Hirofumi Ito's words grabbed the attention of all the young ninjas in the room. Everyone nodded along, thinking he made perfect sense.
But Naruto Uzumaki? His face was clouded with a hint of sadness. The aftereffects of his Ashura chakra were hitting him hard, plain as day.
"But… Hirofumi…" Naruto started.
"Naruto! On the job, you call me by my title!" Hirofumi snapped.
"Hmph! Fine, Plant Ito!" Naruto shot back, pouting like a kid who'd just been scolded.
Watching Naruto sulk, Hirofumi couldn't help but think he was like a carbon copy of Hashirama Senju. The guy was pouting so hard it was almost comical—Hirofumi had yelled at him! Sure, Naruto could be a bit dense, but he got the point. And yet, Hirofumi had the nerve to raise his voice!
Naruto huffed, clearly ticked off. The consequences of making him mad were gonna be serious! But that jerk Hirofumi was just standing there, barely holding back a laugh, not even bothering to cheer him up.
WHAM! Naruto slammed his hand on the table. "Ito! You're gonna regret this!"
"Naruto! I'm the Hokage here!" Hirofumi fired back.
BAM!
"Ow! Damn it, Sasuke, why'd you hit me?!" Naruto yelped, rubbing his head.
"Hmph! You idiot, Naruto," Sasuke scoffed. "You think you can be the next Hokage with that attitude? Keep dreaming. If that's how you're thinking, I, Sasuke Uchiha, will be the first to say no way! Honestly, I might as well throw my hat in the ring for the Sixth Hokage. As for you, idiot? Heh, I wouldn't mind making you my big root when I'm in charge."
"Argh! You jerk, Sasuke! You're the big root! Your whole family's a bunch of roots! When I become Hokage, I'm gonna make you the tiniest little root in the Hidden Leaf!" Naruto shouted.
"Dobe!" Sasuke snapped.
"Teme!" Naruto fired back.
"Dobe!"
"Teme!"
The two went back and forth, and everyone else in the room just shook their heads in exasperation.
---
Suddenly, outside the Hidden Leaf Village, two figures dropped from the sky with a BOOM!
"Ouch! Sensei, why didn't you catch me?! I nearly died!" a voice whined.
"Quiet down, Dog Egg," the other figure said. "We need to figure out where—and when—we are. That Otsutsuki Urashiki guy probably got here before us. We've gotta find Hirofumi and Naruto fast."
The speaker was a grown-up Sasuke Uchiha, who'd traveled from the future. His eyes gleamed with a pair of Nine-Tomoe Rinnegan. He glanced at the blond kid next to him—Uzumaki Dog Egg.
Dog Egg pouted. "That godfather of mine is such a pain! My dad named me Boruto Uzumaki, but nooo, Godfather had to call me Dog Egg. And somehow, my idiot dad and mom actually went along with it! My sister got a cool name like Himawari Uzumaki—why'd I have to get stuck with Dog Egg?!"
Future Sasuke chuckled. Truth be told, he had no idea why Hirofumi insisted on naming Naruto's kid Dog Egg. He remembered when Hinata and Naruto got married, and little Dog Egg was born. Hirofumi swooped in as the kid's godfather and, against all objections, declared his name would be Uzumaki Dog Egg. Apparently, "Boruto" wasn't "fiery" enough, but Dog Egg? Oh, that was perfect.
And, unbelievably, Naruto thought it sounded good too. So, the kid's name was officially Dog Egg.
Sasuke sighed, thinking about his own situation. Naruto had two kids—Dog Egg and Himawari. Sasuke and Sakura had a daughter, and, of course, Hirofumi was her godfather too. But Uchiha Cuihua? Not exactly a name that rolled off the tongue. Sasuke had wanted to call her Sarada, but… oh well.
"Alright, Dog Egg, enough griping," Sasuke said. "Let's disguise ourselves. We might be decades in the past, in the Hidden Leaf Village. You might even get to see what your godfather was like as a kid."
Dog Egg's eyes lit up. "Heh heh heh! I can't wait to see what Godfather's like now! Wonder if he's already the Fifth Hokage. Hey, Sensei, he probably wasn't that strong back then, right? Think I could take him in a fight?"
Sasuke gave Dog Egg a weird look. If they'd landed in the timeline where Hirofumi was the Fifth Hokage, Sasuke was genuinely worried Dog Egg might get himself killed trying to challenge him. Hirofumi was no slouch back then.
"By the way, Sensei," Dog Egg said, "why'd Godfather insist you bring me along to chase this Urashiki guy? Those Otsutsuki aren't even a match for you guys! Like, remember that Otsutsuki Kinshiki? You sliced him in half with one swing. And Otsutsuki Momoshiki? Godfather just glared at him, and he was done for. Why's this Urashiki guy such a big deal?"
"I'm not sure," Sasuke admitted. "But Hirofumi's never been wrong about this stuff. If he says it's important, it is. Let's just treat this like a little sightseeing trip. With me here, Urashiki's not gonna cause any trouble."
Sasuke sensed the direction of the Hidden Leaf Village. "Come on, it's that way. Make sure your disguise is solid—we don't want to cause a scene."
"Right, got it, Sensei!" Dog Egg said. "Oh, wait! Sensei, do you know what kind of eyes Godfather has? They don't seem like your Rinnegan or my dad's. They're… different."
Sasuke nodded. "Yeah, Hirofumi told me once. He calls them the Nine-Tomoe Rinne-Tenseigan."
"Whoa!" Dog Egg's jaw dropped. "Your eyes are Nine-Tomoe Rinnegan, and my uncle and mom have the Tenseigan. So Godfather's eyes are, like, even stronger than yours?!"
Sasuke smirked. "Heh, of course. He's Hirofumi Ito, after all."
And with that, the two headed toward the Hidden Leaf Village, chatting as they went…