The Uchiha compound in Konoha had been guarded layer upon layer by Konoha's jonin!
A slug clone even larger than the buildings stood where the tents had been before!
The slug's smaller split bodies were using the Slug Technique, sustained by Sakura's Chakra, to lie against Sasuke's chest on the medical stretcher and heal him!
But that alone was not enough. Shizune and the Medical Team members stood around him, jointly performing the Healing Regeneration Technique!
As his injuries gradually stabilized, Shizune's assistant wiped the sweat from her forehead. She turned to look at the stretcher on the other side.
"Sakura! Are you all right over there? Do you need help?!"
Naruto lay sprawled across the medical stretcher before Sakura, with an enhanced Medical Ninjutsu casting formula talisman covering his abdomen.
Sakura had tied up her hair. The Yin Seal on her forehead had been released, its markings running across her cheeks and arms, connecting to her hands, which were covered in the green glow of Yin Healing Wound Destruction!
"I'm fine here! I don't need help for now! Naruto has Kurama's Chakra protecting him, so he should have been able to heal on his own! The biggest problem is these spikes blocking Naruto's Chakra points!"
"But I don't know where these spikes came from, so I don't dare touch them carelessly!"
While adjusting her Chakra frequency, Shizune glanced at the spikes embedded in Naruto with the corner of her eye. Frowning, she said sternly, "You're right not to touch them. Those spikes are highly likely to be the Black Rods used by the Six Paths of Pain back then!"
"The Six Paths of Pain..." Sakura narrowed her eyes.
"That's right. I was the one responsible for analyzing the body of Pain's Animal Path after Lord Jiraiya recovered it! I can't possibly mistake them! Those are the medium for their shared vision!"
"Oh, so they're Pain's..."
With one hand maintaining the treatment, Sakura actually freed her other hand. A deep blue Chakra Scalpel covered it as she swept it toward Naruto's lower body!
Crack! The spikes embedded in his thigh, knee, and calf were swept away!
Then, she swept in the opposite direction!
Crack! The spikes in Naruto's ribs, collarbone, and shoulders were swept away in succession!
"Sakura, you..." Shizune was dumbfounded by that forceful move.
"I thought they were Truth-Seeking Orbs used by Madara and Obito, so I didn't dare touch them! Turns out they're just those rods that snap with one bend!"
After saying that emotionlessly, Sakura said in a low voice, "Kurama! You can hear me, right?! Naruto's blocked Chakra points have been cleared! Send Chakra to the wounded areas immediately and work with me to heal Naruto!"
Kurama sighed. "Hmph... How impressive. No wonder you're the woman who keeps both Naruto and Sasuke completely in line!"
Whoosh! As an enormous amount of Chakra flowed into place, Sakura's Yin Healing Wound Destruction worked like a fish in water. The wound in Naruto's abdomen rapidly closed at a visible pace!
Naruto's eyelids trembled as he regained a trace of consciousness.
Sakura said gravely, "Naruto, I know it's asking too much to make you speak right now! But this is an extraordinary situation! I hope you can explain the situation to Shikamaru as simply as possible!"
At that moment, Shikamaru, who had been waiting by the entrance, strode over with the many jonin who had remained behind. He said sternly, "The moment the Shadow Clone on duty in your office disappeared, I knew something was wrong! What exactly happened?!"
Naruto only managed to utter four difficult words: "Uchiha Chen!"
Sakura's brows drew tightly together.
Uchiha... Chen?
A name bearing the Uchiha name, yet one she had never heard before.
They had just dealt with one Shin Uchiha, and now another Uchiha Chen had appeared?
How did Sasuke have so many lost clansmen?!
Shikamaru revealed an incredulous expression. "Uchiha Chen! Did he... did he do this to you and Sasuke?"
Naruto nodded forcefully.
"Hey! What method did he use?! Did he really use Impure World Reincarnation to bring Madara back?!"
What...!?
Impure World Reincarnation, Madara!?
Those words stirred up a thousand waves. Everyone present, including Sakura and Shizune, stared over with eyes nearly choked by shock!
"W-what in the world is going on?!" After an unknown amount of time, a cry rang out from the crowd.
Uchiha Madara. That name alone rekindled the shadows of the Fourth Great Ninja War, shadows that time had long since faded in everyone's hearts.
Amid the dead silence, Naruto raised a hand and covered his eyes.
He did not want the people present to see it... that the Hokage himself still showed fear in his eyes when recalling the war.
He adjusted his emotions, trying his best to calmly recount what had happened.
"No... that guy, he didn't use Impure World Reincarnation on Madara! At least, I didn't see Reanimated Madara appear. With his own power alone, he utterly defeated Sasuke and me!"
After Naruto's words came a silence so deep it was as if everyone held their breath... The name Uchiha Chen was carved into the hearts of everyone present.
"Dad!! I want to see Dad!! Let me in!!" A boy's urgent cries came from beyond the courtyard wall.
"If you can't find the book by searching its title, try searching for the author instead. It may have simply been renamed!"
"Young master!! You can't go in! This place is under lockdown! It's dangerous!!" Then came the troubled voice of the ninja guarding the gate.
"Move!! I want to see where the person who beat my dad is!!!"
The pineapple-haired boy forcibly squeezed through the crowd.
On the stretcher, Naruto closed his eyes despondently. "Boruto, sorry... You have to see your dad looking so pathetic..."
Elsewhere.
With Chen amplifying him through Mizuha, Obito effortlessly pried open the barrier of the Supergravity Space. Before them lay a scorching desert.
"The Desert Space... the place where Sasuke got separated from us back then. We went through a lot to bring him back."
As Kamui activated again, the scene of the Desert Space was replaced by a world of ice and snow.
Obito's expression shifted, while Chen nodded to Madara.
Madara understood. Using Susanoo to carry the two of them, he stepped inside.
Once they landed, the Kamui vortex shrank away.
Before them lay the familiar glacial terrain. Unlike before, however, goose-feather snowflakes drifted through the Ice and Snow Space today.
Obito's gaze became distant with memory.
Back when Black Zetsu left his body, he lost consciousness. When he opened his eyes again, he was in this frozen world.
After hearing Naruto's Shadow Clone and Sakura briefly explain the progress of the war, he immediately threw himself back into battle, until he was buried in the Supergravity Space.
If the Supergravity Space had been where it all ended, then this Ice and Snow Space had been where it began. The place where he had truly begun atoning for everything he had done.
"When I opened my eyes in this Ice and Snow Space back then, I decided to leave my life here to repay my past sins... Who would have thought that after all these twists and turns, I would return here again?"
As Obito sighed, he reaffirmed his determination once more. This time, I will leave no regrets!
"Keep going, Chen."
Chen looked at the falling snow in the Ice and Snow Space and fell into thought.
In the original timeline, it should have been around this season that Sasuke went alone to a place called Kaguya's City.
And there, he found the scroll Kaguya had left behind.
And... encountered the pair of Momoshiki and Kinshiki.
Kaguya's City... I don't know where exactly it is, but outside the temple where Sasuke fought Kinshiki, there was also snow as heavy as this falling from the sky.
Come to think of it, this Ice and Snow Space—no, not just the Ice and Snow Space. All the spaces within Kaguya's Amenominaka were actually quite vast...
"Chen? What are you thinking about?"
Madara's question pulled Chen from his thoughts.
"Ah, nothing."
Whether Kaguya's City was in this space or not, they should not create any unnecessary complications now...
Acid Sea, Lava, Supergravity, Desert, Ice and Snow... They had already passed through every subsidiary space.
"The next stop should be our destination!"
The main space of Amenominaka, where Team Seven's battle with Kaguya had truly come to an end.
—Outer World.
Chen focused his mind and concentrated the Dojutsu Power in his left eye. Obito also focused completely, coordinating with him.
—Mizuha Kamui!
Whoosh! The instant the Ice and Snow Space's barrier shattered, a wilderness of dark red soil appeared through the Space Gate!
Without a doubt, it was the destination of their journey—Outer World!
Madara's Susanoo carried the two of them inside, and the Space Gate closed!
In that frozen world, only the silent snow in the sky remained, adorning the desolation.
After an unknown amount of time.
—Whoosh!
A Black Vortex suddenly churned through space-time... and a burly figure descended into the area!
His fists hung below his knees, each one as large as a bowl. A broad white haori covered half his face and his entire body. One Byakugan was exposed, while a thick horn jutted from the edge of his hood, pointing diagonally toward the sky.
After looking around, he respectfully said to the relatively smaller young man sitting on his shoulder, veiled and wearing high-heeled wooden clogs.
"The location where the space-time disturbance appeared should be here... Lord Momoshiki!"
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