As the old year departed and the new one arrived, time advanced to Year 52 of Konohagakure.
According to the traditions of the shinobi world, January 1st, 2nd, and 3rd were known as the "Three Celebration Days." After that, the New Year period continued until the 15th.
Outside the shinobi villages, depending on regional customs and professions, holiday durations varied. But for most people, the New Year ended around the 15th, after which life returned to normal.
Inside the villages, however, things were different. Shinobi valued efficiency and had little time to waste. After the Three Celebration Days, they took one additional day to settle themselves, and by the 5th, everything resumed as usual.
During the Three Celebration Days, the first day was typically spent with family. The following two days were for visiting relatives and friends, or going to temples and shrines to pray for good fortune in the coming year.
Faith in the shinobi world mainly revolved around Buddhism and Shinto, both of which had origins far older than the shinobi profession itself.
As for Ninshū?
People in this world were not good at recording history. A thousand years was simply too long—many things had already been buried within myths and legends.
Ōtsutsuki Hagoromo and his mother Ōtsutsuki Kaguya had now been incorporated into the Shinto system—one as the Sage of Six Paths, the other as the Rabbit Goddess.
People had long forgotten that the goddess they occasionally worshipped was not only a mad tyrant, but also an alien.
The kind with horns on her head and a third eye on her forehead.
Within Konohagakure, the major shinobi clans each had their own dedicated shrines—for example, the Uchiha clan's Naka Shrine.
The Hyūga clan had one as well. Even the now-declined Uzumaki clan had theirs, originally established by Uzumaki Mito. After the clan's destruction, Konohagakure relocated the remaining artifacts from the Uzushiogakure shrine.
It was located in the back mountains of the village, near the former Senju clan shrine, known as the Uzumaki clan's Mask Storage Hall.
Their clan was rather peculiar—their worship centered on various masks, each said to represent a different deity.
However, now it was probably only Kushina's family who still performed those rites.
Families like Makoto's would instead go to the main village shrine.
Faith remained strong among ordinary people in the shinobi world. Only shinobi themselves were something of an exception. After all, this was a supernatural world—whether those numerous gods truly existed was uncertain, but shinobi who could breathe fire and release water were undeniably real.
People believed that since humans could achieve such miraculous feats, gods must surely exist as well.
One reason many in the shinobi world held prejudice against shinobi was that some believed shinobi had stolen power that belonged to the gods—an act of blasphemy.
...
At the Higashino household, what used to be a family of three had now gained an additional member, making things livelier.
For Yamato, this was his first time experiencing the New Year within a family atmosphere. As for before? It was hard to imagine someone like Shimura Danzō wishing his subordinates a Happy New Year.
He only cared whether their strength had improved, and whether any geniuses had emerged from the training divisions.
As for those who failed? They were usually put to use elsewhere… and then quietly disappeared from the world.
"Happy New Year!"
At the New Year's Day lunch, as the family raised their cups in celebration, Yamato felt a warmth he had never known before.
For the first time, he truly felt that he had a home—and a family.
Afterward, following shinobi world tradition, Higashino Jirō and Higashino Megumi, as elders, each gave the two of them a red envelope.
The envelope was not thick. For Yamato, who had a salary and mission bonuses, the money itself meant little—but its significance was immense.
He accepted it solemnly.
What it contained was not money, but something called "home."
After lunch, like most villagers, the family went to the shrine to queue for blessings.
It was Yamato's first time seeing so many people in Konohagakure. Yet he did not feel crowded—only a warm, vibrant sense of life.
At that moment, he thought: if only the people in Root could live like this.
They should not be machines underground—training in silence, dying in silence.
After months of subtle influence from the Higashino family, he had begun to question the very purpose of Root.
Were those people truly protecting the village… or serving only that one man?
...
The remaining two days of the Three Celebration Days passed with visits and gatherings.
On the evening of January 3rd, as usual, three families gathered for a meal in the Uzuki household courtyard. This had gradually become a tradition—one that even Minato's family had joined.
...
"Hey, who's this guy?"
The brat Uzuki Shige pointed at Yamato. He had never seen him before.
"Kid, learn to respect your seniors." Makoto smacked him on the head. "Call him Yamato-niisan."
"Ow…" Shige clutched his head and obediently complied. "Yamato-niisan."
Yamato shyly rubbed the boy's head.
The kid had just turned seven and would enter second grade in April. But he was still unruly, with that typical mischievous village brat energy.
"That's better." Makoto gave his head another rub.
As Makoto's reputation in the village grew, he had replaced Kakashi as the new role model for academy students.
So now, without Yūgao needing to discipline him, Shige had become completely well-behaved—at least in front of him.
Still, he found a new target to provoke: "Being my big brother requires real strength."
Yamato: "Well… I'd say I'm fairly strong."
Makoto added the finishing blow: "Beating a hundred of you wouldn't be a problem."
With an authoritative figure having spoken, the brat instantly deflated.
"Damn it… why are you guys not that much older than me, yet so strong?"
Yamato: "As long as you study and train hard, you can be the same."
Makoto ignored him and moved over to Kushina, watching the baby like he was admiring something divine.
"Naruto's really full of energy."
The little guy was almost three months old now, with bright blond hair like his father and blue eyes, along with three faint whisker-like marks on each cheek.
These marks weren't from becoming the Nine-Tails' jinchūriki—they were present from birth. Strange enough to make one suspect the Nine-Tails might be his father.
At that moment, lying in his mother's arms, the baby seemed influenced by the lively chatter around him, babbling incomprehensibly.
"Of course he's energetic—he's my son," Kushina said matter-of-factly. Then she lowered her voice, "Makoto… my seal is fine, right? Naruto's so cute—I don't want to suddenly leave him one day."
Makoto checked and replied, "Don't worry, sensei. It's very stable. And I've improved again recently—later, I'll adjust it further. I'll make sure you're no different from a normal person."
"That's good… thank you."
Minato stood nearby, grinning foolishly.
He was completely immersed in the happiness of having both wife and child.
Hokage? What was that?
Of course, that was a joke. The Fourth Hokage was a responsible man—he had never forgotten his other role.
Otherwise, why would he be here?
Moreover, Makoto knew that during the New Year, Minato had been in constant contact with his former subordinates.
He could temporarily step back for his family—but he still needed to let people know that the Hokage was very much alive and present.
...
After the gathering, everyone sat around the table, drinking tea and chatting.
Makoto, seated beside Kushina and Minato, suddenly asked: "Minato-senpai, the Flying Thunder God Technique we use allows us to traverse space, right?"
Minato nodded. "Of course. Otherwise, why would it be called a space-time ninjutsu?"
"But space-time ninjutsu seems to involve only space. What about time? Do you think someone might one day develop a time-based technique—something that lets them travel to the past or future?"
Minato thought carefully before answering: "That… seems impossible. If you travel through time, whatever you do would change history. But if history changes, the person who traveled might no longer exist. And if they don't exist, how could they have traveled in the first place? Isn't that a contradiction?"
As expected of Minato—even without being a scientist, he had easily derived the grandmother paradox, leaving everyone else thoroughly confused.
Kushina: "Minato, what are you even talking about?"
Minato: "…"
Makoto: "Hard to say. Maybe future Naruto learned it and came back—and is hiding somewhere right now, secretly watching us."
Kushina immediately looked around nervously. "What? Really?!"
Minato pondered further but held his ground: "I still don't think time can be traversed. Even if a grown-up Naruto appeared now, would he really be from the future? Couldn't he be from… from…"
Makoto: "You mean a world like ours—a parallel world?"
"Parallel world…" Minato considered it, then nodded. "Yes. That describes it perfectly."
Concepts like time travel, space-time ninjutsu, and parallel worlds were far too abstract. Everyone else was completely lost.
It could only be said—what geniuses thought about was beyond ordinary people.
Makoto had not asked this on a whim. Previously, he had indirectly confirmed through Kakashi that during the war, he had never accompanied his teacher to Rōran.
In other words, Minato had never met a future Naruto, nor sealed his own memories.
If that was the case, then two possibilities existed:
First, there was only one timeline—and his arrival had completely changed all future events.
Second, there was not just one timeline—and the shinobi world he existed in was a brand-new branch.
Relatively speaking, Makoto believed the second was more likely.
After all, his own soul came from another world.
Perhaps his arrival had altered history—causing the Suna missing-nin Mukade to die in the future, preventing him from traveling to the past. Without that, Rōran would face no crisis, and Konohagakure shinobi would never be sent to investigate.
Like Minato, Makoto found it difficult to believe that time itself could be traversed.
He leaned more toward the idea that Rōran's Dragon Vein—or the Ōtsutsuki artifact Karasuki—enabled travel between parallel worlds instead.
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