"How did you come to this era?" Orochimaru asked, his curiosity piqued. "Can you tell me?"
"There's nothing I can't say," Makoto shrugged, leaning against a tree. "It's not that complicated. Uchiha Sasuke and some blond kid were pursuing an Otsutsuki who activated a time-traveling artifact called the Karasuki. I simply hitched a ride."
"Sasuke-kun..."
Orochimaru pondered for a moment, licking his lips.
Then he looked up at Makoto with calculating eyes.
"Let's assume your premise is true, you returned to this era because of Sasuke."
"But here is the problem: If you killed Sasuke now, what would happen?"
"If the future Sasuke dies in the past, he never goes to the future to come back. Therefore, you lose the cause of 'following Sasuke through time.' If you didn't follow him, you aren't here to kill him. So he lives. And then he travels back. And then you follow him..."
"This creates a dead-loop paradox."
Orochimaru spoke very seriously.
He was testing the logic of Makoto's existence.
However, Makoto was sweating bullets for a different reason.
'The Sasuke Paradox, huh?'
As expected, a few words earlier weren't enough to immediately change Orochimaru's obsession with Sasuke.
He's literally using Sasuke as the variable in his physics equations.
The man is down bad!
"Then why must we kill Sasuke?"
Hanabi raised her small hand as if answering in class at the Ninja Academy.
"Orochimaru-san! Wouldn't it be fine if we just... didn't kill him? Why is murder the first option?"
Orochimaru smiled "kindly," his eyes narrowing into slits.
"This is just an example, little one. Even without killing Sasuke, any slight change to the past would drastically alter the future."
At this point, Orochimaru looked back at Makoto.
"Makoto-kun, your goal is to change the future and deal with that 'Otsutsuki,' right? You want to save the world, presumably."
"Then, according to this logic, your method is inherently contradictory."
"When you return to the past, the past becomes your future, and the future becomes your past. You cannot change the future because it has already happened for you. If you change it, you negate your own existence."
After speaking, Orochimaru waited for Makoto's response.
Makoto didn't seem to be lying, but reason and logic forced Orochimaru to doubt.
He was a scientist, not a believer.
"Actually," Makoto smiled, "the paradox you mentioned is easy to solve. I have two conclusions that have already been proven wrong to handle paradoxes."
"Oh?" Orochimaru was somewhat surprised. "Proven wrong?"
"The first theory: Parallel Worlds."
"So-called returning to the past is just arriving at a parallel timeline almost identical to the past of the original world. Like stepping onto a different train track."
"Any actions taken in this world won't affect the original world you came from. You create a branching timeline. So naturally, no paradox arises. You can kill Sasuke, marry his mom, become the Hokage—it doesn't matter to your original timeline."
"Hiss."
After hearing this theory, Orochimaru frowned slightly and took a sharp breath.
It did seem to make sense.
"You said this theory is wrong," Orochimaru noted. "Meaning..."
"There's a place called Roran in the Wind Country's desert," Makoto explained.
"Namikaze Minato once encountered visitors from an abnormal spacetime there. Though he sealed their memories to avoid affecting the future, evidence of the Time Loop remained."
What Makoto mentioned was crucial.
Whether it was the Chakra Blade from the future in the "Lost Tower" incident, or how Boruto saying "Kaminarimon Company" after traveling back in time led to Denki's father creating the company in the future—all demonstrated Closed Time Loops, not parallel worlds.
The future caused the past.
The past created the future.
It was a single, unbroken circle.
At the very least, there was no possibility of parallel worlds equivalent to the main world existing.
As for the Limited Tsukuyomi, that was an artificially created low-level Genjutsu world.
When Sakura from that world came to the real world in the "Road to Ninja" movie, she became mentally unstable and lost her memories due to originating from an inferior dimension.
"I see," Orochimaru nodded, accepting Makoto's explanation.
He had no doubts about Makoto's account of Roran. Such things were too easy to verify—lying would be pointless.
In fact, with just this theory alone, Orochimaru could already refute his earlier doubts. But driven by his thirst for knowledge, he still wanted to hear more.
"What about the second theory?" Orochimaru asked greedily.
"The second one is actually a conjecture," Makoto said.
"If all matter and energy have a smallest unit it means all motion and change occur in 'jumps,' not continuously."
"It's like a movie—essentially countless pictures played in sequence. Going back in time would be like modifying one of those pictures."
This theory could also resolve the "Sasuke Paradox," but it could similarly be refuted by Makoto's earlier example of the Roran Time Loop.
"Ugh..." Karin scratched her head aggressively.
Her glasses were slipping down her nose.
"My head itches so much—it feels like my brain is growing."
Karin groaned, feeling a headache coming on.
Among those present, she seemed to be the only one who hadn't understood a single word.
Even Hanabi looked thoughtful.
Karin's reaction was like when Madara called Naruto's shadow clones a "rabble," and Naruto was confused about what "rabble" meant.
She was suffering from a lack of education.
"After all that," Tsunade spoke up, crossing her arms impatiently. "You've only proven Orochimaru's idea wrong. You still haven't explained the logical problem—how exactly can you change the future if time is a loop?"
"If Roran proved time is a closed circle," Tsunade argued, "then you can't save the world. You're just playing your part in the tragedy."
"I don't know the physics either," Makoto admitted. "But I'm certain I can do it."
Makoto slowly stood up from the rock and brushed the dust off his pants.
Makoto had never applied the "scientific theories" from his original world to this one.
Only the way of thinking.
It was entirely normal for different universes to have different fundamental physical laws.
One universe might rely on quantum mechanics.
Another might cultivate immortality through Qi.
The Shinobi World possessed Chakra and Senjutsu—clearly distinct from his original world.
Directly applying Einstein's relativity here would be like carving a mark on a moving boat to find a lost sword—futile and misguided.
Those who truly understood the nature of this world, or even just wanted to, were exceedingly rare in the entire Shinobi World.
Most ninjas just wanted to throw fireballs ffs.
That's why, during the Boruto era, Makoto sought out Yakushi Kabuto, and now he came to find Orochimaru.
"Can you help me?" Makoto looked at Tsunade. "I'll prove it to you."
Makoto walked up to Tsunade.
"Oh? How?" Tsunade's lips curved slightly.
"Stand behind me," Makoto instructed. "And choose any moment to attack me. Use full force. Don't hold back."
Makoto found a clear spot in the clearing and turned his back to her, exposing his vital points.
"Alright," Tsunade grinned savagely. "You asked for this!"
The moment she heard she could hit Makoto, Tsunade's eyes instantly lit up.
"Tsunade! Wait!"
Orochimaru watched as Tsunade strode behind Makoto, muscles tensing.
He hurriedly called for her to stop.
"Makoto-kun," Orochimaru wiped the cold sweat from his forehead. "Perhaps you should first explain the principle behind the proof? If we discuss it afterward, we might miss many details. Also... she might kill you."
Orochimaru was genuinely concerned.
Was there some personal grudge between Makoto and Tsunade? Why did she look so happy to beat him up?
"Very well," Makoto sighed, keeping his back turned.
"I possess an ability," Makoto explained calmly. "It's called Time Erasure."
"It allows me to see images of a future period of time—about ten seconds ahead. What I see will happen."
"Under normal circumstances, after seeing these future images, the only way I can alter fate is by using Time erasure to erase the period of time where the unfavorable events occur."
"For example, if I see myself getting punched, I erase the time where the punch connects. The result (me getting hit) is removed, but the cause (you punching) remains."
"But in reality," Makoto's voice dropped an octave. "That's not the limit."
"I can easily alter facts that have already been set in stone. I can completely deviate from the future trajectory shown by my ability."
"I understand," Orochimaru nodded, his eyes gleaming. "Show me."
BOOM—
As soon as Makoto finished speaking, Tsunade, who was behind him, didn't hesitate for a second.
She bent her waist, channeling chakra into her fist.
She threw a powerful punch aimed directly at Makoto's lower back.
CRASH!
Trees in front of Makoto were obliterated by the shockwave.
However...
"Huh?" Tsunade frowned.
Tsunade frowned as she looked at the forest ahead, then turned to glance back at Makoto, who remained completely unharmed.
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Bonus Chapter since we reach 100 stones!
For every 100 stones, i release another one, so give me all your stone guys and you may also appear in the future vigorous paradise!
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King Crimson (帝王の紅キング・クリムゾン Kingu Kurimuzon), occasionally shortened to K Crimson (Ｋ・クリムゾン), is the Stand of Diavolo (and partially of his alter ego, Doppio), featured in Vento Aureo.
It has a sub-Stand ability, Epitaph (墓碑銘エピタフ Epitafu), which was primarily introduced by Vinegar Doppio, Diavolo's split personality.
Time Erasure : King Crimson's signature ability is to erase a given frame of time; it starts from the instant the ability is activated and can be made to last up to around 10 seconds.
Epitaph : is a sub-Stand ability that acts as a complement to King Crimson's primary ability of time erasure. Diavolo and Doppio often use the forecasting ability of Epitaph to predict any incoming threat, making sneak attacks ineffective against them.