Chapter 249: Peace is at arm reach...

A few days later...

[That brat's talent is truly astounding—he's actually dabbling in space–time ninjutsu meant for such distant coordinates.]

Black Zetsu watched in secret. Having lived for so many years as the will of Kaguya, it had its own opinions about jutsu and shinobi.

After all, in the manga it was at the level of being Kaguya's advisor.

So over the past couple of days, it had basically figured out the experiment data this little brat had recorded. By comparison, some of the parts other people couldn't understand appeared rather incongruous.

Because of Kaguya's Amenominaka technique, Black Zetsu had a strong grasp of space–time ninjutsu. Though it couldn't use them itself, it had no trouble offering insight.

When Tobirama finished drawing the formula on the scroll and channeled chakra into it, the next moment, the ink blurred into a puddle.

"Failed again. Why is it failing?"

Senju Tobirama felt a headache coming on. In Link's version of Edo Tensei, there were many parts of the technique he couldn't decipher, and they changed each time. After multiple comparisons, he had retained the same incantations and researched them, eventually extracting a set of space–time–type inscriptions.

He still didn't fully understand the underlying principles once he broke down those incantations; mainly there was too little resemblance to standard space–time ninjutsu scripts, so there was little precedent to follow.

However, by observing the reversed process of Link's Edo Tensei, Tobirama had arrived at a few conclusions about what this section did:

Ultra-long-distance spatial targeting/search/transmission.

The biggest difference from Flying Thunder God was that it apparently didn't need an external marker to lock on beforehand; the technique itself possessed a "fuzzy targeting" ability.

In Link's version of Edo Tensei, as the jutsu enveloped them, the souls being summoned all experienced a "fuzzy search" phase before being transmitted over.

That was downright absurd. If he could figure out how to perform teleportation without a pre-placed marker, Flying Thunder God would become something ridiculously powerful—just clap your hands and teleport anywhere.

Senju Tobirama couldn't resist the allure of an evolved Flying Thunder God.

Influenced by Link, he had adopted a "if it works, who cares about the theory?" mindset. He was ready to just try it out and see what happened.

Then he failed four or five times in a row.

[Because there isn't enough chakra, and there's no search criterion,]

Black Zetsu silently concluded. Kaguya's Amenominaka alone required an astronomical amount of chakra for a human, so a super-long-distance space–time search like this would be even more outrageous.

Without ample chakra, trying to bridge such a massive distance was just daydreaming.

More importantly, the formula itself wasn't complete—there was nothing specifying the "search direction."

[Even I can see parts are missing, but this brat is still thinking about how to use it in a simple way. Maybe he wasn't the one who invented it…]

"What's going on here…?"

Full of doubt, Senju Tobirama began redrawing the scroll. The reason he hadn't considered the possibility of insufficient chakra was that he'd personally seen Link use only a little chakra to activate the full Edo Tensei. In theory, this portion shouldn't be a problem, right?

As for a search direction? That hardly mattered. He only wanted to see if it was usable; he wasn't actually trying to test some blind ultra-long-range teleport.

[I'll just go find Link and have him cooperate in my experiments.]

Edo Tensei was a cruel, very inhumane technique.

Of course, that refers to the original version.

Link's mind was wandering slightly.

"Dan!"

Tsunade softly called her beloved's name and held a newly clothed little kid in her arms.

But Kato Dan, after being reincarnated, showed no sign of happiness at being in his lover's embrace. He was mortified by the notion that soon he would "die" yet again.

"Link, thank you."

Nawaki looked at his sister—who was crying tears of joy—and beamed a bright smile. Link came back to his senses and returned the smile.

Starting that morning, Link had received a whole string of thanks.

The night before, Tobirama had used a bunch of death row inmates to Edo Tensei some of the deceased ninja whose bodies Konoha still preserved. After they agreed on a signal, today they carried out the actual Reincarnation en masse.

Edo Tensei couldn't locate everyone, though.

Some who died too early had bodies that had long since rotted, so they couldn't be used for Edo Tensei—for instance, Uzumaki Mito or the earlier Senju clan. Some Edo Tensei attempts outright failed—like Konoha's White Fang, whose soul wasn't in the Pure Land. Also, for those whose bodies were never preserved after death—like Might Duy, who opened the Eighth Gate—there was no way to summon them.

If you wanted to find someone else, you'd have to wait to see if you got lucky in future Summoning attempts.

Konoha, as a military power of a major nation, was terrifyingly efficient once it got going.

Link had no idea where they'd gotten so many hardened criminals, each one hypnotized by genjutsu and stepping into his Swamp of the Underworld in a robotic line—literally lining up to die.

Plenty of black mud for everyone, and aside from some chakra usage for Reincarnation—well, with Utakata the "charging station" at his side, he felt like an unfeeling "reincarnation machine."

At first, he'd been touched by the families' gratitude—especially Asuma, who cried as he took his mother's hand. Link had been moved by that display of family love.

As for the Third Hokage finally meeting his now-three-year-old wife, Link was curious to see how that reunion would go.

But after repeating it over and over, hearing so many thanks, he started feeling numb.

[Am I basically invincible now…?]

Releasing Edo Tensei, Link let the technique work on its own. After a delay, that thought popped into his head.

He could theoretically cast his Reincarnation on himself. The jutsu moved on its own; all he did was supply chakra.

Even if he died, someone else could just Edo Tensei him, and he'd enter the reincarnation process again.

Who could ever fully get rid of him, unless they captured, controlled, or sealed him…? Er, well…

[Wait, maybe I'm not invincible after all.]

Link smiled and nodded at Iruka's parents—reborn hand in hand—then continued to stew in those strange feelings.

Uchiha Madara had been taken care of; Black Zetsu, Kisame, Obito, and Nagato had all escaped, but Akatsuki was basically finished. Kaguya wouldn't be resurrecting any time soon.

The Fourth Great Ninja War from the original story almost certainly wouldn't happen at the planned time.

Which meant Link's original plan—"train for five years, raise an army in three"—was starting to look awkward.

If Konoha kept using Edo Tensei at this rate, they'd become completely unrivaled in the world. The longer they dragged it out, the stronger they'd become—so who needed him to do anything?

In another ten-odd years, Konoha would basically dictate everything.

The safety and freedom he'd wanted from the start…now they practically seemed at arm's reach.

But as Haruki Murakami once noted, people think they're chasing freedom—yet once it's truly in hand, they can feel a bit lost.

They still need some goal to strive for.

"Link, I need your help with a new jutsu I've developed!"

Senju Tobirama landed beside him. "How much longer do you need here?"

"Hm, let me see…" Link glanced at his notebook of signals, then closed it and slipped it into his pouch. "Let's go check out your jutsu."

He was still plenty interested in ninjutsu, after all.

As for the village's missions?

Why would I wear myself out after clawing my way here? Am I crazy, or is the Hokage?

~~~

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