Hanekawa had to admit—the S-Rank entry "I Am Myth" was worth every ounce of effort he'd poured into obtaining it.
The effect was undeniably powerful. The only limitation was its range: a three-meter radius. But paired with the Flying Thunder God Technique? That narrow window became irrelevant. At his level, a single opening in combat was all he needed to end things.
Ninja warfare was intelligence warfare. Even the Ōtsutsuki clan, for all their power, could be countered if you understood their abilities.
"Is this the ninja world a thousand years later?"
Kaguya Ōtsutsuki's voice pulled him from his thoughts. Curiosity was rare for her—a sign of how much had changed.
"Yes," Hanekawa replied, gesturing toward the landscape. "We're in the Land of Wind now. One of the five great nations."
"Where is the Land of Fire?"
She'd absorbed information about the future from him before, but she wanted confirmation. More importantly, she wanted to know where Hanekawa's home was.
"That direction." He pointed. "Keep going and you'll reach Konoha. My home. Our home, from now on."
Kaguya Ōtsutsuki stilled. The word home was foreign to her—meaningless, really. But then she reached out and took his hand.
Home meant nothing. What mattered was who you were with.
Hanekawa glanced at her, then expanded his perception outward. The landscape crystallized in his mind—every chakra signature, every presence within miles.
His eyes narrowed.
Kurenai wasn't here.
He'd traveled back to Kaguya's era a thousand years ago. Kurenai had gone back in time and seen him as a child. Logically, she should have returned before him. He'd spent nearly half a year in the past, after all.
He expanded his perception further—across the entire ninja world. From Konoha to the Hidden Artisan Village. From there to Hidden Mist. Tsunade, Konan, Mei Terumi... all present. All accounted for.
But no Kurenai.
She hasn't returned yet.
The implications crystallized in his mind. When he'd sensed Kakuzu and Konan in the Artisan Village, their progress matched what it had been before his departure. Which meant either time moved differently, or the past had no bearing on the future.
Either way, it was fortunate. Konoha would be unchanged. He wouldn't need to explain his absence to Tsunade or Kurenai.
Hanekawa raised his head, gazing at the moon. With his Rinnegan active, his sight extended across millions of miles—all the way to the Moon Palace he'd constructed a thousand years ago.
Yesterday's work, he thought wryly.
But Tsukihime wasn't there.
Just Toneri Ōtsutsuki and the massive Rinnegan, exactly as in the original timeline.
"Let's visit the Pure Land," Hanekawa said. "Tsukihime should be there."
Kaguya Ōtsutsuki's eyes lit up. Two reasons: seeing her daughter, and accessing the infinite chakra that had accumulated in the Pure Land over a millennium.
She opened the Rinnegan without hesitation. A black portal materialized.
They stepped through together.
The chakra hit him like a wave—dense, ancient, overwhelming. Hanekawa looked up at the Pure Land's expanse and felt the weight of countless souls arranged in perfect order.
"Extraordinary," Kaguya Ōtsutsuki murmured, her eyes gleaming.
"You look like a villain right now," Hanekawa said, unable to help himself.
"What is a villain?"
She tilted her head, genuinely confused.
"A bad woman," he said, reaching up to pinch her cheek. "Are you?"
"I'm not." She paused, her expression softening. "But I am yours."
Hanekawa felt his breath catch. Before he could respond, invisible chakra fluctuations rippled through the space. A young woman—appearing to be in her twenties—materialized before them.
She froze when she saw them.
"Tsukihime," Hanekawa said warmly.
Despite the years, despite her maturity, her chakra signature was unmistakable.
"Dad! Mom!"
Tsukihime ran forward and embraced Kaguya Ōtsutsuki, her composure shattering. A thousand years of separation dissolved in that moment.
Hanekawa reached out and touched her head. "You've worked hard."
"Will you leave again?" Tsukihime asked, her voice trembling. "After you come back this time?"
"No," Hanekawa promised. "Never again. Our family stays together."
Tsukihime's eyes widened, then glistened with unshed tears. She was older now, more composed, but some things transcended age.
"You should trust your mother too," Kaguya Ōtsutsuki added, her voice uncharacteristically soft. "We won't leave the ninja world again."
"Really?" Relief flooded Tsukihime's face.
They walked through the Pure Land together, Tsukihime pointing out the changes of the past thousand years. The souls parted before them—the Lord of the Pure Land commanded respect.
Then they reached it: the Sacred Tree.
Hanekawa stopped short. The tree dwarfed his expectations. It blocked out the sky, towering into clouds, nearly indistinguishable from a true Divine Tree.
With this much energy, he thought, one fruit would be possible. Maybe two. But three?
He'd need more chakra. New planets, perhaps—but that meant danger and uncertainty. The Ōtsutsuki clan had likely already harvested most nearby worlds.
Unless...
What if he sacrificed three more Ōtsutsuki clan members? Momoshiki, Urashiki, Kinshiki—all possessed immense chakra. All were threats.
Urashiki, specifically, had traveled through time using a treasure called the Rinnegan. He'd gone back to the era when Naruto was a child, seeking the Nine-Tails.
If he comes again...
Hanekawa's mind raced. If Urashiki traveled through time, Hanekawa could simply wait. One fruit secured. Without Urashiki, Momoshiki and Kinshiki became manageable.
But there was a complication: would Urashiki still travel through time if Boruto Uzumaki didn't exist?
Or perhaps a parallel ninja world would send its own Urashiki.
Either way, Hanekawa decided to monitor Naruto and Kushina carefully. The Nine-Tails was the key.
If Urashiki didn't appear, there was always the final option: contact the Ōtsutsuki clan directly, using Isshiki's name as cover.
"Mom and Dad, how are you?"
Tsukihime's voice broke through his thoughts. She was smiling, clearly proud of her work.
They'd walked the Pure Land for half an hour. Hanekawa had seen everything.
"Very satisfied," Kaguya Ōtsutsuki said simply.
"Then I want a reward!" Tsukihime's eyes sparkled. "Cook for me every day from now on!"
"Done," Hanekawa agreed immediately.
"Let's eat now!" Tsukihime pulled Kaguya Ōtsutsuki toward a wooden structure—clearly built using Wood Style techniques.
Inside, Hanekawa noticed immediately: "Tsukihime, your chakra is halved."
"I used the other half to create Ashura and Indra," she explained.
Hanekawa blinked. Not children born naturally, but creations using Yin-Yang Release. She'd learned from watching him and Kaguya Ōtsutsuki.
"I entered the Pure Land before my life ended," Tsukihime continued. "Here, my soul is frozen. Eternal life."
Hanekawa raised his hand. Massive chakra flowed into her.
Kaguya Ōtsutsuki followed suit, adding her own power.
Within moments, Tsukihime's chakra was restored.
"Thank you!" Tears finally spilled down her cheeks, but she didn't cry—she'd grown up, after all.
"I'll cook," Hanekawa said, heading to the kitchen. "Tell us what happened in the ninja world over the past thousand years."
---
An hour later, they sat at the dinner table. Ten dishes—not because they'd eat it all, but because with their power, they could consume a tenth of a planet if they truly indulged. They ate now for pleasure, not necessity.
"It took about half a year to master Yin-Yang Release," Tsukihime said between bites. "I divided the Divine Tree's chakra among nine tailed beasts."
"How did you decide the distribution?" Hanekawa asked, handing her a fried shrimp.
"I wasn't sure how much chakra the tree had, so I allocated conservatively at first," she admitted sheepishly. "But there was too much left over. I gave it all to the Nine-Tails."
"Why not redistribute?"
"Because the One through Eight-Tails were already created. Redistributing would require..." She trailed off.
"Killing them," Hanekawa finished.
"And the Nine-Tails is cute," she added defensively.
Hanekawa smiled. In the original timeline, the young tailed beasts had been adorable. The Nine-Tails especially.
"It was also the worst student," Tsukihime said with exasperation. "I taught them reading, ninjutsu—everything. The Nine-Tails was hopeless."
"Too much chakra," Hanekawa chuckled. "It probably thought learning was pointless."
"I told it it would regret that," Tsukihime said proudly. "And it did. Ashura and Indra taught it many lessons."
"Half your chakra created them," Hanekawa praised. "You're incredible."
Tsukihime's smile widened. She didn't care what others thought—only Hanekawa and Kaguya Ōtsutsuki mattered.
"What surprised me was that Ashura and Indra's chakras could reincarnate," she continued, confused. "I didn't expect that."
"Because you're still alive," Kaguya Ōtsutsuki said coldly.
Understanding dawned on Tsukihime's face. "Right. My chakra won't die as long as I live. And their obsession with competing ensures they keep reincarnating."
Hanekawa filed that away. It raised questions about Hagoromo in the original timeline—but he'd think about that later.
"Tsukihime," he said, "now that your chakra is complete, you can leave the Pure Land. Do you want to live in the ninja world with us?"
"Yes!" She answered without hesitation.
"We'll go to Konoha," Hanekawa said. "Later."
"Will you come back tonight?" Kaguya Ōtsutsuki asked meaningfully.
Hanekawa felt heat rise to his face. Her innocent question carried implications he definitely wasn't prepared for.
"I need to handle something first," he said quickly. "You two go shopping. See the ninja world as it is now."
After they left, Hanekawa sensed Kurenai's chakra signature.
He used Flying Thunder God.
---
Rōran, Kingdom of Wind
Kurenai stood in the underground chamber, staring at the sealed dragon vein. Her mind was foggy—she remembered fighting the centipede ninja, remembered Hanekawa, and then...
"Kurenai, why are you standing there?"
She spun around. Hanekawa stood in the doorway, smiling.
"Hanekawa!" She ran to him without thinking. "Where have you been? What happened to the centipede?"
"You should figure that out yourself," he said, tapping her forehead.
The seal on her memories dissolved.
Images flooded back. Time travel. Seeing Hanekawa as a child. The Fourth Hokage sealing her memories to prevent paradoxes.
"I actually traveled through time?" she whispered, disbelief written across her face.
"You wanted to touch my head back then," Hanekawa said with amusement.
"I'm calling that interest," Kurenai said, trying to recover her composure.
"Then I'll charge some interest too." Before she could react, his hand came down on her backside.
"You bastard!" she yelped, her face flushing crimson.
"Will you let me touch you forever?" he asked softly, his breath warm against her ear.
Kurenai's body went rigid. Her eyes watered. For two seconds, she couldn't move.
Then she stepped back like a startled bird. "We... we should go home..."
"Let's go," Hanekawa said, grabbing her wrist.
Flying Thunder God activated.
---
Hokage's Office
Tsunade was asleep at her desk, her face pressed against documents, her breathing steady. One arm hung at her side; the other rested on scattered papers.
Hanekawa smiled and sat on the sofa to wait.
He closed his eyes and began planning.
Unifying the ninja world would take less than half a day if he used pure force. But that would cost him countless entry opportunities. More importantly, it would alienate people like Mei.
A better approach:
Hidden Cloud: Internal coup. He had the S-Rank entry "Book Raikage"—unlimited chakra and energy. Becoming the Fifth Raikage was feasible.
Hidden Mist: Economic pressure. Kakuzu and Konan's company could manipulate markets, force conflicts, create situations where Mei would welcome Konoha's partnership.
Hidden Sand and Hidden Stones: Direct military action, but framed as defensive responses to their aggression.
It was elegant. It was efficient. And it would generate countless entries along the way.
"When did you get back?"
Tsunade's eyes opened. She looked startled to see him on the sofa.
"Not long ago," Hanekawa said, walking over. His eyes drifted down her collar.
"How's the dragon vein?" she asked, noticing his gaze. A slight smile played at her lips.
"Sealed properly," he said. "Teacher, you look tired. Want a massage?"
"You want to take advantage of me the second you're back?" she asked with a snort.
"Since you mentioned it, I can't be rude," Hanekawa said, picking her up and settling into her chair with her on his lap.
Her soft curves pressed against him. He wrapped his arms around her waist.
"Don't you have Shikaku helping?" he asked. "How are you still this exhausted?"
"Being Hokage is tiring no matter how much help you get," Tsunade said, leaning back into him.
Hanekawa's hands moved upward, working at the tension in her shoulders. "What if you didn't have to be?"
"What do you mean?" Tsunade asked, turning slightly.
"Retire," Hanekawa said simply. "If you don't want to be Hokage, step down."
"And let who take over?" she asked.
"Me."
Tsunade sat up abruptly. "Really?"
"Why would I lie?" Hanekawa asked. "I'll have the ANBU prepare the transition tomorrow."
"You're finally being considerate to your teacher," Tsunade said, a genuine smile crossing her face.
"Was I not before?" Hanekawa asked, his hands tightening around her waist.
Tsunade's eyes widened. She tried to shift away, but realized the problem too late.
"I... we should go back," she said, her face flushing.
"No," Hanekawa refused. "As Hokage, you should persevere until the very end."
Tsunade made a small sound of protest, but she didn't push him away.
The Hokage's office suddenly felt very small.
---
Later that night
Tsunade breathed heavily, her skin glistening with perspiration. Her last day as Hokage had been... exceptionally fulfilling.
She looked at Hanekawa and smiled despite herself. Covered in nothing but sweat and satisfaction, she looked every bit the mature, powerful woman she was.
"Worth retiring for?" Hanekawa asked.
"Shut up," she said, but she was still smiling.
Outside, the village lights twinkled. Tomorrow would bring new challenges, new responsibilities, new opportunities.
But tonight, in this moment, there was only this.
And that was enough.
---
---
Finally, the second book is live—many of you asked for it, and it's here.
Naruto: Don't Count Me In
Do check it out, you'll definitely enjoy it.
I've learned a lot from the first book—improving translations, fixing errors, and reducing inconsistencies to make this one much better overall. That said, I'm still growing, so if you notice minor mistakes, just let them pass and enjoy the story.
Most importantly, don't stay silent—comment on the moments you like. I'd love to know how it felt for you.