Chapter 2
Chapter 2
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Translator: Ace
Chapter: 1
Chapter Title: Three Years Later
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Three years later.
Konoha Orphanage.
"Menma, this is your food for tonight. No picking at it, okay?"
Yakushi Nono was handing out meals to the children one by one, with a few older kids helping nearby—including the bespectacled Yakushi Kabuto.
"Oh."
The three-year-old Menma, dressed in ill-fitting clothes, took the tray with a blank expression.
"You need to say thank you, young man. Be polite!"
Yakushi Nono sounded a bit upset but still spoke gently as she lectured him.
"Thank you, Director."
Menma sighed and gave Yakushi Nono a slight bow.
After all, she was his foster mother who provided him with food and shelter. Even if her caring was a bit nagging, it still warmed his heart a little.
Yakushi Kabuto, who was helping out nearby, smiled and said, "Go on and eat, Menma."
Three years had passed since he'd escaped the Tsukuyomi of Limited Duration world, but Uzumaki Menma still struggled to adjust. He lived in constant fear that this world might be fake too.
This lingering trauma tormented him endlessly.
He stared at Yakushi Kabuto, who was being so gentle with the younger orphans, and couldn't shake the feeling that this version was worlds apart from the Spy Kabuto etched in his memories.
In the Infinite Tsukuyomi world, I spent fifteen years, and I lost so many memories. When was Kabuto taken away by Danzo? When did Yakushi Nono die?
Uzumaki Menma felt like those fifteen years hadn't been a dream—they'd been utterly real. It had left him a bit scatterbrained and paranoid.
Meanwhile, Yakushi Kabuto across from him felt a chill under Menma's intense gaze, wondering what this usually quiet little brother was thinking now.
Compared to the other orphans, Menma had always been unusually calm. He hadn't cried or fussed as a baby, and by the time the others were still wetting the bed, he was already helping care for them.
His only quirk was his aloof personality and the way he stared at everyone with those odd eyes.
Menma carried his tray to a random table and sat down. The other orphans around him shifted away a bit.
It wasn't outright shunning—just that everyone felt uneasy around him. Some kids had tried playing with him before, only to be turned down. After a few times, no one bothered anymore.
Menma had grown used to his solitude. Even in the Tsukuyomi of Limited Duration world, his instinctive wariness had kept him distant from peers and even his parents there.
Besides, Menma knew Yakushi Nono and Yakushi Kabuto would soon be taken away by the Root Organization. Danzo, that Pot Shadow, might even select some kids from the orphanage for brutal training—or worse, human experiments.
So he had to boost his strength as fast as possible!
He had no intention of being picked by Pot Shadow Danzo for the Root Organization.
"Menma."
A soft voice called out beside him as he pondered.
Menma didn't need to turn to know it was Yakushi Kabuto.
Yakushi Kabuto sat down next to him with his own tray, acting every bit the familiar big brother as he picked a piece of meat from his plate and placed it on Menma's.
"Hm?"
Menma turned in surprise.
"I see you always clean your plate. Growing boys must get hungry fast—here, have some of mine."
The glasses-wearing Yakushi Kabuto mimicked the director's gentle tone and manner as he spoke to Menma.
Then he divided half the meat from his own tray onto Menma's.
Staring at the extra pieces of meat on his plate, Menma felt a surreal disconnect.
In his past life watching Naruto, Yakushi Kabuto had already become that master of deception—the cold, scheming Spy Kabuto.
And in the Tsukuyomi of Limited Duration world, there'd been no sign of Yakushi Kabuto at all, nor any mention of Yakushi Nono.
If the Tsukuyomi of Limited Duration world was a parallel one, as fans had speculated, then they should have existed there.
But there was another theory: the Tsukuyomi of Limited Duration world was built from the caster's and target's perceptions, so nothing beyond their knowledge could appear.