Pre-Uchiha Massacre timeline—
["Question for Sasuke Uchiha: Do you agree with the statement 'Having a friend like Uzumaki Naruto is the worst luck for Sasuke Uchiha'?"]
["The red button on the selector represents agreement, the blue button represents disagreement."]
["—Please make your choice, Sasuke Uchiha."]
["Additionally, this vote is anonymous. Please be aware."]
"!!!!!"
What voice?! Who's speaking?!!
Originally, the Uchiha Police Force, Danzo with Root ninja, and the Hokage's ANBU—all three sides were secretly competing!
The sudden voice startled the ninja who'd tensed their nerves, ready to fight their opponents at any moment!
"That was the thing connecting our two time periods, called the 'Barrage Wall.'" Reanimated Minato Namikaze from the Fourth Great Ninja War explained. "We don't know its purpose either, but Lord First says its power should be far beyond ours."
Beyond the power of the previous Hokage?!!
Especially the First Hokage!
That's the man who possesses Hashirama Cells and Wood Style, and is even proficient in sage mode!!
The Konoha ninja and Uchiha couldn't imagine...
The key was the question it asked—
["Question for Sasuke Uchiha: Do you agree with the statement 'Having a friend like Uzumaki Naruto is the worst luck for Sasuke Uchiha'?"]
They turned to look at little Sasuke in the Ninja Academy. His tiny face showed big eyes full of confusion—clearly he had no idea what was happening either.
And Uzumaki Naruto, who was mentioned in the question, was even more bewildered than him.
6-year-old little Naruto's question wasn't whether Sasuke thought having him as a friend was bad luck, but—
Sasuke... does he consider me his friend?
If so, could I count as having my first friend??
And they're both being looked at with those eyes by other people, so they should count as each other's only mutual understanding, most important friend, right?
Thinking about this, Naruto's heart bubbled with joy.
He might have his first friend!
"It must be the Uchiha playing tricks again!" Danzo Shimura pointed at 6-year-old little Sasuke, giving orders to Root ninja: "Capture him for me!!"
"You dare!!"
The Uchiha Police Force, Konoha ANBU, the Third Hokage, Fugaku Uchiha, Itachi Uchiha, and Shisui Uchiha all stood in opposition to Danzo!
They blocked Sasuke behind them.
But what little Sasuke could see was a blonde head.
Uzumaki Naruto also spread his arms, standing in front of him!! Staring with those azure eyes fixed deadly on Danzo Shimura!
He would protect his first friend!
And he wasn't scared of that nasty old geezer!!
Seeing even the Nine-Tails brat stand on the Uchiha's side, Danzo Shimura angrily struck the ground hard with his cane.
"You'll pay for your naivety, Hiruzen!" After saying this, recognizing the situation, Danzo Shimura left with his Root subordinates.
"Sigh..."
Watching this scene from the mirror wall, Fourth War Reanimated Tobirama Senju sighed.
He was dissatisfied that Hiruzen Sarutobi was being manipulated by Danzo like this. "I once required ANBU to be established for the Hokage's use. Why does Danzo still have private soldiers who don't need to obey the Hokage?"
Before his teacher, the Third obediently apologized.
But the situation was as it was—what mattered more was finding a solution.
Danzo Shimura left, while more Uchiha clan members rushed over after hearing the news.
These Uchiha clan members heard about Obito's situation and all assumed Kakashi had filed a false report, framing Obito for the Sharingan on purpose, which caused Obito Uchiha to fall into such madness.
Kakashi, who should have come out to explain, was now blaming himself to the point of near mental collapse after learning Obito was alive and about Rin's situation.
Danzo Shimura had just left, but now conflict arose within the Uchiha and Konoha again.
"Captain! We should have captured Kakashi and interrogated him with the Sharingan back then!"
"I can't stand it anymore, Captain!!"
"We don't want to endure anymore either!! Please lead us, Captain!!"
Fugaku Uchiha remained silent, his face dark without responding.
Of course, the ANBU and Konoha ninja wouldn't back down either! They stared at the Uchiha clan, questioning whether they were really preparing to launch a coup!
"We've had enough of you Uchiha too!!"
"Only showing off inside the village! During the Nine-Tails attack and external wars, you acted like cowardly turtles hiding in your shells!"
"Who are you calling cowardly turtles?!!" What the Uchiha couldn't tolerate most was someone insulting their clan's honor. They immediately became even more irreconcilable with the opposing Konoha ninja!
"Enough! Captain! Let's take action!!"
"Captain!!"
Shisui and Itachi both knelt on one knee between the two forces, requesting both sides calm down.
Little Sasuke's eyes looked at his clansmen in confusion. He didn't understand why his clansmen, who should be protecting the village, were so furious at Konoha's ninja. He also didn't understand why the Uchiha Police Force, which was so respected by everyone in the clan district, had such a criticized image in these Konoha ninja's mouths.
But he seemed to understand the helplessness of his brother caught in the middle between both sides, and his father placed high above...
Sasuke, who'd always been well protected, had his comfort zone suddenly shattered in this moment...
Without any reservation, like a broken mirror scattering.
Holding the selector in his hand, he actually felt dizzy!
["Question for Sasuke Uchiha: Do you agree with the statement 'Having a friend like Uzumaki Naruto is the worst luck for Sasuke Uchiha'?"]
The eerie voice appeared in his mind! As if urging him.
But how could young Sasuke have the mental capacity to think about this?!
["The red button on the selector represents agreement, the blue button represents disagreement."]
["—Please make your choice, Sasuke Uchiha."]
["Additionally, this vote is anonymous. Please be aware."]
Whatever, it's anonymous voting anyway. 6-year-old little Sasuke randomly pressed the selector.
And it was at the moment when the conflict between the Uchiha and Konoha was about to explode!
Having achieved its goal, the eerie voice made an announcement to everyone again:
["Ding!"]
["Konoha Ninja Academy 'Sasuke Uchiha' has made his choice."]
["Konoha Genin 'Sasuke Uchiha,' please await receipt of the selector."]
"!!!!"
"What?!"
"There's MORE?!!"
Everyone in the Ninja Academy was shocked at where this voice came from and why it kept targeting Sasuke Uchiha.
The Allied Shinobi Forces questioned whether this thing would ever end!
No one could have imagined such a series of inexplicable events would happen on such an intense battlefield!
Madara Uchiha couldn't wait any longer either.
"It's time to end this farce."
He stood up, dusting off his armor that had gotten dirty.
The next moment, he leaped high up, preparing to shatter that strange mirror wall with one strike using Susano'o's power!
WHOOSH—
A new mirror wall suddenly popped up, pressing right against Madara Uchiha's face...
Madara Uchiha froze mid-air, his eyes at close range observing the suddenly appearing mirror wall!
"MWAH————" (kissing sound effect)
An image of two people kissing played point-blank in Madara's face!!
Especially since Madara Uchiha still had his Sharingan activated.
...