vncnus Page 368
Page 368
Although she only stayed for a short time, the peaceful atmosphere had deeply touched her long-frozen heart.
She raised her hand and gently pressed it against the cold glass, as if she wanted to touch this peaceful night scene.
The image of that boy with the same brilliant blond hair unconsciously surfaced in my mind.
She gazed at the starry sky and whispered softly, in a voice only she could hear: "Your era must have been like this too... peaceful, warm, and full of sunshine..."
She thought that she might soon see the boy who had pulled her out of the darkness again.
A faint yet incredibly genuine smile, tinged with anticipation, unconsciously appeared on Guang's lips.
The next morning, sunlight streamed into the room through the window.
Naruto woke up feeling refreshed, his fatigue completely gone after a night's rest.
He had just met up with Hikaru in the hotel lobby to discuss their next move when a faint sound came from Li in the ninja tool bag.
Naruto quickly took it out.
The patterns on the turtle's shell once again glowed with a stable, luminous green light.
The electronic voice sounded more energetic than before: "Energy replenished, system self-check complete."
"Phew... that forced jump last time took too much to handle."
"You're finally awake!" Naruto breathed a sigh of relief. "How was it? Did you get a good location this time? Don't throw us into some dangerous battlefield or some random place again!"
Li's light flickered a few times, as if he were performing complex calculations: "Don't worry, it was an accident last time."
“This time I carefully checked the spatiotemporal coordinate anchor point and locked it near the point in time when you were initially involved.”
"The error should be kept within a very small range. Let's get ready to go."
Upon hearing this news, Naruto and Hikaru were both invigorated. Finally, they were going home!
The two returned to their room and closed the doors and windows. Naruto gripped Hikari's hand tightly and nodded to Rei: "Ready!"
The light emanating from Li suddenly intensified, and the familiar sense of spatial distortion enveloped the two of them once again.
But unlike the previous bumps and sense of loss of control, this time the process was much smoother.
It's like riding a well-maintained ship downstream in the river of time.
I don't know how much time passed; it might have been just a moment, or it might have been a very long time.
The white light that enveloped him receded like a tide.
Naruto opened his eyes and immediately looked around warily.
There was no destructive energy from the Valley of the End, no bustling noise of newly born Konoha, and no familiar buildings.
Before us lay a desolate, uninhabited mountain wilderness.
Overgrown with weeds and jagged rocks, with rolling mountains in the distance, the air is filled with the coolness of the morning and the fragrance of grass and trees.
"……really."
Naruto sighed, but his face didn't show much surprise; instead, it had a sense of "I knew it" in its composure.
After these several time travels, he no longer harbored any unrealistic fantasies about Li's "precise location".
As long as he doesn't fall directly into a battlefield or outer space, or into the wilderness, he can accept it completely.
"Looks like we've gone off track again."
Guang glanced around, her tone calm. She was used to this uncertainty.
"Never mind, let's see where we are first."
Naruto dusted himself off and perked up: "Let's see if there's a road or any landmarks."
The two chose a direction and began their arduous journey through the dense vegetation.
This area seemed to be sparsely populated; after walking for quite a while, we found nothing but traces of birds and animals.
Just as Naruto was considering whether to use Shadow Clones to conduct a large-scale search.
Guang suddenly stopped and pointed to the left front: "There... there's a strange tree over there."
Naruto looked in the direction she pointed. There, on a relatively flat open space, stood a large tree with a peculiar shape, all alone.
Its height is not particularly outstanding, only about three meters.
But the trunk is unusually thick and bloated, with a diameter that would probably require four or five people to encircle.
It far exceeds the size of a typical century-old tree, presenting an unnatural, strange feeling as if it had been forcibly grown and expanded.
The bark is dark brown and covered with twisted patterns, giving it a very uncomfortable feel.
"Let's go take a look." Naruto felt a surge of curiosity and walked towards the strange tree.
He slowly walked around the enormous tree, its width astounding, his gaze carefully sweeping over the rough bark and gnarled roots.
At first, he didn't notice anything special, until he turned to the back of the tree—
His steps suddenly stopped!
He froze in place as if he had been frozen in place!
His pupils suddenly contracted to the size of pinpoints due to extreme shock!
On the back of the thick tree trunk, there was a man wearing a black long-sleeved shirt, with a signature head of long black hair covering half of his face.
More than half of its body was forcibly and as if it were embedded in the tree trunk!
His head was lowered, his black bangs obscuring his face, but his bare arm stubbornly stretched forward.
His five fingers were bent and clenched into a fist, as if he was still trying to grasp something at the last moment.
This figure, this posture, were so familiar to Naruto that they were etched into his very being!
Naruto's lips trembled uncontrollably, and his throat felt as if it were being tightly choked by something.
Several seconds passed before he mustered all his strength to squeeze out a few broken and unbelievable syllables from between his teeth:
"Sas...Sasuke...?!"
Chapter 388 Boruto after growing up
Naruto's mind went blank; all his thoughts were fixed on the black-haired man embedded in the tree.
Sasuke! It's definitely Sasuke!
However, it wasn't the close friend who fought alongside him, but a close friend from the future.
But why?
Why is this happening?
How could someone as powerful as Sasuke end up in such a state?
Was it swallowed and imprisoned by a strange, large tree?
What the hell is this tree?
Countless questions exploded in Naruto's mind like boiling bubbles, making it almost impossible for him to think.
"Hey! You over there, it's best not to wander around here if you don't have to."
A slightly deep, warning voice suddenly came from behind them.
The sound reached Guang's ears, causing her to stiffen abruptly, and an indescribable chill instantly spread throughout her body!
Naruto also felt a vague sense of familiarity with the voice.
But compared to the always vibrant voice he remembered, this voice sounded too calm.
He even had a hint of barely perceptible fatigue and hoarseness, which made it hard for him to recognize him at first.
The two of them instinctively turned around.
The afterglow of the setting sun outlined the tall and slender figure of a young man.
He was about sixteen or seventeen years old and was wearing a black overcoat that covered his entire body.
Most striking features were his brilliant blond hair, which was exactly the same as his own, and the signature beard-like lines on both sides of his cheeks.
However, when Naruto and Hikaru's gazes fell on his face, it felt as if their hearts were being gripped by an icy hand!
The young man's left eye was a clear, deep blue, just like Naruto's.
But on his right eye... there was a huge and hideous scar!
The scar ran diagonally across his right eye from his forehead, extending down his cheek.
It also gave his originally handsome face a weathered and sorrowful look.
This face, though altered by scars and the marks of time, still retains its familiar contours and that unique chakra aura…
Naruto cried out, his voice filled with disbelief, shock, and heartache.
His son... How could the blond boy he remembered have turned into this?
That scar... what has he been through all these years?!
Boruto was also stunned the moment he saw Naruto's face clearly.
A look of utter astonishment flashed in his one remaining blue eye: "Dad...?! How could you... be here?! And you..."
He looked Naruto up and down, his eyes filled with even more confusion: "How come you look...so young?"
The father before him looked almost exactly like the one he remembered, but his demeanor was completely different.
This is so weird!
However, before the father and son could even process their unexpected reunion, Guang, standing to the side, could no longer contain his excitement.
After confirming that the scarred young man in front of her was Boruto, the man she had been longing for, all her reserve and composure vanished.
She rushed over and hugged Boruto tightly, burying her face in his chest, her voice choked with sobs and boundless joy:
"Boruto! Thank goodness! Finally... finally I can see you again!"
The sudden hug made Boruto freeze.
He instinctively wanted to push her away, but he felt the girl in his arms trembling slightly and her undisguised dependence and joy.