Chapter 260: Peace...

Land of Rain, in a desolate town under a bridge.

Patter, patter...

Sheets of rain seemed to fuse heaven and earth into one. Yahiko, gazing at the increasingly violent weather outside, wore a brooding expression.

He wasn't sure why, but for some reason, he felt uneasy about Nagato, who'd gone out on a mission.

But with Nagato's power…

"What's wrong?" Konan stood beside him, asking softly.

Recently, thanks to all their efforts, more and more people had accepted their ideas—trying to build a peace that didn't rely on force—and their name was starting to spread throughout the shinobi world.

Everything seemed to be headed for a bright future.

Perhaps they themselves might not live to see peace with their own eyes, but someone had to start the work.

Yahiko gazed at the distant, gloomy sky for a while before speaking. "I suddenly have a bad feeling. Nagato hasn't returned at the agreed time. Konan, could you go look for him?"

"What about leaving you here alone...?"

Konan hesitated. In theory she should remain at the leader's side, but Nagato's no-show was also concerning.

"Don't worry about me." Yahiko gave a small smile, gripping the large sword stuck in the ground. "I'm pretty strong, you know."

"Go on."

Konan nodded, left the shelter of the bridge, and gradually vanished into the rain.

[Nagato...]

Yahiko silently watched for a while, an avalanche of thoughts swirling in his mind.

In this time of war, nowhere was truly safe. By virtue of its location, as soon as conflict arose, the Land of Rain was fated to become a battlefield.

Once more, Konoha, Iwagakure, and Sunagakure raged across the Land of Rain, just like the time they'd first encountered Jiraiya-sensei.

But back then, Hanzō—who single handedly preserved some semblance of peace in the Land of Rain—had grown old. No one could stop this escalating war anymore.

He who, in childhood, once yelled that he'd "make the great nations feel the same pain," had no choice but to yield in the face of harsh reality.

He—their strength—was nowhere near enough to accomplish that goal, so all they could do was hope to establish a peace that didn't rely on force.

Naïve, but that was how it was.

He knew perfectly well there was no such peace in this world. "Peace without force" was nothing but the benevolence of the strong—something he'd recognized as a simple truth from childhood.

Even so, he had to believe in it. If he believed, others would, too, and rally around him. Then, if they gained enough power, they could make the three war-torn great nations see them, hear them, and finally negotiate a measure of peace for the Land of Rain—using peace itself as a medium.

When Nagato was fully grown, his pair of eyes should bring about genuine peace, right?

"Peace, huh..."

Yahiko watched raindrops pounding puddles on the ground, ripples spreading in circles. Where no one could see, he let out a tired sigh, revealing the vulnerable look he never showed in front of anyone else.

Even peace without relying on violence still required sacrifices of life to sustain.

He hoped he could be the last to die, leaving his two companions to live on.

…

Near Kannabi Bridge, atop a collapsed cave.

Space distorted for an instant, and Namikaze Minato—his entire body shining gold in Nine-Tails Mode—appeared out of thin air.

[Here...?]

Instantly he extended his sensory ability, discovering that the surrounding terrain looked very familiar.

[Kannabi Bridge? Did the jutsu fail...?]

From Konoha to Kannabi Bridge wasn't very far—within comfortable range for Flying Thunder God—yet a space–time jutsu that even summoning techniques couldn't reverse shouldn't land him this close.

"Huh?"

Minato abruptly vanished again, reappearing on the nearby ground. In his hand he gathered a massive swirling sphere, slamming it down.

Boom!

The resultant explosion and smoke parted to reveal a single White Zetsu, which he hauled from underground with one hand.

Minato skillfully applied a sealing formula on the White Zetsu. In fact, Konoha had encountered one of these odd creatures before—Link had captured it in Amegakure. Supposedly, it was one half of "Zetsu," and after Tsunade's examination, determined to be an entity grown from the First Hokage's cells.

He hadn't expected to see one here too.

[I sense some familiar chakra...]

He stretched his senses further, detecting certain recognizable chakras, and his expression changed. Frowning, he tried lifting any potential genjutsu, but found nothing. Hoisting the unconscious White Zetsu, he flickered away and soon arrived at a camp that looked very familiar.

His flashy arrival caused an uproar. Soon, a jōnin wearing a blue cap and sporting stubbly whiskers appeared and addressed Minato in an amiable tone:

"Minato—back so soon?"

"Huh?" Minato was a bit taken aback.

He did know this jōnin; they had been on decent terms, once commanding the Konoha defense forces on the front lines. But the man was supposed to have retired ages ago—why was he this young now, stationed near Kannabi Bridge?

"What's up?"

Mimura Hamaki, evidently confused, recognized Minato's chakra and face, and didn't see any reason for secret codes. Just a few days ago, "Minato" had saved him. Obviously this was the famous Yellow Flash. But for some reason, Minato was acting like he didn't know him.

Minato kept his composure, deactivating Nine-Tails Mode. He followed them into camp.

By subtly questioning folks, he learned that "he" had just wiped out over fifty Iwa-nin, accomplishing the Kannabi Bridge mission.

He also found out that Kakashi, Obito, and Rin had already gone off on another task.

[Is this the past? Time travel maybe? Kakashi's life changed, Obito's still alive... This must be Lord Tobirama's doing. My disappearance must be related to him...]

He quickly divined the truth, recalling how that war had unfolded. Making an excuse to depart, he once more entered Nine-Tails Mode and zipped around the local battlefields. The more he saw, the more convinced he was that he'd landed in the past; too many old faces—people he'd even personally killed—and the layout of the war matched perfectly.

Acting cautiously, he did nothing extra and instead returned to Kannabi Bridge.

He had used up a lot of time just figuring out when and where he was. There was no time left to search for Senju Tobirama. And anyway, his mission was never to find Tobirama but to probe the environment so they could locate him later.

His expression grew complicated as he sensed a "Minato's" chakra approaching from afar. Holding the scroll, he undid the seal containing Link's chakra, aiming to return to his own place—the jutsu activated once again.

He couldn't help having mixed feelings. In this era, Kushina wasn't yet dead, and the idea of another "Minato" hugging his beloved—even if it was technically himself—gave him a definite sense of unease.

~~~

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