The world may have been in chaos, but the screen above was indifferent. The image it displayed was grim and absolute.
[On screen, the blond boy—a slightly older, more battle-hardened version of Naruto—skidded to a halt on a narrow rock bridge surrounded by molten rock. "I'll overwhelm you with numbers!" he yelled, his hands blurring into a familiar seal.]
[In an instant, the bridge was swarmed with dozens of shadow clones, a sea of orange and blond that charged forward with a unified battle cry. They crashed against a grotesque monster made of writhing, black tentacles.]
From the entryway of a small dango shop where they'd taken cover, Team 7 watched, mesmerized.
"Is that... I mean, it looks like Naruto, right?" Sakura whispered, her eyes wide with disbelief.
Naruto himself squinted at the sky. "Hey, you're right! Why am I up there? And what's with that awesome jutsu?!"
"It's not you, idiot." Sasuke's voice was sharp, but his eyes never left the screen. "Look at him. He's older. Taller."
He's right, Kakashi thought, a knot tightening in his stomach. The age is wrong, but everything else... the ferocity, the recklessness, the sheer number of clones... it's a perfect match.
Around the village, others who knew Naruto were having the same thought. Most dismissed it as a bizarre coincidence. But for those who held a deep-seated hatred for the boy, the image was proof. To them, the sky itself was screaming that the Nine-Tails was a monster.
In the Pure Land, Kushina Uzumaki and Minato Namikaze felt an inexplicable pull toward the boy on the screen. Minato's breath hitched. That bright blond hair, the brilliant blue eyes filled with defiance... the resemblance was uncanny. He dared to hope.
[The battle on the screen was brutal. The clone offensive, while impressive, was ultimately futile. Black tentacles lashed out like whips, tearing through the copies with sickening ease until only the original remained. The boy was slammed violently to the ground.]
[Smoke and dust plumed from the impact. Yet, he pushed himself up, his face etched with grit and determination. "I... will not... die here!"]
[With a burst of speed, the on-screen Naruto launched himself into the air, kunai flashing. He dodged and weaved between tentacles, his eyes locking onto a strange, purple, eye-like organ glowing within the magma below the creature. "An eye? Is that its weak point?"]
[The distraction was fatal. The sound of tearing flesh echoed from the sky. The boy's eyes widened in shock, then his pupils shrank to pinpricks. A spray of crimson blood dotted his cheek.]
[The camera angle shifted, revealing a black tentacle had impaled him clean through the back. He was lifted powerlessly into the air. For a few agonizing seconds, he struggled, and then, his limbs went slack. His head lolled forward.]
[The scene cut to a girl with long, lavender-hued hair, kneeling on the ground, her face a mask of pure horror as she screamed a name that silenced the entire world.]
["NARUTO!!"]
"...Naruto?" Sakura's voice trembled. She looked from the lifeless boy on the screen to her sensei, her eyes begging for an explanation.
"Even the name is the same!"
Kakashi's face was grim stone. "Stay calm, Sakura. This could be a genjutsu, an enemy's trick." But his words lacked conviction.
"The last shot..." Sasuke murmured, his usual composure fractured as he stared at his teammate.
Naruto didn't seem to hear them. His mind was a blank slate of shock. He just stared, wide-eyed, at the image of himself being run through by a monster, his own name echoing in his ears.
Miles away, in the Land of Tea, a white-haired Sannin collecting "research" nearly dropped his pen. Naruto? Jiraiya thought, his heart pounding. Minato's boy?
In the Pure Land, hope turned to ash. "That's him! That's my son!" Kushina cried, her soul trembling.
Minato's face, once filled with hopeful expectation, was now a portrait of anguish. "It is our son... But what is this? What is this nightmare?"
The screen above Konoha changed again.
[The sky was grey and overcast. A familiar red and white torii gate marked the entrance to a cemetery. A simple wooden coffin was being lowered into the earth. Standing before it were three figures: a weeping, pink-haired girl—clearly an older Sakura—a boy with thick eyebrows and a green jumpsuit, and a white-eyed youth in formal clan attire. Their faces were streaked with tears.]
[The camera zoomed in on the freshly placed headstone, the engraved characters sharp and undeniable.]
[UZUMAKI NARUTO]
"Uzumaki... Naruto," Sakura whispered, her hand flying to her mouth. That was it. The proof was absolute. The girl on the screen was her, a few years older, her long hair cut short. The Uchiha and Hyuga clan emblems on the other boys were unmistakable.
Sasuke swallowed hard, finally tearing his gaze from the sky to lock eyes with his teacher. The question in them was terrifying. "Sensei... are we watching the future?"
"What?! The future?! Why is my tombstone there!" Naruto finally snapped out of his stupor, shouting at the sky in a mix of fear and confusion.
Kakashi met Sasuke's gaze, a long moment of silence passing between them. "It's a possibility," he admitted, shaking his head slowly. "But it's too early to jump to that conclusion. A vision of the future, broadcast for the entire world to see... it's beyond anything we've ever encountered."
Across the village, other teams were frozen in place.
"That's me! And Neji!" Rock Lee exclaimed, pointing a rigid finger at the sky.
Tenten looked to her teammate. "Neji, what's happening?"
Neji's Byakugan was active, but it saw nothing beyond the light of the screen itself. "I don't know," he said, his voice tight. "We wait for Guy-sensei's orders."
Elsewhere, Ino Yamanaka grabbed Shikamaru's arm. "Shika! That's Forehead-girl! That means the one who died... it was really Naruto!"
Shikamaru's lazy slouch was gone, replaced by a tense frown. "Tsk. What a drag," he muttered, but his eyes were sharp with alarm. "This is going to be incredibly troublesome."
Beside them, Choji Akimichi had stopped eating.
Only Hinata Hyuga of Team 8 was silent, her hands clasped tightly over her chest. She had recognized him from the first moment. Now, watching his funeral, a quiet, pained sound escaped her lips.
"Naruto-kun..."
In the Hokage's tower, Hiruzen Sarutobi came to the same, unbelievable conclusion as Sasuke and Kakashi. The future. He couldn't fully accept it—the notion was too outlandish—but he couldn't afford to ignore it. The strategic implications were catastrophic.
"Issue a gag order," he commanded the ANBU captain at his side. "No one is to speak of this 'future' to anyone outside the village. And get me the clan heads. Now."
The sky screen had shown them a funeral. The Third Hokage feared it was a prelude to a war.
(To be continued...)