When Minato Namikaze removed his mask, Naruto Uzumaki was stunned.
When Shindai saw that Naruto had instantly recognized Minato, he immediately perked up.
Naruto had recognized Minato right away—so did that mean... the future Minato Namikaze didn't die?
That would be great news! If Minato were still alive, he'd always have someone watching over him—that's all the guarantee he needs for a happy life!
Shindai, Kakashi, Obito, and Rin Nohara also removed their masks.
Naruto immediately recognized all four of them too.
"Aniki Shindai, Kakashi-sensei, Obito-nii, Rin-neechan... what's going on here?!"
Minato looked at Naruto with an odd expression.
Now, Minato could be certain.
This green-haired kid before him—was his son from the future.
"But wait," Obito asked doubtfully. "Do we know you? And why do you call Minato-sensei Dad? Let's start with the fact that Minato-sensei isn't even married yet! Even if he got married, there's no way he'd already have a son your age!"
Kakashi frowned slightly. "Still, he did call all our names correctly."
Rin tilted her head, looking curiously at Naruto. "You really do know us! How strange! Who exactly are you?"
Shindai, still short for now, wrapped an arm around the confused Naruto's waist and smiled as he said, "I can tell he's a good person just by looking at him. He must usually keep a low profile in Konoha, which is why we don't know him. But he clearly knows us—we are somewhat famous after all, right?"
"But wait," Obito said doubtfully, "why does he call Minato-sensei Dad? And... isn't he clearly older than all of us? Doesn't it feel off calling us 'big brother' and 'big sister'?"
Shindai was momentarily speechless and couldn't find a response.
Shindai nudged Naruto with his elbow, silently urging him to come up with something.
Naruto was beginning to realize the truth—he must have somehow time-traveled and met Minato Namikaze and the rest back in their younger days—Shindai, Obito, Kakashi, and Rin Nohara.
Snapping back to reality, Naruto scratched his head and let out a dry laugh. "Huh… My Aniki told me to just call everyone 'big brother' or 'big sister,' and refer to strong people as 'mom' or 'dad,' no matter their age. That way, people will see me as respectful and decent."
Minato's eye twitched.
What kind of child was he going to have in the future? This kid seemed... unreliable.
And Minato could vaguely see traces of Shindai's personality in Naruto.
Kakashi pointed at Shindai and asked, "Then why do you call him 'Aniki' but address me as 'teacher'?"
"Eh… Well… Because…"
Cold sweat dripped from Naruto as he struggled to come up with any excuse.
Shindai came to Naruto Uzumaki's defense, saying, "Obviously it's because I'm so good-looking, right?"
Naruto winced slightly, instinctively glancing upward, and stammered, "Uh... yeah, exactly. Because you're so good-looking, so I unconsciously called you Aniki."
Obito sounded annoyed, "What you said isn't sincere at all—it's obviously fake! Am I not handsome enough or something?"
Not only was Obito upset—Shindai also looked genuinely offended. "You actually made that face when you were talking about how good-looking I am?!"
Minato Namikaze cut straight into the conversation between Shindai and the others. "Enough. Let's stop here. We've received a classified mission and rushed here from Konoha. This place isn't the Loulan you know. I believe… you're someone who came from the future."
"Future?" Kakashi, Rin Nohara, and Obito all looked shocked at Naruto Uzumaki. "Could it be... this guy is actually Sensei Minato's child?"
Obito eagerly asked, "Hey, what's your name?"
Right now, Naruto's mind was completely in chaos. "U-Uzumaki Naruto..."
Rin Nohara wondered aloud, "Oh, you share the same surname as Kushina. Why don't you take Sensei Minato's surname instead?"
Naruto explained, "B-Because there aren't many Uzumaki left. Dad wanted me, as Mom's child, to carry on the Uzumaki legacy, so I got her name."
Obito eagerly asked, "So how is the future? Did I end up with the person I like? Did I become Hokage? Did I crush both Shindai and Kakashi?"
Minato placed a firm hand on Obito's shoulder. "Alright, stop asking, Obito. If someone from the future interacts too much with this era, time itself could be altered. Things that are meant to happen might never come to pass. This era is probably several decades before your own.
And six years ago, another ninja came here from the future—just like you, Naruto. He suddenly appeared here too. His name was Gatai."
Naruto Uzumaki quickly said, "We're currently hunting for Gatai!"
Minato asked, "Can you tell me exactly what happened? Maybe we can find some clues."
While recalling, Naruto spoke, "We chased after Gatai until we cornered him at the Dragon Vein. But he absorbed the Sealing Formula into his own body. Then I was kicked by Shin Aniki into a [Concentrated Beam], and the next thing I knew, I was here."
Minato Namikaze and the other three all turned their gaze toward Shindai.
Naruto also stared at Shindai with a resentful look in his eyes.
Shindai took a step back under their collective gaze and defended himself, "Hey hey hey, regardless of whether that 'Shin Aniki' he mentioned refers to me or not, even if I did those things, that was still my future self doing it—they have nothing to do with who I am now!"
"Don't look at me like that!"
Obito commented, "You're still the same as ever, Shindai. It seems like you haven't changed a bit even after traveling to the future."
Shindai retorted indignantly, "What's wrong with the way I am? I think I'm perfectly fine the way I am!"
Minato Namikaze continued, "So both you and Gatai traveled back to the present from the future using space-time ninjutsu."
Naruto Uzumaki suddenly blurted out in alarm, "Does that mean I won't be able to go back?"
Minato reassured him, "There's still a chance. If what you say is true, and he has indeed absorbed the jutsu into his body, then once we defeat Gatai, time will reset itself and you'll be able to go back to the future."
"Really?" Hearing this from Minato, Naruto became happy again at once. At least he'd be able to return.
Minato nodded, "Yes. Also, Naruto, don't mention anything about the future anymore. Knowing too much might alter history itself. We must defeat Gatai quickly, or else this era will become increasingly distorted. The Dragon Vein's power lies dormant within Loulan, and Gatai is exploiting this power to develop Puppet Technique."
Naruto recalled, "That's right! Gatai did say something like that—injecting the Dragon Vein's power into puppets, and claiming that the entire world would fall under his [Puppet Technique]..."
"Shut up! Would you people just stop lying already!"
Sāra, who had remained silent until now, suddenly cut in furiously, interrupting Minato and Naruto mid-conversation.
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