Chapter 2: I can't tell them apart! I really can't tell them apart!

Three years later.

Konoha Orphanage.

"Menma, this is your food for tonight. No being a picky eater, okay?" Yakushi Nonō was distributing food to the children one by one, assisted by several older children, including the bespectacled Yakushi Kabuto.

"Oh." Three-year-old Menma, wearing clothes that were a bit too big for him, took the tray with an expressionless face.

"You child, remember to say thank you. You must be polite!" Yakushi Nonō was a little annoyed, but her tone remained gentle as she lectured Menma.

"Thank you, Director." Menma sighed and gave a slight bow to Yakushi Nonō.

After all, she was his foster mother who provided him with food and shelter. Even if her care felt a bit nagging, Menma still felt a warmth in his heart.

Yakushi Kabuto, who was helping nearby, also smiled and said, "Go on and eat, Menma."

Three years had passed, and Uzumaki Menma, having emerged from the 'Limited Tsukuyomi world,' still felt somewhat unadjusted, constantly fearing that this world was also fake.

This lingering trauma had been tormenting Menma.

He stared at Yakushi Kabuto, who was being so gentle with the younger children in the orphanage, and always felt that he was worlds apart from the spy Yakushi Kabuto in his memories.

'I spent fifteen years in the Limited Tsukuyomi world, and I've lost many memories. When was Yakushi Kabuto taken away by Danzo, and when did Yakushi Nonō die?'

Uzumaki Menma felt that those fifteen years weren't like a dream, but a truly lived experience, which left him feeling a bit unhinged lately.

Across from him, Yakushi Kabuto felt a bit uneasy under Menma's gaze, wondering what his usually taciturn younger brother was thinking about again.

Compared to the other orphans, Menma had always been very quiet. He didn't cry or fuss even as an infant, and while other children were still wetting their beds, Menma was already able to help take care of the others.

It was just that his personality was a bit withdrawn, and he always looked at everyone with a strange gaze.

Menma carried his tray and found a random table to sit at. The other orphans nearby saw Menma approaching and shuffled their bottoms away.

It wasn't that they were ostracizing Menma; it was just that everyone felt uncomfortable around him. Some children had tried to play with him in the past but were rejected, and after that happened a few times, no one wanted to play with Menma anymore.

Menma had also grown accustomed to the solitude of being alone. In the Limited Tsukuyomi world, he had also felt a sense of alienation from his peers and even his parents due to an instinctive repulsion.

Moreover, Menma knew that Yakushi Nonō and Yakushi Kabuto would soon be transferred away by the Root organization. Danzo might even select some people from the orphanage to join Root for cruel training or even human experimentation.

Therefore, he had to increase his strength as soon as possible!

He did not want to be selected by that "Pot Shadow" Danzo to join the Root organization.

"Menma." In the midst of his thoughts, a soft call sounded beside him.

Menma didn't need to turn around to know it was Yakushi Kabuto.

Kabuto, carrying his own tray, sat down next to Menma. Acting very naturally as an older brother, he picked up a piece of meat from his own tray and placed it onto Menma's.

"Hm?" Menma turned his head, surprised.

"I noticed you always finish your food completely. Are you going through a growth spurt and getting hungry quickly? I'll share some with you." The bespectacled Kabuto, mimicking the Director's tone and mannerisms, spoke gently to Menma.

Then, he divided half of the meat from his tray and gave it to Menma.

Looking at the extra pieces of meat on his tray, Menma felt a sense of unreality.

When he watched Naruto in his past life, Yakushi Kabuto was already that cold, sinister, and skilled-at-disguise 'spy Yakushi Kabuto.'

Yet, in the 'Limited Tsukuyomi world,' he hadn't found any trace of Yakushi Kabuto, nor had he heard the name Yakushi Nonō.

If the 'Limited Tsukuyomi world' was a parallel world as netizens in his past life had speculated, they should have existed there.

But there was another theory: the 'Limited Tsukuyomi world' was a world constructed based on the cognition of the caster and the target, and therefore, it would not contain anything beyond their knowledge.

This was also the reason for Menma's mental breakdown in the 'Limited Tsukuyomi world.'

He knew he was in a fake 'Limited Tsukuyomi world.'

The gentle family of Kushina and Minato, the reversed personalities of the Konoha 11—every sense of his was telling him that this world was real.

But there was no Uchiha Madara, no Sage of Six Paths, which meant this fake world had no past and no future!

Uzumaki Menma couldn't tell the difference; he really couldn't!

"Why are you so good to me?" Menma lowered his head, his voice trembling slightly.

He was so afraid that this world was also a fake one.

In his memories, Yakushi Kabuto should be a sinister, cunning, and cold enemy who was good at disguises.

Yet now, he was caring for his physical growth like a big brother.

"We're brothers, aren't we? Isn't it natural to help each other?" Kabuto's youthful voice sounded puzzled.

Everyone in the orphanage was family, and they had to help each other—this was the ideology that the Director had always instilled in them.

"If I'm in trouble, Menma will help me too, right?" Kabuto squinted his eyes and smiled at Menma.

Under the influence of Director Yakushi Nonō, Kabuto cared deeply for the children in the orphanage because this was his home.

"Trouble, huh..." Menma thought of the future and the fate of Yakushi Nonō and Yakushi Kabuto.

In this world, he had lost his family and was abandoned by Obito at the orphanage. Yakushi Nonō and the children of the orphanage were Menma's family in this world.

For these three years, no one had come to the orphanage to investigate the extra orphan from the Night of the Nine-Tails, which meant the Third Hokage likely didn't know that Kushina had given birth to twins.

He had maintained a withdrawn personality and kept his distance from others precisely because he didn't want to affect the development of the original plot.

But this cautious mindset, fearing the butterfly effect, loosened under Kabuto's act of kindness.

'At worst, I'll just treat this as a second fake world.' Uzumaki Menma relaxed his mindset, looked up, and said seriously to Kabuto: "I will help solve the troubles you encounter."

Having been in the orphanage for these three years, Uzumaki Menma was still uncertain about the situation in the outside world.

But for the sake of the Director's kindness in taking him in all these years and this meal from Kabuto, he didn't mind changing the future of Yakushi Nonō and Yakushi Kabuto.

Kabuto was a bit taken aback by Menma's seriousness, but he soon laughed again.

"Director, Lord Danzo is looking for you." A woman from the orphanage suddenly found Yakushi Nonō, who was watching the children eat.

Upon hearing that name, the expression on Yakushi Nonō's face, which had been full of gentle smiles, changed instantly.

"Understood. You keep an eye on the children, and remember to have them go to sleep early after dinner." After giving some instructions, Yakushi Nonō turned and left the cafeteria.

The dozens of other children eating didn't notice anything unusual; only Kabuto and Uzumaki Menma sensed that something was wrong.

Kabuto put down his tray and secretly followed her.

Uzumaki Menma watched Kabuto's small back leave the cafeteria, then used his chopsticks to pick up the pieces of meat and ate them in large mouthfuls.

He was currently going through a growth spurt, and to refine more chakra, his energy consumption was extremely high.

Because Menma felt that something was absorbing the chakra he refined, which was why his efforts over the years had been fruitless.

Uzumaki Menma had a vague guess.

It seemed he had brought something back from the 'Limited Tsukuyomi world.'

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(End of chapter)