The afternoon sun pierced through the dense canopy, and a gentle breeze rustled the leaves. This should have been a peaceful afternoon, but an unsettling aura permeated the forest.
A strange figure stood silently in a clearing in the woods. He wore a black robe, with long black hair, and a large katana at his waist. Most striking was the tiger-striped mask on his face, completely obscuring his features.
"So," a cold voice suddenly came from behind, "what is your purpose in coming here now?"
The tiger-striped mask slowly turned, looking towards the source of the voice.
Under the shadow of a tree a few meters away, a man wearing a fox mask had appeared at some unknown time.
The leader of the [Ash] organization, Menma Uzumaki.
"[Ash]… This should be our first meeting, right?" Obito's Sharingan rotated slightly behind the mask's eyeholes. "From your words, you are not unfamiliar with me."
"Hmm, I know much more than you imagine." He took a step forward. "But I didn't expect you'd still have the nerve to return to this place."
"Because of the Nine-Tailed Demon Fox Incident, you were the one who personally pushed your own Uchiha Clan into hell."
Obito was silent for a moment, his Sharingan beneath the mask fixed on Menma. He could clearly feel the undisguised hostility in the other's words—it wasn't ordinary wariness or caution, but genuine disgust and anger.
"It seems…" Obito slowly began, "you do know quite a lot."
Menma quietly watched Obito. A Shadow Clone had been staking out this forest for an entire day, finally succeeding in intercepting this elusive individual.
Obito warily assessed this unexpected variable before him. The leader of the [Ash] organization—this mysterious powerhouse who had suddenly risen in the Ninja World, possessing the terrifying strength to challenge a Great Ninja Village alone, yet claiming to want to create peace, was a troublesome individual.
"The Nine-Tailed Demon Fox Incident? Yes, I did that." His gaze swept over the Flying Thunder God kunai Menma was toying with, secretly on guard—he hadn't expected anyone in the Ninja World to master this troublesome Ninjutsu since his teacher's death.
"But my goal and your ideology do not conflict," Obito continued. "Both are for permanent peace."
"You seem to hate me? Although you want to maintain peace through military deterrence, your methods are quite naive."
There was obvious mockery in this statement. Obito knew very well that, unlike himself, this person hadn't killed a single person during his attack on Konoha—such soft-heartedness seemed ridiculous to him.
"I don't want to be your enemy right now." Obito's body began to gradually dematerialize, with ripples of spatial distortion swirling around him. "In the future, perhaps your naive heart will temper a bit."
Menma did not try to stop him, because Obito insisted on avoiding battle, and with the current means at his disposal, he couldn't decipher the space-time Ninjutsu of those Mangekyo Sharingan.
This is as far as I can go for now…
Menma watched as Obito's figure completely vanished into the distorted space. At least on the night of the Uchiha Clan's annihilation… he absolutely had to keep this guy out of it.
Silence returned to the forest, and Menma's figure gradually faded, eventually dissipating into a wisp of smoke.
——————
On the way to the Uchiha Clan Estate, Naruto, with the clearly oversized dark red scarf wrapped around his neck, walked out of Konoha's bustling district. Satsuki had forcefully insisted he wear the scarf, saying things like "What if you catch a cold?" and "Others will blame me for not taking good care of you."
Now, Naruto looked at Satsuki beside him and couldn't help but sigh.
"Satsuki… Aren't you cold in that outfit?"
Satsuki was hugging her arms, her body trembling slightly—she was wearing a summer short-sleeved shirt and shorts today, her fair arms and calves exposed to the increasingly chilly autumn wind. But what made Naruto most speechless was how fake her acting was; she not only deliberately trembled exaggeratedly but also secretly glanced at the scarf around his neck from time to time.
"Cold?" Satsuki immediately straightened her back. "Don't be silly! As a genius of the Uchiha Clan, how could I be cold from this?"
That was true—with Satsuki's physical condition, she really shouldn't be shivering from this weather.
"Then I'll lend you my scarf…"
"Huh?!" Satsuki sharply turned her head. "How can I! How can I use a gift that was given away all by myself… Achoo!"
A sneeze so fake it couldn't be any faker.
After sneezing, she secretly peeked at Naruto, her obsidian-like eyes sparkling with anticipation.
…This is too obvious!
Naruto watched as Satsuki moved a little closer to him. "But the wind is indeed a bit strong…"
"…Then why don't we share it?" Naruto finally got straight to the point. "I think this oversized scarf would be quite suitable for two people to share."
Finally hearing these words, Satsuki suppressed the urge to smile, trying to make her voice sound calm. "Is that so?… Alright!" She deliberately sighed. "But this is the only way for both of us to stay warm, so it can't be helped."
Although in Satsuki's eyes, she had perfectly displayed an "unavoidable" expression, to Naruto, she was clearly gloating.
Eventually, the dark red scarf was wrapped around both of them, just like in an anime. Satsuki still couldn't help but blush, but she quietly leaned closer to Naruto.
"Just like this… It's less likely to come undone this way…"
She turned her face away, but a satisfied smile appeared on her lips, like a cat finally getting its beloved toy.
But Naruto's mood was not light at all.
His gaze went over Satsuki's head, looking towards the Uchiha Clan Estate in the distance, where lights were gradually coming on. In a few more hours, the most terrible things would happen there—blood, betrayal, endless darkness.
I must save Satsuki's parents…
Naruto secretly vowed in his heart. He would never let Satsuki lose everything and be left with only the obsession for revenge, as in the original story.
The evening breeze blew, and Satsuki leaned closer to him again, completely unaware of the solemnity that flashed in Naruto's eyes.