Storm Clouds Gathering

A sparrow landed on Neji's hand and chirped as it pecked at his fingertips.

Neji looked at the sparrow in his hand, his eyes thoughtful.

The mysterious entity claiming to be a Hyuga ancestor had an unknown origin, and its reason for appearing was equally unknown. Neji did not believe it was truly a Hyuga ancestor. That identity was most likely fake.

Sasuke Uchiha likewise had a mysterious entity by his side. What connection was there between the two?

Did they come from the same organization?

Or were they actually the same person?

That manga recording the "future" used Naruto as its protagonist and stretched across a thousand years of Shinobi World history. Who had drawn it? Could there be an omniscient and omnipotent god looking down upon the world? Were shinobi nothing more than sparrows in the palm of this true god?

Could it be the Sage of Six Paths? What kind of person was he, really?

He had personally sealed away his own mother and bestowed the miraculous power of chakra upon ordinary people. Had he truly done so out of great love?

Neji was burdened with too many doubts. The more he learned, the stranger this world seemed.

Uchiha Estate.

Sasuke: "Let me ask you something."

Black Shadow: "Go ahead."

Sasuke: "Since Indra's Chakra and Asura's chakra are fundamentally the same, and Asura's chakra displays such intense corruptive properties—during every reincarnation, nearly everyone sides with Asura—why does Indra's Chakra seem so useless?"

"The Sage of Six Paths has been dead for a thousand years, yet he can still maintain a clear self-awareness through chakra. Asura is inside Naruto. Is he Naruto Uzumaki, or Asura with amnesia?"

Black Shadow: "I don't know."

"Hm?" Sasuke was surprised. His questions had always received at least some answer before. Why was there nothing this time?

Black Shadow: "This involves the philosophical question of the 'self.' You probably wouldn't understand, so I don't want to explain it."

Sasuke: "..." I suddenly really want to hit someone.

A few days later, Hiruzen Sarutobi summoned Team 7 to the Hokage's Office. He droned on about the principles of the Will of Fire, trying to make them understand the importance of unity.

In short, Team 7 was still Team 7 and had not been broken up and reorganized. Hiruzen Sarutobi was determined to tie Sasuke and Naruto together and forge a bond between them. If that failed, he could only transfer Sasuke into the ANBU.

Hiruzen Sarutobi had thought he would need to give Sasuke a lengthy lecture. Unexpectedly, Sasuke did not care at all, as though his earlier hostility toward Naruto had merely been a joke.

Over the following months, Team 7 continued loafing around Konoha. There were too few missions in the village. High-level missions were beyond their reach, while low-level ones were almost nonexistent. Kakashi found time to teach them how to walk on water, then taught them nothing more.

Sakura had a decent talent for genjutsu and excellent theoretical grades, but she had not encountered a suitable teacher. Even now, she only knew the Three Basic Techniques.

The Land of Waves mission from the manga had been completely butterfly-effected away. Sasuke heard that the Land of Waves was gone—gone in the literal, physical sense.

Of course, even if Tazuna came to Konoha to issue the mission, Sasuke would make sure he never returned. He had deliberately concealed the mission's rank, then morally coerced Team 7 into risking their lives for his people. If Sasuke did not cut such a person down with one sword strike, was he supposed to keep him around until New Year's?

When Tazuna falsified the mission information, he was gambling with other people's lives! If the team carrying out the mission had not been one as absurdly lucky as Team 7, they would likely have died at Zabuza's hands.

Time flew by, and in the blink of an eye, the Chunin Ninja Exams arrived.

When Kakashi saw the ninja hawk soaring over Konoha, he immediately rose and headed for the Hokage Building. At the same time, Konoha's other assigned Jonin also spotted the ninja hawk and took the same action.

"Finally, the show is about to begin!"

Inside the Hokage's Office, most of Konoha's publicly known Jonin had gathered. Hiruzen Sarutobi sat behind his desk. "Everyone should understand the reason for this emergency summons. One week from now, Konoha will hold the Joint Chunin Selection Exams."

"Only seven days to prepare? Isn't that too rushed?"

"That's right. Then I'll be counting on all of you."

"Yes, Lord Hokage!"

Over the following days, unfamiliar faces gradually began appearing throughout Konoha.

Team 7 had not yet officially received notice of the exams. Naruto had recently taken on a little follower, Konohamaru Sarutobi, and the two often played ninja games together. From a normal person's perspective, those two brats were plenty perverted, frequently transforming into naked women in public. It was, to put it mildly... hard to describe.

The Third Hokage had named his grandson after Konoha itself, showing how deeply he had hoped for Konohamaru. Sasuke secretly observed him for a while, only to find that Konohamaru was utterly ordinary, with scarcely anything special about him. Sasuke quickly lost interest.

Naruto and Konohamaru chased each other through the streets, laughing and fighting. Although most people in the village hated Naruto, with Konohamaru around, no one dared speak harshly to him.

Suddenly, Konohamaru seemed to collide with something hard and fell to the ground.

"Were you walking with your eyes closed?" A man in black with paint on his face grabbed Konohamaru by the collar and lifted him into the air.

Beside him stood a blonde woman with a forehead protector hanging around her neck, its emblem clearly not Konoha's. She cautioned him, "Watch yourself. This is Konoha. Don't cause trouble."

The two were Kankuro and Temari from Sunagakure.

After hearing Temari's words, Kankuro was about to put Konohamaru down when Naruto suddenly shouted from beside him, "Damn it! You dead-faced bastard! Let Konohamaru go!"

Kankuro's grip abruptly tightened. Konohamaru struggled to breathe, and Naruto charged forward in fury. "You bastard!"

Thud! Naruto put on a spectacular trip-and-fall performance on perfectly level ground.

Several dark lines crossed Kankuro's forehead, and his mouth curled in disdain.

At that moment, a red-haired boy silently stepped forward and carefully looked Naruto over. After a moment, he turned away. "Let's go, Kankuro, Temari."

Kankuro and Temari hurried after him, seemingly very afraid of the red-haired boy.

Naruto lay sprawled on the ground, completely ignored.

Another day passed.

"Here, these are the application forms." Kakashi handed the Chunin Ninja Exams application forms to the three members of Team 7.

Naruto and Sasuke had no objections and filled out their forms immediately. Sakura looked at Kakashi as though she wanted to say something but hesitated. She only knew the Three Basic Techniques and basic taijutsu. Was it really okay for her to enter the exams?

Unfortunately, Kakashi gave Sakura no chance to ask. He took the completed application forms and left at once.

Naruto was brimming with confidence. Sasuke, expressionless, contemplated the Konoha Crush Plan. He quietly asked Black Shadow, "Will Orochimaru really come?"

The plot had already been mangled beyond recognition. Could this crucial storyline really have escaped the butterfly effect?

Black Shadow nodded. "Don't worry. I've got everything under control."