Killer Bee felt the Eight-Tails stir inside him, and Gyuki's deep voice rumbled out in warning. "Looks like the future puts us in real trouble."
Normally, Bee would have answered with a ridiculous rhyme and a grin. This time, though, the usual easygoing swagger was gone. Behind his dark sunglasses, his eyes sharpened into something cold and serious. "You fool, you moron... the future me got captured? Then I guess I've gotta get serious."
***
Outside the Akatsuki base in the Land of Rain, the members remained where they were, all of them staring at the heavens. None of them had gone back inside. The giant screen hanging over the world had become more compelling than any mission report.
Zetsu writhed with obvious excitement. "Capturing a tailed beast? So the future plan is going splendidly."
Kakuzu let out a contemptuous snort, his eyes dim and greedy. "Tailed beasts... those would be worth a fortune."
From inside Hiruko, Sasori gave a hoarse, rasping laugh. "It seems the future Akatsuki has accomplished something rather impressive."
Itachi Uchiha stood among them with the same expressionless face as ever, but the shock in his heart was no less than anyone else's. From the corner of his eye, he glanced at Pain, the man standing at the front as if he had been born to command monsters and madmen alike.
Is he the one? Itachi wondered in silence. Is this so-called god the future destroyer of the world?
The thought made the danger of Akatsuki feel even clearer, even sharper. It also made him more certain that infiltrating this organization had been the right decision. Whatever lurked ahead, it was far worse than he had imagined.
***
Inside the tower, Nagato watched the sky through Pain's Rinnegan. His own withered body remained hidden in shadow, motionless and gaunt, but within those deep, sunken eyes burned something close to fanatic certainty.
"Do you see it, Konan?" he said softly. "Even the Five Kage have to unite. That level of fear... it proves they are about to understand pain."
In his mind, the conclusion had already been reached. The so-called world-ending crisis that forced the entire shinobi world to tremble could only be Akatsuki's future success. It had to be the culmination of his will—the moment when he gathered the tailed beasts, imposed overwhelming suffering on the world, and finally carved a path toward his false peace.
His breathing grew just a little heavier, tinged with morbid satisfaction. It was the breath of a man who thought he had already glimpsed victory.
Konan stood beside him, her paper wings trembling almost imperceptibly. She watched the anxiety and division among the Five Kage on the screen, then looked toward Nagato, who was visibly stirred by what he saw.
A faint unease rippled through her. In the end, though, that unease became the same silent loyalty that had bound her for years. No matter what the future held, she would remain at his side. Once, that faith had belonged to Yahiko. Now, it belonged to Nagato.
***
On the screen, the Five Kage Summit was still on the verge of collapse. Tsunade and the Raikage faced each other like two storms about to collide, and the atmosphere in the room had become so tense it seemed ready to crack apart at any second.
Then, at the very moment the deadlock felt unbearable, a calm voice cut cleanly across the room.
"I'm not too late, am I?"
The side door opened, and a figure walked in at an unhurried pace.
The newcomer wore simple dark clothes. He had short black hair, a stern face, and deep black eyes that seemed to contain far more experience than his age should allow. He moved without flourish, but the instant he appeared, every eye in the room turned toward him.
The reactions of the Five Kage were all different. Yet without exception, each of them revealed a trace of the same thing—recognition. Approval. Trust.
"Sasuke!" Relief flashed across Tsunade's exhausted face. "You came at exactly the right time."
When A saw him, the violent fury on his face actually faltered. He let out a heavy snort, but for the first time since the meeting began, he did not keep pressing forward with blind rage.
The meaning of that moment was obvious to everyone watching. Uchiha Sasuke's mere presence carried enough weight that even the Raikage had to restrain himself.
Sasuke ignored the attention fixed on him. He looked directly at A and spoke in an even tone, as if he were discussing nothing more than an ordinary matter.
"Raikage, there was nothing I could do for Yugito. But I brought your brother back."
What he said was simple. The impact was anything but.
"What?"
The single word burst from A like a thunderclap. His anger vanished, replaced so completely by shock and hope that he shot to his feet hard enough to topple the chair behind him.
His massive frame leaned forward, and for the first time, the terrifying Raikage looked less like a ruler and more like an older brother desperate for news. "Bee? Where is he? How is he?"
Sasuke remained as calm as still water. "He's with my Hawk squad and on the way here now. Since your brother is safe, I assume we can finally sit down and talk."
That one sentence removed the heaviest stone from A's heart. The relief that flashed across his face was raw enough to be unmistakable, but it lasted only a moment before he dragged himself back under control.
He drew a deep breath and straightened, forcing the joy away behind the hard authority of a Kage. Then he fixed Sasuke with a grave look and spoke in a voice heavy with sincerity.
"I won't thank you for this. But Uchiha Sasuke... I, A, owe you one."
A favor from the Raikage of the Hidden Cloud was no light promise. It was the kind of debt powerful enough to move armies and shake negotiations. Yet Sasuke only gave a slight nod, as if he had accepted something trivial, and said nothing more.
He walked past the others and took his place behind Tsunade, arms folded, expression unreadable. That was all. And somehow, that was enough.
With Sasuke's arrival and the news of Killer Bee's safety, the suffocating pressure in the conference room eased at last. The Raikage's expression remained ugly, but he no longer radiated the same explosive fury. Onoki, who had been waiting for chances to stir the flames higher, narrowed his eyes and stayed quiet.
Mei Terumi and Gaara both seemed to relax, if only by a fraction. A summit that had nearly shattered under grief, accusation, and rage finally returned to its purpose. Only then could the Five Kage begin discussing the disaster looming over the world.
***
In the real shinobi world, the impact of this scene was immediate and overwhelming.
"Uchiha Sasuke? The last survivor of the Uchiha clan?"
"He managed to save the Eight-Tails jinchuriki from a monster that can threaten the whole world?"
"Even the Raikage owes him a favor! Just how strong does he become in the future?"
"Isn't it obvious? He barely even did anything, and the Five Kage stopped tearing each other apart the moment he arrived! What kind of presence is that?"
"It means ten years from now, Sasuke Uchiha will stand above the Five Great Nations!"
"Only ten years? How old is he now? That's absurd!"
The voices rose from every corner of the world—villages, border towns, taverns, roads, and watch posts. Questions, shock, admiration, and disbelief spread like wildfire. The name Uchiha Sasuke, once known only as the surviving child of a slaughtered clan, was now being branded into the hearts of the entire ninja world in an entirely different way.
For the first time, he was not a tragic orphan or the younger brother of a criminal. He appeared as a future figure of overwhelming weight—a young man capable of stabilizing the Five Kage Summit with a few calm words and a single act.
In Konoha, in the academy, in the markets, and in shadowed rooms where adults measured danger more carefully than children ever could, people began to look at the Uchiha name differently. What had once been tied to massacre, betrayal, suspicion, and fear had suddenly gained another image—one of strength, prestige, and impossible promise.
And for one person watching from beneath the same sky, that change carried a meaning deeper than anyone else could understand.
Itachi looked at the future version of his younger brother, and something within the cold depths of his Mangekyo Sharingan finally softened.
Sasuke... so this is what you become.
There was no smile on his face. There never could be, not here, not now. But deep inside him, beneath layers of blood, guilt, resolve, and carefully buried grief, a quiet relief spread through his chest.
You really did grow into someone others can rely on, he thought. Lady Tsunade trusts you. Even the Raikage owes you. The glory of the Uchiha... maybe it truly can be restored through your hands.
To the rest of the world, Uchiha Sasuke had become a startling new possibility. To Itachi, he had become something far more precious.
Proof that the path of hatred, pain, and sacrifice had not led only into darkness.
Proof that the future still held something worth believing in.