Through Katsuyu, Naruto learned that everyone killed by Pain in Konoha had been revived.
Unbelievable.
The reactions of the Uchiha were even more intense than Naruto's.
'How is that even possible?!'
'Go back to the village! Hurry and see for ourselves!'
'Did everyone in Konoha really come back to life?!'
The Uchiha, existing within Naruto Uzumaki's consciousness, were stunned beyond words. At the same time, the life-simulation experienced by the Uchiha brothers—Itachi Uchiha and Sasuke Uchiha—came to an end.
As they watched the Uchiha ninja standing motionless, staring blankly at the sky, the Konoha ninja and non-combatants felt a tangle of complicated emotions.
It wasn't that they truly hated the Uchiha. It was just that their aloof, distant attitude often made them seem hard to approach, difficult to get along with.
Yet in the illusion, they had lived as Itachi Uchiha and personally slaughtered innocent members of their own clan.
That suffocating despair was so overwhelming that some Konoha ninja nearly forgot how to breathe upon returning to reality. Seeing the bloodstains at the corners of the Uchiha's eyes, and the fact that they still hadn't awakened, they hurriedly turned to the Fourth Hokage, who appeared to have remained conscious the entire time.
"It seems you and the Uchiha experienced different illusions," the Fourth Hokage, Minato, said calmly. "Let's wait a bit longer for them."
For reasons unknown, the teenage Sasuke followed the Konoha ninja and witnessed everything—the truth about Itachi Uchiha, the Uchiha Clan, Konoha itself, and the complete life experience of another version of himself from a parallel world.
Killing Itachi Uchiha.
Learning the full truth.
Believing all along that his father had never cared about him, the younger son, he finally heard the words:
"Itachi, promise me one last thing. I'm entrusting Sasuke to you."
In that instant, all the pain and despair he had accumulated converged into a single point, and his Mangekyō Sharingan awakened.
The pattern in his Mangekyō Sharingan was identical to the one in Fourth Shinobi War Sasuke's right eye.
Blood streamed endlessly from his eyes, his soul steeped in grief.
As he collapsed, Kakashi reacted just in time, supporting him and helping him sit beneath a nearby tree.
His vacant, unresponsive expression made Sakura, Rin, Kakashi, and the others deeply worried.
Shikaku Nara stepped up beside the Fourth Hokage and briefly summarized the illusion they had experienced.
Kannabi Bridge Minato, standing next to the Fourth Hokage, also heard the account. He looked at the teenage Sasuke who had just gone through all of this. After all, in their world, Itachi was still alive, and Sasuke had companions like Naruto at his side. There was no need to worry too much.
With a deep sigh, the Fourth Hokage Minato turned his gaze to Fourth Shinobi War Sasuke, who was still undergoing another illusion, his eyes filled with helplessness.
"F-Fourth Hokage-sama…"
"Are the Uchiha… the Uchiha really okay?"
"Yeah, why haven't they woken up yet?"
"We…"
The Konoha ninja faltered, wanting to say something to the Uchiha, yet not knowing how to begin.
Minato Namikaze looked at the Konoha ninja and civilians in surprise.
To him, they looked just like two children who had quarreled—both wanting to make up, yet neither having the courage to say the first word.
At that moment, a child squeezed out from the crowd.
Golden hair, around six years old, thin and small, with only his cheeks still round.
This world's Naruto Uzumaki.
Because Naruto of this era didn't yet have the ability to protect himself, Minato Namikaze had only shown him care as the Fourth Hokage, never telling him the truth—that he was his father.
"Sasuke!!"
Child Naruto didn't have the same hesitation as the Konoha ninja.
After experiencing the lives of Sasuke and Itachi, he rushed straight over from home, squeezed into the middle of the crowd, and finally saw the "big brother" still standing there, completely dazed.
"Wait, Naruto!"
The Fourth Hokage stopped Child Naruto. "Sasuke is still inside the illusion. Don't rush over recklessly."
No one knew whether someone abruptly awakened from the illusion would react like a sleepwalker startled awake, or suddenly lash out and attack.
"It really is Sasuke..."
Child Naruto widened his eyes, recalling the lonely "big brother" who had been living with him recently.
—"You're not weak. You just haven't found the trick yet."
—"When you grow up, even I'll lose to you."
—"Don't believe me? Fine. You'll understand when you're older."
—"It's not like I don't have anyone important. He's waiting for me over there, I just can't go back right now."
—"I've been chasing after my brother, and that idiot kept chasing after me. By the time I finally turned around, we'd both already changed. We weren't the same anymore."
"That big brother is Sasuke, right?! Right?!!"
After experiencing the pain of Sasuke and his brother, the six-year-old Naruto looked at Sasuke's family, who were still alive right now…
Even though he had only briefly felt the bond between the two brothers, Naruto had grown up alone and had never known what it felt like to have an older or younger sibling. Facing the downcast Konoha ninja, he finally let all the resentment buried deep in his heart spill out.
"Why?! Why do you have to treat us like this?! We didn't do anything wrong! We're not germs or pests! Why do you always look at us with those eyes?!"
"Naruto…"
Child Naruto shouted, "Sasuke and his brother wanted to protect Konoha! They were proud to be Konoha ninja!!"
Perhaps because he had experienced the despair of killing one's own parents from Itachi's perspective, the young Naruto—lonely and desperate for parental affection—choked up, unable to keep speaking.
"Sasuke's brother… even until the moment he died, he was proud to be a Konoha ninja!!!"
All the Konoha ninja remembered the illusion of the Fourth Shinobi World War, when Itachi fought desperately to buy time for the living, racing against every second to undo the Edo Tensei.
They remembered how he suffered his entire life, yet still smiled at the end and said he had no regrets being a Konoha ninja.
The same lump in the throat as Child Naruto, the same suffocating anguish as teenage Sasuke, left the Konoha ninja unable to say a single word.
"Hey, kid."
Koharu Utatane tried to say something, attempting to salvage a shred of justification for her past decisions.
But after all the Konoha ninja had lived as Itachi, listening to her, Homura Mitokado, and Danzō Shimura pressing closer and closer, demanding that "they" kill their own family and carry out the clan extermination plan, those high-ranking elders had already lost most of their authority.
From the standpoint of Konoha ninja and civilians, the elders claimed they were eliminating hidden dangers and wiping out threats. They couldn't refute it, nor did they truly have the position to do so.
But… but…
When they recalled the ending of the illusion—how their perspective suddenly returned to that of Konoha ninja, cursing Itachi Uchiha with their mouths while enjoying the peace he had brought—that inescapable sense of shame rose up all at once, leaving nowhere to hide.
"We… we didn't know before either…"
A small number of people still tried to justify their past actions.
"Besides, the one who caused the Fourth Hokage's death six years ago was a Uchiha—"
Before he could finish, Young Kakashi suddenly stood up and fixed him with a sharp stare.
"If you keep thinking like that, you'll die too."
Those words…
Why did they sound so familiar?!
Young Kakashi said calmly, "That's what the Second Hokage once said to his younger brother when he was a child."
Perhaps because they were close in build and both had silver-white hair, young Kakashi really did resemble the Second Hokage in his youth.
"If we sign a peace treaty, then won't all the clan members who died before have died for nothing?"
"If you keep thinking like that, you'll die too."
The reason the previous generation fought with their lives was so the next generation could live in peace.
If you avenge the dead only to have yourself and your descendants die as well, then everything is completely backwards.
Several high-ranking officials claimed their will was guided by the Second Hokage. Yet although he guarded against the Uchiha, he never intended to remain trapped in past hatred. Otherwise, he would not have discussed with his elder brother in their youth how to end hatred and bring wars to a close.
"When the Uchiha wake up, let's sit down and talk properly."
Suddenly, a Konoha civilian spoke up.
Immediately, a ninja echoed him. "Yeah. Konoha's security still relies on the Uchiha's strength. After all, their entire clan is made up of elites."
"They're just not good at expressing themselves. When they don't know what to say, their expressions look kind of scary."
"Pfft, yeah, exactly."
"That future in the genjutsu hasn't actually happened yet, right? Since we saw it, doesn't that mean we're supposed to change it?"
"Right! Itachi is still just a kid, isn't he? And that Sasuke kid probably hasn't even grown all his hair yet!"
Teenage Sasuke: ...
"Anyway, wouldn't it be enough if we just changed our attitude a little?"
"Yeah. If the Uchiha really care about this, maybe we should be the ones to take the initiative."
"Hey! You all…" Koharu Utatane stared in shock as one person took the lead and more people quickly followed.
Kannabi Bridge Minato's eyes widened slightly.
"The atmosphere… the rhythm has changed."
Looking at the Uchiha who still hadn't awakened, Minato Namikaze realized that the reward contained in the mission scroll truly was meant to help the people of the village reach reconciliation.
If the people of Konoha had experienced the lives of Sasuke and Itachi…
Then what exactly were the Uchiha experiencing?
...
At this moment, the Uchiha were experiencing the journey back to Konoha as Naruto Uzumaki.
Although Pain had been defeated, the burden on his shoulders had grown even heavier.
Sasuke still hadn't been brought back to Konoha, and now the Fourth Hokage had entrusted him with such enormous expectations. The masked man within Akatsuki also had to be stopped.
So where, exactly, was the turning point for peace?
Completely exhausted, his knees suddenly gave out and he pitched forward.
Thud—
The shoulder of Kakashi, who was supposed to be dead, caused the equally exhausted Uchiha to freeze in shock.
'Ka… Kakashi?!'
Becoming Kakashi's student and being carried on his back always made Obito feel awkward.
"You've worked hard. Rest well before returning to the village. Everyone is waiting for you."
By the time he finished that last part, Naruto was already too tired to hear clearly.
The Uchiha felt the same exhaustion as Naruto and didn't think too deeply about it.
Until faint cheers rose from ahead, and "they" were gently set down by Kakashi.
Once, as a bridge between Konoha and the Sand, Naruto had envied Gaara when his entire village came out to welcome him home…
And now, for Naruto, that very scene was playing out at the entrance of Konoha.
"Naruto!!"
"I knew you could do it!!"
"We've been waiting for you!!"
"Naruto! Naruto!! Look over here!!"
The young Uchiha—sensitive at heart, yearning for recognition, yet constantly criticized by Konoha because of their clan's name—looked around in shock alongside Naruto.
After more than ten years of shared experiences, driven by their own long-suppressed desires, they fully immersed themselves in Naruto's role in this moment.
Watching the entire village come out to welcome "themselves."
"This is…?"
"Everyone has been waiting for you."