Year 79 of the Hidden Leaf (Boruto Era).
Hidden Leaf Village, Archaeological Research Institute.
The air outside the institute was thick with the smell of fresh blood.
Two figures moved at incredible speed, blurring as they rushed toward the entrance. They didn't need to check the guards; the silence told them everything they needed to know.
The guards were already dead.
Inside the dimly lit facility, a pale, unearthly figure stood before an ancient artifact. His palm glowed with a sinister green light. Under his touch, the artifact shifted and twisted, transforming into the shape of a glowing turtle.
This was Karasuki, the treasured tool of the Otsutsuki Clan.
Otsutsuki Urashiki let out a low chuckle.
His plan was simple but terrifying: travel back to the past and steal the Nine-Tails Fox from Uzumaki Naruto before the boy grew strong enough to fight back.
The two figures who had just burst through the doors were Uchiha Sasuke and Uzumaki Boruto.
Seeing the glowing turtle and the fading enemy, they didn't hesitate.
They just charged.
"Stop!" Boruto yelled, leaping forward.
Sasuke's single eye widened. "Boruto, wait!"
They dove into the light.
However, in their rush, neither the legendary Uchiha nor the Hokage's son noticed a shadow slipping in behind them.
....
Splash.
Makoto's boots hit the wet ground with a heavy splash. A large, overstuffed satchel bounced against his back.
A single drop of cold rain landed on his forehead, sliding down his nose.
Then another. Then a downpour.
Makoto blinked, wiping his face. "I'm back? No, wait... yes, I am definitely back."
He looked around. Towering pipes and metal skyscrapers surrounded him, piercing the gray sky.
He checked his surroundings carefully.
He hadn't just returned to the Hidden Rain Village (Amegakure), he had returned to the Amegakure of the past.
Makoto was a "transmigrator"—someone from another world who had woken up in the Naruto world.
But luck was not on his side.
He hadn't woken up in the peaceful Leaf Village.
He had woken up in the Rain Village during the Boruto era.
And let's be honest, the Rain Village of the future was a dump.
Literally.
In Makoto's time, the Land of Rain was crumbling. It was filled with mountains of trash, toxic fumes, and dirty water. It had basically become the giant garbage disposal plant for the Five Great Nations. While the Hidden Leaf Village enjoyed skyscrapers, burger joints, and peace, the Rain Village was rotting away in the corner.
The saddest part? None of the villagers in that ruined future knew the truth.
They didn't know that the current Seventh Hokage, Uzumaki Naruto, had once looked their leader in the eye and promised to bring them peace.
Their leader, Nagato, had believed that boy.
He chose to trust in Naruto's "Book of Peace."
He used his final breath to revive the people of the Leaf Village, ending the cycle of hatred and entrusting his home to Naruto.
And what was the result?
Trash. Ruin. Poison.
Because Makoto knew the story, he had accidentally let it slip to the villagers.
He told them about the Seventh Hokage's forgotten promise. Because of this, the refugees of the Rain saw Makoto as their last hope.
They gave him everything.
The refugees scraped together every last coin and scrap of food they had, just so Makoto could travel to the Land of Fire.
"Go," they had said. "Find the answers."
Makoto had arrived in the Hidden Leaf and kept his head down, waiting for this exact moment.
When he saw a certain blonde kid asking around for a perverted book called Icha Icha Paradise, he knew the plot of the "Time Travel Arc" was starting.
So, he followed them.
He was prepared.
The moment he stepped into the light of the Karasuki turtle, a special power inside Makoto woke up.
It reacted to the Otsutsuki's space-time jutsu.
In that split second, time was erased.
It was a power that felt strangely familiar to an old anime he used to watch.
In a world where time is erased, nobody remembers what happened.
Not even Sasuke Uchiha could sense that a third person had hitched a ride in the time tunnel.
Because of this "time erasure," Makoto's landing spot shifted slightly.
He didn't land with Boruto and Sasuke.
'Perfect,' Makoto thought, adjusting his heavy bag.
Sasuke and Boruto were off doing their hero thing.
After they defeated Urashiki, Sasuke would use his eye powers to wipe everyone's memory. They would think nothing had changed and go back to the future.
They would never know Makoto was here.
"Don't misunderstand, I'm no spy," Makoto said suddenly, speaking to the empty air.
Behind him, a sturdy hand was inches away from grabbing his neck. At the sound of Makoto's voice, the hand froze.
"Then who are you?" a cold, robotic voice asked from behind.
Makoto didn't flinch. He knew exactly where he was. In this era, the Rain Village was under the strict control of "Pain."
The moment Makoto arrived, the rain—which was infused with Pain's chakra—had already alerted the Pain of his presence.
But Makoto had a cheat code.
His ability, which he decided to name King Crimson because it sounded cool, allowed him to skip time and see a few seconds into the future.
He had already seen this happen. He knew the Preta Path of Pain would try to grab him from behind.
Makoto stood up straight, brushing the water off his coat.
He looked up at the tallest tower in the village, the one that looked like a giant, metal face sticking its tongue out.
"I am the leader of Amegakure from the future," Makoto announced, his voice echoing in the rain.
"And I request a meeting with the current leader, 'Pain.' Or should I say... Nagato."
...
High up in the tallest tower, inside a dark sterile room, a frail man with red hair sat in a large machine.
Nagato opened his eyes. The purple rings of the Rinnegan glowed in the darkness.
"Is the intruder troublesome?" a woman's voice asked softly.
Konan stood beside him.
She was a beautiful woman with blue hair and an origami flower tucked behind her ear. Her expression was calm, but her eyes were sharp.
To Nagato, this intruder was strange.
Usually, spies tried to hide. But this man? He just appeared out of nowhere, standing in the open rain, and announced himself.
"He claims to be the leader of the Rain from the future," Nagato said, his voice raspy. "He wants to see me... and he knows my real name."
"...."
"Could it be another one like 'Madara'?" Konan asked, her guard going up instantly. She was referring to the masked man who manipulated the Akatsuki.
"I will go test him."
"Be careful, Konan."
She nodded and turned toward the balcony.
As she walked, sheets of paper peeled away from her body, forming large, angelic white wings. She leaped into the storm, gliding down toward the intruder.
...
Down in the streets, Makoto was acting weird.
He was standing in the pouring rain with his right hand raised high in the air, palm open, like he was waiting for a high-five from a giant.
He stood completely still, looking like a statue.
Pain's Preta Path had backed off, watching him confusedly.
High above, Konan spotted him.
'Why is he standing like that?' she wondered. 'He moved instantly to avoid the Preta Path earlier. He must be a master of sensory jutsu.'
Konan folded her wings and entered a steep dive.
She planned to land right in front of him to intimidate him as she dropped faster and faster.
She was ten meters away.
Five meters.
Then, her face went pale.
She realized something horrifying. If she continued falling at this exact angle, she wasn't going to land in front of him.
She was going to land exactly on his open palm!
If she didn't move, her ass would land right in his hand!
It would look like he was catching a fallen angel like a toy.
'How absurd!' Konan thought, her cheeks flushing slightly.
She hurriedly flared her paper wings, braking hard in mid-air.
She drifted awkwardly to the right, adjusting her landing.
Instead of a menacing arrival, she touched down a few feet away, stumbling slightly before regaining her composure.
She glared at Makoto.
The man was still holding his hand up.
He slowly lowered it, looking disappointed that his cool pose didn't work out.
'He knew,' Konan realized, narrowing her eyes. 'He predicted exactly where I would land. He was mocking me.'
The man was clearly not simple.
'But... he also seemed a little bit crazy.'
"Follow me," Konan said coldly.
She led Makoto into a dry, empty room on the lower level of the tower.
She was about to interrogate him, but Makoto didn't wait. He reached into his satchel and pulled out a large sealing scroll.
Poof.
A pile of items appeared on the floor. There were dozens of glossy photographs and a stack of crumpled, dirty letters.
"What is this?" Konan asked.
"Proof," Makoto said simply. "These are photos of the Rain Village's future. And these letters... are words the future villagers wanted to say to you."
Konan hesitated.
She stepped forward and crouched down, picking up a photograph.
Her eyes widened.
The photo showed a street she knew well.
But in the picture, the metal pipes were rusted through. The buildings had collapsed. Mountains of wet garbage were piled high against the walls. Green, toxic sludge flowed through the canals where children used to play.
She picked up another photo. Then another. They were all the same.
Ruin. Decay. Death.
"This..." Konan's hand trembled. "You could have faked these with Genjutsu or paint. This proves nothing."
"Read the letters," Makoto said softly.
Konan put down the photos and picked up a piece of yellowed, rough paper.
It was a letter from a grandmother.
"To Lady Angel... if you are reading this, please save my grandson. He died from the poison gas in Sector 4 last week. We believed in the promise. We waited for the Hokage to save us. But nobody came. Please... don't trust them."
Konan read another. And another.
They weren't military reports. They were desperate cries for help. They were farewell notes. They were angry, sad, and hopeless.
"Where did these come from?" Konan whispered, her voice shaking.
She looked up at Makoto, her eyes searching for a lie.
Makoto leaned against the wall, looking tired. "Before I left my time, I told the villagers I was holding a memorial service. I told them that if they burned letters, the smoke would reach the spirits of their dead leaders."
He pointed to the pile. "They wrote down what they truly wanted to say to you and Nagato. They gave them to me to burn. Instead, I brought them here."
The room was silent, save for the sound of rain hitting the metal roof outside.
Konan stood up slowly.
She carefully gathered the letters and photos, clutching them to her chest as if they were precious gems.
"Pack your things," she said, her voice softer than before.
She turned and began walking toward the elevator. "Nagato needs to see this."
When they arrived at the top floor, Nagato looked surprised.
He hadn't expected Konan to bring the stranger up so quickly, and certainly not without a fight.
"Konan?" Nagato asked.
Konan didn't speak.
She simply walked over to his wheelchair and placed a crumpled, dirty letter in his lap.
"Read it, Nagato," she said.
Nagato looked down.
As he read the first few lines, his Rinnegan eyes shrank in shock.