakfast.

“Asuka. Kaguya Asuka.”

The girl, who had not seen Naruto Uzumaki return with Rei Kaguya yesterday because she had gone to bed on time, turned her head slightly and answered Naruto’s question in a flat tone.

Then she followed naturally with a counterquestion.

“Question. According to the knowledge Father once told me, Konoha’s current Hokage is the Fourth Hokage, Minato Namikaze, age thirty-two. Based on Konoha’s previous Hokage succession methods, because he was younger when he inherited the position, he has a chance to overtake the Third Hokage, Hiruzen Sarutobi, and become the Hokage with the longest tenure. Yet you, Uncle Uzumaki, claim to be Konoha’s future Seventh Hokage…

“Is that casual boasting from a guest, or have Konoha’s internal conflicts intensified to the point where they must frequently replace Hokage in order to barely satisfy the various domestic factions?”

“…Why, in your judgment, is there no option where I am actually from the future and truly am the Seventh Hokage?”

Naruto Uzumaki froze on the spot because of Kaguya Asuka’s precocious words, then rubbed his head awkwardly and asked.

“Because Father will gradually complete the unification of every aspect of the shinobi world over the next decade or so. The time left to Konoha is not enough for the Hokage position to normally pass to the Seventh Hokage.”

Kaguya Asuka gave her answer very seriously.

“Unifying the shinobi world?”

Naruto Uzumaki could not help frowning. Instinctively, he thought of those enemies he had once defeated, those who had wanted to turn the shinobi world into their own personal dictatorship.

Just as he was thinking about how to continue the conversation, Mei Terumi, wearing an apron, came out of the kitchen carrying the prepared breakfast.

Beside her, Rei Kaguya was also carrying food.

She complained helplessly to Rei, “Rei? Did we not agree that we should not tell Asuka too many topics from the adult world while she is still young? Do you want her to become just like you, acting old and solemn at such a young age, unable to play with children her own age, and turning into an isolated child?”

“Because she does not like hearing stories used to coax children, I figured I would say something children are not interested in to stimulate her sleepiness… and then it turned into this.”

Rei properly placed the breakfast in his hands before every seated person, then sighed just as helplessly.

“I do not think this is a bad thing, Father.”

Kaguya Asuka first expressed her thanks to Rei, then continued speaking to him in a completely calm tone.

“Compared to bedtime stories, I prefer listening to the things Father casually says, things that sound like personal insights and occasionally include some mean-spirited comments… Father should also think that I am a very good listener, right?”

“Eat breakfast first. Otherwise, Mother will get angry.”

Rei rubbed his daughter’s head and wisely decided to temporarily shelve this question for future discussion.

Kaguya Asuka also nodded obediently, softly said, “I will begin,” and then quietly and elegantly enjoyed her portion of breakfast.

“…Looks like even you face problems in family education, Fourth Mizukage.”

Naruto Uzumaki looked at Rei, who had sat down beside Mei Terumi, and muttered softly.

“Children being too sensible or too insensible will both exhaust first-time parents.”

Rei shook his head.

Before formally starting to eat, he spoke to Naruto Uzumaki, who was also preparing to perform pre-meal etiquette.

“The child we are going to meet later is also one who is far too sensible, to the point that he has made his father very tired.”

“Who?”

Naruto asked curiously.

“Sunagakure’s One-Tail Jinchuriki. The Fourth Kazekage’s third child, Gaara.”