Itachi Uchiha: "..."
Adult Kakashi: "..."
Young Kakashi: "ANBU... The ANBU Twin Blossoms?!!"
The Akatsuki members familiar with Itachi Uchiha looked him up and down.
Itachi remained expressionless. Only when Sasuke looked his way did he show a faintly helpless yet indulgent smile.
The members of Team Minato and Team Kakashi also studied the younger and older Kakashi respectively.
Young Kakashi was still no match for Adult Kakashi, who had already weathered countless storms.
The former immediately bristled. "What are you looking at?!"
The latter hid his embarrassment behind Icha Icha Paradise as usual and replied, "Come on, it's another world. Nothing that happens there should be surprising, right?"
Right, right. Nothing surprising at all.
Pfft. The ANBU Twin Blossoms...
"Is something funny?"
Adult Kakashi smiled as he questioned Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura.
The three of them instinctively shook their heads with all their might, their survival instincts kicking in.
Kushina was fascinated by the world Obito had described.
"There's actually a world where even Kakashi and Itachi became girls?! Does that mean Minato and I switched genders too?"
Fourth Hokage Minato and Kannabi Bridge Minato both sucked in a sharp breath.
Adult Obito looked apologetically at the two versions of his teacher. "Actually..."
"It suits both of you pretty well."
Pfft!
Naruto burst into loud laughter, clutching his stomach as he nearly collapsed onto the floor.
But Kushina Uzumaki laughed even louder and more wildly than he did. She pounded the table and declared that if Minato became a girl, the pressure on her would be far too much to bear.
Minato Namikaze was mortified. He scratched his cheek while fondly watching his wife and son make fun of him.
Sakura and Rin looked confused.
"Why would Kushina-sama be under so much pressure if Minato-sama and Kushina-sama switched genders?"
Kushina replied, "Because Minato is already so gentle and pretty as a boy. If he became a girl, wouldn't he attract even more admirers?"
Just imagining it made Kushina clench her fist.
She pictured herself as a male ninja of the Uzumaki Clan while Minato Namikaze became a beautiful kunoichi.
Then she considered the ratio of male to female ninja in Konoha.
Kushina Uzumaki instantly lost her composure. Everyone in Konoha would be a rival!!!
"Huh?! Really?!"
Naruto was stunned. He was genuinely curious about what his mom and dad had been like as children.
"Ah, sorry, sorry. You probably never saw Minato when he was little. But he really was beautiful back then. When he told me he wanted to become Hokage too, I remember thinking, 'How could a boy who looks like a girl ever become Hokage?' Hahahaha!"
Kushina's nostalgic expression made Naruto desperately wish he could travel back to the time when his parents were children.
Everyone began giving the Fourth Hokage knowing looks.
Most of the people present were men. It was easy for them to put themselves in the Fourth Hokage's place, and they could not help casting sympathetic glances his way.
"Ku-Kushina..."
Minato Namikaze could no longer bear to let this topic continue.
Meanwhile, Madara Uchiha and Tobirama Senju were still reeling from the last piece of information Obito Uchiha had revealed.
A marriage alliance with Hashirama for one and Izuna for the other?! And they would be the women in those pairings?!
What the hell kind of nightmare was that?!
Hashirama Senju and Izuna Uchiha adjusted somewhat faster. It was not their genders being swapped, after all. Once they cast aside their values and principles, the setup actually seemed strangely exciting.
Rin kept glancing at Young Kakashi while suppressing her laughter. Anyone could tell that she was extremely curious about what Kakashi would look like dressed as a girl.
"What a shame. We should have taken Obito's camera with us."
"Hey, Rin!!"
"Hahaha, sorry, sorry." Rin playfully stuck out her tongue and gave Kakashi an apologetic bow. "Kakashi would definitely be beautiful if he were a girl, wouldn't he? Then, if Obito and I were both boys, which of us would have a better chance?"
Young Kakashi: "..."
Young Obito blinked and scratched his head. "No, I can't picture Kakashi as a girl!"
Sakura badly wanted to retort.
If you can't picture it, why is your face so red?
Ignoring everyone else's reactions, Young Obito clutched his head, his face burning red, and confronted Adult Obito.
"Are you sure you're not just making this up? How could such a bizarre gender-swapped world possibly exist?"
A world where Kakashi and Itachi were women and known as the ANBU Twin Blossoms?! How could that be real?!!
Adult Kakashi also found it difficult to believe that such a world existed.
"Based on what Minato-sensei said earlier, if every parallel world branches off from the main world, what could possibly cause everyone's gender to change?"
"A derivative world," Fourth Hokage Minato said.
Most of the people present had no idea what a derivative world was.
"I see! That explains everything!"
That voice...
Naruto exclaimed, "Pervy Sage?!!"
Jiraiya arrived at the Missing-nin Inn with Orochimaru from the future, holding his latest book, Icha Icha Strategy.
Kushina hurriedly covered Naruto's eyes, refusing to let her son so much as see the cover, as though its green surface alone could corrupt his mind.
Young Kakashi looked away in disdain, finding the material utterly indecent.
Adult Kakashi, however, could barely conceal how badly he wanted to read it.
Madara Uchiha did not know what kind of book Jiraiya was holding, so he asked, "What is a derivative world?"
Jiraiya explained, "Take Icha Icha Paradise and this book, Icha Icha Tactics. They're two different stories set in the same world. Some readers will always be dissatisfied with the stories I write, so they'll take the characters from these books, mix in other elements, and create entirely new stories."
Minato Namikaze nodded. "I only considered this possibility after hearing Obito from Quiz World talk about the three-dimensional world."
"When countless people finish reading the main storyline, there will always be a few 'readers' who feel the urge to create branching worlds beyond it. Those newly created worlds can be called derivative worlds."
"I see!!" Adult Obito exclaimed in sudden realization. "No wonder..."
"Hm?"
"Among the worlds we visited, there were many where no one's gender had changed and Madara Uchiha had not become the First Hokage. Yet they still contained things completely unlike anything we knew."
"Worlds completely unlike anything you knew?"
"Yeah. For example, everyone might act as though they'd been brainwashed, worshipping someone we'd never heard of in any other world. That person might possess Kekkei Genkai from several Clans at once. Or they might not know any ninjutsu at all and shout 'Bankai' the moment they draw a sword. Some even have arms that stretch like rubber."
Obito described several bizarre worlds that he and Obito Ōtsutsuki had visited.
They were worlds overrun by male and female self-insert travelers, where everything existed solely to serve a single original character. Everyone inexplicably pursued and became obsessed with the system-wielding transmigrator.
Those worlds felt so fake that the two Obitos would rather spend the rest of their lives in a gender-swapped world, or even an ABO world with six genders, than survive for a single hour in one of those self-insert worlds.
It was beyond anything they could have imagined.
"Derivative parallel worlds are places we have yet to visit through mission scrolls. This includes the three-dimensional world and the other derivative parallel worlds connected to it. I suspect there are still many more."
Minato Namikaze concluded his explanation, then continued, "There may be a world that simply cannot be explained through common sense. The version of me in that world might have obtained some kind of power, much like Obito Ōtsutsuki from Quiz World, and could be using it to accomplish a particular purpose."
"Could you explain that more clearly, Fourth Hokage?"
Hashirama Senju tilted his head. Tobirama was the expert on space-time matters, and Hashirama felt completely lost.
Madara Uchiha reacted much the same way as Hashirama Senju, though he did not voice his confusion.
Tobirama Senju began, "Simply put..."
"No, Tobirama. Whenever you explain something, you only make it more complicated."
"Brother!!" Tobirama Senju genuinely wanted to punch his stupid brother's head off. "Then ask Madara Uchiha to explain it to you! Hmph!"
Madara Uchiha stared at them in silence. What did an argument between those two brothers have to do with him?
Izuna Uchiha immediately snapped, "You're arguing with your brother! What does that have to do with mine?!"
Oh, having a younger brother was wonderful!
Madara Uchiha felt slightly comforted. At the same time, he silently scorned Hashirama and his thoroughly unlovable younger brother.
He could not even imagine what Tobirama Senju would look like as a woman. No matter what, Tobirama would never be worthy of Izuna!
Everyone around them fell silent for a moment.
Who could have imagined that the First Hokage was like this, the Second Hokage was like that, and the legendary ninja and his brother had such personalities?
They had finally witnessed both the Senju brothers' bond and the Uchiha brothers' bond.
The First Hokage really did enjoy provoking Tobirama-sama for no reason. Madara Uchiha was also frequently angered into exploding on the spot. Fortunately, Izuna Uchiha had been revived and could still keep him under control.
The Fourth Hokage stepped in to mediate between the ancestors from the Warring States Period.
"Our highest priority is to adapt to this world and gather more information. As for the mission scroll, I believe that although it may bring some unexpected developments, it will not have any harmful effect on us."
That was certainly true. If its goal had been to harm them, it would not have revived the Minato Namikaze of this world.
The mission scroll had allowed Madara Uchiha to live alongside his younger brother in the village he and Hashirama had created together, and it had earned Izuna's approval. Even Madara could not bring himself to hate it.
Especially after they had all traveled to the Warring States Period and personally heard their younger brothers, who had died young, offer Konoha the highest praise. It was as though both they and the Konoha they had created had been imbued with purpose and something almost magical.
The feeling of having their dreams and efforts acknowledged...
Madara Uchiha: "Not bad."
"Based on what we currently know, anyone whose life was changed by the mission scroll, or anyone who came into contact with it, possesses two sets of memories. Everyone else simply believes they have always lived in this perfect world, one where the Masked Man never existed and the Fourth Shinobi World War will never happen. Is that correct?"
Captain Yamato said, "I don't seem to belong to either of those groups, but I also possess two sets of memories."
"Then those who know about the mission scroll and know that Obito Uchiha is the Masked Man must be like Captain Yamato. They possess both the correct memories and the memories created by the altered world."
Kushina raised her hand. "I only have one set of memories. The memories from this altered world."
In those memories, Obito Uchiha and Itachi Uchiha had never left Konoha. The Fourth Hokage, Kushina Uzumaki, and the entire Uchiha Clan were all alive.
Because Obito Uchiha had never been manipulated by Madara Uchiha, Rin Nohara was alive as well.
The moment Kushina said this, Sasuke and Obito were both stunned.
Itachi Uchiha was no exception.
"Does that mean..."
"Could it be..."
Kushina suddenly remembered something. "Ah! That's right!! I think I'm supposed to go shopping with Mikoto today! It's too bad Rin is away on a mission. Otherwise, I would have invited her too."
"!!!"