Scene: Ryouta’s Room — Night

  Ryouta sat cross-legged, fingers tracing a faded seal on the floor. The air smelled of ozone and old paper. A shimmer of light bent the corner of the room as Segawa stepped through, calm as a ghost.

  Segawa (softly):

  “Ryouta — you know my power.”

  Ryouta (startled):

  “You didn’t tell anyone.”

  Segawa (half-smiling):

  “I can move through time. But only if someone consents to touch my body. Then they may see the future… or the past.”

  Ryouta’s eyes widened.

  Ryouta (curious):

  “Can we… meet Karin Uzumaki? I want to know something.”

  Segawa (nodding):

  “I saw something. Come.”

  Scene: Road to Karin’s Lab — Night

  Ryouta and Segawa walked briskly through empty streets. Footsteps echoed behind them — someone tailing.

  Ryouta (whispering):

  “Someone’s following us.”

  Segawa (calm):

  “Let him. We’ll need his father too.”

  They pushed onward toward Karin’s lab, lantern light flickering.

  Scene: Karin’s Lab — Moments Later

  The lab smelled of iron and bitter herbs. Karin looked up from her workbench as the two entered.

  Karin (suspicious):

  “You dragged me out of sleep for what?”

  Segawa (explaining):

  “My power lets someone see time — if they touch me. A person touches my body, then they can slip forward or backward. Like your ability, only different.”

  Karin (bitter laugh):

  “Like me, huh? They bit me for power once.”

  Segawa (soft):

  “Yeah.”

  Ryouta closed his eyes. Slowly, he activated his dojutsu — the Rinnegan and the star-pattern variant burned bright. From his palms something cold and lethal formed: All-Killing Ash Bones — sharp, humming with intent.

  Ryouta (flat):

  “Come out. Or die.”

  A rustle from behind the lab benches. Shikadai stepped forward, hands up, eyes wide.

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  Shikadai (nervous):

  “Y-yeah, yeah. I heard everything.”

  Segawa reached out, took Shikadai’s hand, and then gently pulled him closer. Shikadai flushed faintly as Segawa folded him into the circle. Segawa then placed Ryouta’s and Karin’s hands on his own chest.

  Segawa (softly):

  “Since you all touched me, watch—see what will happen tomorrow.”

  The world folded inward and a vision bloomed.

  Scene: Hyūga Hall — Morning (Vision)

  The throne room glittered for the coronation. Yuta, newly crowned, sat stiffly in the ceremonial seat. The hall filled with faces — supporters and wary elders alike.

  Without warning, a mountain of debris — wood, stone, banners — cascaded from the rafters. The pile slammed down onto Yuta’s throne. Chaos erupted.

  Naruto lunged forward, hands out to pull Yuta free — and then a cloud hissed out from vents unseen. Sleeping gas flooded the room. Eyes fluttered closed. Bodies slumped. The hall grew eerily silent.

  Hours later the sun had shifted. Naruto woke first — groggy, disoriented — and staggered to Yuta. He recoiled at what he saw: Yuta’s head crushed beneath the wreckage. Blood and dust, the sight halting breath.

  Elder (sneering):

  “Heh. This is what happens to half-breeds who seek our rule.”

  Naruto (laughing at first — a broken, hysterical sound):

  “HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA—”

  (he cradled Yuta’s broken body, the laugh turning raw)

  “—NO. NO. NO—”

  Hinata pushed through the crowd, fury and grief making her limbs steel. She shoved elders aside.

  Naruto (snarling, voice ripping):

  “YOU ALL WILL DIE! I WILL KILL ALL OF YOU!”

  Rage swallowed him. He shifted, chakra flaring — the nine-tails’ form surfacing in a terrifying flash of orange and power. The air around him bent.

  From the dark sky, a sound — distant, godlike — echoed across the world. On the moon, Aira shrieked, and every soul on Earth heard her:

  Aira (howling):

  “MY—YUTAAAA! MY SYLUS DIED AGAIN! I WILL KILL ALL OF YOU! AHHHHHHHHHH—”

  With a cruel, inhuman pull, the moon itself began to lurch — dragged downward as if some otherworldly hand tried to crush the world.

  The vision snapped.

  Scene: Karin’s Lab — Present (After Vision)

  Karin slammed a palm on the table, eyes wide.

  Karin (swearing):

  “Damn. Tomorrow — assassination and the world… ending?”

  Ryouta (grim):

  “My father — Sasuke — told me Naruto could hold himself back. If he didn’t, he would kill them all.”

  Segawa (flat):

  “And on top of Aira’s fury, she’ll try to smash the moon into Earth.”

  Shikadai (trembling):

  “What do we do? How do we stop both an assassination AND a god-smashing the moon?”

  Segawa (counting):

  “The trap is set for morning. Ryouta — you have to take out the Hyūga elders who will plan this.”

  Ryouta looked up, eyes hard.

  Ryouta (softly):

  “So… be like my uncle Itachi.”

  Segawa (unapologetic):

  “Sorry. But you have to.”

  Ryouta moved, slipping on a dark cloak — Itachi-like gear folding around him like a memory he’d claim. He stood, shoulders squared.

  Ryouta (resolute):

  “Gladly.”

  Karin tightened chains across her lab roof and muttered as she worked.

  Karin:

  “I’ll seal the roof with chains — to stop anything falling during the ceremony.”

  Shikadai (brave):

  “I’ll make sure Yuta is safe.”

  Segawa (nods):

  “Thank you.”

  They readied themselves — three futures folding into one thin line of action. Dawn would decide whether tomorrow would be an ending or a chance to rewrite what the vision had shown.

  —