Tsunade turned to look at Naruto, her tone laced with confusion. "Naruto, aren't you leaving the village soon? Do you have time to monitor these two?"
'Leaving the village?'
Upon hearing this, Sasuke's brow furrowed even tighter.
His current goal was to stay in Konoha and protect Naruto closely before Urashiki targeted him. If Naruto were to leave Konoha, there would be no point in him staying.
"It's fine, Granny Tsunade." Naruto nodded, his tone casual.
Tsunade stared at Naruto for a few seconds. Although she didn't know why Naruto was suddenly so concerned about these two outsiders, based on her understanding of him, he wouldn't drop the ball when it came to important matters. Since he had volunteered to take charge, he must have his reasons.
Tsunade nodded, tacitly agreeing.
Jiraiya, who had been beaten into a pulp, recovered from his daze on the ground. He sat up, clutching his swollen cheek, and heard that Naruto was leaving the village.
Rubbing his jaw, he asked indistinctly, "Naruto is leaving the village? Why leave the village?"
Tsunade's anger, which had just subsided, flared right back up. She turned around and slammed a fist onto the top of Jiraiya's head. The force was perfectly controlled—not enough to crush his skull, but enough to make Jiraiya howl in pain and collapse back to the ground.
"You have the nerve to ask? Come back to the Hokage Office with me!"
After speaking, she nodded at Naruto, then dragged Jiraiya toward the Hokage Building.
Jiraiya was dragged along the ground, the back of his head bumping against the stone pavement. While gasping in pain, he struggled to turn his head and grinned at Naruto, straining to form what he considered a dashing expression.
"Naruto, I'm going to the Hokage Office first! I'll look for you later!"
"Ouch! Take it easy, Tsunade!"
Tsunade increased her dragging speed, and the back of Jiraiya's head knocked rhythmically against the stone pavement.
Naruto stood in place, watching the two leave. The corner of his lips twitched slightly before he turned around, refocusing his gaze on Sasuke and Boruto.
"Follow me."
"Oh, okay." Boruto nodded.
Sasuke glanced at Naruto and nodded as well.
Naruto led the two in the direction of his home.
Crossing several streets, at a corner, a pink-haired girl walked toward them.
Sakura was carrying a small bag, and was walking with her head down, muttering something to herself.
The moment Sasuke saw Sakura, his body stiffened. The next second, he flashed onto a tree by the roadside.
Boruto felt a light breeze pass by him. When he turned his head, Sasuke was no longer there.
Naruto glanced toward the tree, the corners of his lips curving slightly. "It seems that uncle has something to do."
Boruto smiled awkwardly and reached up to scratch the back of his head.
"Huh, Naruto?"
Just as Sakura was about to greet him, her gaze was drawn to Boruto behind Naruto. She blinked, her gaze sweeping back and forth between Naruto and Boruto.
"Who is this? Why does he look so much like you? You two standing together look like brothers—no, even more alike than that."
Naruto replied, "I picked him up by the roadside."
Then he changed the subject, "Sakura, I haven't congratulated you on becoming Granny Tsunade's apprentice yet. I heard you've been training at the Hokage Building these past few days, and you're making fast progress."
Upon hearing this, the expression on Sakura's face switched rapidly between pride and embarrassment, and then she waved her hand sheepishly. "Naruto, stop teasing me. Tsunade-sensei saw that Karin had good talent, and thinking that teaching one was the same as teaching two, she just took me on as well. I'm just lucky because of Karin, and managed to tag along for a few lessons."
Naruto shook his head. "Granny Tsunade wouldn't take an apprentice for no reason. If she's willing to teach you, it means you have something she values. Keep it up."
Sakura smiled. "Thanks, Naruto. Um... I'll get going. If I'm late for Tsunade-sensei's morning class, I'll be punished by having to copy the human anatomy a hundred times. I really don't want to copy that again."
She clutched her bag and hurried toward the Hokage Building.
Naruto watched Sakura turn the corner and continued walking forward. Boruto followed behind him, glancing back toward the tree.
Sasuke had already jumped down from the tree. He lowered his head and followed silently behind the group, his expression even more complex.
To Boruto, the little incident that just happened didn't seem special. It was just his dad in his younger days greeting Aunt Sakura normally.
But Sasuke didn't think so. Something was wrong.
In his memory, the Naruto of this age should have been crushing hard on Sakura. But in that scene just now, his expression and tone from beginning to end were like he was greeting an ordinary friend. It was actually Sakura who seemed a bit awkward.
And the tone Sakura used when mentioning Karin...
Wait, Karin?
In his memory, wasn't Karin in Kusagakure right now? When did she come to Konoha? And she became Tsunade's apprentice too?
This didn't match his memory at all.
'Could it be that we didn't return to the past, but entered another spacetime?'
Sasuke walked while rapidly calculating various possibilities in his mind.
He had fought Ōtsutsuki Urashiki in the spacetime tunnel, then they were forced apart in the turbulence, and he had brought Boruto to this Konoha.
If it were just a landing offset caused by the interference of the battle, then at most there would be some minor deviations in the timeline. But the current situation could no longer be explained by mere deviations.
Naruto's personality, strength, and relationship with Sakura were all inconsistent with his memories.
'In other words, this Konoha is likely not the past of my world. Boruto and I have stumbled into another completely different spacetime.'
But regardless of what the conclusion was, there was one thing Sasuke had to confirm personally. That was whether Nine-Tails was still inside Naruto.
Urashiki could pop out of a spatial rift at any time. If there was no Nine-Tails inside the Naruto of this world, then Urashiki's goal would be thwarted, and there would be no need for him and Boruto to continue staying here.
Thinking of this, Sasuke activated the Six-Tomoe Rinnegan.
He had consumed a great deal of energy in his battle with Urashiki, and his Chakra was nearly exhausted, but he should still be barely able to take a look at the Tailed Beast's Chakra.
He gazed at Naruto's back, attempting to pierce through his body to see the situation inside.
Then, he was shocked once again. His Rinnegan's ocular power looked toward Naruto, but it was like hitting a completely transparent wall, he couldn't see anything.
Let alone Nine-Tails's Chakra, even the flow of Naruto's own Chakra seemed to be tightly obscured by something.
'How could this be?'
Sasuke subconsciously mobilized his ocular power once more, but the result was the same.
With his Six-Tomoe Rinnegan, theoretically, only a handful of people in the entire Ninja World could hide anything from him. Yet, with the Naruto before him, his dojutsu couldn't even see through the surface. It was too bizarre.
Sasuke's temples throbbed slightly. Just as he gritted his teeth, preparing to try again, Naruto's voice drifted over from the front.
"Hey, mister, what are you staring at me for from behind? If you have something to ask, just ask it to my face. Don't scan people with your eyes from behind, it's very rude. Hurry up and catch up."
Sasuke was silent for a moment, then quickened his pace to walk beside Naruto.
After walking side-by-side for a few steps, he asked, "What is your surname?"
Naruto turned his head. "Before asking for someone else's name, you should introduce yourself first, right?"
Sasuke shifted his gaze away from Naruto's face. "I'm a street performer, traveling far and wide to make a living. I don't have a proper name."
"Fine, if you won't say it, then don't. And you?" Naruto turned to look at Boruto.
"My name is Boruto."
Naruto nodded. "My name is Naruto, I won't introduce myself further. Come home with me first. We can sit down and chat properly."
Crossing a few streets that were gradually becoming quiet, Naruto led the two to that detached house.
Pushing open the gate, Boruto looked around curiously as he walked. He had never seen this house before. So this was what the place his dad lived in as a child looked like.
He subconsciously wanted to look for the house from the future in the surrounding area, but the layout nearby was completely different, even the direction of the streets didn't match.
Sasuke's brow remained furrowed the entire time.
Naruto lived in a single-room apartment in the center of the village when he was little. But this house in front of them was a detached home with a yard—it was completely different from that dilapidated apartment.
The difference between this world and their own was already so great that no deduction was needed to confirm it.