The time returns to the present.

Night had fallen over Whitebeard's courtyard.

Sasuke and Naruto had just finished explaining why they had come.

On the ground were the gifts they'd prepared at Sakura's insistence, of course, since she didn't trust these two to come empty-handed.

Sakura herself was busy training in the Flying Thunder God technique and couldn't spare the attention. She said she might finally be getting the hang of it.

At the same time, Hinata had passed along the intel she'd picked up: "Call him Dad, and he'll be really happy." She made sure Naruto and Sasuke both knew.

"Dad! I want to learn Haki!"

Sasuke and Naruto bowed deeply to Whitebeard in unison, loudly applying for training.

"Kuhahahahaha… kids from Konoha sure are interesting."

Whitebeard sat in his oversized chair, one hand resting on his forehead as he looked down at the two polite little brats.

Calling him "Dad" right off the bat? Now that was knowing how to play the game.

This Uchiha boy was probably Itachi's younger brother… and the blond one's vibe reminded him a lot of Ace's younger brother, Luffy.

Either way, Whitebeard already liked them both. If he was going to teach three kids, teaching five wouldn't make much difference.

Might as well agree but first, go through the motions.

"Gurararara…" Whitebeard stroked the crescent-shaped mustache on his chin. "So, you want to learn Haki?"

His gaze swept over the neatly prepared gift boxes on the ground the wrapping paper had crooked, scrawled words written on it: 'For Grandpa Whitebeard'. Obviously a last-minute addition.

"Why do you want to learn Haki?"

Naruto, still bent at a perfect ninety degrees, golden hair swaying in the night breeze, answered without hesitation:

"Please! I want to become stronger so I can protect the people important to me!"

Hmm… the 'protect loved ones' type. Not a bad answer. Whitebeard's eyes showed even more appreciation.

Sasuke's Sharingan glimmered faintly in the shadows, his nails unconsciously digging into his palm.

"I need power that surpasses everything. Then… I'll take revenge on that man."

Hmm… the revenge type, huh? Not a problem. An Uchiha clan grudge, perhaps? But if Itachi himself hadn't been able to take revenge, then his little brother would have a hard time of it too. Whitebeard had to admit, Uchiha Itachi possessed both immense strength and a cool head.

Fine let's just agree to both.

Whitebeard suddenly reached out and ruffled the two boys' heads, his enormous palm almost completely covering them.

"How about you become my ah, forget it, brats. I'll train you."

After all, in a foreign world, taking in sons would just leave him with longing across worlds.

A sudden gust rustled the courtyard, flowers drifting to the ground. The air seemed to tremble.

"At sunrise tomorrow, come to Training Ground Seven," Whitebeard ordered. "Bring the resolve to die. Haki training can cost your life!"

Naruto and Sasuke high-fived, faces lighting up with joy.

That's when things took a turn.

The air suddenly rippled into a vortex.

"Hmph… the Nine-Tails brat and his little playmate, playing house?"

The cold voice belonged to Uchiha Obito who had found both the Nine-Tails Jinchūriki, Uzumaki Naruto, and the traitor Uchiha Itachi's younger brother, Uchiha Sasuke.

Two birds with one stone. And best of all there wasn't a single Konoha Anbu nearby. He could do whatever he wanted.

Surely this time it wasn't going to be another one of Kakashi's cowardly traps.

Obito stepped into the physical world, and the first thing he saw was a giant over six and a half meters tall. His eyes narrowed for a moment but quickly relaxed. In the ninja world, size meant nothing.

The giant gave him a curious look and reached for an absurdly large naginata. Please what kind of real expert in the shinobi world used a weapon like that?

And those claims from earlier, about him being "the world's strongest"? Complete nonsense. If that were true, how could Uchiha Obito never have heard of him?

The moment the intruder appeared, Naruto and Sasuke dropped into battle stances.

"S-rank criminal! The mysterious killer!"

"Hmph. So, the Uchiha clan's traitor."

Poof! A cloud of smoke.

A dozen Narutos appeared, each holding a golden staff. One staff even had Enma, the Monkey King, peeking out an eye to scan the area before giving a casual warning:

"Naruto, be careful."

Sasuke's Sharingan shifted into three tomoe, and countless snakes slithered from under his feet into the shadows, waiting to strike. He was itching for the chance if he could take down this S-rank criminal, it would mean he could take down Uchiha Itachi.

The brothers-in-arms positioned themselves to cover each other, eyes locked on the enemy.

One Naruto clone crept up behind Obito, staff in hand, ready to unleash Kakashi's secret technique the Thousand Years of Death.

Obito's sleeve flicked, a chained blade sliding into his grip. A flash of steel, and the clone was cut down.

He leapt into the air, evading the snakes snapping from the ground.

"Fire Style: Great Fireball Jutsu!" Sasuke spat a roaring flame upward only for Obito to phase through it.

Bored of playing with the brats, Obito ignored the bragging giant completely. Time to kill Sasuke for Itachi's betrayal, then release the Nine-Tails from Naruto to further his great plan.

The chained blade swept in a wide arc half of Naruto's clones vanished instantly. A slight tilt of his head let him dodge Sasuke's shuriken, and with a twitch of his elbow, the shuriken's connecting wires snapped, ruining Sasuke's follow-up attack.

Obito moved in to finish the job, but more Naruto clones rushed in, staffs swinging. Sasuke used the moment to summon another swarm of venomous snakes to strike at Obito's legs.

Forced to leap clear, Obito burned the snakes with a Fire Style, then spun with his chained blade, cutting down all the surrounding clones.

He had every advantage it was a grown man against kids.

But again, he'd underestimated them. The Nine-Tails brat's Shadow Clones were endless kill ten, ten more appeared. Where was the real one? And was this brat seriously using such a dangerous jutsu with no side effects?

And Sasuke why was an Uchiha using a cheap snake-fighting style?

For the first time, Obito wondered if maybe his Nine-Tails plan was looking shaky. Black Zetsu's earlier advice suddenly seemed more reasonable.

If you're so reasonable, why didn't you talk me out of this again?

Forget it. He'd just go get those Edo Tensei notes later.

But then Obito froze.

His Mangekyō Sharingan locked on the giant now slowly rising to his feet. The shadow cast by his 6.66-meter frame swallowed Obito entirely. Moonlight glinted dangerously along the massive naginata.

Whitebeard hadn't expected anyone to outright ignore him.

"Intruder," Whitebeard rumbled, the ground itself trembling with his voice. "Didn't you see I was talking?"

…Too close. That earlier boasting wasn't boasting.

The air grew heavy, sticky. Conqueror's Haki rolled out like a crashing tide. Obito's heart thudded painfully, pupils contracting this pressure… it was like facing a tailed beast!

No stronger than a tailed beast!

Since when did Konoha have someone like this?! Even Madara in his prime was like this!

"Impossible!" Obito took a half-step back. "This aura !"

Whitebeard gripped the Murakumogiri with one hand, its butt tapping lightly against the ground.

Crack.

In an instant, the earth and air for a hundred meters around fractured with spiderweb cracks. The ground beneath Obito's feet gave way he hastily triggered Kamui, half his body already in the vortex before vanishing entirely.

A heartbeat later, the massive rehab facility shattered like a frozen image breaking apart.

In its place was a smooth, empty plain under the moonlight just one giant, and two children left standing.

Sasuke and Naruto stared wide-eyed. The "world's strongest" wasn't just bragging this was cooler than any ninjutsu.

No wonder Team Three had been acting so cocky lately.

"Tch. He ran." Whitebeard looked mildly surprised the attacker had some skill, at least.

Naruto jumped up in excitement, shouting how awesome it was.

Sasuke, meanwhile, was reconsidering maybe Orochimaru wasn't the right teacher after all.

"Ah… the rehab center the Hokage built… I might have accidentally demolished it," Whitebeard said, scratching his head in mild embarrassment. Then he laughed again. "Kuhahahaha! You both did well."

"Naruto… and Sasuke."

…

Bee-doo bee-doo! An earsplitting alarm rang from the direction of Konoha's research facility.

Black Zetsu popped his head out, shouting at the dirt-covered Obito beside him:

"Obito! Let's go! I emptied out Orochimaru's entire records room!"

Obito numbly nodded. "Oh… okay."

Black Zetsu gave him a look. Did this guy get wrecked again?

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