From Uzumaki Naruto's point of view, everyone finally understood what had happened.
Twenty years ago, in the Land of Wind, there had been an ancient city called Roran. It had citizens. It had a queen. It had a real country attached to it, even if it was small.
The girl singing at the beginning was the current queen of Roran.
And the regent, Anrokuzan, was Mukade.
What no one could wrap their head around was how Mukade had become a regent in this tiny city-state when, to them, it felt like he had arrived only moments ago. It looked like years had passed.
On-screen, after Naruto saved Queen Basasha, he finally had a chance to talk properly with the three Konoha shinobi who had come with Namikaze Minato.
"I really didn't want to say this," Minato said, voice calm. "But since it's come to this, I'll explain what I can."
As he spoke, he removed his mask. Behind him, Aburame Shibi and Akimichi Choza took off theirs as well.
"We accepted a classified mission and came here from Konoha. And you're right, this isn't the Roran you know. If I'm thinking correctly, then you're someone who came here from the future."
"The future?" Naruto repeated, staring at him. "You mean the future?"
His brain stalled out. For a second, he honestly could not process the words.
Minato nodded. "The reason I didn't want to tell you is because if someone from the future becomes entangled with this era, the flow of time can change dramatically. Compared to your time, this place is about twenty years earlier. And six years ago, another shinobi came here from the future, just like you. He arrived suddenly. His name was Mukade."
"What?" Naruto shouted. "We're chasing Mukade right now!"
He grabbed his head like his thoughts were trying to explode out of his skull.
"What is going on? I'm totally lost!"
"What happened to you?" Minato asked, still steady. "Tell me. There might be clues in it."
Naruto tried to remember clearly, forcing the chaos into order.
"We chased Mukade all the way to the Dragon Vein… and he swallowed the sealing formula into his body, then…"
He trailed off, frustrated at how hard it was to explain the moment it all went wrong.
Minato's eyes narrowed slightly in thought. "So you and Mukade both used space-time ninjutsu to move backward from the future into this point in time."
"I still don't get it," Naruto said, panic creeping into his voice. "Does that mean I can't go back?"
Minato nodded once, then added, "If what you said is true, if he swallowed the formula into his body, then defeating Mukade should restore time to its original course. You might be able to return to the future. Either way, we have to defeat him quickly. If we don't, the era itself will become even more twisted."
Naruto blinked hard, then his eyes widened.
"Wait… I just remembered. Your face," he said, staring at Minato. "I swear I've seen it somewhere."
He pointed at him, voice rising with certainty.
"You look exactly like the Fourth Hokage on the big statue."
"That's ridiculous," Aburame Shibi said flatly. "Right now, the Hokage line only goes up to the Third."
Akimichi Choza glanced between them. "But this kid is from the future."
Minato's expression sharpened. "Stop talking about the future. The more you know, the more history changes. The Dragon Vein's power is sleeping under Roran. Mukade is using it to develop puppet weapons."
The moment Minato accused Mukade like that, Queen Basasha, who had been rescued and had been standing there in stunned silence, snapped back immediately. She clearly did not believe a word of it.
After that, she turned and ran off, hurried and angry.
Outside the video, Jiraiya let out a breath that sounded half like a laugh and half like awe.
"Minato… seriously," he murmured. "Perfect shinobi. He heard a few details and already pieced together that much."
Steady from start to finish.
"Sensei's still the same," Hatake Kakashi said quietly, unable to stop himself. "Reliable."
Everything was organized. Everything was handled cleanly.
Back when he was on Minato's team, Kakashi only had to fight. He barely had to think.
"The Fourth Hokage…" Uchiha Itachi's gaze dimmed. "He died too young. If he were still alive, the Uchiha Clan wouldn't have ended up like this."
His thoughts drifted to the Nine-Tails incident.
He had been small then, barely in the academy.
He remembered running with an even smaller Sasuke in his arms, the air thick with the Nine-Tails' violent chakra.
It had felt like the end of the world.
"That's the Fourth Hokage?"
Uchiha Sasuke stared at the screen, trying to force the handsome man in front of him to overlap with the carved face he had seen in the village.
Just hearing Minato speak made Sasuke think, This guy is dependable.
So how did someone that calm and strong end up with a kid like Naruto, loud and reckless and nothing like him?
Everyone's thoughts tangled, and the video kept revealing more.
Mukade had arrived six years earlier than Naruto by pure chance. Using the Dragon Vein's power, he had built a magnificent city out of nothing in the middle of the desert.
He had killed Sara's mother.
Then he tried to hollow Sara out, to turn her into a puppet queen, and finally to replace her completely. He planned to control the country through puppets, build a puppet army, and use it to conquer the world.
When his scheme was exposed, Mukade began hunting them down.
To buy time for Roran's civilians to escape, Naruto fought him head-on. But he had already had too much chakra drained from him in the earlier fight. Now he could barely stay standing.
Outside the video, everyone's heart clenched.
"Dead-last," Sasuke muttered under his breath, almost like he was cursing himself for caring. "Don't you dare lose to a guy like that."
At the last possible moment, Namikaze Minato appeared again and pulled Naruto out of danger.
Father and son fought together. Their Rasengan merged into a single technique, forming the Supreme Ultimate Rasengan, and they blasted Mukade out of his massive puppet body.
But as he died, Mukade tried to destroy the Dragon Vein itself. The entire structure began to collapse. Minato, Naruto, and Sara were about to fall into molten lava when Yamato arrived and used Wood Release to save them.
And Yamato did not come alone.
He brought someone everyone recognized.
"Kakashi?"
"Kakashi-senpai?"
"Kakashi-sensei?"
"And that's… me?"
Hatake Kakashi stared at the silver-haired boy on the screen.
It was him. His younger self.
If it was twenty years ago, then he should have been around ten. About the same age as Team 7 was now.
The difference was that back then, he had been a Chunin for years already, while Team 7 had only just graduated.
Kakashi racked his brain, but there was nothing. No memory. Not even a flicker.
That made no sense.
If he had taken part in this mission, if he had met Naruto from the future, he could not possibly have forgotten it completely.
With the place still collapsing, Minato stepped forward and told Naruto to take out the Flying Thunder God kunai he had given him earlier.
"Give me the Flying Thunder God kunai I gave you. I'm going to seal the Dragon Vein completely."
Minato moved in, using Uzumaki Clan sealing techniques to lock the Dragon Vein's power away.
The structure, which had been moments from total collapse, stabilized.
Then everyone noticed it.
Light began to bloom around Naruto and Yamato.
"The formula's restored," Minato said softly. "Time has returned to its normal path. Looks like you're going back to your era."
He glanced at the young Kakashi too, voice warm with approval. "Kakashi, you completed your mission as well."
"Kakashi-sensei?" Naruto stared at the kid in front of him, like his brain refused to accept it. He could not connect this short, sharp little boy to the future Konoha's Number One Technician, Hatake Kakashi.
Young Kakashi puffed up a little, proud in the way only a kid could be.
"I saved this Konoha shinobi too," he said. "He passed out at the gates of Roran like a total loser."
Before he could finish, Yamato smacked him hard on the back of the head.
"Ow! Why'd you hit me?" Kakashi yelped, clutching his skull, offended and furious all at once.
Yamato's mouth twitched, like he had been waiting years for that moment. "Nothing. I just… couldn't help it."
Then he walked up to Minato, posture straight, eyes bright.
"It's an honor to meet you!"
Outside the video, Kakashi rolled his eyes so hard it almost hurt.
"Yamato, seriously…"
Watching Yamato bully his younger self was ridiculous.
Still… had he bullied Yamato back then?
He could not remember.
Probably not.
He was a good person. A heroic type. There was no way he went around bullying people.
"Captain Yamato," Naruto asked quickly, "you know him?"
Yamato did not get the chance to answer.
Minato cut in immediately, voice gentle but firm. "I'm sorry, but it's time to say goodbye. To avoid changing history, it's better if we all forget what happened here. I've already set a formula that will erase our memories of each other. Is that alright?"
Outside the video, Jiraiya let out a heavy sigh.
So it really was exactly what he had guessed.
This was how it had to go.
"No, wait," Naruto shouted, suddenly desperate. "You promised. Before that, you said you'd listen to what I had to say!"
Minato continued forming the hand signs, his expression calm even as he acted. "I will. Just not now. We'll have another chance to meet."
"How is that fair?" Naruto's voice cracked. "I've got so much I want to say. If I don't say it now, I'll never get to!"
Minato looked at him, and the look in his eyes made it feel like he already understood more than Naruto had said.
"Someday," Minato said quietly, "I'll listen to everything you want to tell me."
Then he completed the formula and shouted, "Erase!"
"Wait, big brother… big brother, are you…"
Naruto finally understood. The truth hit him all at once.
His hands trembled as he tried to force the words out.
[A/N: Enjoying the story? You can read more chapters early and support me here:patreon.com/Aeroscissors]