"And you, Konoha's elite Jōnin Intangibility Obito, you weren't the mastermind behind Akatsuki from beginning to end either! These memories are way too strange! And it's not just me! Sasori-danna, Kakuzu, Hidan, the extra memories in all our heads line up perfectly! Hm!!"
Huh?! What was that supposed to mean?!
Nagato said, "Just now, all of us suddenly gained memories of another life. They're detailed enough that we remember every moment of never meeting the Masked Man, and instead being saved by Jiraiya-sensei and the Fourth Hokage."
"What about Yahiko? What happened to Yahiko?" Obito asked. "If Minato-sensei and Jiraiya saved you, then where is Yahiko?"
Konan said, "According to our memories, Yahiko should be in the Land of Rain right now with Daibutsu and Kyūsuke."
Adult Obito froze. Didn't that mean everyone who had been "killed by the Masked Man" was now alive, with a logical set of memories to match?!
Adult Kakashi said, "Yahiko doesn't know about the second-generation Akatsuki, right?"
"We can't say for sure, but according to the newly added memories..." Even now, Konan still could not quite believe the memory of Yahiko being alive.
She said, "If Yahiko is alive, then he probably knows nothing about the second-generation Akatsuki at all. All he has is a memory of the world steadily moving toward peace. He shouldn't even know that he once died."
Hearing Konan's words, Nagato lowered his eyes.
He could hardly imagine how he was supposed to face Yahiko later, after turning Yahiko's Akatsuki into something so unrecognizable.
"He doesn't remember ever dying, and there aren't any other memories in his mind..."
Everyone who had returned from the Warring States Period instinctively looked at Kushina Uzumaki!
Yahiko's situation sounded exactly the same as Kushina Uzumaki's.
Her entire life had never held any regrets. It was only after seeing the Nine-Tails' memories that she learned what Naruto had lost.
He had lost his entire childhood, his parents' companionship, and the honor and status he should have had. As the third Jinchūriki of the Nine-Tails in Konohagakure, he had struggled, worked hard, and still managed to live a brilliant life.
The Fourth Hokage and Minato Namikaze spoke for two full hours.
During that entire time, the culprit behind this situation, Young Obito, and the Adult Obito who had caused Young Obito to make such a wish, both sat there uneasily, obedient to an almost ridiculous degree.
No one in this world would ever imagine that, in one altered version of history, this man had been capable of starting the entire Shinobi World War on his own and throwing the Ninja World into chaos.
Naruto stayed leaning against his mom the whole time. He did not care whether history had been changed, nor did he mind if the life he had once lived was erased. As long as he remembered those years of growing up, that was enough.
For him, nothing could be better than having his mom back by his side and the three of them living happily together as a family.
Sasuke was restless. By then, Itachi had also recovered from his initial disorientation and was kneeling obediently behind Fugaku Uchiha, just like Sasuke. During the conversation between the two Minato Namikaze, they had heard that the entire Uchiha Clan was alive and well.
That included Shisui Uchiha, Mikoto Uchiha, and every member of the Uchiha Clan. They all existed safely in this world.
And in those people's memories, none of them remembered Itachi Uchiha ever massacring the clan.
It was as if the entire world had been completely overwritten by a save file from another world.
"With such a sudden situation, it's only natural for everyone to feel unsettled, or even resistant."
The Fourth Hokage, Minato, spoke.
"And with Obito's mistakes being overwritten so easily, Itachi and Nagato are indirectly freed from having to bear what came afterward and gain normal lives instead. For those of you who still remember everything, that may be difficult to accept."
Putting everyone else aside, even he himself could not simply forgive Obito so easily.
Those who still remembered the Uchiha Clan's extermination certainly could not just pretend none of it had ever happened.
"It may even feel as though we haven't returned to our own world, as if we don't belong here. That's also normal."
"But..."
The Fourth Hokage, Minato, changed the direction of the conversation and continued.
"But even so, I still believe that compared to everyone living with regrets in their hearts, this is already the best outcome that the scroll, or rather the mastermind behind the scroll, could achieve."
"The mastermind behind the scroll?" Fugaku Uchiha frowned.
He asked, "Do you already have some idea? About the mastermind behind that scroll, and what his purpose is?"
Fugaku Uchiha's question made everyone turn to look at Minato Namikaze.
Kushina also frowned slightly.
Two Minatos appearing at the same time was already shocking enough, and the knowledge these two Minatos had about the mission scroll made her instinctively sense something subtle.
Earlier, she herself had also felt a strange sense of resonance with this world and the mission scroll's prank-like tasks.
"I've had this guess for a long time..."
The two Minato Namikaze exchanged a glance and no longer hid their suspicions about the mastermind behind the mission scroll.
In truth, they had never deliberately hidden their sensitivity toward the "mission scroll," so people like the Second Hokage and Adult Kakashi had probably already had questions for a long time. They had simply been waiting for the right moment to bring it up, and so they had not asked.
"Barring any surprises, the mission scroll should be connected to another version of me from a parallel world."
As soon as the Fourth Hokage, Minato, said this, everyone stared fixedly at him, thinking over his words.
Naruto said, "Another parallel world's dad?!"
Kannabi Bridge Minato explained, "Just like the Obito from another parallel world we encountered last time, perhaps a version of me in some world also obtained an unbelievable power capable of reversing everything."
Obito Ōtsutsuki.
Although he had not appeared for long, the information he brought them had broadened their entire perspective.
The world of terrifying quiz questions and answers.
And that legendary three-dimensional world.
The fusion between the God Tree and something called a "System," which had caused Obito to atavistically become a member of the Ōtsutsuki Clan.
Even more than that...
They had also heard about Six Paths Hashirama and Six Paths Izuna from Obito Ōtsutsuki.
"You belong neither to the Senju nor the Uchiha."
Madara Uchiha stared at Minato Namikaze. "The Rinnegan isn't something you can have just because you want it."
This was not a prank, nor was it as simple as Minato Namikaze using the Transformation Technique to turn into Six Paths Minato.
If a Minato Namikaze from some other world really existed, then where had his Rinnegan come from? Just thinking about it made it seem impossible.
"No, I don't think so."
Adult Obito suddenly spoke.
The others looked at him.
He said, "To complete the mission of six hundred billion red bean cakes, that Obito Ōtsutsuki took me to many parallel worlds. They were different from the world you know, and different from the main timeline worlds we've crossed into so many times."
After a pause, Obito Uchiha looked as though he was about to unseal all the memories that had shaken his worldview to pieces.
"Could you even imagine it if I didn't tell you?"
"A world where Madara Uchiha became the First Hokage, and the person who attacked Konoha with the Nine-Tails was Hashirama Senju..."
"Huh?!!" The strongest reaction came from Madara Uchiha himself.
With an expression that could only be described as ridiculous, Madara Uchiha looked at Hashirama, then at Izuna.
"You brat, you'd better not be joking."
"That's already a relatively normal world."
Hashirama exchanged a look with his younger brother. "Me, attacking Konoha with the Nine-Tails? Forgive me, but I honestly can't think of any reason I would do that."
"It seems to be because you inherited Indra's chakra, while Madara Uchiha inherited Ashura's chakra. By the way, the one who started the Fourth Shinobi World War was Naruto."
Hiss.
Everyone sucked in a cold breath.
They imagined that world's enemies in the Fourth Shinobi World War. Not Six Paths Madara and Ten-Tails Obito, but Six Paths Hashirama and Ten-Tails Naruto...
Now that was intense!!
"That's nothing."
Adult Obito sighed.
He remembered the gender-swapped world he had visited.
"You have no idea how much of a shock it was to hear that Madara Uchiha was a woman in one parallel world."
Madara Uchiha said, "Are you looking to die, brat?"
Izuna Uchiha went completely numb.
"Wait! If Madara is a girl, then does that mean I..." Hashirama was stunned. Hearing that Madara was female hit him far too hard!
He had wanted to ask whether he, Tobirama, and Izuna were also women in that world.
But Obito seemed determined to shock them to death.
"Yes, that's right." He looked at Hashirama Senju and Madara Uchiha before him and said, "In that world, the two of you formed a marriage alliance."
"Pffft!"
Everyone present spat it all out!
Even the usually aloof Uchiha nearly coughed up a mouthful of old blood.
Hashirama Senju's expression was seventy percent awkward and thirty percent refusal.
Madara Uchiha clutched his chest and braced himself against the table beside him, making an exaggerated retching motion.
Tobirama Senju rejected it completely. "Forgive me, but I cannot acknowledge such a world. As long as that world's me had ever seriously injured Izuna Uchiha, there is no way my elder brother and Madara could have formed a marriage alliance!!"
That remark was absolute.
Everyone present looked at Tobirama Senju and Izuna Uchiha, and inwardly, every single one of them imagined this vicious Senju sister-in-law and this fierce, unreasonable Uchiha sister-in-law.
"Second Hokage-sama, that only proves how weak your imagination is."
Adult Obito spoke as if taking revenge. "Do you think only Madara Uchiha and Hashirama Senju formed a marriage alliance?"
"Wait!!" Madara Uchiha exchanged a glance with Izuna beside him. "Don't tell me... I mean, in that world, is Izuna also a girl?" Compared to a younger sister, he still preferred a younger brother.
"Eh? That sounds great! I'd like Tobirama to be a girl too!"
"Shut up, Elder Brother!!"
Hashirama Senju shut up, but Obito Uchiha did not.
"Mm. Then your wish came true."
"Huh?!"
This time, it was Izuna Uchiha who was shocked. Combined with what Adult Obito had said earlier, he seemed to understand what it meant.
Obito said, "Izuna Uchiha is still male, yes, but Senju..."
"D-don't say it! Let me calm down first!!!"
The young man who looked almost exactly like the future Sasuke clutched his head, his face turning blue. He could not bring himself to imagine that such a terrifying world actually existed.
As for Tobirama Senju's expression, that went without saying. He looked like he wanted to commit righteous family expulsion right then and there and kick Hashirama Senju out of the Senju Clan so he would never have to look at him again.
Obito Uchiha spread his hands.
"I can't be the only one getting hurt here. You people can't understand what it felt like when I saw Itachi and Kakashi wearing ANBU uniforms and blocking me outside Konoha."
Naruto said, "Eh? In that world, Sasuke's brother and Kakashi-sensei were also in the ANBU?"
"Hah, more than that."
Under everyone's gaze, Adult Obito said, "They were even called the ANBU Twin Blossoms..."
These people could never understand how he had felt when he saw Kakashi and Itachi with softer facial lines.
They were a little shorter than the male Kakashi and Itachi.
Their chests made the ANBU soft armor curve outward slightly.
And no matter how you looked at them, their arms did not look like a man's.
Slender, yet strong.
Just like their chests and waists.