Here's @riojiyo131, your trusted writer.

You can now get early access up to Chapter 158 of Re: Naruto Uzumaki on my Patreon.

Up to Chapter 11 of Marvel: Star Wars System is also available on my Patreon. Each chapter averages 5,000 words.

patreon.com/riojiyo131

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The first 5 chapters of Marvel: Star Wars System are now available, completely free on my Patreon!

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Paving the way for future multiverse plots!

Many won't like it, but who cares? It won't be relevant for the time being anyway.

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"Reika?" Naruto asked, with a mixture of surprise and confusion written on his face.

In front of him stood Reika... but adult. Just as he remembered her when she had aged due to Yomi's Fūinjutsu, in the Land of Swamps.

But how the hell was that possible? After that, everyone had returned to normal.

And worst of all...

"S-Sarada...?"

The teenager accompanying Reika looked at him curiously. She was unmistakable—dark hair, short but long in the back, a clear fringe, black jacket with red details and the Uchiha Clan emblem on the back. She wore fingerless gloves, tight shorts, and tall boots.

But what impacted Naruto the most was the Uzumaki Clan symbol on her shoulder.

Naruto swallowed hard and slowly turned toward his bowl of ramen, curled up on himself.

"Old Teuchi must have drugged me..." he muttered to himself, completely bewildered. "I'm having terrifying hallucinations right now."

Sarada raised an eyebrow, clearly confused at being recognized by Naruto.

"Mom, how does dad know who I am? I shouldn't even be born in this time yet..."

Reika, still leaning on the counter with her head in her hand, smiled calmly, closing her eyes.

"Your father has always known things he shouldn't. I got used to it a long time ago."

"F-father...? Sorry, ma'am, I think you're confusing me with someone else... My name is Bob."

Nerves betrayed him. Naruto dumped all the money he had in his frog wallet on the bar, completely forgetting that Teuchi was treating him. He jumped up suddenly, wanting to leave as soon as possible.

He had even lost his appetite for ramen.

And that, until today, had seemed impossible to him.

Naruto had made it very clear, more than once, that he wasn't ready to be a father.

In fact, if it weren't for the reconstruction of the Uzumaki Clan… and because he was, after all, a hopeless lustful bastard, he would never have considered having children.

And now, just like that, his daughter appeared in front of him.

From the future? From another timeline? He didn't know. And to be honest, he didn't want to know.

The only thing he wanted at that moment was to run. Run very far away. As if he could escape this awkward situation that way.

And from the silent judgment of an adult Reika, who looked at him as if she already knew exactly what he was thinking.

Naruto swallowed hard a second time, his eyes fixed on the exit of the ramen stand as if it were a direct escape route to paradise.

"I... have... things to do. Very important ones. Right now," he muttered without looking at anyone, taking a step back.

But neither Reika nor Sarada said a word. They just watched him, calm. Too calm.

As if they knew that sooner or later, he would come back.

Because if there was something Naruto had never known how to avoid… it was responsibilities.

In the end, he always ended up accepting them.

...

"All right..." Naruto reentered the Ichiraku stand five minutes later, arms crossed and frowning so deeply it looked like his face would stay that way forever. "What the hell is going on?"

"We come from the future, isn't it obvious?" Sarada answered without looking up, while finishing the bowl of ramen he had left behind.

Naruto stared at her, sighing with resignation. "I'm assuming you're my daughter..." he muttered, ignoring for now the how and why. "Glad you don't have myopia."

Sarada rolled her eyes tiredly. "Even young dad says that stupid thing... As if an Uchiha-Uzumaki could have myopia."

Next to her, Reika smiled amused, leaning again on the counter as if she were at home.

"Actually, we're not from the future," she said softly, "but from an alternate reality, dear."

Naruto glanced at her sideways, expression neutral. "Don't call me dear. That gets on my nerves. And I had enough of that in the Land of Swamps..."

Reika let out a small, elegant, intentional laugh. "I remember that very well..."

Sarada just looked at them with her nose wrinkled, not wanting to listen to this conversation.

Naruto growled quietly and sat down again, burying his face in his hands.

"This can't be happening to me. I just wanted ramen..."

"We don't plan to stay long," Reika explained, her tone more serious now. "We're only here because... our Naruto disappeared. No one knows where he is. And if anyone could give us a clue... it's you."

"Disappeared? Bah, I wouldn't worry too much, he's probably just out causing trouble. Bad weeds never die," said Naruto, shrugging as if he was talking about anyone... though he clearly meant himself.

"Dad, you never disappear without warning or saying goodbye. You're irresponsible, yes, but you never forget that," Sarada intervened.

Naruto felt a chill run down his spine when Sarada called him dad.

He didn't even try to hide it...

"What if he's fighting the Ōtsutsuki Clan, wiping them out forever?" he suddenly suggested, shrugging.

How the hell did they expect him to know where his alternate future self was?

Reika and Sarada looked at each other... and burst out laughing.

"The Ōtsutsuki Clan?" Sarada repeated mockingly. "You destroyed them years ago. You hadn't even entered the Ninja Academy when it happened."

"Hey, brat, no spoilers," Naruto complained, frowning.

Sarada shook her head, visibly exasperated.

"You've already ruined my future enough. Now I know I'll have a daughter, thanks for that, who might not be born if something changes because of your intervention, and that I'll disappear without any explanation sometime after destroying the Ōtsutsuki. Great!"

She said it with so much sarcasm that even Teuchi peeked his head out from the kitchen before returning to his work.

Then, Reika and Sarada looked at each other again. This time they didn't laugh. They were serious.

"Actually," Reika began calmly, "We traveled to this moment because my young self is already pregnant. I wanted to make sure our intervention wouldn't affect the birth of our daughter."

Naruto froze completely, as if someone had hit the pause button in his brain.

He didn't even blink.

"Do you think that's okay?" Sarada asked quietly, looking at her mother with some concern.

"Relax," Reika replied with a half smile. "You know how dramatic your father is. He was even more so as a teenager."

"Yes... I can see that already." Sarada sighed, crossing her arms. "Better if he doesn't find out about that other thing..."

"Uh-huh... much better if he doesn't know," Reika nodded, suppressing a giggle.

...

When it finally passed, Naruto blinked slowly and let out a long sigh.

He had returned to normal... more or less.

He looked like a squeezed-out soul, with a blank stare and slumped shoulders.

"All right..." he muttered in a low voice. "Let's keep talking about traumatic things. After all, what else matters? I have no idea where my other self is, so let's focus on something more productive. How the hell did you get here from another reality?"

Sarada raised an eyebrow. "Why are you always so dramatic?"

"I like it when you get like this. It's like having the original Naruto back," Reika commented with a mocking smile.

"I am the original Naruto!"

"Of course, honey."

Naruto just let himself drop on the Ichiraku counter with a groan while turning toward the kitchen.

"Old Teuchi... bring me an extra-large bowl... I have to eat for two, apparently I'm going to have a daughter, please."

Reika put a hand over her mouth to hide her laughter, while Sarada looked at him with a half smile and crossed arms.

"You do know it's the woman who has to eat for two, right? Don't make excuses to stuff an extra bowl of ramen."

"I'm emotionally pregnant right now too!" Naruto replied, pointing at her with his chopsticks.

Sarada rolled her eyes.

"Pathetic."

Naruto frowned as he looked at Sarada.

"Damn it... this brat doesn't have an ounce of respect for her old man. You're like Boruto 2.0."

Hearing the name, Sarada raised an eyebrow, surprised.

"You also know Boruto?"

Naruto dropped his shoulders, clearly defeated by the situation.

"Great... of course I do. Could this day get any worse? That brat will be born at some point too..."

Knowing Boruto would exist had been a hard blow.

"As for how we got here," Sarada began explaining calmly, "You developed an advanced space-time technique. It not only allows movement between points in time, but also crossing boundaries between alternate realities. It's an incredibly complex technique, based on the principles of the Second Hokage's Hiraishin. You created it together with Tobirama-Sensei and Orochimaru."

She paused and then added proudly:

"Besides you and mom, I'm the only one who's managed to master it."

Naruto stared at her.

"Great. My future daughter is also a genius, like her father... Now I just need you to surpass me and be stronger than me."

"I am," Sarada replied, completely sure of it.

"..."

"And more mature."

"..."

"And prettier, of course."

Naruto slowly raised a hand, pointing at her with his chopsticks, dissatisfied.

"You're officially grounded and disinherited."

Sarada simply ignored him, which started to irritate Naruto.

"I'm going for a walk, I want to see how old Konoha was," she said, getting up from her seat.

"Just don't get too involved with people!" Reika warned her.

"Anything you do could alter the future we know," she added, although being an alternate reality, things could already be different anyway.

Sarada nodded and walked away without more.

Naruto looked away from his bowl of ramen and fixed his eyes on Reika.

"That brat is a headache. I'll make sure to raise her right so she doesn't become a loudmouth."

Reika smiled mischievously.

"I trust you with that."

Naruto stirred his ramen broth with his chopsticks, lost in thought.

"Pregnant, huh?" he muttered, still unable to fully grasp it.

Just a few hours ago, he had been with Karin and made it clear that he was too young to be a father.

He first wanted to rebuild Uzushiogakure before thinking about starting a family...

He was only 15 years old, about to turn 16.

In this era, many of his age were already married with children, but still...

Even Ayame, Teuchi's daughter, at only 17, was already pregnant, and she considered that late herself.

"By the way, if our realities don't differ too much, right now I should be being attacked by the Sound Four in the training fields of the Uchiha Complex," Reika recalled, thoughtfully looking up with a finger resting on her chin.

Naruto's eyes widened in surprise and he jumped up.

"Damn it! Now I understand why my daughter is such an unbearable brat... she must have taken a hard hit when you were still pregnant! Wait, Sarada! Dad's coming to save you before they turn you retarded!"

Without wasting another second, he ran out, leaving behind his half-finished bowl of ramen at Ichiraku... again.

Reika stayed still, waiting patiently.

After a few seconds, Naruto returned, grabbed the bowl of ramen, and finished it in one bite before rushing out again.

Reika shook her head, smiling amused.