A blood moon hung high over the Valley of the End, where Naruto and Sasuke faced each other atop the statues of their respective predecessors!
The wind brushed Sasuke's bangs aside, revealing glimpses of his fair face. His eyes remained fixed on Naruto, never blinking.
The Mangekyō Sharingan he once possessed had been honed by time into the ultimate Rinnegan!
Yet Naruto had the same eyes as him!
Sasuke knew exactly what that meant.
He clenched his fists, an inexplicable irritation creeping into his voice. "Naruto, you must have gone to quite some trouble to get those eyes..."
Naruto smiled graciously. "It certainly wasn't easy to do without hurting anyone."
Sasuke stared deeply at Naruto. "Did you come back from the future?"
Naruto answered calmly, "That's right. In the future, everyone died, including you. Our enemies were beings from beyond this world called the Ōtsutsuki, with power beyond imagination. So I decided to grow stronger at any cost and keep that tragedy from happening again."
Sasuke's gaze sharpened. "The Ōtsutsuki... you mean the clansmen of the Sage of Six Paths' mother, Kaguya Ōtsutsuki?"
Naruto nodded. "Exactly."
Sasuke was baffled. "Then I don't understand. Kaguya is an Ōtsutsuki too, one of the chief threats to humanity's survival. Why would you go to such lengths to revive someone like her?"
Naruto casually straightened his collar and said, "There are circumstances you don't know about. In short, Kaguya is different from those people. I've confirmed with my own eyes that she's a potential ally we can win over!"
Sasuke frowned. "She once nearly destroyed the human world, and even the Sage of Six Paths could only seal her away. What makes you so sure you can win her over? Does what you've seen with your own eyes outweigh the judgment of the Sage