Konoha: Resurrected by Orochimaru at the start

"Simply put..." Nine-Tails raised its front paws and extended three claws.

"You can imagine this claw as representing the past, this one as the present, and this one as the future."

Seeing that Naruto looked like he was about to ask a question, Kurama interrupted the spellcasting, saying, "You just need to remember this concept."

Naruto: "Oh."

"Let's call our current location 'now,' but for some reason we don't know, the timelines of 'now,' 'past,' and 'future' are mixed up." As she said this, Kurama put her three claws together.

"One thing is certain: no matter how the environment changes, we will eventually return to the stairwell where we are now. Using this as an anchor point, whenever we return here, we are in the 'present'."

As Nine-Tails spoke, its tails swayed involuntarily: "And the environmental changes we occasionally trigger as we ascend are likely because we are at a point in the past or future. This time is very short, as if something forcibly ended and pulled us back."

"What is that...?"

Naruto muttered to himself, then suddenly his eyes lit up as if he had remembered something.

"Oh, right, those eyes."

"Eye?"

"The eyes that person gave me when Sasuke and I were in the library."

Outside, Naruto looked at the bottle in his hand and said:

"I was able to come back, but Sasuke hasn't come back yet, perhaps that's why."

Nine-Tails nodded slightly: "Do you remember what I said before, that some questions are impossible to explain?"

"If my previous guesses are correct, this involves something truly terrifying—our memories are all distorted, and history has been 'altered'!"

Naruto: "?!"

Just then, Naruto's footsteps missed a step as he went upstairs, and the path in front of him turned into a relatively flat wooden floor.

"Who?!"

The next instant, a kunai was pressed against Naruto's neck, and Naruto's eyes sharpened as if he subconsciously grabbed the man's wrist, preventing the kunai from advancing any further.

During the stalemate, the newcomer saw the headband on Naruto's forehead, and Naruto also saw the attacker's face.

Naruto exclaimed in surprise, "Sasuke?! Wait—no, that's not it!"

"Sasuke? You sneaked into the Uchiha clan's territory just to find someone?"

Uchiha Izuna's eyes gleamed with the three-tomoe jade, but he was not completely at ease with the brat in front of him. After all, his house was not in a remote area, yet this kid seemed to have appeared out of thin air, managing to evade the senses of all his clansmen.

gurgle~ gurgle~……

Naruto's stomach rumbled at an inopportune moment.

It was like a crow flying by.

Izuna: "..."

I don't know why, but I always feel wary of this person, as if it makes me seem naive.

"Haha~ Sorry, I got the wrong person. I'll be leaving right away."

Naruto took a few steps back, looked around, then stepped back and asked, "Um, may I go out through the window behind you?"

Bang! The shattered glass shards reflected the sunlight in the air, glittering brilliantly!

Behind the yellow figure followed a black trail.

Uchiha Izuna chased after him for a while, then realized that the direction the kid was running in seemed a bit off, if he remembered correctly...

Hmm—this kid must really be lost. He should ask Konoha for reimbursement for the window repair costs. Heh, the Senju will have to bleed a good pound out of him.

Thinking this, Izuna's pursuit slowed down without him even realizing it.

Naruto, while running, suddenly found himself flying: Kurama, did you see that?! I can fly!

"That's because you got picked up!" Nine-Tails mentally screamed, his mind filled with the thought that he was doomed: Give me control!

At the same time, Naruto's eyes instantly turned into vertical pupils, red chakra appeared on his body, and his tail grew to the Four-Tails!

"Oh?"

The little guy in my hand jumped out like a hedgehog with its fur standing on end.

Madara Uchiha looked at the Nine-Tails chakra on Naruto's body with some confusion, trying to understand the current situation. Konoha headband, vortex symbol, Nine-Tails, and blond hair—as if he had thought of some explosive scene, Madara Uchiha's CPU almost crashed.

"you……"

"Uchiha Madara?!" As if experiencing a split personality, Naruto suddenly exclaimed in surprise.

Madara Uchiha: "..."

Although it's not unusual for someone in the ninja world to know their own name, why does this kid look like he's seen a ghost?

Madara Uchiha: "I said..."

However, before Madara Uchiha could finish speaking, a Tailed Beast Ball appeared in front of him, followed by a red figure fleeing at full speed. Ugh, this brat, can't he even let me finish speaking?!

The commotion was so great that Konoha seemed to be awakened, and several dark figures darted out from various corners.

"Nine-tailed fox?" the man asked, sounding puzzled.

At the same time, several wooden stakes suddenly sprang up from the ground. One of them grabbed Naruto's ankle, and the remaining stakes wrapped Naruto up like a rice dumpling. The red chakra in the gaps was like a burning flame, which was contained by the stakes and slowly extinguished in the crevice.

Noticing that Kurama offered no resistance, Naruto asked: Kurama?

Nine-Tails: We're saved...

Naruto: ? ? ?

Ignoring Naruto's bewildered gaze, the Nine-Tails, having survived the ordeal, rolled over and pretended to be asleep. It didn't matter about the past, future, or present; as long as it didn't fall into the hands of those eyes, it was fine. Anyway, when the time came, Naruto would go back up those stairs.

Hashirama: "Madara Uchiha, what's going on?"

Madara Uchiha had just finished dealing with the Tailed Beast Ball when he was "questioned," and he was immediately filled with anger: "Uzumaki! Kurama! Konoha! I was just peacefully staying in my own home, and this kid came up with a Tailed Beast Ball right away. Are you sure you want to ask me this question?"

Hashirama's brain, like a CPU, overheated for a while before he suddenly seemed to realize something: "Oh~ so there are actually two Nine-Tails in the ninja world."

"Genius!" Madara Uchiha sighed, the good news being that at least this proved that Hashirama hadn't deliberately sent this kid to mess with him.

"Why don't we ask Gen? He always seems to know everything anyway," Hashirama said, looking at the trapped Naruto.

Madara Uchiha frowned upon hearing this: "Go if you want. I'm not the Hokage, and this is none of my business."

"It's not decided yet, but I'll convince them. No one is more suitable to be Hokage than you," Hashirama said seriously, without a trace of joking in his words.

It's always like this. Madara Uchiha let out a heavy sigh, feeling a sense of powerlessness, like punching cotton. Even now, he couldn't quite understand what he was angry about.

"The Hokage spends all his time reviewing documents. Hashirama had Tobirama's help, are you planning to train Izuna?"

Thinking back to what Uchiha Gen said while raising an eyebrow and eating sunflower seeds.

Madara Uchiha fell silent; in truth, he didn't really want to be in that position.