"It really grew back!" Boruto shouted excitedly.
Middle-aged Sasuke clenched his fist awkwardly, then thanked, "Thank you, Lord Seiki!"
"Don't mention it!" Seiki patted his shoulder. "I know you carry much regret. Here, you can try to experience a different life. Treat all of this like a beautiful dream, and forget your worries—at least until you awaken."
"A dream?" The middle-aged Sasuke seemed momentarily lost in thought.
Seeing Sasuke's confusion, Seiki smiled and gently removed the overlap between the dream and reality. As the surrounding noises reached their ears once again, he was already gone.
Staring at where Seiki vanished, Boruto suddenly clapped his hands. "Now I get it! No wonder Lord Seiki is so amazing!"
Snapping out of his trance, middle-aged Sasuke asked, "What did you figure out?"
Boruto began analyzing with seriousness. "Since Lord Seiki could see through our movements, maybe he noticed Otsutsuki Urashiki from the very beginning. That's why he deliberately set up these two trials!"
"The written test was about testing one's inner conscience. The final question taught everyone that running away won't solve problems—it only reveals their weakness to the enemy, letting them exploit and devour it piece by piece!"
"The dream trial tested their courage. It also showed them that as long as they unite, even the strongest enemies can potentially be defeated!"
"Once they pass these two trials, what awaits them won't be mere written questions or dream-like challenges anymore—it'll be real, life-threatening danger, turning hypothetical and illusory trials into harsh reality!"
Nodding deeply in agreement, middle-aged Sasuke sighed in admiration, "No wonder he's Lord Seiki! Only when we break free from our limited perspectives do we realize he's been two levels above us all along!"
As both of them marveled at how Seiki was lofty to behold, yet impenetrable when pursued; visible ahead, yet suddenly behind, Seiki himself had already teleported several times and now stood upon the boundless sea!
"A space-time attribute artifact—if I could master it thoroughly, perhaps my time-based abilities could finally develop," Seiki mused inwardly.
Undeniably, the difficulty of developing time-based abilities was extremely high.
Even at his current level—enhanced by having multiple clones constantly experiencing different time flows—he still had some distance to go before fully grasping true time-based powers.
Of course, this was also partly because he had devoted most of his time to developing Kekkei Mora (a powerful bloodline technique)!
Shaking his head slightly, Seiki stopped dwelling on it. "Time to begin the search!"
Though it was like looking for a needle in a haystack, he had intentionally recorded the aura signature of Li when taking it from Boruto.
Following this trace, with his immense sensing range, he should be able to locate it after searching nonstop for several nights!
...
Three days later.
Standing at the front door of Minato's house, Naruto had a slice of bread in his mouth as he waved energetically behind him. "Mom, I'm heading off now!"
Kushina, dressed casually in homemaker attire, stood at the doorway. "Be careful on your way!"
"Got it~"
Standing nearby, Boruto muttered to himself, "I heard that Grandpa in this world rarely came home before Dad was seven years old. Even after becoming Hokage, he was always busy. Yet Dad never complained like I do!"
Middle-aged Sasuke nodded slightly. "This is where Naruto is stronger than you. Whether it's the hardships from that world or the longing from this one, he's always been someone who never complains!"
"Never complains?" Boruto recalled how he often said he hated being born into a Hokage family because he lacked his father's company, and began reflecting, "Maybe I really am too selfish. If I stand in Dad's shoes..."
At this moment, Naruto noticed Boruto's presence and ran over toward this good friend he had just met a few days ago.
"Bo—ru—to!"
Naruto jogged over. Seeing the disheveled middle-aged man beside Boruto, he instinctively asked, "Boruto, is this guy your dad?"
"Cough cough!" Boruto and middle-aged Sasuke coughed furiously. What was this? Was Naruto trying to make a fool out of someone?
"If Sakura finds out..." Thinking about this terrifying possibility, middle-aged Sasuke quickly explained, "I'm Boruto's uncle."
"Oh, I see!" Naruto didn't think much of it and asked, "Boruto, did you come here especially to watch my exam?"
Boruto nodded and gave a thumbs up. "Yeah, I believe you can definitely become a Jonin!"
"Even though you were always just a Genin back in my world... Dad," Boruto added silently with a bit of sarcasm.
"Of course! I'm going to be the Hokage someday!"
The two continued chatting warmly as they walked.
Suddenly, alarms blared across the street.
"Oh no! Could it be that guy appeared?!" Boruto and middle-aged Sasuke both looked around nervously.
Naruto glanced suspiciously at where the alarm came from, his eyes twitching slightly. "I think I know what's going on. Follow me," he said, leading the way.
The three walked around a street corner.
There, a dozen Anbu ninja had cornered a snake-eyed man. "Distributing obscene publications and disturbing public order. Master Jiraiya, please come with us."
The snake-eyed man grumbled in response, "First, I'm only out here buying experimental materials. I don't know anything about any obscene books. Second, can't you tell who I am?"
The lead Anbu officer sighed, "Master Jiraiya, could you please target someone else for a change? Lord Orochimaru has already filed a complaint—now even fan letters are being sent to him!"
"What?" The snake-eyed man immediately became anxious. "Those letters were meant for me..."
Before his words faded, Jiraiya saw the half-smirking, half-not looks from everyone present. He gritted his teeth. "You actually dare to trick me?!"
"No, those letters really do exist!" The Anbu officer sighed again. "I have to say, your fans might just be the most polite and dedicated group of fans ever!"
Jiraiya laughed proudly. "Haha, when you write good books, it happens like this!"
Everyone else was speechless. Well, when it comes to smut, fans will always be fans, right?
"Alright, please come with us, Jiraiya-sama, we'd like you to drop by the Prison. With Sky Net in place, I'm sure you won't give us any trouble!"
"This Sky Net is such a pain!" Jiraiya first loudly protested, then heroically raised his hands in surrender. "You can arrest me, but you'll never kill my passion for creation!"
After Jiraiya was taken away in the patrol car, Boruto snickered. "So this is the legendary hero, Jiraiya-sama? Ha, haha, truly surprising!"
Middle-aged Sasuke showed no surprise at all. He simply asked, "What exactly is this Sky Net?"
Naruto, already informed by Boruto about their recent return to civilization, wasn't fazed. "It's a network created by Leader-sama based on the Dream World. It allows monitoring of the entire Alliance. If a serious incident occurs, law enforcement can even use the Dream World to instantly arrive at any location covered by the network!"
"No wonder we were noticed by Lord Seiki back then!" Middle-aged Sasuke suddenly realized.
Boruto was filled with admiration. "Wow, no wonder the Alliance has such great public order!"
Naruto stuck out his chest proudly. "Of course! Leader-sama's creations are naturally amazing. I've even heard that in the areas covered by the Dream World in the future, you won't even need the process of taking out money..."
The three of them walked toward the Central Tower, chatting and laughing all the way.
Meanwhile, hidden not far away, Otsutsuki Urashiki sneered. "What trash is this 'Sky Net'? It didn't even notice my presence!"
"Still, this guy truly is cautious, actually providing close protection!" Urashiki's eyes gleamed with cunning. "This kid is going to fight on the stage, right? Once he steps onto the ring, Sasuke Uchiha definitely won't be able to follow. That will be the best moment for me to make my move!"
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