After gaining altitude, Nagato and Kaguya Ren quickly vanished from Hanabi's detection range.
But they didn't immediately close the distance.
Instead, they lingered right at the edge of Nagato's sensory limit—patient, silent—waiting until their prey truly relaxed.
As expected, the targets changed speed and direction several times. Only after confirming Jiraiya wasn't being tailed did Hatake Kakashi and Hyūga Hanabi finally slow down and, using a Konoha-only signal, reveal their route to him.
They guided him into a war-abandoned town—silent ruins swallowed by dust.
"You really are Konoha shinobi…" Jiraiya murmured.
Even then, he didn't rush forward.
He kept distance, scanning the environment for traps, and subtly positioned himself at an angle best suited for retreat.
Kakashi adjusted his clothes and greeted him first.
"Jiraiya-sama. It's been… many, many years."
"Many years," Jiraiya echoed, staring at Kakashi's weathered upper face.
After a moment, he asked softly, "In your future… have I been dead a long time, Kakashi?"
"And your eye," he added, gaze sharpening. "Your left eye should've been a Sharingan."
"Yes." Kakashi exhaled. "You died after infiltrating the enemy's stronghold alone—to protect the village, your student, and the future of the entire shinobi world. You sent back crucial intelligence… and fell."
"If not for you, our future might have been swallowed by an eternal dream."
Jiraiya's throat tightened.
"As for the Sharingan Obito gave me… I gambled it in the final battle that decided our future. After that, there was no 'Copy Ninja Kakashi' anymore."
Jiraiya's expression softened into something oddly peaceful—and sorrowful.
"That's… a very shinobi ending."
He steadied himself, then finally let trust enter his eyes. His gaze warmed as it moved to the young woman beside Kakashi.
"And this is…?"
Hanabi stepped forward with the composure of a noble heir.
"Jiraiya-sama, hello. I'm Hyūga Hanabi—Hyūga Hiashi's second daughter. I'm currently the Hyūga Clan's head heir, and a jōnin of Konoha."
"Hiashi's second daughter… and the Hyūga heir?" Jiraiya blinked, genuinely shocked.
He knew the Hyūga's rules well enough.
"The Hyūga actually let the elder daughter marry out…?"
Kakashi rubbed his mask lightly. "A series of events happened after Hanabi was born. In the end, she replaced her sister, who married out."
Jiraiya's eyes widened like he'd just witnessed a miracle.
"The future got so enlightened that even the Hyūga—those rigid fossils—let the heir marry out?!"
He grabbed Kakashi's hand, suddenly feverish.
"Then the Uchiha—those proud idiots—did they finally integrate too? Did they marry into the village? Did Minato really do that well as Hokage?!"
Kakashi stiffened. His eyes shifted—awkward.
"Uh…"
In the end, he could only nod, uncomfortable.
"More or less. Though… the one willing to do that was the last remaining Uchiha."
The joy drained from Jiraiya's face, piece by piece.
"Last… remaining?"
His voice turned sharp.
"The Uchiha are a clan that fought the Senju for a thousand years—even in the Warring States Era, they were among the strongest! How could they be reduced to a single survivor?"
"And even if Kirigakure's war destroyed Konoha itself—Kaguya Ren showed blatant interest in Uchiha blood during negotiations. He wouldn't wipe them out until only one was left!"
As he spoke, Jiraiya's instincts began screaming.
Something didn't fit.
Leaving aside Hanabi's apparent youth, Kakashi should have lived through Kaguya Ren's rise.
If Kaguya Ren truly grew into what his ambition implied, then Hatake Kakashi should have been one of Konoha's main pillars against the Mist.
Yet Kakashi's information contained no trace of a Mist invasion—only vague talk of an "eternal dream" and "a final battle," as if the center of their era wasn't nations at war but something else entirely.
"It looks like you've noticed," Kakashi said quietly.
His relaxed expression faded. The weight returned.
"The future Hanabi and I come from… doesn't seem to be the continuation of your timeline."
"It's another future—one that turned onto a completely different road."
"And the point where the worlds diverged…" Kakashi's eyes narrowed slightly, "is probably the moment Hanabi first fell into this era… and encountered that Mist boy named Kaguya Ren."
High above the ruins—
Nagato's shadow clone raised an eyebrow and looked at Kaguya Ren, who was using Wind Release: Listening Wind Bind to eavesdrop on the conversation below.
With a faintly meaningful tone, Nagato said, "Don't you think… in the mouths of those two people from the future, you sound like the one who truly matches the Great Toad Sage's 'Child of Prophecy'?"
"And?" Kaguya Ren shot back, glancing sideways. "So what if I am? So what if I'm not?"
"Not being the Child of Prophecy means I can't change the world?"
His voice remained flat—unmoved.
"The road I chose won't be shaken by labels like that."
He flicked his gaze back downward.
"Don't treat reincarnation, prophecy, and fate as something sacred, Nagato. History may shape and bind us, but the thing that decides our ending… is still our own struggle."
He paused, eyes sharp.
"If I told you plainly that you're nothing more than a tool the Sage of Six Paths prepared for resurrection—that the Rinnegan doesn't belong to you, that your life was arranged in sequence by someone in the shadows—would you abandon Akatsuki's companions and ideals and obediently follow that script?"
Nagato didn't hesitate. "No."
"Then I'm the same."
Kaguya Ren shrugged—then kept listening.
But his body slid into Sage Mode all the same, muscles and posture shifting with quiet precision—
readying himself into the optimal stance for a sudden strike.
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