Chapter 258: Tobirama's Other World Adventure

Five days earlier, in another world.

"You don't know the password, huh?"

Hatake Kakashi stood with a short blade raised in front of him, his other hand signaling his teammates behind him to withdraw.

Faced with a mysterious individual of unfathomable strength, he had no capacity to look after the weakest link of his team.

[Kannabi Bridge… Kakashi without a Sharingan?]

Senju Tobirama took note, recalling from the Konoha records he had reviewed that the Third Great Ninja War, fought against Iwagakure, ended with Kannabi Bridge – marking the birth of Sharingan Kakashi, a future Hokage candidate.

[No way I would've missed something like that in Konoha's historical data.]

"You're Uchiha Obito?" His gaze shifted to the Uchiha kid at Kakashi's side, his tone severe.

He didn't need an answer. Through his keen senses—reading the boy's chakra and micro-expressions—plus seeing the dopey look on the Uchiha kid's face, Tobirama had his truth.

[I've gone back in time? Crossed dimensions? A genjutsu? What is this?]

In the Naruto world, there's no notion of "parallel universes." Tobirama, displaced from his own world, couldn't instantly grasp what had happened, leaving his thoughts in a muddle.

[What should I do if I've ended up in the past? Return to Konoha and look for Sarutobi? That's troublesome. Judging by the technique, it needs Link's chakra, but that brat Link won't even be born for several years…]

Tobirama cut his speculations short. He placed a hand lightly on Konoha kunoichi's forehead, dispelling her genjutsu.

"Rin!"

Seeing that, Uchiha Obito assumed the stranger was about to kill their captive and charged forward, shouting.

Thud!

He poured too much chakra into his rush and ended up tripping, giving a full "face-plant" show for the other three.

"Kakashi, Obito…"

Nohara Rin's vacant eyes trembled back to awareness. She saw, a short distance away, Kakashi brandishing a blade warily. Then she saw a grimy-faced Obito glancing up at her, deeply concerned.

[Thank goodness…]

That was the thought that flashed through Obito's head before he was suddenly yanked off his feet.

"There are people coming—about a kilometer away, probably Iwa-nin." Tobirama tossed the "weak link" aside. Casting a sidelong glance, he asked, "Can you move?"

He addressed them in such a way that they'd naturally think about the question rather than wonder why some unfamiliar kid was issuing orders.

As someone who had served as Hokage, he was well-versed in such rhetorical strategies.

"N-no problem." Rin was still muddled, not sure what was happening. Glancing at the dead Iwa-nin on the ground, then at this strange kid who seemed to be an ally, she obeyed and followed him out.

Her nature was gentle, kind, giving, self-sacrificing—translated, it meant indecisive and soft. On the battlefield, if a comrade got pinned under a rock, she neither tried to rescue him nor made a prompt decision, only knelt there crying, "How could this happen…?"

Not to be unduly harsh on a young girl, but by ninja standards in wartime, she truly held the other two back.

Kakashi, catching Obito, hesitated for a moment, said nothing, and then followed them out of the cave.

So bright…

Rin raised her hand to shield her eyes, starting to make sense of things. Just who was this child giving them orders?

She watched him in curiosity. He extended two fingers to the ground, eyes closed. "Six ninjas in total. Two at ten o'clock about six hundred meters away; one at eight o'clock about five hundred meters away; three at two o'clock, seven hundred meters."

"I'll go take care of the three at the far side. Kakashi, handle those other three. You can manage, right?"

Kakashi responded with silence.

Using his peripheral vision, Tobirama glanced at Kakashi and Obito, who were half-protecting that naive medic-nin. The corner of his mouth rose imperceptibly.

[They might be a bit green—especially that Uchiha kid—but they really are good kids.]

Thinking that, he vanished in a flicker. Eliminating three Iwa-nin, or even all six, was no trouble. Thanks to Link's jutsu cheat, his body had improved some. Relying on his decades of combat experience and mastery of ninjutsu, even with limited chakra, he could easily one-shot Jōnin-level opponents.

Through his impeccable chakra control and virtually unbeatable sensing skills, his strength sat steadily at the elite jōnin tier. It would take someone of Kage rank to exploit his weaker constitution and smaller chakra reserves.

In an ambush, combining Flying Thunder God's mobility, he could kill someone like Asuma Sarutobi easily.

He merely wanted to see where Kakashi stood right now—hence leaving him with three enemies.

…

Splish— x2

[That's the sound of blood spraying and a kunai stabbing right into the temple!]

The thought flashed across Iwa's Tokubetsu Jōnin Sumashi's mind. His heart sank—whoever could silently kill his two subordinates so close must be on top of him. Any reinforcements might just be a trap!

He formed a one-handed seal, accelerating chakra molding. He'd try the Body Flicker to flee that dangerous enemy.

Shff! x2

Two nearly simultaneous sounds—one of the flicker, the other of a cutting attack slicing the air.

[What?!]

Sumashi had just Body Flickered away from his original spot, yet the enemy was already waiting at his landing point, attacking in advance. He couldn't react in time.

All over.

Thud!

Tobirama's small face looked utterly relaxed. These modern ninja were leagues below the old Warring States era, both in experience and skill. That was, of course, a good thing; only in peace could shinobi afford to pursue less killing.

[Heh—'peace, peace'… I'm sounding more and more like my brother…]

He cut off that thought abruptly, hefting the unconscious enemy leader, Sumashi, removing traces of scent and sound. With a few bounds across the treetops, he went to observe Kakashi's fight.

"Phew—Boom!"

[Smart—knowing the intel ahead, you set explosive tags in the lone enemy's path…]

Amid the swirling smoke, a mangled corpse dropped. In another part of the forest, two other Iwa-nin heard the noise and advanced warily. After a few seconds of watchfulness, one edged closer.

Suddenly, that bloodied corpse leapt up, lashing out. A hidden short blade flashed, slicing the nearest foe in one stroke.

[Using Transformation Jutsu to imitate a corpse—just a typical battlefield trick. But…]

The foe being sliced turned to clay. True battlefield shinobi wouldn't be bested so simply.

[So what next, I wonder?] Tobirama mused, watching with keen interest.

~~~

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