Chapter 325: Time Traveler
Time rewound slightly.
Atop a high-rise building somewhere in Konoha Village, two uninvited guests stared in surprise at the village's landmark—the Hokage Monument.
"What's going on... The number of Hokage faces... Where's Dad's carving?"
Blond hair gleamed in sunlight, azure eyes full of confusion. Wearing a black jacket and Konoha headband, Boruto Uzumaki pointed at the distant rock face and cried out in shock.
In the scenery he was familiar with, not only was his father Naruto's carving absent—even Tsunade and Kakashi's carvings had disappeared.
Beside him stood an upright figure. Black hair covered one eye but couldn't conceal the handsome features beneath. Though wearing a stern expression, his entire person emanated a reassuring, steady presence. Wide robes fluttered in the wind, one sleeve hanging empty.
Uchiha Sasuke, possessing the world's strongest ocular power. Even those Otsutsuki from the stars could barely deceive his eyes with genjutsu.
His gaze now solemnly swept across the rock face—only four Hokage carvings existed there, the Fifth Hokage's carving just beginning construction.
The village buildings below were both familiar and strange, the overall layout holding subtle differences from the Konoha in his memory.
"I'm going to harvest the fox's chakra. You're too late—you can't do anything."
Otsutsuki Urashiki's puzzling words heard before the time jump now echoed in Sasuke's mind, letting him rapidly analyze the current situation.
"Boruto..." Sasuke's low voice broke the silence. "This place... is Konoha from the past."
"Not only is Dad's carving missing," Boruto surveyed his surroundings, increasingly convinced of this judgment. "Even Granny Tsunade and Uncle Kakashi's carvings are gone... and the street layout is different too."
He carefully observed the street scenes below, discovering many familiar buildings hadn't yet been built. The village's entire scale was slightly smaller than he knew.
"Warning, warning. Time displacement significantly deviated from target coordinates. Space-time jump disrupted. Please conduct time displacement again."
A voice mixing biological texture with mechanical tones suddenly rang out, startling Boruto.
"It talked?!"
Boruto pulled out a peculiarly shaped object from his jacket in surprise—precisely the item Otsutsuki Urashiki had previously attempted to seize when infiltrating Konoha. Its form resembled a turtle yet emanated extraordinary energy fluctuations.
Sasuke immediately realized their current predicament likely related to this mysterious device. He knelt on one knee, drawing close to this half-biological, half-mechanical creation, carefully listening to every piece of information it emitted.
"This location differs from the time displacement Lord Urashiki Otsutsuki set due to unknown time jump interference causing error."
"You said time displacement? Is this Konoha from the past?" Sasuke questioned this peculiar turtle-shaped device.
"Yes, but also no. This space-time's temporal coordinates are the Konoha Year 63 era."
Konoha Year 63? Yes but also no?
This ambiguous answer made Sasuke frown. If this truly was Konoha Year 63, then this should be the period after the Chunin Exam's conclusion. According to memory, at this time point he himself... should have already left the village to join Orochimaru.
"Yes but also no? What does that mean?" Sasuke continued questioning.
"Simply put, time displacement was affected by unknown temporal control interference, colliding with another time displacement's coordinates, causing a space-time jump. This world is not the world Lord Urashiki originally set but rather another parallel universe."
"Please conduct time displacement again to return to the original timeline."
"Wait—where did Urashiki go?" Sasuke asked the key question.
"Lord Urashiki set time displacement coordinates for Uzumaki Naruto's childhood period, but due to uncontrollable factors, the arrived era is slightly later. Lord Urashiki, separated from us, will arrive here in several days."
"Parallel universe? What's that?"
Boruto furrowed his brow in confusion. These unfamiliar terms exceeded his understanding. Beside him, Sasuke had already rapidly analyzed the current situation based on available intelligence.
Apparently Otsutsuki Urashiki planned to use this device for time travel, targeting seizing Nine-Tails chakra when Naruto was young and weak.
"Logically speaking, as people from the future, you should observe precautions for actions in the past."
The mechanical creature continued issuing warnings, making Boruto increasingly irritated.
"This turtle's really annoying! And what even are you—Urashiki's accomplice?" Boruto complained to the constantly beeping device.
"To prevent paradoxes, future people cannot interfere with past events. However, this worldline is another space-time, therefore even interference won't trigger space-time paradoxes. Whatever happens won't affect your future, so precautions are nullified."
Hearing this explanation, Sasuke immediately understood the current situation. He'd once read about parallel universe theory in books.
"Boruto, this is indeed Konoha, but Konoha on another timeline. However, what we must do remains unchanged."
Seeing Boruto still looking completely bewildered, Sasuke lightly sighed, contemplating how to explain this concept in simple, understandable terms.
"Like video games—though the story happens in the same place, players make different choices, triggering different endings."
"Oh! I see, I get it." Boruto suddenly understood. "Simply put, it's another save file!"
This metaphor let Boruto instantly grasp the current situation. But he immediately realized that even in this parallel world, they still shouldered an important mission.
"But Sasuke-san, even if this isn't our space-time, we still must stop Urashiki. We can't let him attack this world's Dad."
"Right." Sasuke nodded in agreement. "We must find this world's Naruto before Urashiki arrives, then protect him."
For Sasuke, stopping Urashiki from obtaining Tailed Beast chakra was the primary mission. But more importantly, even if this Naruto came from another worldline, he absolutely couldn't stand by idly. After everything that happened, after seeing Naruto's heart that day—on whichever timeline, Naruto was the best friend he'd stake his life protecting.