What Obito Uchiha had just said was no different from a coal mine owner declaring, "Sure, I only finished elementary school, but even someone with a graduate degree would still have to work for me."
It made Adult Kakashi, an elite jōnin, want to smack him across the back of the head.
The person who wanted to beat him even more than Adult Kakashi was Shisui Uchiha, who had learned the whole truth from Itachi.
Their incompatibility was no joke. Between the two of them, the entire Uchiha Clan soon learned that these two geniuses of the younger generation were at odds.
All Fugaku Uchiha could do was sit at home with a newspaper and sigh.
Itachi and Kakashi clearly got along well, despite being superior and subordinate in the ANBU. Yet whenever Shisui and Obito met, they acted like sworn enemies.
Shisui was usually warm and easygoing, but he singled out Obito Uchiha for hostility. Obito knew he was in the wrong, so he generally endured it.
But whenever he could no longer hold back, he would clash head-on with Shisui. Their fights would start inside the Uchiha clan grounds and continue all the way beyond Konoha, and no one dared step in to stop them.
"You make it sound so easy!" Sakura complained indignantly.
Naruto nodded vigorously in agreement.
"You were supposed to be a Chūnin, but after the world changed, you somehow became one of Konoha's elite jōnin! Of course you can't understand how it feels to be declared Genin when we didn't even get to finish our exams, dattebayo!"
With his arms folded and his cheeks puffed out, Naruto made the dissatisfaction he shared with Sasuke and Sakura perfectly clear.
Adult Obito looked awkward for a moment before trying to bribe him.
"Finish that A-rank mission, and I'll treat the three of you to ramen. The deluxe set. Deal?"
"Tch. You're just spending Kakashi-sensei's money!"
"Like hell I am! That's all my money! I was the mastermind behind Akatsuki and the Fourth Mizukage of Kirigakure, and now I'm an elite jōnin of Konoha. That money belongs to me!"
Obito bristled, apparently very sensitive to being called a freeloader.
"Really?"
Adult Kakashi was secretly pleased that his three students had taken his side.
"It's true. The money is all Obito's."
Kakashi was notoriously tightfisted. Not even Obito Uchiha could pluck a single feather from that iron rooster.
Naruto and the others were still unhappy, but there was nothing they could do now.
Hashirama Senju had never tried Konoha's Ramen Ichiraku. After hearing Naruto praise it so often, he had started craving it himself. He stretched and told Madara to finish this quickly so they could all go try it.
He also invited the brothers Indra and Ashura.
Naturally, the younger brothers Tobirama and Izuna would be coming too.
Madara Uchiha was not usually interested in such childish things. Then he remembered how, inside the Konoha in Young Obito's Kamui's Dimension, his three younger brothers had wanted to try the ramen Naruto constantly praised. They had been forced to give up because the shop had no owner.
For no particular reason, Madara suddenly wanted to taste the ramen on his brothers' behalf, so he readily agreed.
Naruto punched one fist into his palm, eager to begin.
"Then Sasuke and I will go first! We'll do what Kurama taught us and send our chakra and consciousness to each other while forming the Seal of Reconciliation. Once the mission is complete, we'll all go eat ramen! Obito's treating everyone!"
"Huh?!" Adult Obito exclaimed. "I never said I'd treat this many people!"
Kakashi patted him on the shoulder.
"You have plenty of money now, and you don't even know what to spend it on, right? We'll leave the bill to you, Obito."
"Wait, wait, wait! You've completed more than forty S-rank missions, haven't you? And at least three hundred A-rank missions! You're no poorer than I am!"
"Of course I can't compare to the former mastermind behind Akatsuki. Besides..."
Kakashi paused.
"I spent more than ten years visiting a fake grave. Offerings cost a lot of money too."
The miserly Kakashi nearly died of heartache just thinking about it.
That single sentence left Obito Uchiha, the Masked Man, completely speechless.
Madara Uchiha was standing nearby. Since this concerned the younger generation, it was not his place to interfere, but...
When it came to manipulating people, Kakashi Hatake was unmatched.
Did this little brat have no shame?!!
Kakashi: "Are you paying?"
Obito: "I'm paying. I'll pay for everyone. No matter how many people come, I'll cover it."
Kakashi: "Good boy."
Madara Uchiha: Never mind. He had no shame.
Team Minato and Team Kakashi were equally speechless.
Young Obito in particular was suffering from secondhand embarrassment so intense that he wanted to cover his head with a book and disappear. Any book except Kakashi's Icha Icha Paradise.
Naruto and Sasuke then stood between the enormous statues of Madara Uchiha and Hashirama Senju. Their chakra control had already become so refined that the raging waterfall beneath their feet could not disrupt them at all.
After traveling through so many parallel worlds, they had both witnessed the entire lives of "Naruto Uzumaki" and "Sasuke Uchiha."
Their families had also returned, filling the emptiness that had once existed inside Naruto Uzumaki and Sasuke Uchiha.
When they hooked their fingers together and formed the Seal of Reconciliation, their chakra carried their memories, thoughts, and wills into each other's bodies far more easily than expected.
Ever since childhood, they had been drawn to each other. They would watch the other's back, yet neither dared approach and say hello.
Eventually, they began mistaking that mutual attraction for a desire to make each other miserable.
There was the night of the Uchiha Clan Massacre that Sasuke had witnessed and the rejection Naruto had endured throughout his childhood.
As they formed the Seal of Reconciliation, they seemed to return to their younger days. Countless people passed around them, but not one stopped for either boy.
Only Naruto and Sasuke noticed each other.
Naruto never gave up. He worked tirelessly to earn the acknowledgment of others, and more people were gradually drawn to his energy.
Sasuke was reserved. He hid most of his thoughts in his heart and rarely shared them with anyone. Over time, he became like a flower blooming on a distant peak, something to admire from afar but never approach.
There was no right or wrong personality, yet personality could determine the course of an entire life.
That was why "Sasuke Uchiha" walked into darkness, while "Naruto Uzumaki" walked toward the light.
"If I can't even bring back one of my comrades, then how could I ever become Hokage?"
"I can't give you any information about Sasuke, but I understand the pain of having your teacher killed. Until I find another solution, you can beat me up to vent your anger."
"Please! Withdraw the order to hunt Sasuke! I'm begging you, Raikage!"
"It would be best if Sasuke returned to Konoha. But suppose he believed someone else's lies, refused to return, and even tried to destroy Konoha. Would you kill Sasuke to protect Konoha, or abandon your dream of becoming Hokage and all your former comrades to protect him?"
"I won't choose between them! I won't give up on Sasuke or any of my other comrades!"
"Naruto! Calm down! Breathe!"
"He's hyperventilating! Relax, Naruto!"
"Forget it, Naruto. Our promise from back then is over. You don't need to keep chasing after Sasuke."
"Do you really mean that, Sakura?! I won't give up on Sasuke. Never!"
"Sasuke, if we truly have no choice but to fight, then I'll face you prepared to die with you."
"What am I to you?!"
"You're my friend. Well, honestly, I don't completely understand the feeling myself. But when I see you suffering alone, unable to find your way, I hurt too. It hurts so badly that I can't bear it."
The two of them had already seen each other's memories from the lives of "Naruto Uzumaki" and "Sasuke Uchiha" that they had experienced inside the illusion.
Those memories contained more than Naruto's relentless pursuit of Sasuke. They also revealed many of "Sasuke Uchiha's" deepest thoughts.
For example, when Itachi came to Konoha searching for "the Fourth Hokage's legacy," Naruto could clearly feel "Sasuke Uchiha's" fear of his brother.
Sasuke feared that the older brother he had once loved so deeply would once again destroy the bonds he had finally managed to regain.
In the end, Sasuke could not escape the Uchiha curse either. He was terrified of losing what mattered most to him.
When that fear reached its limit, it gave rise to an extremely dangerous and twisted thought. Perhaps it would be better to destroy the thing most precious to him himself, because then he would no longer need to fear losing it.
Because of his own childhood experiences, Naruto was better at viewing problems with empathy.
He suddenly realized that if Sasuke had suffered from thoughts like these, then perhaps the young man named Indra and Madara Uchiha had also been tormented by the same fear.
After releasing the Seal of Reconciliation, Naruto and Sasuke smiled at each other in mutual understanding before asking the Nine-Tails whether that was enough.
[Hmph! I don't understand you humans' feelings. As long as the two of you believe you understand each other, that should be enough. Madara Uchiha and Hashirama Senju are next.]
Unlike Naruto and Sasuke, who had faced each other openly, Madara and Hashirama were so awkward they looked ready to die from embarrassment.
They had fought each other for most of their lives. Now they had been resurrected, only to be pushed into reconciling by their juniors.
It was not only Madara. Even Hashirama Senju felt slightly embarrassed.
"Hahaha. These two statues Tobirama had carved are certainly distinctive."
He had already begun making pointless small talk.
Madara Uchiha snorted.
"Your brother clearly had bad intentions."
"Madara, you're far too prejudiced against Tobirama. Look, Izuna gets along quite well with him now, dattebayo."
Hearing Hashirama imitate the younger generation's speech pattern gave Madara goosebumps.
"You're copying a junior's catchphrase now? Have you no shame? Besides, the person Izuna has always disliked is you!"
"Huh?! Why?!! What did I do wrong?!"
"Everything about you is wrong! Your unfashionable hairstyle, your unfashionable clothes, and even your personality and speech are unfashionable! Izuna is a refined Uchiha who values harmony and beauty."
Before they could even form the Seal of Reconciliation, Hashirama Senju had already sunk into complete despair.
Indra watched from nearby, utterly speechless.
"What are those two doing?"
Watching Sasuke and Naruto form the Seal of Reconciliation had finally reminded him of the bond he and Ashura shared as children.
Then those two stepped forward, and that strange feeling inexplicably returned.
"According to Obito, there are parallel worlds where either my chakra reincarnation or yours became a woman..."
"Hm?"
Indra raised an eyebrow.
He rarely spoke with others, so naturally he had never heard about the parallel worlds Obito Ōtsutsuki had taken Adult Obito to while completing the sixty billion red bean cake mission.
Ashura scratched his cheek.
"Apparently, in worlds like those, our chakra reincarnations usually end up... for some reason... um..."
Ashura was too embarrassed to finish the sentence. He assumed his older brother would understand what he meant.
Unfortunately, Indra did not understand at all. He only found it irritating when Ashura stopped halfway through a sentence.
"Just say what you mean. Stop dragging it out."
Ashura: "..."
I suddenly don't feel like saying it anymore...
This is killing me.