"Student of the Fourth Hokage? Who is it?"
The Konoha ninja on the opposite side looked confused when they heard that. Among them, a blond-haired ninja who looked about fifteen or sixteen stared at his captain in shock.
"As far as I know, the Fourth Hokage only had three students—Kakashi Hatake, Obito Uchiha, and Rin Nohara."
The leader, a steady-looking ninja with a square-shaped face, had a gaze that suddenly turned more dangerous.
"Looks like something's off about them," Baki said, as a faint current of wind swirled around his hand. He glanced at Kagetsu.
"Maybe they were sent by Mukade. He probably still doesn't know that Orochimaru has become the Fourth Hokage."
"Orochimaru? You're with Orochimaru?"
The moment the name was spoken, it seemed to trigger the blond-haired ninja. He dashed toward Kagetsu almost instantly, a spinning blue chakra sphere forming in his hand, aiming straight at him.
But someone faster than the blond ninja stepped in—Itachi, with his Sharingan activated. His right hand struck in an instant, grabbing the blond ninja's wrist just before the attack landed.
The sheer force he felt from that arm made his expression change. Reacting on instinct, he twisted his body and used a skillful redirection to throw the blond ninja back.
"Sharingan? No way!"
Seeing the spinning red tomoe in Itachi's eyes, a young woman with pink hair on the opposite side couldn't help but shout in shock.
"That diamond-shaped mark on her forehead—is that the Yin Seal?" Kagetsu looked at the familiar mark revealed on the pink-haired kunoichi's forehead, already confirming their identities.
"Huh?" Haruno Sakura looked at the speaker, Kagetsu, in surprise, as if she was shocked that the other person knew about this technique.
"We can confirm they are Konoha ninjas," Kagetsu said, gently holding down Baki beside her.
Hearing Kagetsu's words, although still doubtful, the wind blade that Baki had formed in his hand shattered into streams of air.
"Excuse me, where are we?" Upon hearing Kagetsu's words and seeing her actions, Yamato also stopped Naruto Uzumaki, who was about to rush forward again. He was now trying to get a sense of the situation and gather some information.
"How interesting. You're here, and yet you don't even know where this place is?" Baki's suspicion grew stronger.
"We accidentally entered this place while on a mission. From your forehead protector, you're a jonin from Sunagakure, right? Our mission was to take on a commission from your village," Yamato said, glancing at Baki and speaking in a calm tone.
"Enough of these pointless tests. This is now the 52nd year of Konoha's establishment. How about you?" Kagetsu gently patted the head of the person guarding him, Itachi, pulling him slightly behind him.
"52nd year of Konoha?"
Upon hearing this date, Yamato and the others exchanged surprised glances.
"Are you serious? Shouldn't it be the 67th year of Konoha now?" Naruto Uzumaki bluntly pointed out the flaw in Kagetsu's words.
"It seems that not only are you from the future, but you're also not from this world's future," Kagetsu quickly deduced from Naruto and the others' words and expressions, which gave him enough information to make this assumption.
"What are you talking about? Also, the Fourth Hokage, Orochimaru…"
"Let's prove your identity first," Kagetsu ignored Naruto's shouting, and the shadow beneath his feet instantly slithered toward the group like a snake, closing in rapidly.
The sudden attack undoubtedly caused Yamato and the others, who were already on high alert, to quickly step back. Just when they thought that Kagetsu was about to go all out, his shadow retreated once again.
It was as if the earlier sudden attack was merely a probing game.
"This technique… it's that guy Shikamaru!" Naruto Uzumaki realized, looking at Kagetsu.
"Let me introduce myself. In this world, I'm Nara Kagetsu, from the Nara clan. You must have crossed time and space due to some force, arriving in our world.
As the person tasked with gaining your trust, I'll offer you some information. We were ordered by the Fourth Hokage, Orochimaru, to work with Sunagakure to handle the rogue ninja, Mukade, from the Hidden Sand Village.
We're currently in the underground of Roran, where the Ryūmyaku vein converge." Kagetsu actively broke the silence and introduced himself.
He wasn't concerned about changing the timeline; after all, he was already the biggest change to this world.
Moreover, based on their brief conversation earlier, it seemed the timeline of the world they came from might not even match the timeline of the world they were in now.
"How could that be? The Fourth Hokage should be Minato Namikaze!" Yamato heard the implication in Kagetsu's words but was still confused about the differences between the two worlds.
If it was just a time-travel situation, shouldn't everything remain the same? How could the Fourth Hokage be Orochimaru in this world?
"This is Baki, a Jonin from Sunagakure. These two are my teammates, Itachi Uchiha and Asuma Sarutobi." Kagetsu didn't argue with Yamato but simply introduced his companions.
Without a doubt, the names Itachi and Asuma made Yamato and the others widen their eyes.
"Indeed, that looks like Itachi." Yamato nodded slightly after seeing the young face, but the resemblance to the Itachi in his memory was undeniable.
As a member of ROOT, he had interacted with Itachi Uchiha before, but since he wore a mask, Itachi never knew his face.
"Also, we are here to track down the rogue Sand ninja, Mukade." After confirming that Kani and the others had no intention of attacking for the time being and were engaging in conversation, Yamato also mentioned their mission.
At this moment, Itachi sensed two angry gazes directed at him. He looked up and followed the feeling of the gaze, only to see the blonde ninja he had fought earlier and the young pink-haired female ninja from the opposing team.
He didn't understand why they harbored such hostility and anger toward him, but he did manage to overhear some information from his teacher and the opposing captain's conversation.
Soon, he understood that the anger of the two was likely directed at another version of himself from another world, possibly due to something he had done that displeased them.
This was normal!
After all, Uchiha clan members, with their personalities, were not very well-liked in the village. They often earned anger from others due to certain actions or words. Itachi thought, maybe in the future, he had unknowingly offended them.
Suddenly, a series of puppet figures rushed in through the large gate from behind. One of them radiated a blinding light, dispelling the surrounding darkness. The light was so intense it was almost blinding.
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