Chapter 262: The Third Shinobi World War is coming soon...

The Next Day, Parallel World – Kannabi Bridge

Boom!

Jiraiya slammed his hand onto the ground to invoke a Summoning Jutsu. White smoke billowed up, but no toad emerged. His chakra was immediately drained, and his face went deathly pale, cold sweat rolling down.

"Jiraiya-sensei!"

Namikaze Minato steadied the swaying man and offered him a soldier pill with concern.

Jiraiya shook his head. "No good. It really is another world, way too far from our own. Summoning won't work back and forth."

His chakra reserves were hardly in question—among normal shinobi (excluding a handful of cheats), he stood at the pinnacle. But he couldn't even summon a tadpole from Mount Myōboku.

It was a world of difference compared to Link, who needed only a tiny bit of chakra to slip between two worlds.

"Old man, Minato, I'll leave negotiating with this Konoha to you," Jiraiya said gravely, swallowing one of the special soldier pills Tsunade had made.

Besides the huge chakra consumption, he had another pressing matter to handle. He couldn't serve the village this time. Sarutobi Hiruzen sighed and watched as, once his chakra was replenished, his student sprang off alone. Then he turned to glance at Minato.

[Such a willful guy,] Shimura Danzō thought, observing Jiraiya's too-easy going attitude.

Minato nodded, signaling Hiruzen with his eyes. He'd already left a Flying Thunder God mark on his teacher's body. In a foreign world, apparently under surveillance by White Zetsu (and even though many things seemed identical to the past), caution was crucial. Without the toads of Mount Myōboku, Jiraiya's strength would take a big hit.

The Flying Thunder God mark was a layer of protection.

They didn't linger at Kannabi Bridge but hurried on toward that world's Konoha. Being reanimated spirits, their time was limited; they had eight hours to make initial contact before returning to their own side.

After a three-hour gap imposed by Rashōmon, they could be summoned again.

Time was precious and short.

Meanwhile, once Jiraiya split off, he traveled day and night. In just a few days, he located a "version" of himself.

"You're—?!"

This second Jiraiya, looking significantly younger, was shocked that the stranger had nearly identical looks and chakra. Almost instinctively he clapped his hands, summoning Gamachu from Mount Myōboku.

"Hmm?" Gamabunta had been ready to attack an enemy, but upon seeing another, slightly older Jiraiya, it froze. Its tongue, lashing out midair, stalled. It blinked, asking, "T-two... two Jiraiyas?!"

While the two men stood facing off, they failed to notice a pair of Rinnegan eyes fixed on the scroll at the waist of the Jiraiya from the main world, the scroll containing Link's chakra.

…

Half a Month Later, Konoha Village – Training Ground Seven

[Another failure…]

Link had just botched his attempt at Wind Release: Cast Net. He shook his head and used "Great Breakthrough" on himself, sensing his nose hair growing insanely fast before promptly dispelling the effect. Feeling somewhat bored, he sat down on a rock.

As usual, Uchiha Sasuke and Utakata guarded him closely. Ever since Uchiha Obito and Black Zetsu escaped, those two were on edge, convinced someone was always plotting against Link.

Frankly, it wasn't unpleasant being protected that way. But much like how Hiruzen gently asked him to wait before visiting the parallel world, the protection was so complete it made him genuinely think life was a bit dull.

What was once an unknown adventure had turned into a safe, guided outing; it naturally drained away much of the thrill.

He'd been prepared to dash into that other world for an adventure, but now…

All his past worries were gone. Konoha provided anything he wanted. His cultivated "model child" persona won everyone's support. Judging from the surface, it was just him, Sasuke, and Utakata at Training Ground Seven.

In reality, there was a ring of Anbu around them—at least a dozen. Even the Hokage didn't get such heavy security.

Why hadn't Hashirama gone off to the parallel world to find his brother? Because he stayed nearby, ready to protect Link at any moment.

The First Hokage's sensory skills might not be the greatest in raw range—compared to his mighty direct combat prowess—but in practice, his sensing wasn't much weaker than Tobirama's. So long as Link stayed in the village, it was easy enough for Hashirama to keep track of him.

If Link's chakra wavered, Hashirama would enter Sage Mode, pumping his detection to its peak, capable of arriving on the battlefield in seconds.

[I wonder how negotiations with that Third Hokage's group went—and what on earth happened to Jiraiya, anyway.]

Link lay back, gazing at the gathering clouds, thoughts drifting.

When Konoha's squad first ventured to the alternate world, something unexpected happened: Jiraiya broke away and never returned. Only later, through subsequent investigations, did they learn the two Jiraiyas had vanished together.

According to information from the "Second Minato," those two Jiraiyas had recently gone to Mount Myōboku, then left, never to reappear. They hadn't even summoned a single toad.

The village lacked manpower to pursue the missing men; evidently, forging a relationship with that parallel Konoha was more important. Simple tests proved altering the other parallel world didn't affect the main one, and they even retrieved the youthful Tobirama.

So they began exploring the new world, negotiating with the second Konoha. Yesterday, the Fifth Hokage, Tsunade, led two Hokage, two advisers, plus Shimura Danzō in a group to that parallel world, planning to sign an official alliance.

Not everyone was like Sasuke—who, on hearing about another version of himself whose tragedy hadn't happened, yearned to go fix the past. Even the two Hokage didn't see a need to fight for their parallel selves. Especially Danzō, who immediately opposed any unconditional aid to the second Konoha. All that back-and-forth dragged on for half a month.

This morning, three Hokage left for that parallel world. Only three hours had passed so far, leaving two more before the planned five-hour mark. The village's future was on the line, as was Link's chance to visit and "have some fun." Of course he was anxious, and it distracted him slightly from his training.

Currently, his progress in Wind Release training was no slower than his Earth Release studies. Although Konoha had few wind experts, Shimura Danzō was arguably the best at it.

Second to none.

That old codger had really gone out of his way, learning Link wanted to practice Wind Release. He eagerly poured out all he knew—nothing withheld—unveiling a trove of wind-style jutsu and scrolls he had kept hidden away.

With an extreme Wind Release master supporting him and his own massive experience from Earth Release, Link couldn't help but improve quickly.

In only a couple of weeks, he grasped Danzō's best vacuum-series techniques:

Vacuum Sphere, Vacuum Great Sphere, Vacuum Wave, Vacuum Serial Waves, and Vacuum Blade.

All were high-difficulty B-Rank jutsu. But their mutated forms, well, ended up…bizarre. With "vacuum" in their names, the transformations were all about creating vacuums.

Vacuum Sphere formed a chakra orb of chosen shape—quite fragile, breaking at the slightest bump. Once shattered, it could push the air away to form a brief vacuum zone, adjustable in duration and intensity depending on how much chakra was used. The lone advantage was that if the orb wasn't shattered, it didn't vanish.

Vacuum Great Sphere was basically a much larger orb. No further comment needed.

Vacuum Wave was an invisible wave forming a vacuum; Vacuum Serial Waves was a continuous stream of waves you could blow from your mouth, effectively spitting an endless vacuum.

Vacuum Blade produced a thin-as-paper, hiltless blade of vacuum. Interesting effect: if it stabbed a living target, the cells in the wound would be treated as if exposed to vacuum conditions.

Originally, wind-style was infamous for its lethal cutting power, but in Link's hands, everything became bizarre. Sure, vacuum could devastate living things—but it required time, plus a high level of vacuum purity. To raise that, you had to pump in more chakra.

Link felt maybe the vacuum series wasn't meant for direct offense. Using vacuum to kill a ninja took a while, so it was simpler to throw a kunai. How exactly to use them, he wasn't sure, but it could be worth more research someday.

He hadn't spent too long mastering them. The entire vacuum line, like Danzō himself, might be useful in the future but currently had limited practical value.

That left the elusive Wind Release: Net Formation from Suna. It was more challenging than expected, unlike the simple method of blowing out wind-chakra in various shape manipulations.

Its usage was ingenious: first using wind-natured chakra to harness the natural wind, then injecting more chakra to shape that wind into a broad net. Its standard form was already quite good—fast, wide area, inherent slicing power from wind-natured chakra. It looked like a net, but on contact, the user could transform each "strand" into a razor-sharp, invisible blade anytime.

As for how it'd mutate under Link's powers, he wasn't super hopeful—he was just going through the motions. The vacuum line was so frustrating that he couldn't help but see wind release in a jaded light.

It wasn't about practicality so much as the fun of unveiling a "mystery box" of new jutsu. Link was starting to understand some of Orochimaru's old fascination for discovering new techniques.

[So what'll Cast Net do for me…?]

He watched the slow-moving clouds, dozing off and drifting into half-dreams of random, disjointed images.

It felt like only a second had passed when he sensed Utakata speaking:

"Link, the Hokage have returned."

"They're back?"

He jolted upright and hurried to the Hokage's office.

Standing in the center of that office was a Namikaze Minato in a green jōnin vest, not so different from the reanimated version, though with a slightly different expression and gaze. As a living man, the parallel Minato was less mature and steady than the "deceased" one.

Seeing a random kid come in, Jōnin Minato looked over, intrigued, curiosity flickering in his eyes.

Their "Konoha #2" had apparently made the same call, sending the master of space-time ninjutsu and the "world's fastest shinobi" to test the waters.

"…All right, I see," Tsunade said, nodding.

They seemed to have been discussing something just now.

Hiruzen took the initiative and explained, "We've reached a cooperation agreement with that other world's village. They'll actively help us set up an outpost in the Land of Fire. In exchange, we must get involved in the war."

So…they were about to fight the Third Great Ninja War?

Link felt a surge of excitement.

~~~

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