Fugaku Uchiha never imagined that the one who would stab him in the back wouldn't be his increasingly estranged eldest son, but his youngest son, who had once looked so innocent and naïve as a child.
Mikoto Uchiha, young Itachi Uchiha, and even Shisui Uchiha almost wanted to laugh.
Although he seemed to have gone through countless hardships and looked nothing like his childhood self anymore, deep down he hadn't changed at all. He was still that same Sasuke who used to follow behind Itachi, or behind them, crawling around everywhere.
Young Sasuke pursed his lips and said nothing, while young Naruto quietly soothed the irritable Nine-Tails in his mind.
But those thoughts only lasted for an instant. The moment the words "Fourth Shinobi World War" truly sank in, no ninja who had endured the suffering of the Third Shinobi World War could remain unmoved.
At the mention of the Fourth Shinobi World War, both the Konoha ninja and the Uchiha visibly stiffened. Even the Uchiha who had been seething with anger toward Konoha moments ago set aside their conflicted feelings about village and clan. All they wanted to know now was how far away the Fourth Shinobi World War was, and which village had been the first to ignite it.
Or rather, whether the Fourth Shinobi World War had anything to do with the conflict between Konoha and the Uchiha.
Shisui exclaimed, "Has the Fourth Shinobi World War really begun?!"
Young Itachi's expression darkened with frustration. He had no desire to ever witness again the scenes he had seen at the age of four.
After Sasuke from the Fourth Shinobi World War era finished criticizing Konoha, it was time to wake the Uchiha up as well.
He cast a glance toward the young Obito Uchiha standing off to the side and successfully caught the way Obito shrank his neck, wearing an expression that practically said, if you're going to cut me down, just get it over with.
"The Fourth Shinobi World War wasn't what you're imagining," Sasuke said calmly. "It was one person challenging the entire ninja world. The Five Great Shinobi Nations, along with the Land of Iron, assembled a force of one hundred thousand ninja to fight against him and his allies."
"!!!!"
Yashiro Uchiha blurted out, "How is that possible?!"
"The Five Great Shinobi Nations setting aside their hatred?" Homura Mitokado snorted coldly. "Think about it yourself. Does that sound realistic?"
"That's right!" a Konoha ninja chimed in. "How could Konoha and Iwagakure ever fight side by side?!"
"And us and those Kumogakure bastards are sworn enemies!"
"And Sunagakure too! Even if we're allies now, hatred built on piles of corpses isn't something you can just erase!"
They all stared at Sasuke Uchiha, who looked only seventeen or eighteen years old.
"At your age, you never experienced the Third Shinobi World War," someone said. "You have no idea how much hatred and regret blood-soaked ninja leave behind on the battlefield!"
Young Itachi Uchiha recalled how, at the age of four, his father had taken him to the battlefield, where he saw ninja from three nations slaughtering one another. Explosive tags, traps, ninjutsu, and suicide attacks filled the land. It had been nothing short of hell on earth.
He looked at the Sasuke from the future with deep concern. Part of it was because he didn't know what kind of future Sasuke had lived through, and part of it was his worry for the peace of Konoha and the entire world.
"Did you win?" young Itachi Uchiha asked.
Shisui followed up, "Can you tell us about the casualties?"
Minato Namikaze looked at the two young members of the Uchiha clan and couldn't help but think that most people would first ask who the enemy was, or how that person had managed to unite the entire ninja world against himself. Yet these two had already skipped past that, asking instead about victory and losses.
Fourth Shinobi War Sasuke glanced at his brother, dressed in ANBU gear, and at Shisui Uchiha, who had lost one eye to Danzo Shimura.
His thoughts drifted back to his original world, where everyone had been suspended in midair like silkworm cocoons, hanging from the God Tree. The only ones who escaped the Infinite Tsukuyomi were a handful of Hokage revived through Edo Tensei and the few members of Team 7.
The Edo Tensei Hokage had already returned to the Pure Land.
Naruto Uzumaki…
What had happened to him after that was still unknown.
And Kakashi and Sakura… could they even find the Valley of the End?
Although Orochimaru from the other world had said that in the end they were saved at the cost of each losing an arm, and that the millennia-long hatred between Indra and Ashura had finally been resolved, when Fourth Shinobi War Sasuke recalled the past moments when their chakra intertwined and their consciousness met, he still couldn't help but feel uneasy. He had been brought to this world for no apparent reason. Without the Rinnegan, and possessing only Naruto's Six Paths power, how were they supposed to save everyone else?
Sasuke Uchiha's silence cast an ominous shadow over the hearts of both the Konoha ninja and the Uchiha.
"Could it be that the world was destroyed during the Fourth Shinobi World War?"
"So does that mean we only have a few years left to live?!"
In that instant, despair spread through the Konoha ninja and the Uchiha alike.
"What nonsense!! If the Five Great Shinobi Nations and the Land of Iron joined forces, how could they possibly lose?!"
Koharu Utatane angrily rebuked Fourth Shinobi War Sasuke. "Spreading alarmist talk like this! Stop trying to excuse the Uchiha of their crimes!!"
Her words immediately drew furious glares from the Uchiha ninja present.
Before anyone from the Uchiha clan could refute her, Fourth Shinobi War Sasuke let out a cold snort.
"Excuse the Uchiha? Did I ever say I was going to excuse my clan?"
What?!
Fugaku Uchiha and the Uchiha ninja beside him were stunned.
There was more coming?!
Fourth Shinobi War Sasuke turned his gaze to Inabi Uchiha. "You say Konoha pinned baseless crimes on the Uchiha. But back then, the one who controlled the Nine-Tails, and the one who later declared he would launch the Fourth Shinobi World War against the entire ninja world…"
Inabi Uchiha: "!!!"
Someone really did control the Nine-Tails back then?!
The idea of using the Sharingan to control a tailed beast once again sent shockwaves through the ninja of this era.
"Speaking of that person…"
Fourth Shinobi War Sasuke wasn't like Naruto. He wouldn't let Obito Uchiha off the hook just because he later defected.
"The man who controlled the Nine-Tails, caused the death of the Fourth Hokage, captured all nine tailed beasts in my era, and declared war on the entire ninja world was none other than Obito Uchiha!"
ANBU Kakashi, who had thought this had nothing to do with him, suddenly locked his gaze on the young Obito not far away.
Because of the massive disturbance caused earlier by Fourth Shinobi War Sasuke's Susanoo, Might Guy and the others had rushed over as well, only to be left completely stunned.
"Obito?! Didn't Obito die years ago?!" Might Guy voiced the question that ANBU Kakashi and many others were thinking.
"Die?" Fourth Shinobi War Sasuke sounded almost amused. "At the Five Kage Summit, he declared the Fourth Shinobi World War. Using Edo Tensei and an army of White Zetsu, he wiped out thirty percent of the hundred-thousand-strong Allied Shinobi Forces. Then, after controlling the Ten-Tails, he destroyed half of what remained…"
Two unbelievable casualty figures were spoken calmly by Fourth Shinobi War Sasuke.
At that moment, distinctions like Konoha and Uchiha no longer mattered. Everyone present was shaken by the sheer weight of his words and the power he displayed.
"Obito Uchiha, Madara Uchiha revived through Edo Tensei, and finally the liberated Kaguya Otsutsuki were the true enemies of the Fourth Shinobi World War."
He glanced at the full moon hanging high in the sky, and a sudden idea flashed through Fourth Shinobi War Sasuke's mind.
Without the power of the Ten-Tails, Infinite Tsukuyomi wouldn't truly manifest. But with the Rinnegan, the cells of the First Hokage, and tonight's full moon…
Perhaps it was possible to create a massive illusion.
Before anyone could even process his words, Fourth Shinobi War Sasuke dismissed his Susanoo and projected his dōjutsu power onto the moon, letting it transmit the illusion to everyone bathed in its light.
"!!!"
Konoha, Sunagakure, Kirigakure, Kumogakure, Iwagakure, and even the Akatsuki in Amegakure—people across the entire world were illuminated by moonlight. They saw the full moon transform into a bizarre crimson pattern, and their eyes took on the same appearance as the moon.
Then, they saw memories belonging to Fourth Shinobi World War Sasuke.
A masked man wearing an orange spiral mask launched a surprise attack on the Five Kage Summit…
"...Even though I'm not particularly strong, I possess the tailed beasts that Akatsuki has gathered so far. You have no chance of winning."
"Then, right here, I declare the Fourth Shinobi World War!"
...
In the next instant, the scene shifted directly to the Fourth Shinobi World War itself.
Naruto shattered the masked man's mask, revealing the face of Adult Obito.
"The Hokage is nothing but trash! Completely meaningless!!"
"Naruto, so what if your father was Hokage?"
"Did he protect his students?! Did he protect your mother and you?! He even lost his own life. Utterly foolish."
Young Obito saw this scene for the first time. Even though he knew that his counterpart in another world eventually became the final villain, seeing it played out so vividly, like a MAD-style projection from Fourth Shinobi War Sasuke, was an entirely different matter altogether.
Any earlier thoughts of "as long as I'm not embarrassed, then it's everyone else who'll feel awkward" had completely vanished. He didn't even dare look in the direction of Minato-sensei and Naruto anymore. All he wanted was for Kakashi to kindly give him a Dog Head Earth Release and bury him alive on the spot!!!
Immediately after that…
"Illuminate the world! Infinite Tsukuyomi!!"
Madara Uchiha unleashed Infinite Tsukuyomi. Reflected upon the moon was the full, terrifying image of the crimson Rinne Sharingan. In an instant, everyone across the world was dragged into this ultimate genjutsu, trapped within the God Tree.
Without the Ten-Tails and the God Tree, even Sasuke, who possessed the Rinnegan and Hashirama's cells, could only let everyone see three or four scenes at most.
But even that was already enough…
ANBU Kakashi stood there completely dazed.
The ninja of Konoha and the Uchiha alike fell into silence.
More importantly, once the leaders of the major ninja villages regained their senses, some slammed their desks to pieces in fury, while others clenched their teeth and immediately ordered ninja hawks to be dispatched, demanding to know just what the hell Konoha was doing!!
At most, there were less than ten years left before the world would come to an end. Even those who had personally experienced the brutality of the Third Shinobi World War were deeply shaken when faced with the despair of the Allied Shinobi Forces confronting the Ten-Tails during the Fourth Shinobi World War…
What had originally been a conflict between the Uchiha clan and Konoha, once exposed by Fourth Shinobi War Sasuke, had now escalated into hatred between the Uchiha and the entire world, between Konoha and the entire world…
Even Minato Namikaze hadn't expected Fourth Shinobi War Sasuke to pull something like this.
How was he supposed to keep this situation under control now?
The mutual resentment between the Uchiha and Konoha hadn't even been resolved yet, and now Sasuke had gone and dropped something even more explosive on top of it.
That kid Sasuke… was he really planning to tear everything down before rebuilding it from scratch?!
At this moment, Fugaku Uchiha didn't know what to say either. The ideal of a bloodless revolution felt farther away than ever…