Returning to the Past, Deleting Time

Konoha Year 79 (Boruto Era).

Konohagakure, Archaeology Research Institute.

Two figures rushed over at high speed.

The guards at the entrance of the institute had all been eliminated.

Inside the institute, a pale figure stood before an artifact, his palm emitting a green light.

The artifact transformed into a turtle.

This was the treasure tool of the Otsutsuki Clan—Karasuki.

Otsutsuki Urashiki was preparing to travel back to the past to capture the yet-to-grow Nine-Tails Jinchuriki, Naruto Uzumaki.

The two who had arrived were Sasuke Uchiha and Boruto Uzumaki.

Seeing the glowing Karasuki, the two rushed in without a word.

However, these two did not notice that another person had followed them in behind them.

Thud.

Shirozumi, carrying a large satchel, landed on the ground.

A drop of rain fell on his head.

"Back already? No, oh, right."

Shirozumi looked around, confirming that he had not returned to "Amegakure," but to "Amegakure in the past."

Shirozumi was a transmigrator, but he had transmigrated to Amegakure during the Boruto era.

At that time, the entire Land of Rain was dilapidated, with broken walls and rubble everywhere, filled with garbage and poison gas. It could be said to be a large garbage disposal plant for the Five Great Nations.

The ruined Amegakure stood in stark contrast to the prosperous Konohagakure.

It was a pity that none of the villagers of Amegakure at that time knew that the current Seventh Hokage, Naruto Uzumaki, had once promised the leader of Amegakure that he would definitely lead Amegakure to prosperity.

Nagato, the leader of Amegakure, chose to believe him, paying the price of his life to resurrect the people of Konoha, ending the chain of hatred, and entrusting Amegakure to the other party.

The result was this outcome.

Due to his own unique nature and having informed the villagers of the Seventh Hokage's promise, Shirozumi was seen as hope by the refugees of Amegakure.

The refugees handed over all the remaining resources of the village to Shirozumi, enough to fund Shirozumi's journey to the Land of Fire.

Shirozumi acted discreetly after arriving in Konoha, until this day.

He met a young blond who asked him if he knew where to buy Icha Icha Paradise, and he knew that the plot involving time travel was about to happen.

Thus, the scene from just now occurred.

Having made thorough preparations, Shirozumi returned to the Ninja World of the past.

The moment he stepped into Karasuki, a special power within Shirozumi was activated upon contact with the Otsutsuki Clan's Space-Time Ninjutsu.

In that instant, Time Deletion!

In the world of Time Deletion, even Sasuke Uchiha could not detect that someone else had followed him into the space-time tunnel.

And due to Time Deletion, the landing point of the space-time tunnel also seemed to have deviated slightly.

But none of that mattered.

After dealing with Otsutsuki Urashiki, Sasuke Uchiha and Boruto Uzumaki would use Genjutsu to erase the memories of those involved and return to the future, believing they had not changed the past.

They would never have noticed Shirozumi's existence.

"Don't misunderstand, I'm not a spy."

Shirozumi suddenly spoke.

At the same time, a strong hand reached for him from behind.

Upon hearing Shirozumi's words, it stopped.

"Then who are you?"

A cold question came from behind Shirozumi.

Shirozumi knew that after arriving in Amegakure, he would inevitably be detected by Pain's Rain Tiger At Will Technique.

So he activated the ability he had awakened upon contact with Karasuki's space-time ninjutsu—Time Deletion. Because the ability had a strong sense of déjà vu, Shirozumi named this ability Crimson King.

Shirozumi used a derivative ability of Time Deletion and saw what would happen in the next few dozen seconds.

He had foreseen that the Preta Path would appear behind him.

"I am the leader from the future Amegakure, and I request an audience with the current leader of Amegakure, 'Pain,' or rather—Nagato."

Shirozumi spoke frankly and stood up, looking up at the tallest building in Amegakure.

That place was where Nagato's main body always stayed when he was in Amegakure.

Upon hearing Shirozumi's answer, Nagato, sitting in a wheelchair on the top floor of the command tower, opened his eyes.

"The infiltrator is tricky?"

Konan, standing beside Nagato, asked calmly.

Shirozumi had been detected because he "suddenly" appeared inside Amegakure.

To Nagato, who perceived things using the Rain Tiger At Will Technique, Shirozumi was no different from Jiraiya, who had infiltrated using frogs in the original story.

Knowing the other party was a "master," they dispatched the Six Paths of Pain to probe and capture him.

"He said he's the leader of Amegakure from the future and wants to see me... He even called my name."

Nagato's expression was grim.

"Could he be another guy like Madara? I'll go test him out."

Konan, wary of the situation, walked out of the room and to the edge of the high tower. White Wings Made of Paper sprouted from her back, and she flew downwards.

As soon as she saw Shirozumi, Konan felt he was very strange.

Shirozumi below was standing in the rain, raising his right hand, doing something unknown.

Pain's Preta Path was elsewhere.

This meant Shirozumi had suddenly changed his position.

Why?

Konan descended with a puzzled expression.

After descending a certain distance, Konan's face suddenly darkened, and she stopped in mid-air. She then drifted a short distance to the right before gracefully landing in front of Shirozumi.

That's right, after descending a certain distance, Konan suddenly realized that if she continued descending at her current angle, she would land directly on Shirozumi's hand.

Unbelievable.

The other party was indeed a master, able to predict things to this extent.

Similarly, the other party was indeed a bit crazy.

Konan made her judgment.

After bringing Shirozumi to a spacious area in the lower levels of the command tower, Konan was about to speak when she saw Shirozumi take a Storage Sealing Scroll from his waist and pull out a pile of items.

Most of them were photos, along with some tattered papers filled with writing.

"These are photos of Amegakure's future, and the future villagers of Amegakure's words for you."

Shirozumi explained the origin of these items.

When he decided to go to Konoha, he had already made relevant plans, so he naturally had preparations in advance.

Konan stepped forward, squatted down, and picked up a photo to look at.

The shocking photos made Konan's pupils contract.

The buildings in these photos were exactly how the current buildings of Amegakure looked after being ruined and damaged.

Familiar streets, familiar pipes, buildings...

After looking at the photos, Konan remained skeptical, while also wondering if Shirozumi was fabricating this lie to prevent their plan.

But when Konan picked up the tattered letters and read their contents, she completely abandoned that idea.

"Where did these letters come from?"

Konan put down the letter paper and looked up at Shirozumi.

"My return from the future to the present was planned, so I naturally made preparations for self-verification in advance.

I told the villagers of Amegakure about the Ritual of Sacrifice, saying that if they wanted to talk to the deceased, they could just burn the written letters.

So they wrote down their true feelings for you and gave them to me, asking me to help burn them during the ritual."

Shirozumi answered calmly.

After a moment of silence, Konan asked Shirozumi to pack his things and then brought him to the top floor.

Nagato was surprised to see Konan bring the intruder here, but he believed Konan must have her reasons.

Konan, holding a letter, walked forward and handed it to Nagato.

Nagato's pupils contracted upon seeing it.