Cross-Era Help

In a sparse woodland on Konoha's eastern outskirts, far from the hot spring battlefield, the blue glow flickering around Sasuke and Boruto's bodies grew increasingly frequent, as though they could dissolve into specks of light at any moment.

"Master, should we..." Boruto looked at his gradually turning-transparent palm, growing anxious.

Sasuke gave a slight nod, his Rinnegan fixed on the direction of Konoha Village as though he wanted to confirm something one last time. Just then, the air before them rippled like water, and a tall figure emerged without warning.

"Yo, leaving in such a hurry?" he said in a tone as familiar as if he were greeting old friends. "Confused, aren't you? Looking at this face of mine, and that Wood Release."

Sasuke's Rinnegan instantly locked onto him, its purple light deep and eerie. Boruto nervously took up a defensive stance. This man was too powerful, too mysterious—and he had just taken everyone down using bizarre methods.

"You don't know me," young Qianyu continued, "but I know you very well, Two-Pillar."

Sasuke: "..."

Boruto muttered quietly, "Master, why does he keep calling you weird names...?"

Sasuke ignored Boruto's complaint. His gaze was sharp as a blade, piercing through young Qianyu's carefree facade as he considered the power the other had displayed.

"We..." Sasuke slowly began, his voice low and certain. "We aren't from the same world, are we? Or rather, not from the same timeline."

At that, young Qianyu spat out the blade of grass in his mouth and raised a brow. "Heh, you've grown up. Your brain works pretty fast now! Much better than when you were a kid, all gloomy and brooding, only knowing how to charge ahead."

"You are the future form of the Cangshu Qianyu of this era? But your existence, your level of power... does not match the history I know." Sasuke voiced the heart of his doubts.

"More precisely, I'm one future among countless possibilities." Young Qianyu shrugged. "As for you guys, it was a coincidence. I happened to come over, and your treasure artifact detected a spacetime node and hitched a ride. You went off course and slipped onto our timeline."

He pointed toward the center of Konoha, where faint unrest could still be heard.

"But the show's over, the gifts have been given, and we all need to return to where we belong." Young Qianyu shifted topics, the teasing in his eyes fading somewhat. "Come to think of it, the future on your timeline isn't easy either, is it? It might even... be more troublesome."

Sasuke's eyes narrowed slightly. He remained silent, which amounted to an admission. Boruto, too, recalled all the problems his own era faced.

"The Otsutsuki won't consist of trash like Urashiki alone. Worse things are still ahead. The ninja world's alliance, technological development, bloodline inheritance, the treachery in people's hearts... any one of them can be deadly."

Young Qianyu sounded as if he were talking to himself, yet also as if he were speaking to Sasuke. He suddenly pulled an inconspicuous gray scroll sealed with special runes from his robes and casually tossed it to Sasuke.

"Catch. Consider it... a cross-temporal sharing of spoils. Anyway, I came back this time, met the people I needed to meet, did what I needed to do. This thing would just gather dust with me."

Sasuke caught the scroll on instinct. It felt slightly heavy, and its material was unusual. Looking down, he saw a title written on its side in an extremely ancient sealing formula.

Yet he recognized the handwriting—

<Feasibility Study on Cross-Generational Consciousness Inheritance and Personality Backup Technology · Written by: Orochimaru>.

"This is..." Sasuke's pupils contracted slightly.

"A foundational framework for part of some insane idea your scientist-madman neighbor came up with in one possible future," young Qianyu explained. "Anyway, neither of us can make sense of it. Bring it back to Orochimaru in your world, and he should understand."

After a pause, he added, "Of course, whether you use it or how you use it is up to you."

Sasuke gripped the scroll tightly, able to sense the extraordinary value contained within. It was not merely precious technology, but insight and warning. He looked up at young Qianyu and said solemnly, "Thank you."

Young Qianyu waved a hand. His figure began to blur, and pale golden spacetime ripples, different from those surrounding Sasuke and Boruto, spread around him. Clearly, the power of the Dragon Vein was drawing him back.

"No need to thank me. Just don't die too early, and don't let the ninja world really go to hell." He smiled one last time, his gaze sweeping over Sasuke and Boruto. "Well then... farewell, visitors from another world. May your journey home go smoothly."

As his words fell, his figure completely transformed into a stream of flowing golden light. With a whoosh, it plunged into the ground and vanished, as though swallowed by the earth, leaving behind only faint spatial ripples.

Almost at the same time, the blue light around Sasuke and Boruto reached its peak.

"Master!" Boruto shouted.

"Yeah. It's time for us to go back." Sasuke gave one final look at the place where young Qianyu had disappeared, then gazed deeply at Konoha Village beneath the night sky before carefully putting away the gray scroll in his hand.

The next instant, the treasure artifact Li appeared, and their bodies completely transformed into countless flickering blue specks that merged into it. Like stars ascending in reverse, they swiftly vanished into the night sky without leaving a trace.

The hot spring water trickled on, soaking the edges of the ruins. The sun had already sunk more than halfway below the horizon, leaving only a smear of dark red in the sky.

Hiruzen Sarutobi was among the first of the higher-ups to regain consciousness. Leaning against half a broken wall, he slowly sat upright. His Hokage robes were severely damaged, covered in dust and dried bloodstains, while his pipe was nowhere to be found.

His face was ashen, and his chest still throbbed with pain. Yet more painful still were the memories in his mind—memories that had been forcibly altered, yet remained logically consistent.

A powerful enemy in white with strange eyes had attacked the village, targeting Naruto, the Nine-Tails' jinchuriki. The battle had been extremely brutal. The ANBU had suffered considerable losses, and even he and Tsunade had nearly been defeated. At the critical moment, a mysterious figure had appeared and unleashed earth-shattering Wood Release, crushing the powerful enemy.

However, amid the chaos after the enemy had been defeated and the mysterious man had seemingly withdrawn temporarily due to excessive exhaustion, Danzo Shimura—his old friend, Konoha's shadowy leader—had brazenly acted with Root ninja in tow! His target was not the remaining enemy, but... the gravely injured Hiruzen himself! His intentions could not have been clearer—strike while the iron was hot and seize the Hokage's position!

The memories turned furious and cold at that point. The mysterious Wood Release ninja had apparently not gone far and intervened in time, severely injuring Danzo. But Danzo had actually used the Uchiha forbidden technique, Izanagi, sacrificing one Sharingan to fake his death while his true body fled in disgrace...

"Cough, cough..." Hiruzen Sarutobi coughed violently, each cough tugging at his internal injuries. No matter how much of those memories had been altered.

Danzo's final mad ambush and the forbidden technique he had used were like poisoned daggers stabbing into the part of his heart Hiruzen least wished to confront. He had always believed that, however ruthless Danzo's methods were, they had been for Konoha's sake. It was not as if Danzo had never tried to assassinate him before, but this time, he had taken advantage of Hiruzen being gravely wounded...

"Lord Hokage!" Several lightly injured ANBU struggled over, their faces filled with lingering fear and anger. "Danzo... he actually dared!"

"First... maintain order, treat the wounded, and assess the losses." Hiruzen Sarutobi's voice was hoarse and weary. "Strengthen the guard. Watch for... any movements from the remaining Root members."

The orders were quickly carried out. The ninja and villagers who gradually awakened all wore expressions of bewilderment and fear after surviving the catastrophe. They spoke in hushed voices, their words full of reverence for that mysterious Wood Release expert. "Was it the First Hokage's spirit manifesting?"

The heads and elites of the major clans had also arrived. Hiashi Hyuga's expression was grave as his Byakugan scanned the terrifying residual chakra traces on the battlefield. Shikaku Nara rubbed his temples, his sharp eyes analyzing the intelligence. Choza Akimichi supported the injured Inoichi, his face heavy.

They had not managed to help at all. The moment they arrived, they had been sent flying with a single move.

The information they received was largely the same, all centered around three matters: the external enemy, "Wood Release saving the day," and "Danzo's rebellion."

In the distance, spies lurking throughout Konoha had already been scared out of their wits by the towering Wood Release Buddha and the ensuing upheaval. They frantically recorded everything they had seen.

Through every covert channel available, they urgently sent out reports: "Konoha may have produced a Wood Release expert comparable to the First Hokage!" "A mysterious powerful enemy attacked Konoha and was defeated!" "Konoha's upper ranks have fallen into internal conflict; shadow leader Danzo failed to assassinate the Hokage and has fled as a traitor!" Every piece of news was enough to cause a massive uproar throughout the ninja world.

Ino woke beside her father, Inoichi Yamanaka, and her first instinct was to look for Qianyu. When she saw Qianyu still unconscious in Tsunade's arms, tears nearly fell from her eyes. She wanted to rush over, but Inoichi stopped her with a look.

Naruto scratched his head, still dazed as Kakashi hauled him over to examine his body. He muttered, "That weird-eyed uncle was really strong... but that wooden giant afterward was even stronger! Right, Sasuke?"

Sasuke stood alone some distance away, his back against a ruined wall. His face was pale, and his Sharingan had already closed, yet there was not the slightest relief of surviving disaster in his eyes—only a deeper chill.

Tsunade paid no attention to the surrounding clamor. Holding the young Qianyu in her arms, she kept one hand pressed to his back, using pure chakra to guide the excessively immense medicinal power within him.

She could feel the pill being absorbed slowly yet thoroughly, reshaping the boy's body. That surging vitality was enough to alarm even her. That guy from the future... his methods might be bizarre, and not a word he said seemed serious, but the things he gave were truly substantial "gifts."

She shook her head, forcing down her tangled thoughts. For now, she needed to make sure the brat woke up safely.

Yet the image of that young man's upright figure refused to leave her mind.

At that moment, supported by ANBU, Hiruzen Sarutobi barely managed to stand. He looked around at the devastated battlefield and the people still reeling from shock, took a deep breath, and used chakra to slightly amplify his voice. Though it remained hoarse, he did his best to recover the composure of the Hokage:

"Everyone! The powerful enemy has been driven back, and the chief culprit has been executed! The traitor Danzo's conspiracy has been exposed, and he has fled in panic! Konoha's foundation remains unshaken!"

His words carried a calming force.

"Now, in the name of the Third Hokage, I order all jonin, clan heads, and department heads—" His gaze swept over Tsunade. "Tsunade, once you have settled Qianyu, you must come as well."

He paused, his eyes passing over the crowd before he slowly announced his decision:

"Tonight, at the Hokage Building—an emergency high-level meeting!"

"We will get to the bottom of what happened tonight."

"Konoha will never fall because of this!"