Beside him, Boruto was startled by Sasuke's sudden reaction, panic written all over his face.
He hurriedly lowered his voice and asked:
"Master! Didn't we agree to sneak around without exposing ourselves or contacting anyone?! And... brother? What brother?!"
Confused, Boruto looked up, following Sasuke's gaze.
There, atop a high branch not far away, stood a slender figure wearing an Anbu mask.
He stood straight, his presence subdued and utterly silent. Though he was right there, he seemed to blend into his surroundings, leaving an ordinary ninja unable to detect anything unusual.
But Boruto could tell that the man's gaze had been fixed on them all along.
The adult Sasuke stared at that achingly familiar figure, and emotions buried for countless years surged within him.
He no longer cared about disrupted space-time, altered history, or forbidden rules. Unable to hold back any longer, he spoke softly, a barely perceptible tremor of excitement in his voice:
"It's you, isn't it, Itachi? It has to be. I could never mistake you for anyone else."
Up in the treetop, Uchiha Itachi fell silent for two seconds.
Behind his mask, his eyes remained fixed on the unfamiliar yet familiar adult Uchiha below.
The man carried the weight of years, his eyes tempered by countless brushes with death. Most striking of all was his empty left sleeve-he had lost an arm.
Yet Itachi recognized that face and those eyes at once.
It was Sasuke.
There was no doubt that this was his little brother.
But shock had already swept through him, throwing his mind into chaos!
He remembered perfectly well that Sasuke was not even ten yet!
Right now, he was still training in Konoha under the village's protection.
Yet the Sasuke before him was far more mature and world-weary than Itachi himself, and he