Naruto: Passerby and Returnee

Chapter 114 History

"Finally, I've absorbed enough chakra."

The sudden sound broke the silence, and all three of them turned to Boruto's direction. The child, startled, waved his hands repeatedly, indicating that he was definitely not the one who ruined the atmosphere.

"It wasn't me speaking!" Boruto pulled a pink little turtle out of his pocket, held it up in the middle with both hands, and exclaimed, "It was him!"

"Luckily, you woke up in time. The destination of this journey has deviated. Please do not reveal your true identity in other worlds." The intelligent tortoise said these weighty words without hesitation, "If you unfortunately encounter another version of yourself in a parallel world and acknowledge your identity, the world will erase one of you. The world does not allow duplicates to exist; this is the rule."

Of the four people present, three were startled and simultaneously looked away, but the only one in danger remained expressionless as he stared at Naruto.

Naruto was very familiar with that expression. Sasuke was waiting for some kind of explanation, but he himself only had a vague understanding of the current situation, so he directly asked the object that was most likely to know.

"May I know how you work?"

The Treasure Plow was merely a highly advanced AI. After scanning Naruto, it replied, "It's my pleasure to answer your question, Lord Naruto."

At that moment, no one cared why this little turtle, being a Noble Phantasm of the Otsutsuki clan, was being so kind and friendly to Naruto. They heard Naruto ask a very unexpected question.

"What do you use to mark the destination when you teleport?"

"The chakra of the anchor point target," the tortoise readily replied.

Naruto frowned. "According to you, there may be millions of parallel worlds in this world. How would you distinguish between the 'me' in different worlds?"

"Chakra is a product of the combination of mind and body. Different life experiences will produce different spiritual energies. Using chakra as an anchor point will generally not mark the wrong world."

Now, the four of them fell even quieter. This ill-fated journey began with a Naruto from another world, a Naruto even more compatible with the Seventh Hokage than the Naruto of his childhood. A thirteen-year-old Naruto who could throw Truth-Seeking Balls, wield the Flying Thunder God Technique with ease, and defeat an Otsutsuki within minutes of their encounter.

No one would believe him if he said he had no problems.

After a long silence, Naruto spoke again, asking, "Am I able to influence people from other worlds?"

Jiraiya thoughtfully observed the seemingly calm Naruto, as if he had already understood something.

"Slight disturbances are not enough to affect the stability of spacetime, but once they reach a certain level, they risk being drawn into turbulence, like Urashiki-sama just now."

So that's how Urashiki died. No wonder he sensed a faint spatial fluctuation even though it was just an ordinary Truth-Seeking Ball.

"What exactly constitutes 'mild'? If I..."

"Naruto," Sasuke suddenly interrupted the conversation, saying earnestly, "that's enough."

Naruto, who had been maintaining a very stable demeanor, suddenly exploded, "What do you mean 'enough'! This is the best opportunity yet!"

Now is the best opportunity.

With Momoshiki dead, Boruto hadn't yet experienced a life-or-death battle, and his potential was still untapped. The other side's Kara hadn't even had a chance to cause trouble yet. If he could just bring that technique back, he didn't believe the "Black Eyes" could change the size of the "Black Ball"! At least they wouldn't have to risk their lives fighting Momoshiki. So many years had passed, and the lingering memories constantly spurred him forward, urging him to change the future. But now, he understood that this world wasn't actually his original world. Could he really live peacefully in this new world, ignoring the past?

Sasuke stepped forward and pressed down on Naruto's shoulder, then knelt down, his blue eyes blazing with anger. Everything he knew now was speculation, but if even a tiny bit of that speculation were true, he knew he couldn't bear the cost of losing it.

Even if there's only a one in ten thousand chance that the Naruto before him is his Naruto, it still means that one day in the future, he will fail, unable to protect his sun, letting it drift to another world. In this world, Naruto will have the memories of two lifetimes, becoming stronger, living a better life, and having a greater chance to change the future he failed in. Most importantly, Naruto seems to have no regrets. Even though his counterpart in this world still chose to defect, they haven't truly severed ties. Even without having seen his counterpart in this world, he'd bet that guy didn't rip a hole in Naruto's chest, utter a bunch of heartless words, and abandon him at the Valley of the End without looking back.

If the price of reaching this wonderful world is his own demise, he would accept it willingly.

"Spacetime includes both time and space, and changing the future is by no means a 'minor impact.' Don't do anything foolish if you're at the bottom of the pack."

Sasuke was smiling. Seeing that smile, Naruto became even angrier, so angry he wanted to punch him! On certain matters, they understood each other perfectly with just a glance or a few words. He saw through Sasuke's decision and was absolutely unwilling to compromise.

“This isn’t just about you. It concerns the whole world. You can read it all before you make a decision.”

Communication within the spiritual realm allows one to escape the rules of the world. Naruto had forgotten that Fugaku and Izuna's Mangekyou Sharingan couldn't break through his defenses, and hoped that Sasuke might change his mind. However, Tsukuyomi was indeed activated, but its goal wasn't to manipulate his mind or try to communicate with him; rather, it was to trap him.

Naruto, who had never been troubled since arriving here, witnessed an incomprehensible sight. His calm sea of ​​consciousness suddenly turned from blue to red, and the bright sun became a black full moon. Even though his mind had never wavered, he was plunged straight into the world of Tsukuyomi.

Why? How can Sasuke's Tsukuyomi work? And why does it work in such an illogical way? He didn't even feel any change in his chakra flow. Could this also be an illusion created by Tsukuyomi?

Naruto instinctively looked towards the sea, but the blood-red water couldn't reflect a clear human figure. He saw a pitch-black shadow, and that shadow opened its eyes, the scarlet six-pointed star pattern eerily chilling in the darkness. But Naruto wasn't afraid. He lunged at the water, trying to grab the shadow, but the splashing waves only blurred everything. Finally, desire overcame reason and the subconscious repulsion, and Naruto's feet slipped, plunging into the sea of ​​consciousness.

"This is the first time I've seen him fall under a genjutsu." Jiraiya didn't overreact to Sasuke's act of taking down Naruto. "I guess you don't intend for me to remember this?"

His response was a pair of eyes flashing red, and Sasuke activated a genjutsu without even explaining. A person from another world, someone from the future, must be Naruto's secret, and he wouldn't let even his closest confidants escape.

“Sasuke-san…you look a little scary right now.” Boruto hugged the turtle, trying to minimize his presence, but this was probably the only time in his life he had ever clearly observed Sasuke-san’s eyes. Those legendary cursed eyes were breathtakingly beautiful.

When he opened his eyes again, he and Sasuke had hidden behind a tree. They watched as their friends, who were much slower to arrive, surrounded Naruto and Jiraiya before leaving with peace of mind.

The portal to another time and space was no longer a novelty. Boruto, hands in his pockets, sighed with emotion, "Dad was so funny when he was little. All that 'I was much more sensible when I was your age' stuff, that's just nonsense! Even Jiraiya seemed to..."

Boruto kept rambling on and on, while Sasuke remained silent until they finally reached the end of their journey.

"All the confirmed Otsutsuki clan members have been eliminated, right?" His Naruto stood with his hands on his hips, looking at him with a relaxed smile.

"Correct."

"Although I don't feel it at all, since you said so, it must be true."

"Thank you for your hard work, Sasuke!"

The adult's smile completely overlapped with that of a certain little fox. This guy, hasn't he changed at all?

Where Naruto couldn't see, Sasuke slowly closed his eyes.

No matter which world you're in, live on, Naruto.