"The sky cleared, the rain stopped, and Little Sasuke thinks he can stand tall again."
"Little Sasuke, why don't you try Lightning Release…"
"Little Sasuke, stop chasing dogs. You can't out-bite them."
"Little Sasuke, if one day Itachi and I stand on opposite sides… who will you choose?"
"Sasuke, actually, you're pretty fun to ruffle when you smile."
"Sasuke, you will definitely become the strongest member of the Uchiha clan."
"Sasuke, your second brother is leaving."
…
One voice after another.
One sentence after another.
Memories that had sunk into silence for twenty years surged back into his mind at this moment.
This voice was very familiar to him.
So familiar that he had heard it every day as a child, heard it until his ears had practically grown calluses.
But this voice was also very unfamiliar.
So unfamiliar that even now, hearing it again, he had to confirm over and over whether he had misheard.
Especially when he saw that familiar style of clothing before him—
Future Sasuke's eyes instantly reddened.
A long-buried knot of emotion that had been trapped inside his chest for years suddenly surged upward.
At his throat, it turned into two words.
But just before they could leave his mouth, he could not help stopping.
His lips parted, yet not a single sound came out.
He could not acknowledge someone from this time-space.
Otherwise…
Many things would change.
It might even cause problems to appear earlier for these people.
He gritted his teeth. In the end, it turned into a soft question.
"You… you are…"
The person who had appeared was naturally Uchiha Kai.
He did not look at Sasuke immediately. Instead, he turned his head and glanced at the white-clothed youth above.
White clothes.
High collar.
Narrow eyes.
A fishing rod bastard.
Confirmed.
This was indeed that one—
The great Uchiha Urashiki, who had died at the hands of two genin.
Putting everything else aside, just that face after his transformation…
Kai felt like it had been stepped on by the Fire Cloud Evil God.
Ugly as hell.
Then, looking at the enormous Fire Release jutsu charging toward him, he gently raised his hand.
Eight Trigrams—
Vacuum Palm.
Bang!
A massive transparent palm strike, powerful enough to destroy mountains and rivers, directly surged backward.
Like a huge slap swatting a fly, it sent Goemon flying away.
"Hm? Another expert?"
Ōtsutsuki Urashiki widened his narrow eyes in slight surprise.
The boy before him had actually sent his powerful ninjutsu flying with a single palm?
Unlike others, he could clearly sense how strong that senjutsu technique was.
Even for him, if he was careless and got burned by it, things would be very troublesome.
But—
That boy below had merely slapped once.
And he had sent such a powerful senjutsu flying?
"Interesting."
The corners of his narrow eyes lifted slightly. He could not help looking Uchiha Kai over a few more times.
"You—who are you?"
"So strong!"
Thirty meters away, even though Jiraiya knew how powerful Kai was, his pupils still could not help contracting twice.
Goemon was the most powerful ninjutsu among the techniques he had mastered!
Not to mention, it was senjutsu!
Even if Kai was strong, he should not have been able to slap it away so easily!
"Don't tell me… this guy got stronger again?"
This thought suddenly appeared in his mind, and once it did, it could no longer be contained.
It rapidly spread through his entire body.
Looking at that boy, even though they were currently on the same side, Jiraiya still felt a chill.
On the other side, Boruto, who had been thrown to the ground, could not help opening his mouth into a huge "O" shape, utterly shocked.
"I never thought Konoha had someone this powerful in the past!"
"With the range of that Fire Release, even Dad would probably have some difficulty stopping it, right?"
He swallowed, and the way he looked at Kai suddenly became somewhat heated.
If such a powerful person could teach him, just how amazing would that be?
But very quickly, he suppressed that sudden thought, leaving only confusion behind.
"Who is he? The clothes he's wearing… the symbol looks kind of similar to Lord Sasuke's…"
Because of Kai's appearance, the four people present all fell silent for a moment.
But the only one who did not remain silent was Kai.
After casually slapping away that third-rate Fire Release, he turned around and lowered his head, looking at the black-haired man lying on the ground from exhaustion.
Clearly, this person was already half a head taller than him.
Yet his appearance was almost no different from when he was young.
It was still that handsome, refined face.
The difference was that some of the pride and arrogance had faded, replaced by weathered exhaustion and a miserable edge.
He had clearly grown up, yet he was visibly unkempt, with faint stubble on his face.
Kai smiled slightly.
Then, under the young man's hesitant gaze, he reached out—
And rubbed his head.
"You've grown this big, huh, Sasuke."
Thump.
With just one sentence, Sasuke's raised head froze completely in midair.
The figure buried deep in his heart could no longer be suppressed.
It broke through the soil and emerged.
Then overlapped with the boy before him.
The two words he had been holding back in his throat could no longer be controlled. Like a quiet sob, they slipped out in a murmur.
"Second… Brother…"
"You suffered a lot along the way, didn't you?"
Kai simply sat down on the ground and looked at Sasuke.
His expression was somewhat complicated.
Indeed, he had transmigrated here.
But Sasuke could still be considered someone he had tricked—no, raised—from childhood.
His feelings toward this proud, awkward little brother were only deep, not shallow.
He simply was not very good at expressing them on ordinary days.
An eldest brother was like a father.
Then a second brother being like an uncle should be fine, right?
Of course, the prerequisite was that Fugaku had kicked the bucket.
"Second Brother? Wait, Lord Sasuke, you called him Second Brother?!"
At that moment, Boruto, who had finally recovered from his daze, suddenly rushed back over.
He looked at Sasuke, then looked at Kai, who was only a head taller than himself. His face was filled with capital-letter shock.
It was very hard for him to believe that Lord Sasuke, who was like a lone wolf, actually had a second brother!
"So this is that little guy from the future?"
Beside them, Jiraiya could not help recalling the Sasuke of this era.
When he thought about the village rumors saying this brat loved chasing dogs, loved chopping at lightning, and even loved wetting the bed—
He could not help feeling that it was absurd.
How did these two people become the same person?
The contrast was far too huge!
More than huge.
It was practically a different person.
Kai looked at his little brother, his expression softening even further.
"Why does even calling me that sound so forced?"
Although he was speaking, his heart was filled with confusion.
It was obvious that this future Sasuke recognized him.
So why, when Uchiha Kai clearly existed, had Sasuke still been chased all the way here by an Ōtsutsuki?
This was very unscientific.
Putting everything else aside, Kai as he was right now was already confident he could abuse the Urashiki in front of him.
And judging from Sasuke's appearance…
Kai faintly had a feeling that perhaps the version of himself in the future time-space had died long ago.
Otherwise, Sasuke would not have ended up looking this unkempt.
So—
How exactly had he died?
Was he killed by someone?
Was it because of illness?
Or had he found a way to return and left?
All these doubts filled his mind.
He needed Sasuke to verify them.
But just as Sasuke opened his mouth and prepared to speak, Ōtsutsuki Urashiki, who had been ignored behind them, became displeased.
"Hey, hey, hey. Aren't you people ignoring me a little too much?"
"Don't tell me you truly believe a mere child can change anything?"
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