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Near the Dragon Vein chamber, Akio let out a long sigh of relief—it really was Naruto who had traveled through time.

Naruto looked just as familiar as ever—bright blond hair, his signature orange outfit, and the iconic whisker marks on his cheeks. Even the Nine-Tails was still inside him.

"Wait... the Nine-Tails?" Akio was startled. After sensing carefully, he finally relaxed a bit.

"It's the Yang half—not the Yin half that was sealed in Mito. Must be the cheat I gave him in the future," Akio muttered to himself. He had planned to do that all along.

"Since his appearance and clothes haven't changed, and he's still wearing the Konoha forehead protector, that proves the main storyline of the future hasn't been altered." Akio nodded thoughtfully. "But a lot of the details have definitely changed."

Watching Naruto, who was able to access a portion of the Nine-Tails' power, Akio nodded in slight understanding.

"If it was sealed by my future self, the Nine-Tails must have been tamed quite a bit."

Naruto was still using his classic moves—Shadow Clones and Rasengan—blasting away the puppets attacking him.

Although Naruto looked somewhat stronger than he had at the same time in the original timeline, there wasn't a dramatic difference. In the face of overwhelming numbers, he gradually began to fall behind.

But Akio wasn't worried. Minato, Chōza, and Shibi suddenly appeared, rescuing Naruto from the battlefield.

Akio was about to give chase when an overwhelming sense of danger surged behind him. He instinctively released a repulsive force, but it was instantly nullified.

"What the hell?!" Akio leapt back and turned to look.

Standing before him was... himself. Or more precisely, the version of him who ran the online shop.

Stunned for a moment, Akio couldn't help but chuckle. "Hello, future me. Is life really so boring that you've come to replay a movie plotline twice?"

But the future Akio wore a solemn expression.

"I'm here to rewrite a tragedy."

Akio was taken aback. "What happened? Who got hurt? Was it Obito?"

The future Akio shook his head. "No one... got hurt."

"…What?"

Akio stared blankly for a long while. Seeing the familiar mischievous grin slowly creep into his future self's serious expression, he too became serious.

"So it's me who went off the rails? What made me go insane in the future?"

"…What?" Future Akio blinked, caught off guard.

"I mean, if I wasn't crazy, why would I be here messing with my past self?"

…

The two Akios bantered for a bit, then shared a knowing laugh, like two idiots completely in sync.

The nearby puppets noticed them and began to converge. Akio didn't move—he wanted to see what kind of strength his future self possessed.

With just a flick of his sleeve, the future Akio wiped out all the puppets in an instant.

Akio froze, then spoke in delighted shock, "Wait, how did I learn Space-Time Ninjutsu? Or is this some kind of Kekkei Mora?"

The future version smiled mysteriously. "Take a guess."

The atmosphere quieted. Akio began to reflect on whether his own personality might be a bit too annoying.

"No, the future me must've been through something... that's what drove him mad."

—

Meanwhile, on Naruto's side…

Having just been rescued by Minato and the others, Naruto's first words were:

"Long time no see… Dad."

The air instantly turned awkward. Chōza and Shibi both turned to Minato—the blond hair was way too conspicuous.

Minato gave a wry smile. "I'm only seventeen."

Although he had thought Naruto looked a bit like him, he never imagined having a son this old.

"I…" Naruto was about to say something more, but then remembered what the shopkeeper had warned him before the time travel:

"If you meet anyone familiar in the past—especially your parents—whatever you do, don't tell them anything about the future. You might mess up your own birth."

"Ah, no, never mind. I must've mistaken you for someone else." Naruto said it casually, but the expression on his face screamed definitely not mistaken. The three didn't quite buy it.

—

Back with Akio, the awkwardness had mostly passed. The future version continued:

"Don't rush about learning Space-Time Ninjutsu. You might suddenly master it out of nowhere someday."

Akio nodded, but couldn't help feeling like that was the most useless advice ever…

"So what's your purpose here, then? You're not just wandering around or checking in on your past self, are you? Is there something in the future you want to change?"

The future Akio shook his head. "There's nothing I want to change. Everything has developed quite smoothly. The plot has almost returned to its original point… in a very bizarre way."

Akio's eyes widened. That strange phrasing instantly made him think of the Akatsuki.

The other Akio noticed and clarified, "Not Akatsuki. Just… a coincidence, I guess?"

He didn't sound very sure. "As for Akatsuki, don't worry. The Great Toad Sage… is probably just senile."

"Is that so?" Akio let out a breath of relief. Ever since that prophecy, he'd felt a lingering anxiety.

"Wait a minute," Akio frowned. "Isn't this timeline still quite a while before the Fourth Great Ninja War? How do you know the prophecy was wrong?"

The future self dodged the question. "You'll find out in due time."

Akio's face darkened but gradually caught on.

"So the future really is going smoothly, huh? You're scared I'll mess it up? Did your past self also get this speech from you at this point in time?"

"Nope. Me coming back now has already changed the past. I never met my future self back then."

Akio was stunned. "Then you—"

But the figure had already disappeared, leaving only a fading voice behind:

"I'm going to check on Naruto's fight."

"…What the hell," Akio muttered. "Why does my future self feel so weird? What exactly happened…"

With a subtle sensing technique, Akio vanished from the spot too. He could feel a fierce battle taking place far away.

"How did I even learn Space-Time Ninjutsu? It seems kind of like Obito's, with a personal dimension too." He muttered, trying to trace his future self with no success.

Arriving at the battlefield, Akio stared blankly at the monstrous scorpion-like creature that was both human and not.

"So Sasori wasn't the first to turn himself into a puppet after all…" This thing was clearly the same creature he'd seen earlier—An Lushan.

"Wait, he's from the future and came to the past? Maybe he's trying to steal Sasori's title as the number one Puppet Master?"

Minato, the other three, and Naruto were locked in battle with the creature. Unbothered, Akio casually pulled a camera out of a sealing scroll in his robes.

Click… click…

Two quick shots.

Akio nodded in satisfaction. "I'll show these to Sasori later. That guy An Lushan stole his title and turned himself into a scorpion."

After watching for a while, Akio chuckled again.

"Not only that—he's connected to the Dragon Vein, and can even regenerate at high speed…"

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