Much to their surprise, Team 7 were greeted with a hero's welcome upon their return to the Hidden Leaf Village— especially Sakura and Kakashi, whose images had been broadcast across the entire continent. As they made their way through the streets, a crowd swelled around them, and by the time they reached the town centre, they were leading a fully‑fledged parade in their own honour.
Just before they stepped into the Hokage's Residence, Sakura turned and mustered a quick smile and wave. The crowd's cheers rose to a jubilant roar, and, feeling her face growing hotter by the second, she seized Naruto by the collar as he basked in the adoration and hauled him inside in pursuit of Kakashi‑sensei. The noise of celebration faded to a dull echo as the door swung shut behind them and they climbed the stairs to Lady Tsunade's office.
"Did you see that, Sakura-chan!?" Naruto said, laughing excitedly. "They love us!"
Thanks to the village's festive air, the sombre mood that had settled over Naruto after Sasuke's defection, which had already begun to ease following Sakura's sort of confession, had now almost completely lifted… but it was not that he had got over it so easily because he cared less about Sasuke in this timeline; rather, it was quite the opposite.
In this timeline, Naruto had spent far more time with Sasuke than in the original, so his faith that Sasuke would one day return was all the stronger; it was rooted in the deeper bond they shared. Yet, because Jiraiya had never died here, Naruto could not possibly grasp the full extent of the pain of Sasuke's loss… and in that sense, they were more distant than ever.
"Congrats, you've already taken the first step towards becoming Hokage," said Sakura, smiling weakly. "Winning the village's recognition."
"At this rate, I reckon Sakura's got a much better shot at becoming Hokage than you, Naruto," Kakashi remarked lightly. "She's Lady Tsunade's disciple, the village loves her… and, most importantly, she actually knows how to study."
Little did Kakashi know that amongst the three of them, he had the highest odds of becoming Hokage first.
"Aww, c'mon, Kakashi-sensei!" Naruto said, pouting as he, Sakura, and Kakashi stepped into the Hokage's office. "That's not even funny! How long will I have to wait to be Hokage if Sakura-chan gets to be Hokage first!?"
"Well, if it isn't our triumphant heroes!" Jiraiya boomed jovially. "Sakura, that was some crazy gamble you pulled off, but thank goodness it paid off, eh?"
Lady Tsunade sat behind her desk, and as usual, Jiraiya was perched casually on the corner of her desk, one leg folded over the other.
"Pervy Sage!" Naruto cried as he threw himself into the older man's arms. "You're okay!"
Jiraiya winced in pain as Naruto hugged him.
"Easy there, Naruto!" he gasped, grinning through the pain as he patted him on the back. "I'm still in recovery!"
"It's a good thing Sakura's gamble paid off," Lady Tsunade said sarcastically, "because if it hadn't, the Hidden Leaf Village would have been ground zero for the descent of a demon lord…" Then, she broke into a grin. "Oh, who am I kidding? Excellent work, Sakura— everyone!"
"I'm truly sorry for everything," Kakashi said, bowing deeply. "It was my idea to sacrifice myself to stop Hiruko, and I caused everyone a great deal of pain… especially you, Lady Tsunade, for forcing your hand in my plan, and my students… I never realised you would all miss me quite so much."
It was then that Tsunade noticed that someone was missing.
"Speaking of your students," she said, frowning. "Where's Uchiha Sasuke?"
Sakura's and Naruto's faces immediately fell.
"Sasuke learned the truth, Milady," Kakashi said gravely, "about the female Uchiha survivor whom Naruto and Sakura encountered on their mission to the Land of the Sea. He's made it clear he intends to seek out Orochimaru in order to find her."
Tsunade groaned audibly. One headache after another with this brat.
"It doesn't make any sense," she sighed. "There exist no kunoichi going by the name Uchiha Nanashi in the Hidden Leaf's birth records, and none matching the description you gave me. It's as if she appeared completely out of nowhere."
"Not to mention the fact that she possessed the legendary Mangekyō Sharingan," Jiraiya added. "Even if Orochimaru is a genius when it comes to genetics, he couldn't possibly have cultivated from scratch a clone with emotions mature enough to awaken those eyes, not with the timeline I've pieced together of his movements."
Sakura wasn't certain where or when Orochimaru had obtained the tissue sample he'd used to create her clone Tsubaki, but the girl couldn't be more than three years old. It was something of a miracle that such an immature clone had awakened even the one-tomoe Sharingan; Sakura shuddered to think of the torture Orochimaru must have inflicted on her to achieve it. What a wretched existence the poor child must have known… subjected to torment for the handful of months she had lived, only to meet such a monstrous end…
"That's not the worst of it," Sakura said, taking a deep breath. "Sasuke also learned the truth behind the Uchiha massacre."
Tsunade frowned. "What truth?"
Sakura briefly recounted their encounter with the one-eyed masked man who claimed to be Uchiha Madara. How he had appeared before her and Sasuke, offering cryptic words before vanishing… how he had whisked them away to some unknown place after they finished hunting down Itachi, and the tale he had told them then: Itachi's tragedy… and the story of Naruto's abandonment.
"You! Why didn't you tell me all this sooner!? Doesn't that man match the description of the Fourth Hokage's and his wife's murderer!?" Tsunade shouted, springing to her feet. "But to think Sarutobi-sensei would sanction such a thing…" she murmured, sinking back into her chair, aghast. "I can't believe it…"
"I wouldn't put it past the old monkey to do such a thing," Jiraiya said grimly. "Damn it, old man... I knew things were bad back then, but how could you… the Uchiha clan was still Konoha's Uchiha…"
It was precisely this sort of rot that had driven Tsunade and Jiraiya from the village and its toxic politics— the kind of thing that had eroded their faith in the system, stripping away their youthful idealism and leaving only a weary, cynical crust.
"I was Minato's teacher, I should have been there for you, Naruto," Jiraiya growled, slamming his fist against his thigh. "If only I'd bothered to check on you myself even once, but the old man swore you were in safe hands… damn it all."
Naruto finally spoke up.
"I've been meaning to ask, ya know?" he said in a trembling voice. "If the Fourth Hokage really is my father, then he's the one who sealed the Nine-Tails inside of me, right?"
His bottom lip quivered.
"What kind of dad would do that to his own kid, ya know…?" he said dully. "You've got no idea how much I've suffered… When I was a kid, nobody would talk to me, like they were scared or angry or something, but I was too young to figure out why… Then the fox started whispering terrible things in my ears, making me lose control and hurt Sakura-chan and everyone around me…"
Jiraiya and Tsunade exchanged a glance and nodded.
"Naruto, I reckon it's high time we visited Mount Myōboku together; there's someone there I want you to meet… and while we're there, I'll be kicking your training up a notch," Jiraiya said. "As the only Honoured Sage amongst the Sannin, I can't very well let this drunken failure of a woman be the only one with a Sage for a student, now can I…?"
Tsunade slapped Jiraiya in the back of the head.
"…ouch!"