"Do you know how long you've been gone, Sasuke?"
Kakashi's question caught Sasuke completely off guard.
After the Fourth Shinobi World War, he had fought Naruto for an entire day and night. He thought he had died, only to be pulled into another parallel world instead.
He stayed there for a while, then traveled to a world set on the eve of the Uchiha massacre, where he remained for no less than a month...
Even with the power of the Rinnegan, such as Amenotejikara, he had no way to return from that parallel world on his own. All he could do was wait until the mission scroll deemed the task complete, at which point he would be sent back to this world.
According to what he'd learned, he had become the reward for a C-rank mission on that world's scroll. Because of that, when he returned, he wasn't placed back at the exact moment he left. Instead, the time difference matched the amount of time he had spent in the other worlds.
Roughly speaking, more than a month had passed.
"Where's Naruto?"
Sasuke asked the question for the third time.
Kakashi heard the urgency in his voice.
His gaze fell on Sasuke's intact left arm, then drifted to the memory of how Naruto had looked when he and Sakura found him that day.
His expression darkened further.
"Naruto believes he killed you by mistake," Kakashi said in a low, heavy voice. "After losing you—the most important person to him—and being unable to break the Infinite Tsukuyomi to save those trapped inside..."
His voice dropped even lower.
"Without companions. Without a goal. Even the dream of becoming Hokage no longer matters to him."
In Kakashi's mind appeared the image of Naruto lying in a hospital bed, staring quietly out the window day and night, so still that there was almost no sign of life left in him. His blond hair had lost its shine, stubble creeping along his jaw. He looked so haggard it made Kakashi's chest ache, and it had driven Sakura to tears time and time again.
But there was nothing either of them could do.
"Naruto… he's… dead…"
When Kakashi said "dead," he didn't mean literal death. He meant the Naruto of the present—an empty shell, confined to a hospital bed, his arm injuries healing painfully slowly, his entire demeanor devoid of desire or will. It was agonizing to watch.
But to Sasuke Uchiha, those words carried an entirely different meaning.
He swayed, nearly losing his footing.
In that instant, his legs felt too weak to support his body. The world dimmed, spinning into darkness with no direction left to grasp.
"Impossible! He's the future Seventh Hokage! He can't be dead!!"
Sakura froze, unable to understand why Sasuke-kun was so absolutely certain.
She looked him over carefully. His clothes were intact, his left hand covered by a black glove similar to the ones worn by Obito and Madara. There was no sign of exhaustion from a great battle. Everything about him seemed perfectly fine...
"I don't know what kind of strange experience you've been through," Kakashi said calmly, "or why you're so convinced of this. But forty full days have passed since that day..."
The unspoken implication was clear. In that amount of time, anything could have happened.
More importantly, those trapped within the God Tree neither ate nor drank. There was no way anyone could survive forty days like that.
The scene he had experienced within the illusion—reconciling with Naruto, forming hand seals together to break the Infinite Tsukuyomi, everyone simply waking up as if from a long dream—would never happen.
Even if Naruto were still alive, even if the two of them managed to undo the Infinite Tsukuyomi, what the God Tree released would likely be nothing more than White Zetsu.
Naruto's dream would end there.
And besides… that guy had already—
After Itachi's death, the moment he learned the truth from "Madara," the pain had crashed down on him so violently that even breathing became difficult.
Scenes flickered through his mind like a revolving lantern, all of them moments from Naruto's life he had personally experienced within the illusion.
[I'll break your arms and legs if I have to, but I'll drag you back with me, Sasuke!]
Their first battle at the Valley of the End.
[If giving up on friends is the smart choice, then I'll be a fool for the rest of my life!]
Betting everything he had on Sasuke Uchiha.
[Don't talk about Sasuke like he belongs to you!!!]
The Nine-Tails' power going berserk, attacking Sakura, his entire body scorched by the Nine-Tails' corrosive chakra.
[If I can't even save one friend, what right do I have to become Hokage, right, Sasuke?]
No matter how many times he was pushed away, he never gave up on that idiot.
[I can't betray Sasuke. If you're angry, you can hit me first to let it out.]
[Please, revoke the order to hunt Sasuke down!!]
[So this is the truth about Itachi… How much pain Sasuke must be in right now...]
Beaten by Kumogakure ninja. Kneeling before the Raikage. Hyperventilating, curled up in agony in the snow.
All those things Naruto had once lived through in his own consciousness now replayed as memories seen from a third-person perspective...
'Why are you so obsessed with me?! Wouldn't it be better if you just gave up on me already?!'
'Because we're probably each other's one and only friend.'
—Sasuke, seeing you carry such a heavy burden, lost and unable to find your way, my heart hurts just as much. I don't even know why. It just hurts… it hurts so much…
"My eyes… they hurt…"
But my heart hurt even more.
'Naruto, I'm leaving my brother in your care.'
'Yeah! That was my plan from the start!!'
—Sasuke, no matter what choices you make in the future, I will always love you.
"Brother… I regret it… what should I do…"
...
"!!!!"
Sakura and Kakashi stared in shock at the Sasuke Uchiha standing across from them.
"His eyes!!"
"Rinnegan?!"
Sasuke Uchiha's Eternal Mangekyō Sharingan had evolved through his own power into the same Rinnegan as Madara Uchiha's!!
"Impossible!" Kakashi blurted out. "Sasuke doesn't have the First Hokage-sama's cells. He shouldn't be able to awaken the Rinnegan!"
No, it was simply that neither he nor Sakura knew.
Back in the world of the mission scroll, Sasuke Uchiha had already obtained the First Hokage's Hashirama cells under the persuasion of Itachi Uchiha and the young Naruto, along with White Zetsu components capable of neutralizing those cells!!
So he already met all the conditions necessary to awaken the Rinnegan!
And the most crucial one was…
Despair!!
At this moment, Sasuke Uchiha finally understood just how terrifying and hopeless the world became after even Naruto Uzumaki had abandoned him.
The sudden turn of events left Kakashi and Sakura completely stunned.
Afraid that Sasuke might misunderstand, both of them hurriedly waved their hands to stop him.
"Wait! Wait, Sasuke!"
"When I said Naruto was dead, I meant his heart is dead! He's still alive!"
Kakashi hurriedly explained. Sasuke, who had just sensed the awakening of the Rinnegan, froze on the spot, his stiff, awkward expression looking absurdly comical.
It was exactly like the look on Madara Uchiha's face when he excitedly said, 'I've waited a long time for you, Hashirama!' and was answered with, 'Just you wait.'
Sakura Haruno spoke rapidly, her words tumbling over one another.
"When we found Naruto, you were gone! Naruto thought he'd accidentally killed you. He's been drowning in guilt and pain, and now he has no interest in anything at all!!"
After finishing, she couldn't help asking again,
"Where exactly have you been all this time?!"
"It's not something I can explain in a few words," Sasuke Uchiha said. "Just tell me where Naruto is!!"
He couldn't clearly describe what he was feeling right now. If he had to, it was an impatience that refused to wait even a single second, an overwhelming urge to see the Naruto Uzumaki of his world.
Sakura wanted to say more, but after everything she had experienced, she no longer trusted Sasuke Uchiha as she once did. She was afraid he might hurt the Naruto of the present.
Kakashi raised a hand to stop her and said to Sasuke,
"He's at Konoha Hospital. But with the entire world trapped in the Infinite Tsukuyomi, medical conditions are extremely limited."
It was like the end of the world. Thankfully, Sakura was a medical-nin.
Even so, there was nothing she could do about Naruto's severed arm.
That information alone was enough for Sasuke Uchiha. He immediately rushed toward Konoha Hospital.
Kakashi and Sakura exchanged a glance before quickly following after him.
Only when they arrived did Sasuke realize he had forgotten to ask for the room number.
Even the Rinnegan was far less useful than an ordinary Byakugan when it came to things like this.
Kakashi sighed, thinking about his own fate with Obito, and Sasuke's fate with Naruto, then told him the ward number where Naruto was staying.
As Sasuke sprinted toward Naruto Uzumaki's hospital room, a familiar sense of tension clenched his heart, as though this moment had happened before.
Vaguely, it felt as if he had returned to the days just after the Chūnin Exams had ended.
From Kakashi Hatake and Might Guy, he learned that Sasuke Uchiha had returned, and that Naruto Uzumaki was still his target.
Back then, just like now, he had been consumed by fear, desperate to confirm that Naruto wasn't dead, that he was still alive…
Even after learning the full truth, the scene he had witnessed at the age of seven had likely become an unhealable shadow that would follow him for the rest of his life.
He had once thought that even if he destroyed everything with his own hands, it would be better than seeing that scene again.
But things were never that simple. In the end, just like Madara Uchiha, he himself had been the most naïve one.
"Naruto!"
The door was pushed open, and light spilled through the crack, illuminating the dim corridor.
Sasuke Uchiha felt as if his heart had leapt straight up to his throat.
The person sitting on the hospital bed had only a short, bald stump where his right arm should have been. He clearly hadn't slept for days. Dark circles weighed heavily beneath his eyes, his cheeks sunken, his exhaustion impossible to hide.
"Sa… suke…?"
Dry lips parted as he stared at the figure in the doorway, surprise slipping out with the sound.
The two locked eyes for a few seconds, until Sakura Haruno and Kakashi Hatake caught up from behind.
"I'm still alive, you super idiot."
"You bastard, you scared me to death!!"
Once it fully sank in, Naruto sprang up and threw a punch!
But because he still wasn't used to using his left hand, the arm he swung at Sasuke was nothing more than a short stump. All that could be seen was his shoulder lifting, and after about the length of a palm, there was nothing but the empty hospital gown.
The half-thrown "punch" stopped in midair.
The atmosphere grew painfully heavy.
Naruto forced a stiff, awkward smile as he rubbed the back of his head with his left hand.
"Looks like you're still stronger than me. I lost."
He had no idea what kind of turmoil was raging inside Sasuke's chest at that moment, nor how badly Sasuke's throat ached.
"No…"
Hearing Sasuke's quiet murmur, Naruto froze.
"You won. The one destined to lose was me."
At that moment, Sasuke finally understood that what he had lost wasn't strength…
It was his heart.
It was…
***
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