The older Sasuke hesitated over which memories to show.
Their lives had diverged too much. Showing everything would take days, even inside a genjutsu where time flowed faster. And if he wasted that long, Urashiki would already have made his move.
So he chose a point he was certain this world's Sasuke had never experienced.
The Chūnin Exams.
As the illusion unfolded, Sasuke watched silently. The scenes felt familiar yet wrong, like a reflection warped by still water. The classroom, the exams, the tension. Similar foundations, but different turns.
One thing stood out immediately.
In these memories, Naruto was constantly mocked as "dead last."
Sasuke frowned slightly. That alone was proof their worlds weren't the same. In his Konoha, Naruto's written scores were terrible, sure, but once Fujimoto Tōma graduated early, Naruto had dominated physical training. Calling him "dead last" had never really fit.
As the memories continued, Sasuke felt something strange.
Without realizing it, his Mangekyō Sharingan had activated.
A surge of power welled up inside his eyes, resonating sharply with the older Sasuke's chakra. The two waves of ocular chakra responded to each other, almost like identical strings vibrating in harmony.
At that moment, Sasuke no longer had any doubts.
Their eye power was the same. Not similar. Identical. The only difference was quantity and refinement.
He told the older Sasuke what he was feeling.
The older Sasuke frowned. He hadn't expected this either. His genjutsu was built entirely from his own eye power. But since Sasuke's Mangekyō chakra matched it perfectly, something unexpected had happened.
"Don't resist it," the older Sasuke said after a moment. "Let's see where it goes."
Sasuke nodded and stopped holding back.
Their eye power spread outward, intertwining completely.
The world sharpened.
Details filled in where there shouldn't have been any. Textures, weight, depth. The illusion stopped feeling like an illusion at all.
Then, with a single thought, the scene shifted.
Sasuke froze.
Before him was a newborn infant, crying softly.
This shouldn't have been possible.
Genjutsu relied on memory. No one remembered being born. That meant this wasn't just one person's recollection anymore.
Their merged eye power was doing something new.
Sasuke realized something else at the same time.
He could see the older Sasuke's memories. And the older Sasuke could see his.
Neither of them stopped it.
If one of them was willing to open everything up, the other had no reason to refuse.
Sasuke accelerated the memories.
Academy days. Graduation. Team Kakashi. The Land of Waves. The Chūnin Exams. Orochimaru. The curse mark. Itachi. Defeat. Defection. The Valley of the End.
Then things Sasuke himself had never lived.
Training under Orochimaru. Killing Orochimaru. Forming Hebi. Avenging the clan. The masked man. Akatsuki. Capturing the Eight-Tails.
Sasuke watched in silence.
This version of him had suffered more than he'd imagined. Less support. Fewer hands reaching out. Every step forward paid for in pain.
When the memories ended, Sasuke exhaled slowly.
The older Sasuke opened his eyes at the same time.
"…I envy you," he said with a faint, bitter smile.
Sasuke nodded once. No words of comfort. None were needed.
"Let's go," the older Sasuke said. "We've been out long enough."
Sasuke tried to withdraw his eye power.
His expression changed.
So did the older Sasuke's.
Their chakra had already finished merging.
There was no clear boundary anymore. Just one mass, evenly divided.
They looked at each other, then instinctively pulled their power back.
When it settled, both of them felt it.
Something was different.
To confirm it, Sasuke raised his head. Blood slid from his right eye.
"Amaterasu."
Black flames erupted from the ground.
Sasuke focused, and the fire twisted and reshaped itself.
Kagutsuchi.
He stared at the flames, then wiped the blood from his eye, stunned.
"It's real," the older Sasuke said quietly. "I gained your ability too. Though your special Tsukuyomi only works as a normal one for me."
Sasuke smiled.
Not only had he gained Amaterasu and Kagutsuchi, he'd also absorbed fragments of Susanoo control from the older Sasuke's experience. Full-body Susanoo was still out of reach, but the next stages were no longer a mystery.
An unexpected harvest.
"Awake already?"
A familiar voice came from the edge of the training ground.
Sasuke turned. "Tōma… how long were we out?"
"About three days," Fujimoto Tōma replied. "Relax. Urashiki hasn't shown up yet."
He explained that ANBU had reported Sasuke's absence. When he came to check, both Sasukes were locked in a strange but stable state, so he'd left them undisturbed.
After hearing everything, Tōma clicked his tongue in amazement.
"So Mangekyō abilities can stack under the right conditions. That's… absurdly rare."
He paused, then laughed. "The Sharingan really is ridiculous."
A loud growl interrupted them.
Then another.
Tōma glanced at both of them. "Three days without food. Come on. My treat. Akimichi barbecue."
That was how fifteen people ended up crammed into the restaurant.
The Konoha Twelve. Naruto. Boruto. Both Sasukes. And Tōma footing the bill.
Even as Hokage, Tōma felt pain in his wallet.
Later that night, after everyone scattered, Tōma walked through the village holding Ino's hand, greeting villagers along the way.
Eventually, he vanished with her in a flash.
Far away, deep in a forest outside Konoha, space twisted.
Light bloomed.
When it faded, a pale, blue-haired figure stood beneath the trees, a broken horn jutting from his head.
Ōtsutsuki Urashiki smiled, sensing the Nine-Tails' chakra in the distance.
"Well then," he murmured. "Plans change. No matter."
"The Nine-Tails' chakra will be mine."