Back to the Past, Deleting Time

Konoha, Year 79 (the Boruto era).

Konoha, Archaeology Research Institute.

Two figures rushed toward the institute.

All the guards at the institute's entrance had been killed.

Inside, a pale figure stood before an artifact, green light radiating from his palm.

The artifact turned into a turtle.

It was none other than the Otsutsuki Clan's Treasure Tool—Karasuki.

Otsutsuki Urashiki was preparing to travel back to the Past and capture Naruto Uzumaki, the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki, before he had grown up.

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

Without a word, they charged inside, staring at the glowing Karasuki.

But neither of them noticed that someone else followed them in.

Thud.

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

A raindrop fell onto his head.

I'm back? No, wait—right.

Shirozumi looked around and confirmed that he hadn't returned to Amegakure, but to Amegakure in the Past.

Shirozumi was a time traveler, but he had crossed over to Amegakure in the Boruto era.

At that time, the entire Land of Rain was dilapidated, its buildings reduced to rubble and filled with garbage and toxic gas. It could be called the Five Great Nations' enormous garbage dump.

The ruined Amegakure stood in stark contrast to prosperous Konoha.

Unfortunately, none of Amegakure's villagers knew that the current Seventh, Naruto Uzumaki, had once promised their leader that he would lead Amegakure to prosperity.

Nagato, the leader of Amegakure, had chosen to believe him. He paid for it with his life, reviving the people of Konoha, ending the cycle of hatred, and entrusting Amegakure to Naruto.

And this was the result.

Because of his special circumstances, and because he had told the villagers about the Seventh's promise, the refugees of Amegakure saw Shirozumi as their hope.

The refugees gave Shirozumi all the supplies the village had left, scraping together enough money for him to travel to the Land of Fire.

After arriving in Konoha, Shirozumi kept a low profile—until that day.

He met a blond kid who asked whether he knew where to buy Icha Icha Paradise. That was how he knew the time-travel plot was about to begin.

And that had led to what just happened.

Having made thorough preparations, Shirozumi had returned to the Shinobi World of the Past.

The instant he stepped into Karasuki, a special power within him was activated when it came into contact with the Otsutsuki Clan's Space-Time Ninjutsu.

In that instant, time was deleted!

In the world of Time Deletion, even Sasuke Uchiha couldn't sense that someone else had followed them into the space-time tunnel.

And because of Time Deletion, the tunnel's destination seemed to have shifted, too.

But none of that mattered anymore.

After defeating Otsutsuki Urashiki, Sasuke Uchiha and Boruto Uzumaki would use Genjutsu to erase the memories of those involved. Believing they hadn't changed the Past, they would return straight to the future.

They would never notice Shirozumi.

"Don't get the wrong idea. I'm not a spy."

Shirozumi suddenly spoke.

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

Upon hearing Shirozumi's words, it stopped in midair.

"Then who are you?"

A cold question came from behind Shirozumi.

Shirozumi knew that as soon as he arrived in Amegakure, he would be detected by Pain's Rain Tiger At Will Technique.

So he activated the ability he'd awakened after coming into contact with Karasuki's Space-Time Ninjutsu: Time Deletion. Since the ability reminded him strongly of something else, he had named it the Crimson King.

Shirozumi used a secondary ability of Time Deletion to see what would happen over the next few dozen seconds.

He foresaw that the Preta Path would appear behind him.

"I'm the leader of Amegakure in the future. I demand to see the leader of Amegakure today—Pain, or rather, Nagato."

Shirozumi spoke plainly. Then he stood and looked up at the tallest building in Amegakure.

That was where Nagato's real body spent most of his time in the village.

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

"Is the intruder troublesome?"

Konan, standing beside Nagato, asked in a calm, collected voice.

Shirozumi had been detected after he'd "suddenly" appeared inside Amegakure.

To Nagato, who relied on the Rain Tiger At Will Technique to sense his surroundings, this was no different from Jiraiya infiltrating the village with the help of a toad in the original story.

Since he knew their opponent was a "master," he'd sent the Six Paths of Pain to test and capture him.

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

Nagato's expression was grave.

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

Wary, Konan left the room and went to the edge of the tower. A pair of White Wings Made of Paper grew from her back, and she flew down.

The moment she saw Shirozumi, Konan felt that there was something strange about him.

Down below, Shirozumi was standing in the rain with his right hand raised, doing something she couldn't make out.

The Preta Path was elsewhere.

That meant Shirozumi had suddenly moved.

Why?

Puzzled, Konan continued her descent.

After dropping to a certain height, Konan's face suddenly darkened. She halted in midair, drifted a little to the right, then leisurely landed in front of Shirozumi, slightly to his right.

That was right. After descending a certain distance, Konan had suddenly realized that at this angle, she would have landed right on Shirozumi's hand.

Absurd.

He really was a master. He'd even managed to predict something like that.

At the same time, he clearly had something wrong with him.

That was Konan's assessment.

After bringing Shirozumi to an empty space on a lower floor of the command tower, Konan was about to speak when Shirozumi took a Storage Sealing Scroll from his waist and pulled out a pile of things.

Most of them were photographs, along with some old, battered papers covered in writing.

"These are photographs of Amegakure in the future, along with messages from its future villagers for you."

Shirozumi explained where the items had come from.

He had made a detailed plan when he decided to go to Konoha, so he had naturally prepared in advance.

Konan stepped forward, crouched down, and picked up the photographs.

The shocking images made Konan's pupils contract.

The buildings in the photos were exactly what the buildings in Amegakure would look like after falling into ruin.

The familiar streets, the familiar pipes, the buildings...

Even after looking through the photographs, Konan remained suspicious. She wondered if Shirozumi had made up this story to stop them from carrying out their plans.

But after picking up the old letters and reading what they said, she abandoned the idea completely.

"Where did these letters come from?"

Konan put down the papers and looked up at Shirozumi.

"I planned my return from the future to the present, so naturally I prepared some proof in advance.

"I told Amegakure's villagers about the Ritual of Sacrifice, saying that they could speak to the dead by burning letters they'd written.

"So they wrote down what they truly wanted to say to you, gave the letters to me, and asked me to burn them during the ritual."

Shirozumi finished answering calmly.

After a moment of silence, Konan told Shirozumi to gather his things, then took him to the top floor.

Nagato was surprised to see Konan bring the intruder there, but he trusted that she had her reasons.

Konan held out a letter and walked over to Nagato.

When Nagato saw it, his pupils contracted.