Faced with Orochimaru's enthusiastic demeanor, Uchiha Kei found it amusing and deliberately asked, "So, Orochimaru-senpai, how do you think the difference between the two worlds came about?"

Orochimaru squinted and smiled. "That question, is it even worth asking? Kei-kun, isn't it you—the one and only you—who brought boundless possibilities to our world?"

As he spoke, Orochimaru pointed to a document on the table related to the other world. What he indicated was a particularly highlighted line of information.

That is—in the parallel world, there is no information about 'Uchiha Kei', and nothing about Genjutsu games or the Genjutsu Network.

No Uchiha Kei. No Genjutsu games. No Genjutsu Network. The butterfly effect caused by this absence was immense. Anyone with even a basic understanding of the current changes in the Shinobi World would recognize this—let alone Orochimaru.

Though Orochimaru had only glimpsed the tip of the iceberg that was the parallel world, his extraordinary mind allowed him to grasp just how vastly the two worlds had diverged—all because of Uchiha Kei.

To his answer, Uchiha Kei merely smiled noncommittally, offering no comment. After all, there was no need to say anything. He knew better than anyone how much he had changed the Shinobi World and Konoha.

Orochimaru also smiled and once again turned his gaze toward the surveillance screen—a simple fusion of ninja techniques and tools, not cameras. It was something he and Sasori had developed during their study abroad in the Mental Network.

Both image and sound were clear, so the surveillance footage showed the situation plainly.

Inside the footage was a room—spacious and well-kept—where three individuals sat. It was the trio: Naruto Uzumaki, Sakura Haruno, and Sai.

At that moment, Naruto was pacing irritably. Sakura sat in a chair, helplessly trying to calm him down. Sai, on the other hand, was drawing with his portable sketchbook, apparently searching for flaws in the room to find a chance to escape.

Their different reactions all pointed to one fact: they couldn't escape.

All three had been bound with multiple layers of barriers, and their chakra was completely sealed. The room itself was also sealed, preventing them from using their full power. They could do nothing.

Going back to the day before—while researching the Dragon Vein, Sasori and Orochimaru noticed an anomaly. As they investigated, a flash of light erupted. Time-space rippled.

Then, the rogue Sand shinobi Mukade appeared. Tʜe source of this ᴄontent ɪs novel·fire·net

At the time, aside from Orochimaru and Sasori, there were many puppet clones they had made. These clones were highly intelligent and autonomous. Given Sasori's artistic pursuit in puppetry, he had crafted different forms—each with unique sizes, heights, and even genders.

So when Mukade arrived, what he saw was a variety of researchers in white coats.

Mukade was momentarily stunned—then ecstatic. He laughed hysterically, exclaiming that the legend was true: the Dragon Vein of RŌran did indeed possess the power to traverse time!

Then, he attempted to seize control of everyone on site. The ambitious man wanted to take full control of RŌran and the Dragon Vein's power—to conquer the world.

As for the 'RŌranese researchers' before him, Mukade sensed no threat from them—he couldn't detect any chakra.

So he thought it would be easy to subjugate RŌran. It wasn't arrogance—in his time, RŌran had been destroyed, and there was no record of it ever having strong ninja. Naturally, Mukade assumed he could dominate it.

According to the "original story," Mukade did just that—under the alias Anrokuzan, he ruled RŌran completely, turning its citizens into human puppets under his control. His track record was on par with Voldemort being seated at the kids' table at a banquet.

But this time, Mukade was unlucky.

The people he couldn't sense chakra from were puppet clones created by Orochimaru and Sasori—mechanical avatars or chakra AI constructs, as Uchiha Kei understood them.

Using traditional chakra sensing, one wouldn't feel their strength. But when combat began, each clone, though weaker than the original, was at least elite Chūnin level—some even Jōnin level.

Not to mention Orochimaru and Sasori themselves—both bona fide Kage-level powerhouses.

So, Mukade's arrogant ambush turned into pure suicide.

Originally, Sasori and Orochimaru were curious about this man who emerged from the Dragon Vein and intended to greet him amicably. But the moment he struck with lethal intent, all pretense vanished. Thanks to Uchiha Kei's influence, these two once-murderous legends now carried the refined air of true researchers.

After all, Uchiha Kei had arranged for all their teachers in the Mental Network's school module to be kind, refined professors of a certain Eastern scholarly mold. Even knowing the professors were fake, prolonged interaction with them inevitably left a mark.

Sure, the "professors" were illusions—but the knowledge they taught was real, drawn from another world. Those teachers, full of wisdom and virtue, truly existed in another reality.

As pioneers and learners of the Shinobi World, Orochimaru and Sasori realized their actions now represented the future of the Shinobi World. Their conduct and values would deeply influence those who came after. Thus, they resolved to be examples.

Yes, Uchiha Kei never directly taught them this. But they understood it themselves and internalized their mission through learning.

Why? Because while tinkering with the modules, Uchiha Kei had discovered that many professors in the illusion world were modeled after great scholars he'd only read about in textbooks or seen on the news.

So, thinking it wouldn't hurt to learn from them in a simulated world, he put them into use.

Kei figured: if someone had to teach, it might as well be those great minds. Even he felt inspired seeing them—a small wish fulfilled for a time-traveling scholar from the East.

The result? Those noble and lovable teachers managed to influence Orochimaru and Sasori—two of the Shinobi World's original personifications of indifference to human life.

Not that the two had fundamentally changed—but alongside scientific knowledge, they had also learned the meaning of responsibility and moral teaching.

Of course, this only applied to friendly people. For scum like Mukade, Orochimaru and Sasori still believed in dealing with them the traditional Shinobi way.

Afterward, they interrogated Mukade and read his memories.

Half a day after Mukade arrived in RŌran, Naruto Uzumaki and his group appeared.

Their demeanor was the complete opposite of Mukade's. Faced with unfamiliar researchers, they were cautious but polite, asking where they were and if anyone had seen Mukade.

Seeing their Leaf headbands, Orochimaru and Sasori approached to talk.

But the moment they saw Orochimaru and Sasori, the trio's expressions changed drastically.

Naruto Uzumaki, furious: "Orochimaru! You bastard! Give Sasuke back to me!!!"

Sakura Haruno, terrified: "Sasori of the Red Sand!? Impossible! You're dead! Why are you with Orochimaru?!"

Sai, grave: "These two together... This isn't good."

Orochimaru and Sasori looked at each other, clearly dumbfounded by the three strangers—especially Naruto and Sakura.

What followed was the subjugation of the trio.

Naruto, impulsive as ever, launched a Big Ball Rasengan right away in a show of "friendship." Sakura and Sai, seeing him attack, joined in.

Regardless of whether they could win, they had already committed to the fight.

Orochimaru and Sasori's response was simple: they instantly activated the multi-layered barrier techniques they had prepared in advance, sealed the trio's chakra, and rendered them ordinary people before capturing them.

They were well-practiced. They'd already planned for such a scenario. After all, the Dragon Vein was too valuable to risk damage. These precautions were taught by their illusion-world teachers—those with both scholarly and martial virtue.

One teacher, surnamed Qian, put it best: "Having no sword in hand and not using the one in hand are two different things."

So, the time-traveling trio had terrible luck.

Incidentally, many of the sealing and barrier techniques used came from Kushina Uzumaki, current head of the Uzumaki Clan. Thanks to Uchiha Kei's influence, the red-hot habareno had taken up developing her clan's sealing arts with renewed vigor. As a Jinchūriki who couldn't wander freely, she spent her time outside the Genjutsu Game focusing on this.

In the past, she lacked the mindset. But influenced by Kei, she saw great potential in the Uzumaki sealing arts and poured her spare time into research—offering her results to those in Kei's trusted inner circle who could access the Genjutsu World freely.

The time-travel trio had just experienced the fruits of her labor—and the unlucky Naruto Uzumaki, in a sense, suffered a beatdown from a mother he'd never even met.

Even the alternate Nine Tails sealed in Naruto felt the inherited suppression of Uzumaki bloodline once again, suddenly bound in the seal space by a leaping Adamantine Sealing Chains attack. The whole fox was dumbfounded and couldn't even move, let alone lend chakra to Naruto.

Thus, the trio—along with the big fox inside Naruto—were all captured and placed under soft confinement.

Despite the scuffle, Orochimaru and Sasori treated them well. Aside from standard questioning and a hair sample for testing, they did nothing else.

And now, Uchiha Kei had arrived.

He was quite curious about the trio—mainly because they were original story characters. Especially now, with 80% certainty they were from the canonical Naruto world.

With that in mind, Kei decisively opened WeChat and sent Minato Namikaze a message:

\\[Minato, we captured the son you had with Kushina. Want to come take a look?]

Soon, Minato replied:

\\[?]

A perfectly expressive question mark—not questioning himself, but clearly thinking Kei was the crazy one.

After all, Minato didn't remember having any kids with Kushina. Though they had long discussed marriage and dreamed of having many children to revitalize the Uzumaki and Namikaze clans, that was all hypothetical. How could he suddenly have a child?

Kei chuckled inwardly. Then, using the Mental Network, he snapped a photo of Naruto with his eye like a camera and sent it along with more info.

\\[(Image) Look, the kid's already seventeen. Genetically a mix of you and Kushina—your hair, Kushina's face. Oh, and he's got whiskers that symbolize the Nine Tails.]

Minato: \\[…Wait for me!]

Not long after, Minato arrived—in person, not a shadow clone. Clearly, this matter was far more important than any official duty.

Upon arrival, Minato immediately asked Kei what was going on. Seeing Minato's unusually grave and anxious expression, Kei knew the joke had gone far enough. So he explained everything and handed over Orochimaru's DNA report.

Seeing the report's conclusion—that Naruto was highly likely to be the biological son of Minato Namikaze and Kushina Uzumaki—Minato was stunned.

What followed were waves of emotion: tension, confusion, joy, bewilderment, and excitement. These swirled together and made even the normally composed Minato's face a masterpiece of expression—fit to be turned into reaction memes.

Finally, Minato took a deep breath and solemnly pleaded with Kei: "Kei, can I talk to that boy? Even if he's the child of a parallel version of me and Kushina... I still want to know more. I want to talk to him."

At this moment, Minato made a different choice than in the original movie. There, he also realized Naruto was his and Kushina's child, but to avoid causing a time-space paradox that would erase Naruto, he sealed away the related memories.

But now—knowing Naruto came from a parallel world, and there was no risk to either reality—Minato wanted to speak to this son he'd never met.

He wanted to know what kind of life the other Minato and Kushina had—whether their family had been happy.

Without a doubt, in this moment, Minato viewed Naruto from the heart of a father.

Even though—

He wasn't ready to be a father.

Even less so to be the father of a son only a few years younger than him.

As for Minato's request, Kei naturally had no reason to refuse. He also wanted to see how things would unfold—especially how his best friend would react after learning what Konoha had become in another world, and what kind of childhood his son had endured.

After all—

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