To Meet Again in Such a Way

After Naruto and Sasuke settled the turmoil caused by Shin Uchiha,

Shin Uchiha and the clone children, just as in the original timeline, were brought back to Konoha and placed in the orphanage where Kabuto served as director.

Sarada learned that she was Sakura's biological daughter, the misunderstanding with Sasuke was resolved, and father and daughter reunited.

The Shin Uchiha incident came to a happy conclusion for everyone.

At Konoha's gates, Sasuke was bidding farewell to his wife and daughter before setting out once more to verify his hypothesis that the Otsutsuki crisis had not yet passed.

"Dad, when will you come back next time?" Sarada asked reluctantly.

Seeing the expectant gleam in Sarada's eyes, Sasuke's heart softened. He stepped forward and pulled Sarada into his arms. Then, holding her small shoulders, he looked into her tearful face and said gently, "Don't make that expression, Sarada."

Sarada bit her lip tightly, looking even more upset.

"Tap!" At that moment, Sasuke imitated what Itachi had done back then and poked her forehead with two fingers.

"Huh?" Then, under Sarada's startled little gaze, he said gently, "See you next time~."

It had to be said that the Uchiha's inherited forehead poke was truly foolproof.

In an instant, it poked away every trace of gloom in Sarada's heart.

"Ah!" Sarada touched her forehead, tears of joy appearing in her eyes as she turned to show off to her mother behind her!

"Mom! Dad poked my forehead just now! I'm so happy!"

"Mhm." Sakura smiled with a blush, walked up to Sasuke, and handed him a lovingly prepared boxed lunch. "Here, this is your lunch. Eat it while it's still warm on the road..."

"Okay." Sasuke accepted the lunch, only to lower his gaze and meet Sakura's almost melting stare!

Sakura knew she could not force Sasuke to stay, so... she unleashed the Haruno Clan's inherited "killing gaze." It was said that whenever her father had to leave on a business trip, her mother would look at him with such scorching eyes while seeing him off, and then... her father would be made to stay another night.

After getting married, Sakura learned the experience passed down by her mother. After practicing countless times in front of the mirror late at night, she had finally managed to use it.

"...?" Sarada's little eyes shifted back and forth between her father and mother's faces, her expression full of confusion.

She was still a child. How could she understand the looks adults exchanged with one another?

"Uh..." Under Sakura's shy, expectant gaze, Sasuke froze for a moment before suddenly turning and leaving!

"Well then, I'm off!"

Ah! Did it fail? It had always worked on Dad whenever Mom used it. Was I still not skilled enough?

Sakura was instantly dejected, but she did not lose heart. "Damn it#!! Next time, I'll collect both principal and interest!!!"

In the original timeline, the next time Sakura spoke of came half a month later.

On this trip, Sasuke would investigate Kaguya's Castle. There, in a temple beneath falling snow, he would find Kaguya's secret scroll and encounter Momoshiki and Kinshiki. During the battle, he would forcefully sever Kinshiki's horn.

Thus laying the groundwork for the disaster during the Chunin Ninja Exams!

However, the chain reaction caused by Chen's recent actions at Konoha's Forbidden Ground created a divergence at this very moment!

"Sasuke, since you finally came back, why not spend some proper time with your family before leaving?"

Naruto, wearing the Hokage's white cloak, leaned against Konoha's gate and called out to Sasuke as he passed by!

Sasuke paused. Seeing Naruto signal with his eyes, he immediately understood.

"Fine, then I'll leave a little later."

At those words, Sarada happily spun around and jumped in place. "Yay! That's great~! Dad isn't leaving~!"

Thank you so much, Boruto's dad, my most admired Lord Hokage!

Sakura wore the expression of a quiet, refined lady, but the cherry blossoms in her hometown were already blooming in full splendor.

Even the gloom from the house whose mortgage had not been paid off yet, which she had punched into collapse, was thrown straight out of her mind.

Sakura thought Naruto was helping her out, and she felt deeply grateful. "Naruto, nice~! After all these years, you're still the one who understands me! I'll remember this favor!"

Sasuke turned back and said, "Sakura, Sarada, go home and wait for me. I'll be back shortly."

Suppressing the joy blooming in her heart, Sakura said generously, "Mm-hm~! Okay... no need to hurry! You two haven't properly gotten together in a long time either! It wouldn't hurt to have some Ichiraku Ramen before heading home!"

And so, Sakura and Sarada went home happily to wait for Sasuke.

Watching the two leave, Sasuke hung the lunchbox at his waist, turned around, and put away his smile.

For Naruto to stop him at such a moment, something important must have happened.

"What happened?"

Naruto reached into his robes and pulled out a file folder made of kraft paper.

"The Forbidden Ground was attacked last night. Madara's body was taken away by someone called Uchiha Chen. Shikamaru compiled this information about him!"

Sasuke's brows furrowed deeply at those words.

"We just dealt with Shin Uchiha, and now another Uchiha Chen has appeared. What's going on lately? Is this some limited-time Uchiha comeback event?"

He delivered an unusually sharp jab, took the file folder with his remaining hand, and used his teeth to undo the string tied around its seal.

Naruto said calmly, "He isn't anyone impressive. I'd say he's not even as troublesome as Shin. I wasn't planning to bother you, but Shikamaru thought we should play it safe. Why don't we discuss how to handle this over some Ichiraku Ramen?"

Sasuke opened the file folder, took out the papers, and spread them apart.

The first half contained the background information Shikamaru had investigated on Chen. The latter half consisted of letters Chen had sent in his early years.

Expressionless, Sasuke's Sharingan swept across the pages one by one.

Until... he saw the letter that mentioned Ōtsutsuki Isshiki and the organization Kara. His expression changed abruptly, and he gripped the edge of the paper tightly!

Naruto asked, "What is it?"

Sasuke pulled out that sheet of letter paper. After carefully reading it word by word and sentence by sentence, he showed it to Naruto.

"What is this? How could something this major never have been mentioned in the correspondence?"

Naruto said, "As for that, I only just learned this letter existed myself. Shikamaru guessed that what the letter described was carefully fabricated by Uchiha Chen, and his reasoning was quite sufficient."

"Do you remember the small meeting of the Five Kage you called years ago? Based on Kaguya raising White Zetsu soldiers, you proposed the hypothesis that other Otsutsuki were still lurking on this land. The Five Kage and their confidants all knew about it. Maybe someone slipped up and leaked the information, and Chen merely used it to make up a story."

Sasuke's gaze darkened. "That possibility cannot be ruled out."

Naruto said, "What concerns me more right now is why Chen took Madara's body. But with your Sealing Spell of the Coffin as insurance, it won't be easy for him to succeed."

"Buzz!" Sasuke's Rinnegan gleamed as it turned. Suddenly, his expression changed dramatically. "!!!"

"What is it?"

"Looks like we won't be having Ichiraku Ramen after all."

"What do you mean?"

"The Sealing Spell of the Coffin has been erased, along with the Rinnegan spatial marker I left on it!"

"Hey, are you serious!!"

Sasuke crumpled the kraft paper file folder in his hand. "A Rinnegan spatial marker, like the Flying Thunder God marker your father, the Fourth Hokage, used, cannot be removed by ordinary means."

"There are only two possibilities for it to be erased. Either Uchiha Chen can use the power of Yin-Yang Release, or he possesses some other means unknown to us."

Naruto's expression darkened as well. "This is no joke!"

Sasuke weighed the matter rationally. "Madara's body has likely already seen daylight again. If it is only being used to steal intelligence, that would be one thing, because Madara's most dangerous possession, the Rinnegan, dispersed when Kaguya was sealed away again. The danger is if he is used for Impure World Reincarnation."

"After the war, the scroll containing Impure World Reincarnation was destroyed! Aside from Orochimaru and Kabuto, no one else in this world should be able to wield that technique!"

"Kabuto is the director of Konoha's orphanage, right under our noses."

"We saw Orochimaru earlier today. He was very cooperative and told us everything about Shin Uchiha!"

Sasuke's eyes darkened. "Chen has connections to the underground black market, and Orochimaru is also involved with that side. We should use Orochimaru as the breakthrough to obtain clues about Chen!"

"Whoosh!" Black Flames ignited the kraft paper and letters in his hand, scattering their ashes into the night air.

"Whoosh!" The Rinnegan's black Space Gate spun open.

"Naruto, you may not be going home tonight."

"Yeah, I already left a Shadow Clone at the office!"

"Hopefully... this will all turn out to be a false alarm!"

Looking at the figure standing inside the coffin before him... Madara let out a sigh filled with endless emotion.

"I never thought we would meet again in this way... Obito."