Chapter 268: Improving...

Ichiraku Ramen

"Hey there, Link, Naruto. Good afternoon."

Teuchi gave a friendly wave, wiping his hands on his apron. "What'll it be today?"

"Good afternoon. Miso ramen for me," Link said as he sat down, smiling. Then he glanced at Uzumaki Naruto, who had come in with him. "What about you? I'll treat."

"Shio (salt) ramen," Naruto answered, looking rather listless. After sitting down, he hesitated briefly, then asked, "Where exactly did Sasuke and Ero–sennin go?"

He'd tried asking his dad and Kakashi–sensei, but got no real answer. Figuring Link might know, he and Sakura had "conspired" about sneaking in to ask him.

Unfortunately, as a shinobi, he had gotten used to using the window. But as soon as he landed on the windowsill of Link's house, he was confronted by a mass of standing shadows. A brutal "battle" ensued (he got beaten), ending with him being hung off the balcony. Even the waiting Sakura didn't dare come any closer—there were just so many shadow–figures, it was downright oppressive.

Worse, these shadows ignored genjutsu. He couldn't begin to think how to beat them.

"All you wanted was to find out where they went?" Link said with a slight chuckle. "You could've just asked me. Breaking into my house like that—seriously…"

Thanks to not knowing where Obito and Black Zetsu might be, Link had been constantly mass–producing Eight Gates–type shadow doubles using chakra blocks from Uchiha Madara's Susanoo.

He'd never stopped pushing himself. He'd already eaten enough pills that they hardly had any effect, and had grown increasingly accustomed to the pain of opening the Eight Gates. By building up his tolerance, he'd gradually been able to open the gates without anesthesia at times, and he repeated the process over and over. It was brutal. He had nearly died a thousand times in training—cardiac arrest at least a hundred, cerebral hemorrhage three hundred, organ failure two hundred, borderline sudden death about a thousand.

Because it turned out his upper limit of clone–making was extremely high, combined with Delicate Illness Extraction, the training had been like dying and coming back. He eventually got used to the pain of going up to the Third Gate. Standing still without moving, he might dare to open up to the Fifth Gate, albeit risking total collapse.

Under these circumstances, the strength of his "Eight Gates Shadows" had skyrocketed.

Never mind how the village was carefully guarding and looking after him—he himself felt that so long as he didn't run into someone with top–tier space–time ninjutsu or certain "super–Kage–level" monsters, he could easily hold his own against most Kage–level opponents.

Moreover, there were many different clones, each with unique special skills or powers. Sure, the "Wind Release: Great Breakthrough" effect was short–lived, but investing more chakra to create a specialized shadow was no big deal. Sometimes he'd roll the dice and get shadows with speed breakthroughs or strength breakthroughs, direct and unflashy but very effective. Some purely Taijutsu–type clones could even put up a decent match against Might Guy. In raw numbers, their physical ability might reach a 9 rating.

If Uchiha Itachi tried to do his ambush again, Link might have dozens of "Eight Gates Shadows" stomp him flat—though obviously not the healthy, full–power version of Itachi.

Of course, newly made clones didn't get any stronger. Their maximum potential was fixed the moment he created them. As each wave of stronger clones took on frontline roles, older or more standard ones got retired. Those older clones still remained on standby in corners of Konoha. In total, thousands of them just lurked quietly in the village's shadowed spots.

At his own house in particular, there was a swarm of old–model Eight Gates Shadows. Fighting them in tight quarters was hopeless. Even if Naruto used partial Nine–Tails power, he'd probably still get pummeled.

[By the way, Jiraiya had tried loosening Naruto's Eight Trigrams Seal a bit so Naruto could control more of the Nine–Tails. He got caught off–guard and ended up hammered by Four–Tails Naruto face–to–face. After Minato was reanimated, for reasons unknown, he just talked privately with Naruto and did not re–strengthen the seal. As a result, Naruto was currently restricted to the village, with all missions on hold. If the Nine–Tails' chakra went berserk again, it'd be a huge problem.]

"Sakura, you can come in too," Link called slightly louder, glancing at the door.

Haruno Sakura walked in quickly, sitting beside Naruto, and offered an awkward grin. "Hah… w–what a coincidence…"

"Yeah, quite a coincidence indeed. The two of you sneaking onto my balcony—one up top, one hiding below. Real clever." Link mercilessly teased the pair, who hung their heads in embarrassment. "As for Sasuke, he's dealing with his own issues somewhere. In time, you'll be able to see him."

Information about this alternate world would gradually open up to core members. Kakashi's team was definitely qualified to know. Besides, Naruto was the Fourth Hokage's son and the Nine–Tails Jinchūriki, plus he knew about the reanimation secret. If all went well, a child–sized "Fourth Hokage" might end up being escorted to that new world by Naruto himself sometime later.

Under Tobirama's plan, migrating more people to the parallel world would proceed in waves. Naruto was scheduled for the fifth wave, probably in a month. No need to rush.

As for Sakura—thanks to the changes in this timeline, she was much stronger now than at the same point in canon. She showed outstanding talent for genjutsu, quickly nearing Kurenai's level. Bear in mind that right after graduating, she'd never even studied illusions, yet had something like a 6 in Genjutsu thanks to pure talent.

Her Hand Seal rating was even crazier: an 8. Meaning her chakra extraction and control surpassed Asuma's, almost catching up to Kurenai's 9. And her mental acuity (Wisdom) was at least a 7, the standard for a jōnin. Overall knowledge and battle sense—top tier.

For a genjutsu–type ninja, physical stats hardly mattered. What they needed was "Mental," "Illusion," and "Knowledge" at or above certain thresholds. At that point, dealing with chūnin or even most jōnin unskilled in illusions was straightforward. They'd get insta–KO'd by genjutsu.

In the manga, Sakura at this stage would still be grinding through Tsunade's basic medical–ninjutsu lessons. Yet in this version, she'd studied a wealth of illusions under Kurenai, spent time training with Link and Sasuke, and was leagues above her canon self in all areas.

Given that over a year remained before the "Shippūden era," Tsunade was already planning to promote Sakura to Special Jōnin. Tied to Kakashi and Kurenai's recommendations, she was definitely an up–and–coming star in the Hokage faction.

True, illusions had a lower ultimate ceiling compared to something like Sharingan, but the "floor" was extremely high. It also required far less knowledge than advanced medical ninjutsu. With the right talent, you could master it rapidly.

And with Sakura's gift, she might well forge her own new path, making one wonder whether a "Genjutsu Sakura" might someday outstrip the original "War–Arc Sakura."

~~~

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