"Me… becoming Hokage?"
Uchiha Sasuke stared at his future self on the screen, unable to process it.
He could not imagine what he had gone through. How had the version of him from the White Robe Sasuke period, who hated the village so deeply, become someone who wanted to protect it… who even wanted to become Hokage?
Was that supposed to be funny?
And yet, those words planted a seed in his heart.
The annihilation of the Uchiha Clan had never been clear-cut. Uchiha Itachi had carried it out, yes. But could Shimura Danzo, that high-ranking official, truly have had nothing to do with it?
There were definitely problems within the village. Kaede Kitahara's diary made that obvious. That man Danzo had acted without restraint, even attempting to assassinate Kaede Kitahara multiple times.
If the village had problems, then wouldn't becoming Hokage and changing it from within solve everything?
It was a path even Itachi had never considered.
A path even Sasuke himself had never thought about.
Why couldn't he become Hokage?
The future him was clearly strong.
Wasn't the position of Hokage meant for the strongest in the village?
Then all he had to do was become strong enough.
Strong enough to stand at the top.
Strong enough to reshape the village according to his own will.
The scene shifted.
Naruto, Sakura, and Sasuke stood atop a rocky outcrop.
"Alright! Team 7 is officially revived!"
Naruto shouted, clenching his fists with excitement.
Outside the scene, Sasuke's lips curved slightly upward.
That was more like it.
That was Team 7.
That Sai replacing him nonsense… what was that supposed to be?
Was that really the original Team 7?
It never felt right.
He had to admit, when he saw that future version of Sai standing in his place, he felt a flicker of jealousy.
Even though he had been the one to abandon Team 7.
Even though he had chosen to leave Konoha.
Seeing someone else fill his spot still made him uncomfortable.
Now everything felt restored.
Team 7 should be complete like this.
Without realizing it, he had begun to care deeply about that team.
Before he could think further, an overwhelming aura erupted from the screen.
Even as a spectator, he felt like he could barely stand.
It was chakra.
An unimaginable mass of chakra.
He focused his eyes.
A swirling red-and-black sphere of chakra hung in the air.
As the scene expanded, the source revealed itself.
A monstrous creature with a flower-like head loomed in the distance. In front of it, countless chakra spheres gathered and compressed.
The power within that mass of chakra…
Forget Sasuke.
Even Tsunade, Jiraiya, and Uchiha Itachi, all standing in the realm of Kage Level fighters, felt their expressions change.
If something like that hit them directly, even a Kage Level shinobi would be blown apart.
Was this what they would have to fight in the future?
The Summoned Beast of the Legendary Sannin had already been massive, like small mountains.
But compared to this monster, they were like infants facing a giant.
How could anyone compete with that?
The sheer destructive aura was beyond anything Tsunade or Jiraiya had ever witnessed.
Then the scene changed again.
Second Hokage Senju Tobirama.
First Hokage Senju Hashirama.
Third Hokage Sarutobi Hiruzen.
Fourth Hokage Namikaze Minato.
The four stood together and activated the Four Red Yang Formation.
The barrier rose and intercepted the terrifying Tailed Beast Bomb, redirecting its energy skyward.
The explosion illuminated the heavens like midday.
The shockwave shook the earth.
Every face watching turned grim.
If not for the Four Red Yang Formation, that single attack would have erased Konoha.
Not reduced it to rubble.
Erased it from the map.
This was destruction on an entirely different scale.
Nothing they had seen before compared.
Even the mountain-sized Summoned Beasts of the Sannin could not achieve this level of devastation.
Only now did they begin to understand why Kaede Kitahara's diary constantly mentioned the Fourth Great Ninja War.
Why he insisted on safeguarding the growth of the so-called two saviors.
Why he was hesitant to alter their destined paths.
Why he even spoke of clinging to the saviors' legs for survival.
They had once thought him spineless.
Based on what he displayed in his diary, Tsunade and Jiraiya had estimated his strength to be at least Jonin level.
In the shinobi world, a Jonin was already part of the upper ranks.
A powerful figure with pride.
Yet Kaede Kitahara acted as though survival was his only goal, without a shred of arrogance.
They had not understood.
Now they did.
Forget Jonin.
Even a Kage Level fighter would be shredded by that thing.
This was an existence beyond their comprehension.
The concept of a savior finally carried weight.
That monster truly had the power to destroy the world.
Not just a village.
Given enough time, it could wipe out everything.
That was why there needed to be saviors.
Two of them.
"So that's why their headbands say 'shinobi' instead of Konoha?"
Uchiha Itachi immediately grasped the implication.
If that was the case, then the villages must have united in the face of this threat.
All five great nations fighting side by side.
It sounded impossible.
Yet the evidence was right there.
"What is that monster…? It looks oddly familiar…"
Itachi frowned.
The Ten-Tails stirred something in his memory, but he could not place it.
If he had truly encountered it before, he would not have survived.
"That's… Grandfather, Second Grandfather, the old man, and the Fourth Hokage… how are they even here?"
Tsunade was stunned.
According to the timeline shown in Kaede Kitahara's diary, those four Hokage should have long since passed away.
"Impure World Reincarnation… Orochimaru. Damn you, defiling the dead again."
Her chest rose and fell with anger.
It did not take much to deduce what had happened.
Dead Hokage could not simply return to life.
Someone must have resurrected them.
And there was only one person capable of such a thing.
Their bodies carried the unmistakable aura of the dead, something that unsettled the living.
Who else in this era would use such a forbidden jutsu?
She wanted nothing more than to kill Orochimaru for repeatedly disturbing her grandfathers' souls.
"Impure World Reincarnation…"
Jiraiya's expression turned serious.
"Four Red Yang Formation…"
He was well-versed in sealing techniques and barrier ninjutsu.
The Four Red Yang Formation was an advanced version of the Four Violet Flames Formation.
The Four Violet Flames Formation required four Jonin working together and could withstand even Kage Level attacks.
But the Four Red Yang Formation was far more demanding.
It required four Kage Level fighters to perform.
He had known of it in theory.
It was recorded in the Scroll of Seals and accessible only to Hokage.
But he had never seen it in practice.
Gathering four Kage Level shinobi who also specialized in sealing arts was nearly impossible.
Yet here it was.
And it lived up to its reputation as the greatest defensive barrier in the shinobi world.
That earth-shaking chakra cannon had been stopped.
Only now did he truly understand what Kaede Kitahara feared.
No wonder he described the present era as peaceful.
"Has he seen too many horrifying futures?"
Jiraiya murmured.
Hatake Kakashi felt the same shock.
Against such an existence, even a Kage Level shinobi was fragile.
And he was not even at that level.
According to Kaede Kitahara's assessment, even before facing such monsters, Kakashi's combat strength was merely average.
His pride as an elite Jonin was hardly worth mentioning in that diary.
Kaede Kitahara's baseline for evaluation started at the pinnacle of the world.
Kage Level.
Before, Kakashi could not understand why Jonin-level strength seemed so insignificant in that diary.
Now he did.
Even after reaching Jonin level himself, Kaede Kitahara still behaved cautiously, as if only breaking into Kage Level might grant the slightest sense of security.