"Master Sasuke… what do we do now? Should we go back?"
On a street in Konoha, Boruto spoke helplessly.
Even young Sasuke looked conflicted.
They had come here to stop Otsutsuki Urashiki's scheme—but the truth was, this ninja world didn't need them at all.
The Fifth Hokage here was so terrifyingly strong that he had crushed Urashiki with ease. Their arrival had been completely unnecessary.
Paid access starts here
"…Forget it," Sasuke finally said. "This isn't our world. If we're not needed, then we should go back."
Boruto nodded and pulled a small turtle-shaped device—like an upside-down bowl—from his pouch.
"Turtle… turtle… send us back."
"Insufficient energy. Insufficient energy."
The turtle flashed red and issued a warning.
"…Tch."
Sasuke looked at Boruto, utterly helpless.
"That thing… that's the tool you used to travel through time and space?"
Naruto suddenly appeared beside them, staring curiously at the flashing turtle.
"Yeah," Boruto explained. "It's a relic dug up from underwater ruins. It was kept in a museum. No one knew what it did until Urashiki activated it. It takes a huge amount of energy to travel through time. Right now, it doesn't have enough power, so we can't go back yet."
"If you can't go back, then stay in Konoha for a while," Naruto said lightly. "Sasuke, you don't really want to leave this soon anyway."
Then he looked at Boruto, eyes narrowing dangerously.
"And you—your strength is embarrassing. Train for thirty more years. I'll use this chance to teach you properly so you don't embarrass me when you go back."
Boruto shuddered.
Just meeting Naruto's gaze made his legs feel weak.
Even though he knew this Naruto wasn't his father—and even though the man in front of him was barely older than he was—Boruto felt the same instinctive fear he felt toward elders.
"Uh… you just became Hokage, right?" Boruto said quickly. "You must be super busy. Don't worry about me—I'll just wait until the turtle recharges and leave right away!"
Every instinct in his body screamed danger.
Naruto smiled.
"Relax. I've got plenty of shadow clones. Sending one to train you won't slow me down at all. You're too weak. When you go back, there may be enemies you can't handle—and strength like that won't protect the people you care about."
As he spoke, a shadow clone appeared beside him.
The clone grinned, grabbed Boruto by the collar, nodded politely at Sasuke—and vanished.
Boruto's desperate expression disappeared along with him.
Sasuke couldn't help laughing, but he didn't stop it.
He knew Naruto wouldn't truly harm Boruto.
Father beating son—perfectly reasonable.
"You need more training too," Naruto said, turning back to Sasuke. "Your strength has declined a lot from your peak. At this rate, you won't survive the future chaos of your world."
Sasuke froze.
"But Urashiki's already been captured," he said slowly. "The Otsutsuki who appeared have been dealt with. Shouldn't the crisis be over?"
Naruto's gaze deepened.
"I don't know your future," he said calmly. "But from what you told me—Kaguya appeared, then Urashiki crossed time itself. That means the Otsutsuki keep coming."
"Can you guarantee there won't be more? Stronger ones? And beyond the Otsutsuki… who's to say there aren't even greater threats out there in the universe?"
"Sasuke… have you really not grown complacent?"
Sasuke felt a chill run down his spine.
Despite Naruto being far younger, at that moment he felt like a wise elder—while he himself was nothing more than a careless junior.
After the Fourth Great Ninja War, Sasuke truly had slackened.
Aside from his final decisive battle with Naruto, he'd faced little real pressure in years.
Now, his strength wasn't just stagnant—it was regressing.
If not, he wouldn't have been pushed into such an awkward position against Urashiki.
"Come on," Naruto said. "I'll take you somewhere. A training dummy like Urashiki is too valuable to waste. Let's give you some real pressure."
He grabbed Sasuke and took a step.
Space warped.
In an instant, they appeared inside *Konoha's No. 1 Cage*.
Sasuke stared in shock.
Below him, chaos reigned.
Urashiki—no longer restrained—was fighting Jiraiya head-on, pressing him hard.
Jiraiya was in terrible shape, bleeding and barely holding on, dodging attacks by the narrowest margins.
Nearby, Shimura Danzo was being utterly humiliated by Uchiha Shisui—beaten like a stray dog, screaming miserably.
Further away, Tsunade and Orochimaru were locked in fierce combat. Tsunade had the upper hand, but Orochimaru's strange, slippery techniques made him maddeningly hard to put down.
And then—
Sasuke felt it.
A terrifying illusion wave radiating from Uchiha Itachi.
Even with his own strength, just sensing it made Sasuke's consciousness waver, as if he might be dragged into a nightmare at any moment.
"This place is too small," Naruto muttered, frowning. "I thought it'd be enough, but clearly not."
He clasped his hands together and slammed them onto the ground.
"*Earth Style: Expansion Technique!*"
The entire prison shook violently.
The proving ground began to stretch outward.
One mile.
Two miles.
Five miles.
Ten miles.
Fifty miles.
Then another fifty to each side.
The underground space expanded into an endless battlefield.
Everyone stopped fighting, staring at Naruto in horror.
They now looked like ants inside a vast abyss.
Naruto rubbed his chin.
"Still not right. It needs layers—stronger fighters get bigger spaces, weaker ones smaller."
"Yeah. That'll do."
"*Earth Style: Four-Way Earth Flow Wall!*"
Towering stone walls erupted upward, dividing the massive battlefield into countless zones—some vast, some compact.
Even the smallest was large enough for genin-level combat.
"And it needs to be durable. Wouldn't be good if someone punched once and collapsed the place."
"*Earth Style: Diamond Rock Technique!*"
Again.
And again.
And again.
Naruto's chakra flooded into the earth like an endless ocean.
Each jutsu carried chakra on the level of a tailed beast.
Hundreds of times.
Finally, he stopped and nodded in satisfaction.
Sasuke stood frozen.
Only someone truly powerful could understand what he had just witnessed.
This wasn't normal.
This was madness.
Tailed-beast-level chakra… used casually… hundreds of times… without even breathing hard.
Even the Ten-Tails at the height of the Fourth War might not match the total chakra Naruto had just released.
And Naruto looked completely unfazed.
As if it were nothing.
"This… thing…" Sasuke thought numbly.
"This monster is more terrifying than the Ten-Tails itself."
No wonder Kurama acted like a puppy around him.
No wonder Urashiki never stood a chance.
In this world, what were Obito, Nagato, Madara—
Even Kaguya herself?
Nothing worth mentioning at all.
-------------------------
For advanced chapters, visit patreon.com/Varnok