After sensing something was wrong, Obito recalled that Naruto had just said Mutsuki was the Fourth Hokage, while Yamato mentioned they were carrying out a mission on orders from the Fifth Hokage.
"So, what happened to the Fourth Hokage when you came over?" Obito asked Yamato and Naruto, holding onto a last sliver of hope.
Although, until now, it's generally been the case that a new Hokage only takes over when the previous one dies, this isn't because Hokages always want to stay in power until they die—it's due to various unexpected events. The First Hokage passed away early, and the Second Hokage died in a coup by Hidden Cloud Ninja.
So having a successor Hokage doesn't necessarily mean the previous one has fallen.
Obito thought maybe Mutsuki didn't want to hold onto power for too long and left the opportunity for the younger generation, which is why the Fifth Hokage appeared so quickly.
Kakashi looked at Obito, opened his mouth as if to speak, but finally closed it again.
As sharp as he was, he couldn't possibly have missed this information; it was just too much to process at once, and asking would only make his companions even more sorrowful.
Kakashi hoped this was just a dream, an absurd and bizarre nightmare—how could someone as powerful as Mutsuki have died before him?
Mutsuki had mastered various Breathing Techniques and Chakra Modes and possessed Armament Haki, which was both offensive and defensive. He was proficient in seven types of Chakra Nature Transformation and had even developed his own Kekkei Genkai, Ice Release. The advanced Ninjutsu and Taijutsu he mastered were countless. How could such a strong individual be killed?
But deep down, Kakashi knew well that as long as one is human, they can die. The Second Hokage, Senju Tobirama, was a formidable ninja who shook the ninja world and developed numerous forbidden techniques, yet he still died during the Hidden Cloud's coup.
Naruto scratched his head and looked at Yamato beside him. Even he understood that mentioning someone's future death right in front of them was inappropriate.
Yamato was deeply conflicted; he worried that speaking might alter history and lead to unknown changes in the future.
If the result of the change was that the Fourth Hokage didn't die and Konoha became even stronger, that would certainly be good. But Yamato couldn't be sure whether this unexpected change would be positive or negative. If, by saying something, history changed, and when he returned to the past, Konoha had been destroyed, Yamato would truly be devastated.
But in situations like this, not answering is, in itself, an answer.
"Why aren't you saying anything? How could a Konoha Ninja not know about the Hokage?" Obito clenched his fists tightly and continued to ask, his voice now trembling.
He couldn't believe that Mutsuki could die—this was the invincible Mutsuki Sage, after all.
A surge of intense negative emotion caused Obito to unconsciously activate his Sharingan, his eyes quickly turning blood red. The two Tomoe patterns began spinning rapidly and soon turned into three Tomoe, which continued to rotate at high speed. Just as the three Tomoe were about to merge, they suddenly weakened and dissipated, finally reverting to the Three Tomoe form as his Sharingan deactivated.
"Obito, stop asking," Mutsuki placed his hand on Obito's shoulder, shook his head slightly, and smiled warmly.
"The future of the Ninjas from the future is their own burden, and their future is theirs. Our future still needs to be created by us."
Based on Naruto and Yamato's behavior and the information they revealed, Mutsuki guessed that they weren't from the future of their own world but rather seemed like the future from the original Naruto world.
Mutsuki was no longer an unknown figure in Konoha. Even if he hadn't yet managed to overcome Uchiha Madara and Black Zetsu, even if he had died and his disciples either died or turned dark, Yamato, as a Root Ninja, shouldn't be completely unfamiliar with the name Mutsuki Yumi.
His training achievements in Root ANBU had earned recognition from both Sarutobi Hiruzen and Shimura Danzo. If not for the war causing a shortage of combat power in Konoha, the second phase of training would surely already be in the works.
With his current strength, his death would hardly be ordinary. Given three more years of development, he might even have the ability to take on an entire Great Ninja Village on his own without injury.
Unless his opponent was Uchiha Madara at the peak of his Rinnegan power, Mutsuki couldn't imagine why he would lose so badly.
But if Uchiha Madara could return to his peak in life, he wouldn't need such a complicated resurrection plan, nor would he have had to manipulate Obito into darkness, so that scenario didn't make sense.
However, Mutsuki didn't rashly assume that Naruto and Yamato were definitely from the original timeline. The world of ninjas ran too deep; the leaders of the three Great Sacred Lands were all ancient, unfathomable beings, and while the Sage of Six Paths had died, his chakra still lingered in the world.
If he had indeed failed, the opponent who caused his defeat might not be limited to just Uchiha Madara or Black Zetsu.
The warmth from Mutsuki's hand brought some calm to Obito's emotions, though his expression remained pained and confused.
"But… but…" Obito stammered, his thoughts too jumbled to express everything he wanted to say.
Mutsuki's words were inspiring, but he truly didn't want the future that Yamato and Naruto had described.
A future without Yumi-sensei—Obito couldn't imagine what kind of future that would be.
Kakashi's gaze dropped, and he could no longer keep a calm expression.
He was a sensible person; if someone from the past learned about the future, history would likely change. For people from the future, this change would be unknown and uncontrollable, so the best choice to avoid causing trouble for others was not to ask too many questions.
But this time, Kakashi couldn't hold himself back. That night, he would secretly seek out Naruto and Yamato to get to the bottom of what happened to Mutsuki, striving to change the part of history where Mutsuki died.
Kakashi didn't know what changes his actions would bring to the future, but he knew that if he were given this chance and didn't take it, he would live a life of regret if Mutsuki truly died.
It wasn't just about Mutsuki—he needed to understand everything about Obito and Rin as well. If he were the only one left alive in Mutsuki's team, he would rather they all perished together in battle.
"As Yumi-sensei said, our future can be decided by us," Rin said with a gentle smile to reassure them.
In truth, her feelings were also very complicated at the moment. Based on Yamato and Naruto's behavior, she feared that one day soon, she might die.
Saying she wasn't afraid of death at all would be a lie. Sometimes, Rin would think about how all thought would vanish after death, how she would never think again, and the idea of dying became truly frightening.
But she was still alive now, and if she let the possibility of dying frighten her, then everyone should be afraid from the moment they were born, as death is everyone's ultimate end. So, as the living Rin, she chose to first comfort her emotionally unstable friends.
"No wonder Minato-sama is held in such high regard," Yamato said, looking at Mutsuki with respect.
If he were in Mutsuki's position and encountered a ninja who had traveled from the future, only to be evasive about his own fate, Yamato would definitely feel unsettled without answers.
But the Fourth Hokage was different—not only was he unbothered by his own life and death, but he could also comfort his students, even saying things like, "Our future is still ours to create."
The young Fourth Hokage before him fulfilled all of Yamato's fantasies about the Fourth Hokage.
"Minato-sama?" Obito, Kakashi, and Rin all looked at Yamato with puzzled expressions.
Kakashi frowned slightly—hadn't he already introduced Mutsuki, even if the information was a bit fabricated?
"Did I say something wrong?" Yamato asked, confused as he saw the three staring at him.
He quickly reviewed what he'd just said but couldn't find anything wrong; everything seemed perfectly normal. Although he was older than the current Fourth Hokage, Mutsuki was, after all, the future Fourth Hokage, and his current strength was also far above Yamato's, so addressing him as "sama" wasn't out of place.
"Big Dummy, are your eyes or ears not working? Why are you calling our Yumi-sensei by Minato-sensei's name?" Perhaps due to the lingering negative emotions, Obito's tone was unusually sharp.
Obito's "Big Dummy" felt like a sharp sword piercing through Yamato.
After being called out by Kakashi and then Obito, Yamato began to doubt himself a bit and couldn't help asking Naruto beside him, "Do I really seem that dense?"
"Captain Yamato, you didn't realize that until now?" Naruto answered honestly.
Naruto's words hit Yamato right in the heart, leaving his pride seriously wounded; he'd always thought of himself as someone with a strong sense of authority.
"You're missing the point here. Why did you call Yumi-sensei 'Minato-sama'?" Kakashi asked seriously.
He felt there might be a turning point here—perhaps the future wasn't quite what he had imagined.
Obito and Kakashi's words left Yamato completely confused. Wasn't Mutsuki Yumi's name just a cover to deceive him since he had been mistaken for an enemy at the time?
"Isn't he Minato-sama?" Yamato was having trouble processing all the information at once.
"Even if Minato-sensei and Yumi-sensei look alike, you can't just assume they're the same person," Obito commented. To him, he only considered the two as close as brothers.
Kakashi's mind was racing. He realized they might have misunderstood something. It seemed that Mutsuki wasn't the future Fourth Hokage; rather, Yamato and Naruto had mistaken him for Minato Namikaze, who looked very similar to Mutsuki.
"So, the full name of the Fourth Hokage is Minato Namikaze?" Kakashi asked, his eyes flickering.
Yamato instinctively nodded.
After receiving confirmation, Kakashi's expression turned to one of shock.
Good news: Yumi-sensei might not be dead. Bad news: Minato-sensei seemed to be about to die.
"Huh? The Fourth Hokage is Minato-sensei?" Obito was suddenly at a loss for what to do.
He didn't know what kind of emotion to use to deal with this. If Minato died, it would hurt him too.
Yamato, being the ANBU Captain, quickly noticed Kakashi and Obito's reactions and immediately thought he might have mistaken the person. However, he was still puzzled and couldn't be sure.
The man before him, with golden hair and a strong, capable presence, proficient in using Flying Thunder God, and perfectly fitting the traits of the Fourth Hokage—who else could he be if not the Fourth Hokage?
Now Yamato was truly at a loss.
If Yamato was this confused, it was no surprise that Naruto couldn't understand what was going on. He had already lost track of the conversation.
"Huh, what do you mean? Isn't this guy the Fourth Hokage?" Naruto asked in confusion.
"We don't have a Fourth Hokage right now, but if your Fourth Hokage is Minato-sensei, then you've got the wrong person. The person in front of you is Yumi-sensei," Obito replied.
Naruto was completely baffled. To him, Mutsuki looked just like the Fourth Hokage from the portrait. He turned to Yamato for clarification, but Yamato himself hadn't fully figured it out yet, so he couldn't help Naruto.
"You two must have mistaken me. My full name is Mutsuki Yumi. Minato is a very close friend of mine," Mutsuki introduced himself.
"Ah...?" Yamato was dumbfounded. They really had gotten it wrong.
He couldn't understand. The man looked exactly like the Fourth Hokage, was proficient in Flying Thunder God, and was so powerful—how could he not be the Fourth Hokage? Where was the logic in that?
Logically, if Konoha had a powerful Ninja who resembled the Fourth Hokage, they should be quite well-known, but Yamato had no impression of the name Mutsuki Yumi at all.
"In your world, how's Kenji's Darkness Breathing training going?" Mutsuki suddenly asked Yamato.
"Elephant-san? I'm not too sure about that," Yamato replied after thinking for a moment.
Tobita Kenji's codename in ANBU was Elephant. He was a very capable senior ANBU, and Yamato knew that Tobita Kenji was skilled in Lightning Release and Sealing Jutsu, but as for Darkness Breathing, he had no idea.
Mutsuki could basically confirm that Yamato and Naruto were from the original world timeline.
Even if he failed and died, and the storyline returned to the original path, it wasn't possible to erase all traces of his existence. That would be an overwhelming task, and it would serve no purpose.
"Then, Mutsuki-san, do you know where Mukade is?" Naruto suddenly remembered that they were here on a mission and quickly asked.
"I don't know the Ninja you're talking about," Mutsuki shook his head.
The current situation was too different from the original anime plot. Blindly acting without knowing would only make things worse, so Mutsuki didn't spoil anything.
Yamato rubbed his forehead, realizing that Kakashi seemed to have only told the truth about Mutsuki's name, and everything else was a lie.
"Didn't you say...?" Naruto started to speak, but Kakashi immediately interrupted him.
"I said that back then to buy time. We came to Roran because of a mission issued by the queen. Of course, we don't know where that Ninja you mentioned is," Kakashi explained.
"Captain Yamato, what should we do now? We need to find that guy before we can go back," Naruto said, a bit troubled.
He didn't fully understand why they had crossed time and space, but he knew the saying, "The one who tied the knot must be the one to untie it." Finding Mukade, who was responsible for all of this, was likely the key to solving the problem.
"We'll have to search in Roran first. We all crossed over in Roran, so he should be here too," Yamato said after thinking for a moment.
He didn't have any good solutions either, after all, the idea of time travel was too absurd.
"If you don't mind, our team can help with the search, as long as it doesn't interfere with our mission," Mutsuki said with a gentle smile.
Having read the script, Mutsuki knew that their mission was essentially the same as the mission of Yamato and Naruto. The person they needed to eliminate, Mukade, was now the Prime Minister of Roran, Anrokuzan.
If Anrokuzan's ambitions and actions were uncovered, the Roran Queen would surely ask them to eliminate him.
The only difference between their mission and Naruto's was that they had to first conduct an investigation, essentially making it a preliminary task.
"If that's possible, that would be great," Yamato nodded and thanked Mutsuki.
Looking at the refined and helpful Mutsuki, Yamato thought to himself, "It's a shame, someone like this Ninja might die in the war that's coming."
The fact that he had no memory of a Ninja like Mutsuki meant only one thing—Mutsuki must have died very early, possibly even before Minato Namikaze became the Fourth Hokage, dying in the Third Great Ninja War.
"If I can go back, I should ask Kakashi-senpai about him" Yamato thought to himself. Since Mutsuki was also Kakashi's sensei, Kakashi should know a lot about Mutsuki.
"Thank you so much, Mutsuki-san!" Naruto also smiled and thanked Mutsuki.
Even though Mutsuki wasn't the Fourth Hokage, Naruto still felt a strong sense of warmth toward Mutsuki, feeling that he was very approachable.
Mutsuki then told Yamato and Naruto the location of the inn where their team was staying, and then the two teams went off to do their own things. Mutsuki's team went to investigate Anrokuzan, while Naruto and Yamato set off to search for Mukade across Roran.
Actually, there were still many doubts in Kakashi and the others' minds. Mutsuki and Minato did look alike, and with the added use of Flying Thunder God Jutsu, it was easy to misunderstand. So it was understandable that Yamato and the others made the mistake.
But there were still too many questions. Why did Yamato and Naruto know nothing about Mutsuki Yumi? What had happened to Minato Namikaze, and what happened to Obito, Rin, and Asuma?
Obito really wanted to clear up all of these doubts, but Naruto and the others' situation was also urgent. If they couldn't return, that would be a big problem, so Obito had no choice but to suppress his questions and prepare to talk to Naruto and the others later that night at the inn.
"Sure enough, as expected of the 'protagonist,'" Mutsuki thought to himself as he glanced at Yamato and Naruto's panels again.
[Name: Naruto]
[Chakra: 220000 (???) Potential: SS+ (Six Paths bloodline + Nine-Tails + basic talent)]
[Skills: Wind-style Chakra Nature Transformation (Mastery), Rasengan, Rasenshuriken…]
Although Naruto's chakra amount seemed to be less than Nagato's, who was smaller than Naruto right now, the chakra detected for Naruto was just a surface level. When fully unleashed, the chakra Naruto could utilize would be much more than what was detected.
And Nagato was no ordinary member of the Uzumaki Clan—being chosen by Uchiha Madara to have the Rinnegan transplanted clearly indicated his special traits.
[Name: Yamato]
[Chakra: 110000]
Potential: S (Hashirama Cells + basic talent)
[Skills: Wood Release (Mastery level 30/15000), Earth-style Chakra Nature Transformation (Mastery level 800/15000), Water-style Chakra Nature Transformation (Mastery level), Wood Release: Four-Pillar House...]
After seeing Yamato's panel, Mutsuki could only say that Senju Hashirama was ridiculously powerful—his cells could even influence a person's potential calculation.
Based on Yamato's performance in the original story, he clearly couldn't be compared to Minato or Sarutobi Hiruzen. Mutsuki believed that Yamato's S potential was entirely boosted by Hashirama's cells.
Perhaps because of the influence of Hashirama's cells, Yamato's chakra was quite prominent, but in other areas, he was more ordinary. Although his Water, Earth Nature Transformations, and Wood Release had reached Mastery level, his proficiency level wasn't high—basically, he was a Mastery-level gatekeeper.
After looking at Naruto's panel, Mutsuki felt that only someone like the Sage of Six Paths, who was born with the Rinnegan, could have a SSS potential.
Naruto already had plenty of buffs—first, the Asura Chakra reincarnation, then the Uzumaki Clan, and finally, being the Jinchuriki of the Nine-Tails. With all these additions, having only SS+ potential shows just how difficult it is to reach SSS.
However, Mutsuki wasn't asking for that much. He would be happy to use his fifth spot if the potential reached S rank, and double S would be even better.
Mutsuki was also willing to teach those with lower potential, but the current environment didn't allow him to use his disciple slots on students with low potential.
After parting ways with his disciples, Mutsuki continued his research on the Dragon Vein of Roran.
His Byakugan easily allowed him to see through the ground and observe the massive chakra hidden underground.
This chakra felt very special to Mutsuki, with a clear difference from the chakra refined by ordinary ninjas.
However, Mutsuki didn't have a method to control this chakra, so he could only find an abandoned underground base, get as close as possible to this chakra, and then activate Transparent World to sense it.
"Later, I can interrogate Anrokuzan or ask for the Roran Queen's help," Mutsuki thought after researching until evening.
Anrokuzan had a secret technique to absorb the Dragon Vein's power. Although it seemed to make him look half-human, half-ghost, it should still have some research value.
The Roran Queen had the power to control the Dragon Vein, which would be a huge help for his research.
When Mutsuki returned to the inn, Kakashi and the others had just finished their investigation.
"Could it be that the queen is overthinking? Why does it feel like everyone really likes him?" Obito scratched his head and said.
They had spent the whole day investigating but found no useful information because they discovered that Anrokuzan was really popular in Roran. The people were all praising him for how good and wise he was.
"And he even gives things to the people; he really doesn't seem like a bad guy."
This situation was completely different from the Land of Snow. Even without the later betrayal, Obito never liked Kazahana Doto. He always had a stiff face and an air of arrogance.
Anrokuzan was different; he appeared to dedicate his life to Roran and had popularity among the people.
"Our investigation is still too shallow; everything is just a facade," Kakashi shook his head and said softly.
If there were a deception mission, he could also pretend to be a Prime Minister working for the country and its people, but unless he could maintain the act for a lifetime, he would never truly be one.
At this moment, Obito and the others saw Mutsuki walk in. Mutsuki smiled and nodded, then walked over to their side.
Just as Obito was about to talk to Mutsuki about the mission, he noticed Naruto and Yamato had entered.
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