I Can't Tell! I Really Can't Tell!

Three years later.

Konoha Orphanage.

"Menma, this is your dinner tonight. No picky eating, okay?" Yakushi Nonō was handing out food to the children one by one. Several older children were helping beside her, including Yakushi Kabuto, who wore glasses.

"Okay." Three-year-old Menma, dressed in somewhat oversized clothes, accepted the tray expressionlessly.

"You child, remember to say thank you. You have to be polite!" Yakushi Nonō was a little angry, but she still gently lectured Menma.

"Thank you, Director." Menma sighed and gave Yakushi Nonō a slight bow.

After all, she was the foster mother who gave him food and shelter. Though her concern could be rather nagging, Menma still felt a little warmth in his heart.

Yakushi Kabuto, who was helping nearby, smiled as well. "Go eat, Menma."

Three years had passed, yet Uzumaki Menma, who had come out of the "Limited Tsukuyomi World," still had trouble adapting. He was afraid that this world might be fake too.

That lingering aftereffect had been tormenting Menma.

He stared at Yakushi Kabuto, who was now gentle toward all the younger children at the orphanage, and always felt that he was worlds apart from the spy Yakushi Kabuto in his memories.

"I spent fifteen years in the Infinite Tsukuyomi World and lost many memories too. When did Danzo take Yakushi Kabuto away? When did Yakushi Nonō die?"

Uzumaki Menma felt that those fifteen years had not been a dream. He had truly lived through those fifteen years, to the point that he had become a little paranoid.

Meanwhile, Yakushi Kabuto felt a chill under Menma's gaze. He had no idea what this usually quiet little brother was thinking again.

Compared to the other orphans, Menma had always been very quiet. He had neither cried nor fussed as a baby, and while other children were still wetting their beds, Menma had already been able to help care for them.

He was just somewhat withdrawn, always looking at everyone with a strange expression.

Menma carried his tray to an empty table and sat down. When the other orphans saw him approach, they all shifted away.

It was not that they were isolating Menma. They simply felt uncomfortable around him. Some children had tried to play with him before, only to be rejected. After that happened enough times, no one wanted to play with Menma anymore.

Menma had already grown accustomed to being alone. Even in the Limited Tsukuyomi World, his instinctive rejection had left him estranged from children his own age and even from his parents in that world.

Besides, Menma knew that Yakushi Nonō and Yakushi Kabuto would soon be transferred away by Root. Danzo might even choose some people from the orphanage to join Root for brutal training, or even human experimentation.

So he had to increase his strength as soon as possible!

He had no desire to be chosen by that Pot Kage, Danzo, and sent into Root.

"Menma." A soft call sounded beside him while he was lost in thought.

Menma did not even need to turn around to know that it was Yakushi Kabuto.

Holding a tray, Yakushi Kabuto sat beside Menma. Acting like an older brother with easy familiarity, he picked up a piece of meat from his own tray and placed it onto Menma's.

"Hm?" Menma turned toward him in surprise.

"I've noticed that you always finish everything on your plate. Are you growing and getting hungry quickly? I'll share some with you." Wearing glasses, Yakushi Kabuto imitated the director's tone and manner as he spoke gently to Menma.

Then he gave half the meat on his tray to Menma.

Looking at the extra pieces of meat on his tray, Menma felt as though it was unreal.

When he had watched Naruto in his previous life, Yakushi Kabuto had already been that cold, sinister "spy Yakushi Kabuto," skilled at deception.

Yet in the Limited Tsukuyomi World, Menma had found no trace of Yakushi Kabuto, nor had he ever heard Yakushi Nonō's name.

If the Limited Tsukuyomi World was a parallel world as people on the internet had speculated in his previous life, then they should both have existed there.

But there was another possibility: the Limited Tsukuyomi World was a world constructed from the understanding of both the caster and the target, so nothing beyond their knowledge could appear.

That was also why Menma had suffered a mental breakdown in the Limited Tsukuyomi World.

He knew perfectly well that he was in a false Limited Tsukuyomi World.

Kushina and Minato's loving family, the reversed personalities of the twelve young elites—every one of his senses had vividly told him that world was real.

But there was no Uchiha Madara, no Sage of Six Paths, which meant that false world had neither a past nor a future!

Uzumaki Menma could not tell. He truly could not tell!

"Why are you so good to me?" Menma lowered his head, his voice trembling slightly.

He was so afraid that this world was fake too.

In his memories, Yakushi Kabuto should have been a cold enemy—sinister, cunning, and skilled at disguising himself.

Yet now, he cared about Menma's growth as if he were an older brother.

"We're brothers. Isn't it only natural for us to help each other?" Yakushi Kabuto asked in his childish voice, puzzled.

Everyone at the orphanage was family and should help one another. That was the belief Director Yakushi Nonō had always instilled in them.

"If I run into trouble, Menma will help me too, right?" Yakushi Kabuto narrowed his eyes and smiled at Menma.

Influenced by Director Yakushi Nonō, Yakushi Kabuto cared deeply for the children at the orphanage, because this was his home.

"Trouble..." Menma thought of Yakushi Nonō and Yakushi Kabuto's futures and endings.

In this world, he had lost his relatives and then been abandoned at the orphanage by Obito. Yakushi Nonō and the children of the orphanage were Menma's family in this world.

No one had come to the orphanage in the past three years to investigate the additional child from the Night of the Nine-Tails. That meant the Third Hokage most likely did not know Kushina had given birth to twins.

He had kept his withdrawn personality and maintained his distance from others because he did not want to affect the course of the original story.

But Yakushi Kabuto's kind gesture loosened that cautious mindset, which had been so afraid of causing a butterfly effect.

"At worst, I'll treat this place as a second false world." Uzumaki Menma relaxed and looked up at Yakushi Kabuto seriously. "I'll help solve whatever troubles you encounter."

Uzumaki Menma had spent all three years in the orphanage and was still uncertain about the outside world.

But for the director's kindness in taking him in over the years, and for this meal from Yakushi Kabuto, he did not mind changing Yakushi Nonō and Yakushi Kabuto's futures.

Menma's seriousness left Yakushi Kabuto at a loss for a moment, but he quickly smiled again.

"Director, Lord Danzo is looking for you." A woman from the orphanage suddenly came to find Yakushi Nonō, who was watching the children eat.

The moment she heard that name, Yakushi Nonō's gentle smile vanished and her expression changed at once.

"Mm. Watch the children. After dinner, remember to get them to bed early." After giving a few instructions, Yakushi Nonō turned and left the dining hall.

The dozens of other children eating did not notice anything unusual. Only Yakushi Kabuto and Uzumaki Menma sensed that something was wrong.

Yakushi Kabuto put down his tray and secretly followed her.

Watching Yakushi Kabuto's small figure leave the dining hall, Uzumaki Menma picked up those pieces of meat with his chopsticks and wolfed them down.

He was growing, and in order to refine more chakra, his energy consumption was enormous.

That was because Menma felt that something was devouring the chakra he refined, leaving all his efforts over the years without results.

Uzumaki Menma had a vague guess.

It seemed that he had brought something out of the Limited Tsukuyomi World.