Conflict Erupts

Long after Namikaze Naruto disappeared through the Ninja Academy gates alongside his mother, Kushina Uzumaki, Minamoto Takuya slowly pulled himself free from his tangled thoughts.

For now, he could only determine the general direction of the future; he could not accurately foresee every detail.

For instance, what would become of Sasuke Uchiha if Minato Namikaze had both parents alive and the Uchiha Clan had not been wiped out?

That was rather interesting...

In an instant, two entirely different yet equally powerful figures flashed through Minamoto Takuya's mind.

They were Uzumaki Menma, who had ultimately stirred up towering waves within the "Limited Tsukuyomi" Illusionary Realm, and the wild, arrogant Sasuke Uchiha from Tenten's "Infinite Tsukuyomi" world.

In the end, he shook his head. After all, that had merely been one branch among countless possibilities.

With a soft sigh, Minamoto Takuya stretched his waist. His body turned into a silent wisp of white smoke and vanished from where he stood.

Almost at the same time, Minamoto Takuya's true body, sitting in the Konoha Anbu headquarters office, received the images witnessed by the Shadow Clone.

His fingers unconsciously tapped against the hard wooden grain of the desk.

Kushina Uzumaki's intuition had been right. At this very moment, an unforeseen storm had descended upon the Uchiha Clan Grounds.

A bloody conflict had finally erupted, unavoidable to the end.

An Anbu squad led by Uchiha Itachi had somehow been surrounded layer upon layer by Radical Faction clansmen while carrying out a village patrol within their own clan grounds.

At first, it had been a fierce verbal confrontation, with accusations and insults flying through the air like poisoned arrows.

Uchiha Itachi silently endured the anger and incomprehension of his clansmen, trying to suppress their boiling emotions with reason. He had long since grown used to such