Fourth Shinobi World War Sasuke looked over at the brother from another world.
In the mission scroll world, Itachi Uchiha wasn't even eighteen yet, about the same age as Sasuke Uchiha, and the two of them were roughly the same height.
In Fourth Shinobi World War Sasuke's memories, the Itachi who tapped his forehead and told him it was the last time looked just like this too—wearing simple gray-blue shinobi clothes, with blood-colored tears running from beneath his eyelids.
He opened his Mangekyō Sharingan and entered Itachi Uchiha's inner world, experiencing the illusion Itachi had experienced.
The people of Konoha had long since watched what happened between Sasuke and Itachi. Toward Itachi, who had been forced to accept the higher-ups' orders in order to protect Konoha, their feelings were complicated beyond words.
They were also worried about this young man who liked sweets, yet still had to endure their criticism even after death.
Now, as they looked at the Uchiha, they no longer felt like the clan was so hard to approach.
They used to think the Uchiha were arrogant and overbearing, selfish and lacking any sense of unity—and that at any moment, another Madara Uchiha could appear and lead the Nine-Tails to attack Konoha.
But after experiencing the illusion, when they themselves became part of the Uchiha…
Only then, standing in the Uchiha's position, could they clearly see how Konoha's shinobi had pushed them out and isolated them.
The Uchiha felt the same way.
Back then, they believed Konoha had isolated them, so rebelling and plotting against the village… wasn't that something that could be forgiven? They only wanted to take back the honor, power, and place the Uchiha originally had, didn't they?
And yet…
After living through Naruto Uzumaki's life.
That boy, who should have had the status of the Fourth Hokage's son, had been made to grow up alone from the very beginning because of Madara Uchiha and Obito Uchiha.
Compared to how Konoha had excluded Naruto Uzumaki, the doubts the Uchiha suffered were barely even worth calling "exclusion."
And yet in that kind of hardship, having understood the pain of the human heart from childhood, Naruto Uzumaki still carved out a path of rising up—until all of Konoha, the entire shinobi world, sincerely called him a hero.
In doing so, it was as if the Uchiha finally saw another road for themselves. It gave them somewhere to go, and the courage to work hard and prove themselves the way Naruto Uzumaki had.
Child Sasuke searched for the idiot dead-last who was two months younger than him, only to find that idiot had already dashed over first.
Sasuke had been thinking he'd treat that dead-last a little better from now on, but then Naruto blurted out:
"Sasuke! You and your brother have to live properly!! You and your brother are still so young! You haven't eaten really good ramen, and you haven't even experienced what a kiss feels like! If you die now, that's just too pitiful!!"
The smile that had been rising at the corner of Sasuke's mouth visibly dropped.
His intention to be nicer to the dead-last instantly flipped into something else. He raised his right hand and, with furious energy, unleashed the Uchiha family's inherited forehead-poking technique, giving Naruto a "dynamic lesson."
Who said he'd never eaten good ramen?! Who said he'd never kissed anyone!!!
Mikoto Uchiha wore a baffled smile.
Young Naruto, Fugaku Uchiha, and several Obito Uchiha from other parallel worlds who'd lived through similar scenes all twitched at the corners of their mouths.
Watching Child Sasuke 'bully' Child Naruto, the baffled Adult Kakashi asked Adult Obito beside him, "What happened? Sasuke's face is so red."
"..."
Adult Obito had no words. He flicked a glance at the masked Kakashi Hatake next to him.
"He's mad. Probably."
Both versions of Kakashi Hatake, young and old, thought it over and over, but neither could figure out how this era's Child Naruto had managed to make Child Sasuke that furious.
Like the people of Konoha, Teenage Sasuke—who had lived through the lives of Sasuke Uchiha and Itachi Uchiha—finally snapped back to himself too.
He watched his brother: blood tears running from his eyes, looking like he was in agony, yet still unable to come out of the illusion. No matter how conflicted he felt, he couldn't hold back his worry.
He wanted to activate his Sharingan and enter his brother's inner world, to see what he was experiencing.
But Adult Obito stopped him.
"Your Mangekyō just awakened. Forcing it right now won't do you any good later."
Teenage Sasuke still hadn't forgotten what he'd seen in the illusion: the masked man killing Itachi's comrades, forcing Sasuke's Sharingan to awaken, then slaughtering the Uchiha Police Force.
"Smack!" He knocked away the hand blocking him and tried to barge into the illusion Itachi was experiencing.
Adult Obito didn't say anything else.
But who would've thought that the moment Teenage Sasuke glared out his Sharingan, about to force his way into Itachi's illusion…
Itachi Uchiha had already come out.
Fourth Shinobi World War Sasuke didn't say a word, head lowered, no one knowing what he'd just been through.
Relations between the Uchiha and Konoha had improved. Over the course of a month, the mission scroll world's young Naruto, the young Obito from the Kannabi Bridge era, and this world's young Itachi Uchiha and Shisui Uchiha had gone around making appeals, one by one, inside the Uchiha clan and within Konoha.
All the emotion they'd poured into those conversations hadn't been wasted.
Inside the illusion built by Fourth Shinobi World War Sasuke and the mission scroll, the walls between Konoha and the Uchiha had already been broken down. From here on out, as long as both sides acted together, a future far from the illusion's outcome would definitely appear.
Everyone's bodies began to turn transparent. They were about to return to the mission scroll world.
Child Sasuke finally stopped poking Naruto's forehead and looked at the people who'd been staying in his home these past days. He knew they'd avoided the tragic ending because of these people.
Child Naruto, of course, couldn't bear to part with Fourth Shinobi World War Sasuke, who'd lived with him these days. He took two quick steps forward, looking pitiful no matter how you looked at him.
Child Sasuke grabbed him by the collar and hauled him back.
"What are you staring at?! In a few years, I'll look like that!"
Child Naruto kicked his short legs, demanding Sasuke let go. Child Sasuke told him to behave, or he'd beat him up. Child Naruto refused to back down and said they should pick a place and fight.
Fourth Shinobi World War Sasuke watched their bickering calmly, then turned to Minato Namikaze.
"I'll be returning to the parallel world that belongs to me, right?"
The Kannabi Bridge Minato he was speaking to nodded.
"I think so."
Kakashi, standing nearby, glanced subtly at the two Minato-sensei from different parallel worlds. Both of them seemed very certain that Sasuke from the future would go back.
It felt like there was something he was missing…
After they'd all said their goodbyes to this world and their bodies completely disappeared into the white light, Kakashi Hatake pieced all the information back together…
And for some reason, when it came to the mission scroll, it felt like Minato-sensei could "predict" far too many things.
On the other side, just as Minato Namikaze had confirmed, Fourth Shinobi World War Sasuke finally returned to his own era.
He reappeared at the Valley of the End. It was broad daylight, but he couldn't tell how long it had been since that day.
He jumped up to higher ground and looked down.
It was exactly like what they'd seen when they left the illusion.
Hashirama Senju…
Madara Uchiha…
The Seal of Confrontation really had turned into the Seal of Reconciliation, like a miracle.
Even the bloodstains were exactly the same.
Only… he was gone, and so was the other figure that should've been lying there on the stone.
Naruto?
Where was Naruto?!
Where the hell was that idiot?!!
He whipped his head around in panic. The whole world felt dead and silent.
Sasuke Uchiha wasn't calm the way he usually looked. Or maybe he'd never truly been calm at all—just good at hiding it behind his face.
Deep down, he knew that when something really happened, he was even more impulsive than Naruto.
So…
"Stop messing with me! Come out!"
He threw his head back and roared. The violet Susanoo's feet touched down, and its massive wings carried Sasuke Uchiha up into the sky, an after image flashing behind him.
Once he was airborne, there was only one place he could think of.
Konoha.
The gigantic Susanoo slammed down hard when he arrived, the impact anything but small.
Sakura Haruno and Kakashi came running as soon as they heard the commotion.
The moment they saw Sasuke Uchiha, both of them froze in shock.
"Sasuke?!"
"Sasuke-kun?!!"
Sasuke Uchiha—one Mangekyō and one Rinnegan—stared at them.
"Sakura and Kakashi…"
He forced himself to steady his breathing. If they were here in Konoha, then that meant…
"Why didn't you come back sooner?!"
"Where did you go?!"
The first was Sakura Haruno, her voice trembling with tears. The second was Kakashi, his reprimand heavy and cold.
When Sasuke saw Sakura glaring at him through tears, his heart dropped.
"Where's Naruto?"
Sakura and Kakashi both turned their heads away at the same time, one to each side.
They answered him with the same thing.
Silence.
For a moment, Sasuke felt so afraid he almost forgot how to breathe.
"I asked you where Naruto is?!"
"Where is he?!!"
Sakura dropped into a squat and started crying.
Kakashi turned back with a deep furrow in his brow. Without Obito's Sharingan, his dark eyes looked even sharper as they locked onto Sasuke.
"Sasuke, do you even know how long you've been gone?"