Chapter 540: The Valley of the End, For the First Time
Moving without a sound, Naruto and Satsuki followed the voice through the trees, threading toward it between the trunks until the forest opened.
Naruto knew where they were the instant he saw it.
A waterfall of enormous scale poured from the clifftop above, its roar filling the gorge below with constant thunder. On either side of the falls, facing each other across the churning water, stood two colossal stone figures. Each extended one hand toward the other in the sign of reconciliation.
The figure on the left -- long hair, resolute expression -- was Hashirama Senju, the First Hokage.
The figure on the right -- wild black hair, an air of overwhelming force -- was Uchiha Madara.
The Valley of the End.
This was the site of legend, where those two former rivals had reached their peace and then fought their final battle. Later generations had raised these statues both as a monument and as a warning, and they had stood here ever since.
Naruto knew this place.
He also knew, with equal certainty, that this was not the Valley of the End from his own world.
Because of the two figures standing on top of those statues.
Two figures he recognized better than almost anyone.
One was a dark-haired boy in the blue uniform of the Uchiha clan -- that cold silhouette, that particular arrogant bearing, that unmistakable profile. Sasuke.
Or rather -- this world's Uchiha Sasuke.
The other was a blond-haired boy.
He was younger than Naruto remembered of himself -- younger and less formed, with the unpolished edges of adolescence still fully on his face. He wore the classic orange tracksuit, and he was standing in front of Sasuke with eyes that were blazing with grief and fury and a resolve that was not going to bend.
Naruto understood.
This was another world. A parallel timeline -- the same kind of place that the Sasuke and Boruto from another world had once come from. And this particular moment --
This was probably when young Sasuke left Konoha for Orochimaru the first time.
"What business is it of yours what I've become?"
Young Sasuke's voice carried across the falls. Every word was a closed door.
"I have my own path. No one has the right to question it."
He looked at young Naruto with eyes that held no warmth and no hesitation.
"The days of fooling around with you and the rest of Konoha's people are over. Go back."
Young Naruto's pupils shook.
In those eyes was the reflection of Sasuke's cold face. The reflection of a back that was turning to leave. The reflection of everything he was desperately trying to hold onto.
His heart was hurting.
But the expression on his face only hardened into something more determined.
Whatever happened -- he was not letting this person go.
Satsuki stood in the shadows and watched.
She understood now. This world's Naruto and Sasuke were right in front of her.
But --
A small frown crossed her face.
Both of them were male?
Just like the world that older Sasuke had come from, this world had a male Sasuke and a male Naruto.
She was mildly disappointed. She had been hoping to meet the Naruko who had grown up as a girl from the beginning.
Though another question pulled her attention away from that almost immediately.
Why was this world's Sasuke like this?
So ruthless. So cold. So absolutely committed to leaving.
What had happened between them?
Young Sasuke moved. He turned his back on young Naruto and began to walk.
That retreating silhouette -- not a trace of hesitation in it -- pierced straight through young Naruto.
"How could you --!"
He launched himself upward, hurling toward Sasuke.
"How could you treat us -- treat your comrades -- like this?!"
His voice was raw with anger and with something worse than anger. He reached out, trying to grab hold of that departing figure and drag him back.
Adult Naruto had seen enough.
His body vanished.
Body Flicker Technique. At his current level, that kind of speed was effortless -- he was between the two of them before the moment had a chance to finish happening.
Young Sasuke had just turned to respond to the incoming attack when the unknown figure appeared from nowhere.
A stranger. An adult. Blond hair. Clear blue eyes. Wearing something that looked similar to the tracksuit of the boy behind him, but somehow different -- not quite the same.
And that face --
That face was too similar to the one belonging to the boy behind him. But the presence it carried was completely different.
Young Sasuke's mind went entirely blank.
Before he could form a coherent thought, the adult man had already moved -- reaching out and catching young Naruto's arm in one hand.
Then.
A gentle flick.
The sound of wind cut through the air, and young Naruto was flying backward, completely out of control.
His eyes went wide, his mouth opened to shout something, but nothing came out.
What was happening?! Who was this person?! Why did he look exactly like him?!
Satsuki, watching from the side, found she couldn't stay still either.
She disappeared from her spot and reappeared in the path of young Naruto's flight, extending one hand to catch the back of his collar with perfectly measured force -- enough to stop him without hurting him.
She set him down on the ground, steadied.
Young Naruto stumbled, found his footing, and spun around to see who had caught him.
There was no one there.
Satsuki was already gone.
He stood there with his eyes full of confusion.
The confusion only lasted a second, because in the next moment everything else fell away and all his attention went back to Sasuke. That was still the only thing that mattered.
In the space between them, adult Naruto looked down at young Sasuke.
That face -- stubborn and young and still unable to fully hide things behind its coldness -- and that particular way of switching between shutting everyone out and involuntarily showing that he cared -- it looked almost exactly like the young Sasuke who had once crossed time and space to fight alongside him against Urashiki. Only smaller, younger, more rigid.
"Sasuke..." Adult Naruto said. "It's been a while."
He thought about it, then shook his head. "Although you probably don't know me at all right now."
"And I suppose you're not that world's Sasuke either."
"Who are you!"
Young Sasuke's voice snapped through adult Naruto's words.
He was staring at the unfamiliar adult man, eyes wide, fixed on every detail -- the face, the hair, the clothes, the chakra. Everything he was sensing pointed toward a conclusion too absurd to accept.
An adult version of Uzumaki Naruto?
Impossible.
If it was only appearance, he could write it off as Transformation Technique. Plenty of people could look like anyone they wanted. That meant nothing.
But chakra couldn't be disguised.
And the chakra he was feeling from this person -- the signature, the shape, the quality of it -- was identical to Naruto's.
No.
Not just identical.
Vastly larger. Deeper. The kind of chakra that made the original seem like a trickle compared to a sea. Like the difference between a stream and an ocean.
"Who are you?!" Young Sasuke's voice was louder now. "Why are you impersonating Naruto?!" His fist clenched hard. "What did you do to him?!"
And with the last word, he threw a punch.
Every trace of the cold, dismissive detachment from moments ago was gone -- replaced by something that was clearly and unmistakably protective.
The sound of contact.
Adult Naruto extended one hand and caught the punch without effort. His palm closed around young Sasuke's fist, and young Sasuke found, with disbelief, that he could not pull it free. He strained against the grip. It might as well have been iron.
The man was strong.
Young Sasuke broke out in cold sweat.
Adult Naruto, looking at him, felt something move in his chest.
This is what crossing worlds can do, he thought.
He remembered this scene perfectly. Young Sasuke's first departure from Konoha. Young Naruto racing to the Valley of the End and fighting with everything he had to bring him back. A battle that left both of them shattered, and in the end, Sasuke had still left. That was one of the most painful moments in the story he had known before his rebirth.
And now, with his current strength --
He supposed he could do something about it.
"Who are you!"
Another voice from behind him -- young Naruto, standing at a short distance, eyes blazing with urgency and worry. He could see Sasuke's fist in a stranger's grip. He could see Sasuke struggling and failing to get free.
He didn't have the mental space right now to think about why this person looked exactly like him or to process what any of this meant.
He just knew Sasuke was in trouble.
"Let go of Sasuke right now!"
He took a step forward, ready to charge.
What he didn't notice was that something inside him had woken up completely.
"What is going on?!"
The Nine-Tails' roar detonated in his mind, shaking him all the way to his soul.
"Who is that person?! This is impossible!"
Young Naruto had never felt the fox inside him react like this.
The chakra pouring off that adult man -- the Nine-Tails felt it with a clarity that left no room for doubt.
It was genuine. It could not be hidden or counterfeited.
It was the same origin as his own. No -- identical. Completely, entirely identical. The full chakra of another Yang-attribute Nine-Tails.