"I–I'm saying, could you maybe get off me first…?"
Pinned to the ground, Kyusei felt the full weight pressing down on him. A vein twitched visibly on his forehead.
"Ah—! Sorry, sorry! I'll get off right away!"
Only then did Naruko realize she was inexplicably sitting on top of a boy. Confused but flustered, she quickly scrambled off him.
"Damn it, who the hell— I, Uzumaki Kyusei, still haven't even—"
Kyusei was just about to unleash a string of complaints when he froze mid-sentence.
Standing beside him was a blonde girl with twin ponytails, scratching her head awkwardly.
"…No way."
While Kyusei stood there stunned, Kakashi suddenly rolled his eyes back and collapsed to his knees, clutching his rear in agony.
"Eh?!"
"Kakashi-sensei?!"
"What's wrong with you?!"
Naruko rushed over in alarm, kneeling beside Kakashi, who looked half-dead.
Poof.
With a burst of white smoke, the Hatake Sakumo that Kyusei's shadow clones had grabbed vanished.
A clone.
At some point during the fight, Sakumo had swapped places with his shadow clone.
"…You've gotta be kidding me."
The two Kyusei clones still hugging the clone's legs stared blankly.
They'd gone through all that trouble—only to catch a clone just like themselves.
Sakumo stepped out from the shadows of the forest, his gaze settling on the man kneeling on the ground.
Just now… that blonde girl had called him—
Kakashi-sensei?
—
"So that's how it is. You were swept into temporal turbulence because of the Dragon Vein."
Sakumo stroked his chin, looking thoughtful.
"You… don't seem very surprised," Kakashi said, his expression complicated, his backside still aching.
"That's because you're not the first."
"Before you, two other groups already came through because of the Dragon Vein."
Kyusei sat on the ground, glancing sideways at the still utterly clueless, sunshine-brained Uzumaki Naruko.
…So this is my daughter from another world, huh.
He hadn't expected Naruto to turn into Naruko.
If counterparts were naturally drawn to one another, then Naruko—being his daughter—appearing near him made sense because of their blood connection.
Just like the Hyūga Hinata who appeared earlier. She'd shown up right next to his room, separated by just one wall from Hyūga Naori, triggering that whole chain of events.
But then—
Shouldn't Kakashi have appeared next to his two-year-old self?
Why did he appear next to Hatake Sakumo instead?
Inside Kyusei, the Nine-Tails seemed to sense what he was thinking and snorted.
"Chakra."
Kyusei's eyes widened.
Right—chakra resonance.
Chakra could resonate with other chakra, especially between blood relatives. The reaction was even stronger then.
In the original story, Naruto and Minato had been able to synchronize through the Dragon Vein and use the Yin–Yang Rasengan together precisely because of that bond.
Which meant—
Two-year-old Kakashi's chakra simply wasn't strong enough to pull his adult counterpart across time.
But Sakumo's chakra?
That was more than enough.
So adult Kakashi was drawn to his father instead.
…That actually made perfect sense.
"Two groups?!"
Naruko stared wide-eyed at Kyusei.
"The first was Hyūga Hinata."
"The second was Namikaze Minato and Uzumaki Kushina."
Kyusei explained calmly.
"Eh?!"
"Hinata came too?!"
Naruko exclaimed.
"Don't even get me started," Kyusei sighed.
"She was arrogant as hell—acted like she was second only to the heavens."
"That's impossible!"
"Hinata's usually super gentle!"
Naruko immediately protested.
At that, Sakumo's eyes flickered subtly.
So… different worlds after all.
Kakashi's next words confirmed it outright.
"Kyusei-sama… I never thought I'd meet you here."
That sentence stunned not only Naruko—but Kyusei as well.
…What?
Why does Hatake Kakashi know me?
In his world, shouldn't I be Kushina?
Unless…
Unless I'm a man in his world too?
Before Kyusei could ask, Kakashi turned to his still-dazed student and spoke gravely:
"Naruko."
"This person…"
"…is your father."
"His name is Uzumaki Kyusei."
Naruko stared at her teacher blankly.
For a long moment, she said nothing—then forced a smile.
"Kakashi-sensei… that joke isn't funny at all."
But her smile was painfully stiff.
"I'm not joking."
"You should already understand what's going on."
"We're twenty-eight years in the past."
"At this point, I'm only two years old."
"And you… haven't even been born yet."
Kakashi didn't know whether telling her this was the right thing to do.
But he knew one thing for sure—
If her father was right here, and she missed the chance to face him because of his silence…
He would regret it forever.
"Even if it's another wor—"
KRAK!
Kyusei felt a fist slam straight into his stomach, tearing through the air.
"—What the hell?!"
He was sent flying by a single punch.
"You bastard!"
"You're the one who sealed the Nine-Tails inside me!"
"Do you have any idea how I grew up?!"
Naruko screamed as she hit him again and again, tears streaming freely as she vented years of bottled-up pain.
"Are you insane?!"
"I'm TWELVE!"
"How the hell would I even be capable of stuffing Little Nine into you?!"
Kyusei rolled desperately to avoid her flurry of punches.
But he never struck back.
No matter what—this girl was his daughter by blood.
Damn it.
Twelve-year-old me having a sixteen-year-old daughter?
Who would ever believe that?!
"Don't run!"
Naruko lunged at him again, crying openly. Kyusei was finally pinned down, completely restrained.
"I'm telling you, can't you at least be reas—"
Kyusei fell silent.
Naruko was crying so hard her face was a mess of tears and snot, like she might completely fall apart.
His heart tightened.
…Fine.
If you need to hit someone that badly, then hit me.
I'll take it.
But the expected punch never came.
Instead, Naruko suddenly wrapped her arms around him, burying her face in his chest and sobbing uncontrollably.
Kyusei froze.
Slowly, awkwardly, he raised a hand and gently stroked her blonde hair.
"Naruko…"
"Don't cry…"
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