I, Sasuke Uchiha, Acknowledge You as Team 7's Strongest

Konoha, Year 63. A summer night.

Insects chirped, and the moon rose above the willow tips.

Land of Fire, Leaf Village, Hatake Clan.

Kakashi lay sprawled on his ever-unchanging single bed, limbs spread in an undignified starfish pose. He couldn't even be bothered to remove his signature black mask, leaving only one tired, dead-fish eye exposed as he stared blankly at the familiar ceiling.

His mind couldn't help replaying the survival exercise he'd put his three subordinates through earlier that day—the final test for Team 7.

The bell test.

What a classic, nostalgic exercise.

Kakashi's lips curled slightly, and a rare trace of satisfaction showed in his dead-fish eye.

The process had been full of twists and flaws, but those three kids had finally understood what it meant to be comrades.

"Well, you little brats weren't bad."

Kakashi murmured to himself, rolled over, and casually tossed Make-Out Paradise aside.

Mental exhaustion washed over him like a tide. He yawned, his eyelids growing heavier by the second.

Kakashi slowly closed his eyes, his consciousness sinking into darkness.

But just as his awareness was about to fade completely, at the instant sleep claimed him—

Kakashi jolted awake!

Something was wrong!

His eyes snapped open, and in an instant, that lazy dead-fish eye turned as sharp as a hawk's!

Almost by instinct, he sprang upright from the bed, his right hand already reaching for the pouch at his waist—

Empty?

His pupils contracted as he finally took in his surroundings.

This wasn't his messy bachelor apartment at all!

He was in an enormous, utterly bizarre dark chamber!

The air was cold, carrying the scent of something that had been sealed away for ages.

The surrounding walls seemed to be made of some smooth, black material that absorbed all light.

Before him stretched a huge, pitch-black screen like a movie theater's, currently showing no images and radiating an unsettling stillness.

Behind him, rows of empty seats extended neatly into the darkness, like the audience section of a long-abandoned theater.

Where was this?!

A genjutsu?!

Kakashi's thoughts raced as he immediately tried to draw on the chakra within him.

It flowed smoothly.

No seal had been placed on him.

Without hesitation, he formed hand seals.

"Substitution Technique!"

Nothing happened.

His chakra flow had no effect, like a stone sinking into the sea. He remained exactly where he was.

Kakashi's expression changed.

"Body Flicker!"

Still nothing!

His body seemed pinned in place. He couldn't perform any jutsu...

"Release!"

The hand seals for dispelling genjutsu were just as useless!

So it wasn't genjutsu?

Nor was this an ordinary Sealing Jutsu or barrier?

Kakashi hurriedly lifted his Forehead Protector and examined the area with his Sharingan, but found nothing unusual.

What kind of place was this?

Who had brought me here?

A powerful sense of danger rose within him.

He was Kakashi Hatake, an elite jōnin of the Leaf Village, the Copy Ninja, a former ANBU operative, and a veteran of countless battles.

Yet someone had managed to abduct him from his home without his noticing and restrict his abilities?

A technique like that... he'd never even heard of anything similar!

As Kakashi's mind raced, he warily surveyed his surroundings, searching for any clue—

"Ah! Kakashi-sensei?!"

A familiar female voice, tinged with surprise and trepidation, suddenly rang out from not far behind him.

Kakashi whipped around.

Three or four rows behind him, two figures in their pajamas stared at him in shock.

Sakura Haruno, her pink hair spilling around her, wore a pink cotton pajama set decorated with cute rabbits. Her emerald-green eyes were wide, and her mouth hung open.

Beside her, Sasuke Uchiha wore simple dark blue striped pajamas. He was doing his best to maintain his cool expression, but his faintly furrowed brows and the hint of alarm in his eyes betrayed his unease.

"Sakura? Sasuke?" Kakashi lowered his Forehead Protector without showing his concern. "How did you get here?!"

"I-I don't know either!" Sakura looked close to tears, her voice trembling. "I was sleeping at home. I closed my eyes, then opened them again... and I was here!"

She pointed at the empty seats around them and the screen in front, then continued through her tears, "Sasuke-kun and I have been here for a while. We checked carefully, but there's nothing here, and we can't get out. There are only these chairs and the big screen in front... W-waah... Kakashi-sensei, what's going on? Have we been captured by some terrifying enemy?"

Sasuke said nothing, but his expression was grim. He had clearly tried to escape or fight back, and failed.

He looked at Kakashi, seeming to hope the experienced jōnin would have an answer.

Kakashi's expression grew even more serious.

Sasuke and Sakura had been brought here too?

And while they were asleep... What kind of technique was this?

Its range was enormous, and its effects were so subtle even I didn't notice...

What was the enemy after?

They'd gathered all of Team 7 here...

Wait, where was Naruto?

Kakashi suddenly realized the crucial point, his brows drawing together even more tightly.

Sakura and Sasuke were freshly graduated Genin. Perhaps they'd been easy targets.

But he was a bona fide jōnin.

To move him from his home in the heavily guarded Leaf Village without a sound and restrict his jutsu...

That was beyond the ability of any ordinary ninja!

Their strength was probably unfathomable!

Just then, Sasuke, who had been silent until now, raised a hand and pointed at the huge black screen. His expression was peculiar.

"Kakashi-sensei, look at that screen. It lit up a moment ago, then went dark again almost immediately, but I think... I saw Naruto's idiot face."

He paused, then added with even greater uncertainty, "It felt like... what was playing on the screen... was Naruto's dream?"

"Naruto's... dream?"

Kakashi froze, then instinctively looked back at the enormous screen.

At that very moment!

The screen, which had been completely black, lit up without warning!

An image appeared!

It was a familiar training ground somewhere in the Leaf Village!

In the center, two boys of about twelve stood facing off fiercely.

A blond, spiky-haired boy in his signature orange tracksuit—Naruto Uzumaki!

A black-haired, spiky-haired boy with a cold expression and a defiant glint in his eyes—Sasuke Uchiha!

But the two in the image seemed to be in a very strange situation.

Onscreen, Naruto stood with his hands on his hips, laughing boisterously at Sasuke, who lay on the ground!

All around him stood a dense crowd of... at least a hundred identical Shadow Clones, every one of them staring smugly at Sasuke on the ground.

And though Sasuke looked a little battered, there was no anger or resentment on his face. Instead... he gazed at Naruto with an expression of admiration and relief?!

Kakashi: "..."

Sakura: "..."

Sasuke: "..."

The three spectators were dumbstruck.

W-what was going on?

Then Sasuke on the screen actually spoke, addressing Naruto with heartfelt respect:

"Whew... You really are something, Naruto Uzumaki!"

"I... admit defeat!"

"You're definitely stronger than me. From today on, I, Sasuke Uchiha, acknowledge you as Team 7's strongest!!"

At that, Naruto grinned even more smugly, his nostrils practically pointing at the sky. He pointed at Sasuke and laughed without a care in the world:

"Wahahaha! Sasuke, you're not all that great after all! I thought you were supposed to be amazing! But you still got beaten easily by yours truly, Naruto! Wahahaha!"

Pfft!

In the real audience, Sasuke's brow twitched as a vein bulged at his temple.

His handsome face flushed red with anger and embarrassment!

"T-this idiot!!! There's no way I'd lose to him! And I'd never say something like that!" Sasuke trembled with rage. If looks could kill, the Naruto on the screen would already have been hacked to pieces.

Sakura covered her face, looking both speechless and disgusted. "Naruto... He really is hopeless..."

Kakashi wore his classic dead-fish stare and watched the screen in silence. He felt nothing at all—if anything, he was a little amused.

The commotion on the screen eased the tense atmosphere a little.

And while the three of them were swept up in intense emotions over the ridiculous dream playing before them—

Far away in the unobservable shadows of the audience hall,

a black-haired boy in a plain ramen shop uniform smiled with satisfaction.

It was Shigure.

Before him, prompts only he could see kept popping up:

[ Ding! Emotional fluctuations from Naruto Uzumaki detected! Emotion points +300! ]

[ Ding! Emotional fluctuations from Sasuke Uchiha detected! Emotion points +200! ]

[ Ding! Emotional fluctuations from Sakura Haruno detected! Emotion points +50! ]

[ Ding! Emotional fluctuations from Kakashi Hatake detected! Emotion points +50! ]

"Heh heh heh..." Shigure looked at the numbers rapidly climbing on the panel, his grin impossible to suppress.

"It worked! This Dream Master System is incredible! It can pull not only the person dreaming into this place, but also bundle in the people close to them as the audience! And I can collect the audience's emotion points too! Double the fun. This is great!"

Shigure licked his lips, his eyes gleaming with excitement.

He was a transmigrator.

Three years ago, he'd been an ordinary person on Earth, struggling to make a living as... well, a psychological counselor who specialized in helping troubled kids.

Then he'd woken up one day to find that he'd transmigrated into the perilous Shinobi World.

And the worst part was, he hadn't become some Uchiha or Hyuga—not even a member of Ino–Shika–Cho.

He'd become a complete war orphan, with no Kekkei Genkai, no connections, and virtually no talent as a ninja.

His one stroke of luck was being adopted by Teuchi, the owner of Ichiraku Ramen Shop, and becoming his younger son?

He currently helped out at the shop, spending his days kneading dough, cooking noodles, and washing dishes.

For three years, he'd tried all sorts of things to change his fate, like secretly learning the Chakra Refinement Technique and attempting physical training. The results had been negligible—he was weaker than Teuchi.

In the end, he'd been forced to admit one fact in despair.

He was a talentless loser with no aptitude for being a ninja.

As the days passed, Konoha, Year 63 arrived. Naruto, Sasuke, and the other rookie kids graduated from the Ninja Academy. That meant...

The story was about to begin!

Just thinking about Orochimaru joining forces with Sunagakure to launch the "Konoha Crush Plan" before long, the Third Hokage dying in battle, and the Leaf Village suffering heavy losses...

Then there would be the Akatsuki capturing Tailed Beasts, Pain's invasion, and the Fourth Shinobi World War...

Shigure felt his scalp go numb!

In his current state, he couldn't even swat a fly. A stray shockwave from any battle would probably grind him to dust.

Just as he was about to give up in despair and prepare to pack his bags and run—or simply lie low and pray he'd survive until Boruto—

His cheat finally activated last night, fashionably late!

[Dream Master System]

[Current Dream-Making Level: 1 (700/100000)]

[Number of Dream Targets: 1]

[Number of Spectators: 3]

[Can pull designated targets into a specific dream space (target-exclusive dream/or the "Dream-Making Theater" constructed by the system)]

[Can read, weave, and even alter the contents of a target's dreams]

[Emotional fluctuations produced in the dream space by the target and those close to them will be converted into "emotion points" and collected by the system]

[Emotion points can be exchanged in the system shop for all kinds of abilities, bloodlines, items, jutsu, and more from the myriad worlds...]

Put simply, he could give people dreams, livestream those dreams, collect their joy, anger, sorrow, and delight, then use the emotion points to make himself stronger.

And the first person he'd chosen as his "dream target" was, naturally—

The Nine-Tails, the Uzumaki Bloodline, the reincarnation of Asura, the future Seventh Hokage, a master of talk-no-jutsu, the Leaf Village's crown prince... Naruto Uzumaki!

This young prince had grown up starved for love and desperate for recognition. Deep down, he had far too many dreams and obsessions he longed to fulfill but couldn't.

He was practically a walking treasure trove of emotional points.

And bringing Kakashi, Sasuke, and Sakura—the three people closest to him—along as "audience members" was a stroke of genius.

After all, Naruto's emotional points alone might not be enough.

Bringing in his teacher and companions to watch Naruto's dreams with him would stir up all kinds of reactions: "speechlessness," "anger," "disdain," "sympathy," "shock," "bewilderment," and even "joy." There'd be no end to them.

Shigure silently ran the numbers in his head as his gaze returned to the giant screen.

The dream he'd carefully designed wasn't over yet.

The real show was just getting started!!