Chapter 384: Carrying Everything and Changing History
"Big Brother Naruto, did you find any clues about that Mukade?" Obito asked.
He had a mountain of questions, but they were not the kind you asked in front of everyone. If he wanted real answers, it would be better to talk to Naruto and Yamato in private.
What they knew so far was unsettling. Naruto and Yamato recognized Kakashi and Might Guy, but they had never heard of Mugetsu, Obito, or Rin. Asuma might be different, but since they had not answered about him, nothing could be confirmed.
"We searched a lot of places and asked around, but we found nothing," Naruto said. A trace of worry flashed across his face. "Could Mukade have failed to cross over? If that's true, then Sakura and Sai are in danger."
Yamato's expression was just as grim. This situation was drifting far outside anything he had expected.
"It's not convenient to talk here," Mugetsu said. "Let's go to a room."
Even if there were not many people nearby, caution was still necessary.
Kakashi and Yamato both nodded. Everyone followed Mugetsu back to his room.
While they settled in, Obito sat cross legged and spoke first.
"While we were investigating Anrokuzan today, we also kept an eye out for Mukade. We didn't find anyone who looked like him, and it seems the name Mukade has never even come up in Roran."
To make searching easier, Yamato had given them a portrait of Mukade earlier. Mugetsu's squad had been helping diligently whenever they could.
Rin poured water for everyone and passed the cups around.
"It matches our results," Yamato said, accepting the cup with a quiet thank you. "I questioned many residents near the place we crossed over. Other than Naruto, there were no suspicious people that day."
Yamato had done the investigation while using the Transformation Technique. He was not surprised Naruto stood out. With Naruto's personality, he would start questioning strangers the moment he arrived.
But the portrait search bothered him. When Yamato pretended to be looking for a relative and offered a reward, the residents still gave him the same answer.
No one had seen Mukade.
Something was wrong.
If Mukade truly did not cross over, then he would still be in their original timeline. That also meant Sakura and Sai would be facing a Mukade who had absorbed Dragon Vein power.
And it meant Naruto and Yamato might have no way back.
After hearing Yamato's report, Kakashi frowned.
No suspicious people was not necessarily a problem. A cautious shinobi would not become an anomaly in a crowd.
But if everyone denied the portrait, there were only two possibilities.
One, Mukade was lucky. No one saw him when he arrived, and he immediately used Transformation to erase his trail.
Two, only Naruto and Yamato travelled through time, and Mukade did not.
That second possibility was the terrifying one.
"Damn it," Naruto muttered, anxiety rising. "He's the one who caused all this, so why are only Captain Yamato and I the ones who crossed over?"
Obito suddenly brightened, as if he had grabbed a lifeline.
"Since Mukade appears in the future, why don't you two just stay in Roran until the time he appears? Then we ambush him and take him down in one shot."
Naruto stared at Obito with wide eyes.
It sounded like it made sense.
But how many years would they have to wait?
"That won't work," Kakashi said, shaking his head. "Naruto and Yamato came from the future. That means there will still be another Naruto and Yamato in our world. If they stay here too long, there will be two of them in the same era. How are they supposed to coexist?"
Obito's plan was too idealistic. If two people from the future stayed in the past, who knew what kind of impact that would have on history? It was impossible to guarantee the original future would even happen, much less ambush Mukade at the right moment.
Obito thought it over and reluctantly admitted Kakashi was right.
If there were two of him in the world, would that not make him his own love rival?
"We can't stay here too long," Yamato said, voice low. "Staying too long would be irresponsible to the shinobi world, and to history."
Yamato was a little surprised that Kakashi had considered this so clearly. Even at this age, Kakashi was still Kakashi when it mattered.
"You don't need to worry," Mugetsu said with calm certainty. "Mukade must have crossed over."
Yamato looked at him. He now knew Mugetsu was not the Fourth Hokage, but Mugetsu's ability and composure made him someone you could not dismiss.
"Based on your description," Mugetsu continued, "Mukade devoured the Fourth Hokage's sealing technique, caused the Dragon Vein's power to go berserk, and that disturbance dragged you through time. So…"
Mugetsu began explaining with the kind of deep foundation that made it sound less like a guess and more like a lecture. To sell it properly, he even referenced principles related to Flying Thunder God. Everyone listened in stunned silence.
They did not fully understand the details, but they could feel the weight behind it.
"So Mukade must have travelled through time along with you," Mugetsu concluded. "The most likely reason you cannot find him is that he arrived earlier than you. It could be weeks, months, or even years earlier."
Naruto scratched his head, looking miserable.
"Then it's even harder to find him. The shinobi world is huge. Who knows where he ran off to?"
Mugetsu's explanation was long and impressive, the kind that made Naruto feel enlightened even if he could not repeat a single sentence afterward. More importantly, Mugetsu was approachable.
Naruto believed him.
Yamato thought it through as well. Mugetsu's logic was the cleanest answer they had, but the problem remained the same.
Finding one person in a vast world was like chasing smoke.
"I actually think he may not have left Roran," Mugetsu said, pushing his glasses up with his left hand. "If he wants the power of Roran's Dragon Vein, why would he abandon Roran, a place with no shinobi forces to hinder him?"
"And if you can't find any information, it's likely because he expects you crossed over too. He would change his appearance to avoid you."
"Tomorrow, I'll speak with the Queen. If anyone can provide useful information, it's her."
Naruto raised a thumb. "Big Brother Mugetsu, thank you. You're really amazing."
Everyone else was still processing the situation, but Mugetsu had already pulled out a path forward.
"Of course," Obito said proudly, the loyal believer he was. "Do you not see who this is? Lord Mugetsu is omnipotent!"
Smack.
Mugetsu tapped Obito's forehead with two fingers, smiling helplessly. "Even I didn't know I was omnipotent."
Obito chuckled, completely unbothered. In his heart, it was only natural for an omnipotent person to be humble.
"You've gone through a lot of trouble, Lord Mugetsu," Yamato said, bowing in thanks.
He was deeply curious about Mugetsu. How could someone this strong, gentle, and capable leave no reputation in later generations?
The answer that kept surfacing was the one Yamato hated most.
Mugetsu must have died too early.
And even if Yamato could guess that, he could not offer Mugetsu anything useful.
As the thought weighed on him, Yamato looked across the room and saw Kakashi sitting there, young and sharp eyed, reporting their day's findings to Mugetsu with a seriousness that felt almost unfamiliar.
Senior Kakashi had once been like this.
Bright eyes. Clear focus.
Why did those eyes turn into dead fish eyes later?
Comparing the young Kakashi to the older one he knew, then looking at Mugetsu's team and the warm atmosphere between them, Yamato felt he could almost see the outlines of what happened.
Even with four people here, he only truly knew Kakashi.
When everything was discussed, everyone began to disperse.
Mugetsu planned to research sealing techniques.
Rin went to wash up.
Obito and Kakashi started bickering again and argued all the way down the hall.
Naruto and Yamato returned to their room.
Four hours later, Obito's door creaked open with the faintest sound.
Obito poked his head out, checked left and right, and after confirming nobody was watching, he slipped out and quietly made his way to Naruto and Yamato's room.
He tapped twice, then tiptoed inside.
"Obito, why are you acting like a thief?" Naruto asked, baffled.
Yamato hesitated. He could already guess Obito's goal. Sneaking into the room of two time travelers at night could only mean one thing.
Obito cleared his throat. "It's nothing. I just want to ask some questions."
He did not bother pretending further. His gaze locked onto them.
He had been holding it in all day.
"Did you know Lord Mugetsu before you crossed over? I mean, back in your era."
Obito stared so hard it was almost pleading.
"I don't know him," Naruto said, shaking his head. "Today is the first time I met Big Brother Mugetsu."
Mugetsu was the kind of person Naruto felt he could never forget. If he had met him before, it would be impossible to have no memory.
Obito's eyes shifted instantly to Yamato.
Yamato was older. He should know more.
"I don't know Lord Mugetsu either," Yamato said after a moment.
He did not want to change history.
But facing Obito's expression, Yamato could not stay silent. He also could not lie.
These answers should not matter too much, he told himself. Before crossing over, he had not even known who Hayate Mugetsu was.
"How can that be…" Obito's face tightened with confusion.
In his mind, it was impossible for someone as outstanding as Mugetsu to be unknown, no matter how low key he was.
"Then who is the Vice Principal of the Ninja Academy?" Obito pressed on.
Yamato shook his head. "I don't know."
"Vice Principal?" Naruto asked, confused. "Does the Ninja Academy even have one? I only know the Hokage is the principal."
Obito's mind raced, trying to find another place where Mugetsu would definitely leave traces.
To his shock, he could not think of one.
First, Mugetsu was genuinely low key. Even after repelling someone as strong as a Raikage candidate, he had told them not to spread it.
Second, Obito was not even sure if Mugetsu held positions outside the Academy.
"Damn it, Kakashi," Obito cursed inwardly. "Lord Mugetsu is this amazing, so why doesn't he tell anyone what he's done?"
The clearest source of information should have been future Kakashi, the one who became Naruto's teacher and Yamato's senior.
If Kakashi had told Naruto even a little about Mugetsu, Obito would not be sitting here like this.
Obito took a long breath and forced himself to keep going.
"What about Rin?" he asked, voice tight. "Do you really have no impression of her either? Did Kakashi never mention her?"
Naruto and Yamato both shook their heads again.
They did not know her. They had never even heard the name.
Obito clenched his fists so hard his nails dug into his palms, but he did not loosen them.
He could not imagine a future without Mugetsu.
He could not imagine a future without Rin.
He refused to believe that kind of future could exist, and he refused to accept it.
"You must know Minato sensei, right?" Obito asked next, biting down hard to keep his voice steady.
"Yes," Yamato said, nodding. "Lord Minato is Konoha's Fourth Hokage. He was the greatest contributor in the war."
Because the misunderstanding earlier had already revealed the fact that Minato Namikaze became the Fourth Hokage, Yamato felt it did not matter if he said more.
"How did Minato sensei die?" Obito asked. "And why?"
A Hokage did not die without a reason.
Yamato closed his eyes.
He did not know if he should continue.
"Captain Yamato, you know, right?" Naruto said, looking at him. "If you know, just say it. Wouldn't it be great if we could prevent the Fourth Hokage's death?"
Naruto himself did not know much. Jiraiya had only mentioned small fragments.
Like how the Rasengan took the Fourth Hokage three years to develop.
Like how the Fourth Hokage was a true genius.
"Naruto," Yamato said quietly, opening his eyes, "it's not that I don't want to answer. But if history changes, what will the world be like when we go back? Will it still be our world, or will it become something else?"
"If history changes for the better, and the Fourth Hokage survives and Konoha becomes stronger, that's good."
"But if we act recklessly and trigger an accident that destroys Konoha, then we become the culprits."
Yamato did not actually know the full details of Minato's death. The process was heavily classified. He only knew the core reason was the Nine Tails rampage, and the Fourth Hokage died protecting the village by sealing the Nine Tails.
So Yamato did not dare speak carelessly.
It would be a nightmare to try to do good and end up causing greater harm.
Yamato did not think he was someone meant to steer history. So he chose the safest path.
Maintain the status quo.
At least then, he would not return home only to find Konoha erased.
Naruto opened his mouth, then closed it.
For a moment, he could not think of a rebuttal.
If it were only his own life on the line, Naruto could gamble everything. He would charge forward without fear.
Win, and Mugetsu and the Fourth Hokage live.
Lose, and he dies.
But he could not gamble with everyone else's lives.
He was not qualified to do that.
Obito also felt the weight of Yamato's words.
Two shinobi.
And yet they were carrying the entire future on their shoulders.
Still, Obito could not accept it.
Without Mugetsu, without Rin, without Minato sensei, he did not want that future. He refused to acknowledge it.
He wanted a future where everyone lived.
Knock, knock.
Just as Obito was about to speak again, the door suddenly rapped.
Obito's eyes darted around the room, then fixed on the only decent hiding place.
The wardrobe.
He slipped inside immediately.
Earlier, Mugetsu had already made his stance clear about future shinobi. Obito did not want Mugetsu to worry.
Before closing the door, Obito whispered to Naruto and Yamato, telling them not to mention he had been here.
From inside the wardrobe, Obito heard Naruto's voice.
"It's Little Kakashi sensei. Why are you so cautious?"
So it was not Mugetsu.
It was Kakashi.
Obito held his breath and listened closely.
"Does this Kakashi also want to know about the future?" Obito thought, keeping his breathing quiet.
Kakashi walked in with a dark expression. Being called sensei did not feel respectful at all when someone insisted on adding little before it.
Yamato also felt a headache coming. Senior Kakashi was never easy to deal with.
"There are things I'm curious about," Kakashi said after sitting down. "I want to ask you two."
Naruto felt a strange sense of deja vu. He had just experienced this exact entrance and opening line.
Sure enough, Kakashi immediately started asking about Mugetsu, Rin, and Obito.
Naruto and Yamato answered honestly.
They truly knew nothing about Mugetsu, Obito, or Rin.
To Yamato's surprise, Kakashi did not ask about Minato next.
Instead, he asked about himself.
"Since one of you is my future student and the other is my future junior," Kakashi said after thinking for a moment, "tell me what kind of person I am in the future."
Naruto's eyes lit up. His excitement rose like a flare.
"Kakashi sensei, you really need to pay attention to time," Naruto complained. "In the future, you're basically the king of being late. You're late every day, never on time, and you always use the worst excuses. It's either helping a lost old lady or running into some black cat that makes you lose your way in life."
Kakashi went slightly blank.
He had always been punctual. Hearing that he became late all the time felt unreal.
And the excuses sounded oddly familiar.
Kakashi said nothing and kept listening.
"You slack off a lot too," Naruto continued. "You said you'd teach me Wind Release chakra nature transformation, but you kept reading Icha Icha Paradise right next to us. Luckily, Captain Yamato was diligent."
"I have to clarify that," Yamato said immediately. "It wasn't me being diligent. It was Senior Kakashi tricking me into doing all the work."
Yamato had long understood the truth.
Whenever he was on a mission with Kakashi, he ended up exhausted, because Kakashi always found a way to make him do everything without realizing it.
Kakashi's mouth twitched.
What kind of person did he turn into?
Obito, hidden in the wardrobe, silently agreed. "I knew this Kakashi wasn't anything good."
"Still," Yamato added, unable to deny reality, "Senior Kakashi isn't without merit. No matter what the mission is, under his lead, it always gets completed. No matter the process, the result is always good."
Kakashi's face remained calm, but he finally felt that at least one part sounded like him.
"After taking so many hits, I ended up like that…" Kakashi murmured internally.
He could almost confirm it now.
Many important people around him must have died.
"So in the end, I still couldn't protect what I wanted to protect?" Kakashi reached back and touched the White Fang short blade strapped behind him.
To protect the people he cared about, Kakashi would rather die in battle.
But the future described sounded like the opposite of what he wanted.
Only he survived from Mugetsu's class.
"If you consider me your Kakashi sensei or Kakashi senpai," Kakashi said, voice turning extremely serious, "then tell me everything about the future I care about."
He disliked exploiting emotions.
He disliked even more exploiting the feelings of future shinobi toward their own past.
But he hated something even more than that.
Watching the people he cared about die in front of him.
Time travel was beyond bizarre. Two shinobi from the future were right here. And he had already seen enough to fear the worst.
Kakashi had to consider that this might be the only chance he ever got to save them.
He did not want to live a future where he regretted not trying.
"I don't want to reach a day where I regret doing nothing," Kakashi said, steady and sincere.
He was showing resolve.
And he was also pressuring them.
His meaning was clear.
If Mugetsu and the others were destined to die, then he would not live either.
If the future forced him to watch them fall, he would rather die with them than survive alone.
"Kakashi sensei…" Naruto looked at him, frustrated. "If I knew more, I'd tell you everything already."
Yamato fell into heavy self blame.
He did not know what choice was right.
If he spoke, history might change and cause unknown disasters.
If he did not speak, then when they returned, the Kakashi he knew might already be dead.
The lazy, annoying, unreliable but strangely dependable senior might vanish forever.
"Kakashi…" Obito thought, still hidden, feeling his chest tighten.
For once, Kakashi did not seem so detestable.
"Tell me everything," Kakashi said. "Believe me. Believe that we can make Konoha and the shinobi world better."
He drew the White Fang short blade into his hand.
If changing the future was a risk, then Kakashi would shoulder it alone.
If someone had to be wrong, then it would be fine if it was only him.
Bang.
Yamato suddenly raised his arm and slammed Kakashi on the head.
Kakashi stared at him in confusion. He could sense no killing intent at all.
"Damn you, Senior Kakashi," Yamato said, satisfaction flooding his face. "You bully me all the time in the future. I've wanted to hit you for a long time."
The impact cleared Yamato's thoughts like cold water.
It felt even better than soaking in a hot spring.
Kakashi stared at him, speechless.
So he was being punished for the future Kakashi's sins.
Naruto watched and felt his own hands itching.
This was a chance to hit Kakashi, and a young Kakashi at that. If he missed it, he might never get another chance.
"Honestly," Yamato sighed, rubbing his arm as if enjoying it, "Senior Kakashi is troublesome no matter how old he is."
Then his expression turned serious.
"I'll tell you everything I know."
He had chosen.
He chose to trust Kakashi, the senior he had always relied on.
Besides, Yamato could already feel it. History was changing the moment they arrived.
If he refused to answer, Kakashi might really die in the future, and that would be a change too.
Since change was inevitable, Yamato decided to trust Kakashi.
"The Fourth Hokage died very early," Yamato began. "He was the shortest reigning Hokage. He died because…"
Knock, knock.
The door was suddenly tapped again.
"Don't tell anyone I was here," Kakashi whispered quickly. "Let me bear this alone."
Then he hurried to the only hiding place in the room.
The wardrobe.
"Kakashi sen…" Naruto started to speak, but Kakashi moved too fast. By the time Naruto opened his mouth, Kakashi had already yanked the wardrobe door open.
The room fell into absolute silence.
Kakashi and Obito stared at each other.
Outside, the knocking continued faintly.
"Uh… Kakashi," Obito said with an awkward laugh. "What a coincidence."
Kakashi's expression nearly cracked.
He had just prepared himself to carry everything alone, only to discover someone else was already listening.
Without a choice, Kakashi climbed into the wardrobe with Obito and closed the door, both of them listening to the sounds outside.
"Rin, it's you," Naruto said, greeting her naturally. "Is something wrong?"
"Excuse me," Rin said with a gentle smile. "There are things I want to ask."
Inside the wardrobe, Kakashi and Obito exchanged a silent look.
So all three of them had the same idea.
Yamato rubbed his forehead. This was absurd. If they all wanted to ask, they could have come together instead of turning it into a stealth mission.
Rin's questions were not much different from Kakashi's.
Naruto and Yamato answered smoothly.
Too smoothly.
Rin even looked at them suspiciously for a moment, as if she thought they were making it up on the spot.
Yamato wanted to sigh.
They had already said it so many times. Of course it sounded fluent.
Rin had only asked a few questions when another knock came, louder than before.
"Yamato, Naruto, are you asleep? It's Mugetsu," Mugetsu's voice came from outside.
Rin heard it, scanned the room instantly, then rushed straight to the wardrobe.
Naruto and Yamato stared, speechless.
What was this, the bond of a class?
Yamato almost wanted to use Wood Release right there and build a second wardrobe. Three people in one was going to be cramped and painfully awkward.
Rin opened the wardrobe and froze.
Inside was Obito, forcing an embarrassed smile, and Kakashi, whose face was struggling to hold itself together.
Rin did not know what had happened, but Mugetsu was outside, so she slipped in and closed the door.
Naruto, trying to skip the spy game entirely, asked straight through the door.
"Big Brother Mugetsu, are you here to ask about the future?"
"No," Mugetsu replied, smiling faintly as he shook his head.
Since he remembered the original plot clearly, Naruto at this stage knew less than he did. There was nothing to ask.
"Even though what happened during the day was a misunderstanding," Mugetsu said, "my disciples and I still feel sorry about it."
"So if there is anything you want, tell me. Whether you want to learn a technique, or you want to meet someone from this era, I will help as much as I can."
"Big Brother Mugetsu, you're too kind," Naruto said, still smiling at first, but then his expression froze as a thought hit him.
A person.
Someone he missed badly.
Someone he wanted to see again, but could no longer.
"Big Brother Mugetsu," Naruto asked, eyes burning with urgency, "do you know Ero Sennin? His name is Jiraiya. He's one of Konoha's Legendary Sannin."
Mugetsu nodded. "Lord Jiraiya is one of the Sannin. He's famous across the shinobi world. Of course I know him."
"Naruto…" Yamato started to warn him not to influence history too much, then stopped.
It was already like this.
Naruto meeting Jiraiya probably would not cause a bigger impact than everything else.
"Big Brother Mugetsu," Naruto said solemnly, "please. I want to meet him once."
He had important things to say.
"I'll try my best," Mugetsu said, "but I can't guarantee you'll meet him."
Jiraiya was currently serving as the commander of Konoha's forces in the war against Iwagakure. It would be difficult for him to spare time for a stranger, even if that stranger would become precious to him in the future.
And as for Naruto and Yamato, they had travelled through time because of the Dragon Vein in Roran. Mugetsu believed it was best that they not leave Roran for now.
<><><><><>
[Check Out My Patreon For +40 Advance Chapters On All My Fanfics!]
[[email protected]/FanficLord03]
[Join Our Discord Community For Updates & Events]
[https://discord.gg/MntqcdpRZ9]