Naruto: Fate System

The sky split apart as Kirin descended, striking Urashiki with a bolt of lightning that left his entire body charred. He collapsed to the ground, twitching, barely clinging to life.

"Amenotejikara!" Sasuke helped Shin escape the range of the lightning attack.

Although Shin had his own contingency plans, he appreciated the Uchiha's gesture.

As the lightning dissipated, Urashiki wriggled on the ground like a worm, seemingly trying to say something.

Unfortunately for him, Shin had no intention of following the typical anime conventions.

He walked forward without hesitation, and drove two blades into Urashiki, destroying the eye in both his sockets and the one on his forehead.

The blades went straight into the ground, completely penetrating his head. For good measure, he delivered another strike to Urashiki's heart.

The Ōtsutsuki twitched twice more, his hollow eye sockets glaring at Shin in his final moments. Then he died.

Shin turned and let out a deep breath.

The outcome was ideal for him: Urashiki was dead. Sasuke and the others were utterly drained. Meanwhile, Shin's side remained in perfect condition, and he had secured control over the Ryūmyaku.

Even the damage to Rōran was kept within manageable limits, thanks to Sēramu's preemptive evacuation order. As for the ruined buildings, they were a trivial problem for Rōran, given its access to infinite energy.

Shin looked back at Sasuke.

"The battle is over. Aren't you planning to leave yet?"

Sasuke sighed and gestured for Boruto to take out the Karasuki.

"We came here using this," he explained. "But its energy is depleted now, and it will take a long time to recharge."

Shin finally understood why his attempts to drive them away had failed—they couldn't leave. He quickly communicated with the Ryūmyaku and received an encouraging response.

"It seems I might be able to help with that," he said.

Boruto, who had been hiding behind Sasuke, muttered under his breath, "This guy really can't wait to get rid of us."

Before Shin could respond, Hanabi knocked Boruto on the head with a punch.

"You'd better watch what you say!" she scolded, glaring at him with her Byakugan. "Get a grip, Boruto! Can't you see the situation?!"

Sasuke took one last look at Rōran.

"Maybe you're right," he murmured. "Not all history is inherently correct. And this place… it shouldn't be destroyed so easily."

He looked up at Shin, locking eyes with him. In an instant, Shin realized he'd been pulled into a genjutsu space.

Tsukuyomi? Though startled, he quickly calmed himself.

He felt no harm and maintained his connection to the Ryūmyaku. As long as that bond remained, he had nothing to fear. Besides, he was proficient in genjutsu himself and wasn't easily cornered—even by someone like Sasuke, who was nearly at his limit.

In the genjutsu space, Sasuke appeared before him, exuding no hostility or killing intent. His form was slightly transparent, another sign of his depleted chakra.

"I just wanted to talk to you alone," he said calmly.

Shin nodded, signaling for him to continue.

"You don't exist in my memory. I don't know if you're aware, but during our fight, Urashiki mentioned something. He claimed that when he arrived here a year ago, a meteor came with him."

"He said he was suppressed by the Ryūmyaku as soon as he landed in Rōran, but that meteor flew further north."

Sasuke's gaze sharpened as he looked at Shin.

Shin understood his point. To the north of the Land of Wind's desert was none other than the Land of Rain. The coincidence was too perfect to ignore.

When Sēramu mentioned that Urashiki had arrived ten months ago, he had already suspected a connection. That timing matched the moment he himself arrived in the shinobi world.

Yet outwardly, he betrayed no emotion. He maintained a composed expression.

"I see. Thank you for the information," Shin said calmly.

Sasuke studied him carefully, his Rinnegan glowing faintly in the darkness before finally speaking bluntly.

"Are you really not going to admit that you came here from the future?"

Shin shook his head. "I told you before—I'm not from the future. I won't leave here, and I definitely won't go with you."

Sasuke said nothing more and dissolved the genjutsu space. The real world rushed back into focus.

To onlookers, the two had only exchanged a brief glance. Moments later, Sasuke relented, his shoulders dropping slightly with acceptance.

"I understand. Then please send us back."

Before leaving, however, he couldn't resist turning to Shin one last time.

"In the future, if you can... save the Uchiha clan."

Shin raised an eyebrow.

He hadn't expected that Sasuke, who had once been so adamant about preserving the correct flow of history, would end up breaking his own principles so openly.

It seemed his relentless poking at the Uchiha's beliefs had finally worked.

Hearing his words, Shin chuckled softly.

If Sasuke had asked him to save Itachi or prevent the Uchiha clan's revolt, he wouldn't have hesitated to roll his eyes at him. Such grand changes would have been impossible, even laughable.

But seeing the emotion barely hidden beneath Sasuke's composed facade, he felt he could offer some comforting words.

"I'll try," he said, "but it likely won't have much of an impact on you."

"I know," Sasuke replied. "But as long as they survive—even if it's in another timeline—that's enough."

He closed his eyes as he finished speaking, allowing the Ryūmyaku's energy to envelop him and lift him into the air.

Next, Shin turned to Hanabi. The Hyūga heiress stood with an unexpected sparkle in her pale eyes.

To his surprise, she seemed to take Sasuke's actions as inspiration. "If possible, in the future, could you save my cousin? His name is Hyūga Neji, and he's an amazing and hardworking person! Please, this is my one and only request in life!"

Hanabi clasped her hands together and raised them high above her head in earnest prayer. This is getting ridiculous.

Shin's mouth twitched at the sight. Am I a human wishing machine?

Without responding, he sent her flying into the air to join Sasuke.

Then it was Gaara and Boruto's turn. This time, Shin didn't even give them a chance to speak, tossing them into the air alongside the others.

No more requests. I'm not running a charity here. He could see Boruto opening his mouth to speak and quickly accelerated the process.

With a flash of golden light, the group was finally gone.

Letting out a deep breath, he began communicating with the Ryūmyaku.

There had been things he couldn't reveal in front of Sasuke, and although he had acted indifferent, that didn't mean he didn't care.

The next moment, his tone turned serious as he addressed the small Ryūmyaku, who was trying to play dumb. "It was you who brought me to this world, wasn't it? Come clean—why did you do it? And who is Anāhata?"

The Ryūmyaku's consciousness radiated nervousness and fear. Its red energy began to fade from Shin, as if it wanted to escape.

Unfortunately, it didn't get far before he caught it within the space of his consciousness. The mental landscape around them solidified, trapping the fleeing creature in a space of Shin's making.

"Get back here—don't even think about running."

Shin's awareness manifested as a hand that grabbed the little creature by its short tail. He gave it a rapid, high-frequency shake, leaving it dazed, its eyes spinning in circles.

"Ugh..." The poor little creature's mental voice was a pitiful whimper.

The Ryūmyaku went limp in Shin's mental grip. One by one, images began seeping into his mind.

He saw a dark figure in an endless void. Its face was hidden in shadow, but the strange smile was the only thing visible in the darkness. And it was the only feature he could make out, as if something was blocking him from seeing more.

A finger pointed across countless worlds until it landed on him—not the him of now, but a different version, sitting at a desk in another life.

The scene shifted.

The little creature moved between worlds like a fish swimming through water. Its energy wrapped around Shin's old self, pulling him through space and time. Its power strained with the effort, nearly breaking under the weight of moving a soul across dimensions.

"Mother's will chose you," the Ryūmyaku's thoughts pushed into his mind weakly. "I followed orders. Only brought you here."

Someone chose me specifically, Shin realized. But why me? Why not someone stronger, someone more suited to this world?

"Mother's will... Kaguya?"

The tiny creature frantically shook its head.

The next transmission was unusually clear, blazing through their mental connection. "Ōtsutsuki are all bad—only Mother isn't. Mother is their mortal enemy!"

The mortal enemy of the Ōtsutsuki? And female? This doesn't match anything from my memories of the story. Who could possess such power but remain unknown... Anāhata?

"Then what does your mother want me to do?"

He didn't believe in random acts of kindness or malice. If his arrival in this world was part of someone's plan, there had to be a purpose behind it.

But the tiny Ryūmyaku simply transmitted a carefree thought: "Mother said you can do whatever you want—even if you burn this world to ashes, it's fine~"

"What? Burn it to ashes? Really? She sounds more like a destroyer than a savior." Shin's consciousness recoiled slightly.

To his surprise, the little Ryūmyaku became angry, letting out a tiny roar in the mental space.

"You can't badmouth Mother like that! Mother had no choice but to do this! Because no matter what, burning it all down won't make things worse than they are now!"

This time, the Ryūmyaku's thoughts were especially clear. It seemed his skepticism had triggered a sudden maturity in the little creature.

But Shin couldn't focus on the Ryūmyaku's transformation.

Why would burning the world down not make things worse? Wasn't the original story's ending supposed to be a happy one.

---

After sending off the future time travelers, Shin and his companions stayed in Rōran for a while, discussing more details of the Ryūmyaku development cooperation with Sēramu.

During this time, Shin continued communicating with the young Ryūmyaku, trying to extract more information.

Unfortunately, the Ryūmyaku's consciousness was far too immature, akin to a two- or three-year-old human child. Many things were either unclear or simply forgotten, leaving him frustrated but helpless.

The only piece of crucial information he could confirm was that this world's future looked bleak—a fate so dire it couldn't get worse even if it were burned to ashes.

It was truly terrifying.

However, knowing this didn't seem to help his current situation much; he wasn't in a position to worry about such a distant future yet.

The only benefit it might offer was slightly reducing his guilt over potentially waging war and overturning the shinobi world in the future.

Shin sneered inwardly at the thought.

With his flexible moral boundaries, would guilt even be a concern? The reassurance was barely worth mentioning, perhaps only a sliver useful.

Thankfully, the other gains from this trip to Rōran were already enough to satisfy him. Strangely, both times he left the Land of Rain, intending to handle minor matters, he ended up embroiled in chaos.

The first time, he merely intended to escort Nonō but ended up gathering six or seven Kage-level fighters for an all-out brawl. This time, he had only intended to help Pakura resolve a small issue but ended up killing an enemy as powerful as an Ōtsutsuki.

Perhaps he was destined to attract trouble wherever he went.

---

On the third day of their stay, Pakura decided to leave early. Even as she departed, her gaze at Shin was filled with murderous intent.

At the battle's end, after immobilizing her, he had resolved everything by the time she regained her freedom.

Urashiki was dead, and the future shinobi had all returned to their own time.

She still had no idea who the immensely powerful figure—the one who had effortlessly subdued her—was. Whenever she asked Shin, he would dodge the question with cryptic answers, his smirk only fueling her anger.

"You'll understand when the time is right," he'd say, or "Some mysteries are better left unsolved," leaving her seething with frustration but helpless.

Returning to Suna, she stormed into the Kazekage's office. The guards stiffened as she passed, sensing the change in their acting leader.

She found Rasa reviewing documents at his desk, his expression carefully neutral as she approached.

"I've already resolved the mishap you caused. The desert near Rōran is now completely safe," she declared. "If anything happens again, it'll only be because you're incompetent! So, you must complete the gold-mining mission you owe me within a week."

"Any objections, Rasa?"

Under her newly assertive demeanor and the Kazekage's hat atop her head, he could only bow his head in submission.

"No objections, Interim Kazekage."

From a certain perspective, Gaara might have indirectly sabotaged his father through sheer karma.

Chiyo and Ebizō, standing at the back of the crowd, were surprised by the transformation in Pakura.

"How did that girl come back so strong after just a few days away?" they wondered, unable to understand. After all, Pakura's position in the village hadn't changed recently.

Even Maki noticed the change and asked during dinner, "Pakura-sensei, why does it feel like you're a different person since you returned?"

Pakura's face stiffened at the question.

For some reason, she suddenly recalled the scene in Rōran where Sēramu had leaned close to her like a succubus, speaking words of temptation and seduction.

"It's nothing," she finally replied. "I've just realized there's no need to endure the elders' nonsense any longer. I'm the Kazekage now."

The real reason, however, remained unspoken. In truth, her confidence came from having someone supporting her in the background.

Although Rōran's development was still in its planning phase, Pakura trusted Shin's abilities without question. While she was reluctant to imitate Sēramu's overt subservience, she had no doubt that he would deliver on his promises.

She considered him an unscrupulous individual who would resort to any means—threats, manipulation, or outright force—but she couldn't deny his competence. These were the lessons she'd learned from being 'helped' by him so many times.

"From now on, you'll make regular trips to Rōran to monitor the situation there. Also, no shinobi other than my ANBU are allowed near that city. You'll handle both tasks," Pakura instructed her apprentice.

Maki blinked in confusion, putting down her bowl. "Rōran? What's so important about that place?" She fidgeted with her chopsticks, trying to understand her teacher's sudden interest in such an unremarkable location.

Pakura gazed into the distance. "Just follow my orders. Soon enough, you'll understand why."

---

Several days later, Shin also departed from Rōran, taking Sara as a hostage to ensure cooperation, leaving Sēramu behind to advance their plans. Though he had full control over the Ryūmyaku, he opted for additional safeguards.

For some reason, as he left, he felt Sēramu's gaze stay on him.

"Remember our agreement," Sēramu called after him. "The future of Rōran depends on it."

Upon returning, he immediately sought out Hiruko in his laboratory. "How's the research progressing?"

"Smoothly," Hiruko replied with smile, glancing up from his work.

Various blueprints and diagrams covered his desk. "The deployment plans are almost ready. Why the rush? You seem unusually anxious after your trip."

"Yes," Shin admitted, wasting no time.

"I have two new tasks for you. First, design an efficient, high-capacity long-distance transportation system capable of traversing mountains and deserts to connect our capital with the Land of Wind's desert."

"Second, create a comprehensive system, encompassing smelting, forging, and production—all powered by infinite energy."

Hiruko paused.

"Seems your trip to the Land of Wind's desert was quite fruitful." He pulled out a fresh scroll, ready to begin work on these new projects. "Tell me more about this infinite energy source you've acquired..."

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