He took out a Flying Thunder God kunai and handed it to Ryosuke.
"Then please help me say hello to Uzumaki Naruto, and congratulate him on graduating."
"You..."
Minato shook his head slightly, signaling there was no need to continue.
Ryosuke, a mysterious traveler from the future, very close to Jiraiya and Tsunade, incredibly powerful, borrowing a forehead protector from a boy named "Uzumaki Naruto."
The surname Uzumaki was rare.
Think about it a little, narrow the possibilities, and one could guess who Naruto's parents were.
For Minato, this wasn't hard.
Ryosuke accepted the kunai solemnly. "I'll pass it on to him."
"Alright."
Minato smiled, took a scroll from his waist, and looked around at everyone.
"To ensure space-time stability, I'm going to seal the memories of everyone except Ryosuke regarding Ryosuke and Itachi. The seal will only release once Ryosuke returns to his own time."
Sara opened her mouth and stared blankly at Ryosuke.
She was going to forget him?
Wasn't that too fast?
To be exact, everything that had happened tonight was too fast, like a sudden tornado that swallowed Sara in a storm of emotions.
She walked toward Ryosuke and looked at him carefully. "So… the next time we meet, I'll be over thirty, an auntie?"
"That's right. But for us who keep these memories…"
Ryosuke glanced at the brightening light points on his body.
"It should be just 'in a little while.'"
Sara thought for a moment and nodded in understanding.
During the time she forgot Ryosuke, he wouldn't exist to her, so naturally she wouldn't miss him.
Once she remembered everything again, Ryosuke, fresh from his time-travel return, would be standing right in front of her.
Sara reached out her hand and smiled sweetly. "Then… see you in a bit."
Ryosuke smiled and took her hand, squeezing gently. "See you in a bit."
As Minato activated the memory-sealing technique, Ryosuke's vision was swallowed by blinding white light. He closed his eyes and waited. He didn't know how long passed before the light on his retinas faded.
———
In front of him stood Queen Sara, eyes slightly red.
Compared to her younger self, she had lost some youth and naivety, gaining depth and gentleness shaped by years.
Their hands were still clasped together.
She smiled through shimmering tears.
More than ten years passed, but just like their farewell, it felt like the blink of an eye.
Queen Sara sniffed lightly and said with a slight choke, "It really was… a very long 'moment,' wasn't it?"
They looked at each other. In each other's eyes, they saw countless fragments of memories flashing by,
The black box opened.
Memories unsealed.
The timeline updated.
The Kingdom of Roran still fell, but far more people survived than in the original timeline.
The remaining population merged into the Land of Wind and formed Roran Town.
Under Sara's governance for more than ten years, the town's population reached sixty thousand. In a few more years, it might return to the scale of the ancient Kingdom of Roran.
Sara's mother, the former queen, lived for another five years after the fall, eventually dying of grief.
"In her final moments, she was still chanting the name 'Mr. Crow,'" Sara said.
Ryosuke was stunned. "She loved him that much?"
"That's not it. Her last words were, 'When I get to hell, I'm going to kill you,' and then… she really stopped breathing."
Ryosuke was speechless.
"Oh, and there's one more change."
Queen Sara stepped back, hands behind her, her gentle smile glowing even brighter in the sunlight.
Ryosuke looked at her for a moment before suddenly realizing.
"Your body… it's healed?"
"I never had a terminal illness to begin with."
Maybe it was because Ryosuke removed the lunar power early, or maybe it was some other reason she couldn't figure out.
Either way, Sara, whose life had once been counting down, was now healthy.
"But I really didn't expect that after going back in time, you managed to resist steering history toward your own advantage."
To Sara, that was like entering a treasure vault where everything inside was priceless, yet walking out empty-handed.
"Because no matter how tragic, history becomes the nourishment that pushes us forward."
Ryosuke had said this to Onoki.
After he finished, he felt Sara's overly intent gaze. He turned his head slightly and scratched his cheek. "Why are you looking at me like that?"
"I just think it's unbelievable."
Sara looked quietly at Ryosuke.
"The things you say, the things you do… are unbelievable."
"And being able to meet you is also unbelievable."
While talking, they arrived in front of Roran Town.
"I should go," Sara said.
Ryosuke also needed to leave. His body was on the verge of collapse, he had to go to Konoha to find Tsunade immediately.
Sara opened her arms.
Ryosuke saw there was nothing romantic in her eyes, just a farewell to an old friend.
He gave her a hug.
Sara lifted herself slightly on tiptoe and rested her chin on his shoulder, closing her eyes. The burden she had carried alone for more than ten years could only be put down, even briefly, beside Ryosuke. She whispered, "For many things, and many people… thank you."
"You're welcome. Besides..."
Ryosuke patted her back lightly and looked at the peaceful, bustling town ahead.
"You did well."
Sara's nose suddenly stung.
Thankfully, she was no longer the little girl who cried easily. She let go, smiled, waved, and walked toward her town.
Ryosuke watched her leave.
Once her figure disappeared...
Plop!
A raindrop fell.
Then a sudden downpour blurred everything. Ryosuke's body melted in the rain like an oil painting wiped away before it dried, disappearing on the spot.
Using the ability of Rainbow Catcher, Ryosuke traveled through the rain, performing long-distance rapid movement.
He had no choice.
The forces inside him were in a precarious balance. If Hamon, natural energy, or the demon-god power shifted even slightly, the balance could collapse.
Ryosuke would become the most terrifying human bomb in the history of the ninja world, even Deidara would call him a professional.
Until he solved this, Ryosuke couldn't fight using his real body. He could only use his Stand. In other words…
He had become a humble Stand user.
At the same time, somewhere in the Land of Wind.
Obito was digging out a half-man-tall jar with a metal shovel. As if afraid he wouldn't understand, a big "1" was pasted on it, indicating it contained Shukaku's chakra.
He patted it with satisfaction.
Suddenly, the timelines overlapped and his memories updated.
Obito "remembered" the glowing person he encountered on the night of the massacre.
He couldn't figure out what that thing was back then. But now, thinking about the success of Uchiha Itachi's space-time project, Obito realized...
'Ryosuke!'
'That glowing guy was definitely Ryosuke!'
He thought about the loosened and misaligned mask.
Instantly, a chill ran down his spine.