Chapter 272: The Shadow started Moving...

"Bye-bye~"

Waving happily at the door, Ino beamed.

"See you." Link returned her smile, a bouquet of lilies in hand. He planned to take them to the hospital later for Naruto.

As expected, he didn't know what else to say.

Just now, while chatting with the girl, Ino had gone on and on about amusing anecdotes: for example, how Chōji got called 'fatso' by a client on a mission and his face turned purple with anger, or how Asuma seemed to be raising some unknown little girl, only for Kurenai to corner him at the door. Stories about friends, rumors—she talked a mile a minute.

Meanwhile, Link could only chime in with "Yes," "Haha," "Mmhm."

He was surprised to find that after spending these twelve years chasing power, he'd lost the ability to have a genuine conversation with a not-so-familiar girl.

Forget it…

Walking only a short distance, he spotted a dango shop and cast aside all those random thoughts, walking inside cheerfully to buy some dango.

Eating sweets was just too blissful.

Chewing on a dango, sipping some sweet juice, Link sat by the roadside, going over his upcoming plans:

First, cooperate with Tobirama to gauge how his mutated ninjutsu might behave in a different world. After all, if they were switching worlds, what if the "system" turned out incompatible?

Then, there were the issues of Edo Tensei and Rashōmon.

Rashōmon, with its set cooldown, allowed him only so many summons from among the three Hokage at a time. Usually, he tried to stagger their summoning. Only occasionally would he bring them out all together. But if an enemy attacked during a cooldown period, that could be trouble.

As for Edo Tensei, he certainly planned to reincarnate them eventually—he couldn't just keep people "dead" indefinitely for his own use. Even if he was fine with it, their families wouldn't be.

He still needed to maintain a somewhat righteous image.

According to Tobirama's deductions, once Hashirama was reincarnated, he should carry over some portion of his old chakra. Considering how Hashirama's chakra was on par with Naruto+Kurama combined, even burning through 90% of it left more than what 99% of people had.

His "Spirit" stat was a full 10 – losing 90% still left him at 10.

The only downside was that the new body would be physically fragile, and any "muscle memory" or reflexes had to be retrained. But with Link's Delicate Illness Extraction on hand, a month or so of training should restore him to Kage-level.

Possibly stronger than a normal Kage. But losing the monstrous body stats meant this unstoppable super-Kage would become more like a cannon: formidable but with a glaring weakness in close combat.

No telling how soon he could regain his original strength. Probably enough in the short term.

Anyway, the main world's Madara was sealed away, stashed in the other world.

The missing Tobi had a Rinnegan somewhere, but he was untraceable. Even the Naruto world's best, including Kaguya, couldn't handle Kamui easily; they might have to rely on the next Sasuke's second Mangekyō ability or see if the parallel Tobi might help.

Black Zetsu was likewise untraceable. Even top-tier sensors—Nine-Tails Mode Minato, Six Paths Tobi, Six Paths Madara—couldn't detect him. A total glass cannon, but an expert at survival. Without a new host to manipulate, he likely wouldn't cause major trouble.

In the parallel world, that timeline's Madara was presumably underground, connected to tubes. If he tried to leave them, he'd die. No "Tobi" inheritor meant he'd remain there.

But Rinnegan needed retrieving soon. After Kannabi Bridge, Yahiko would soon be doomed. Reanimating a teenage Yahiko again? He died at fifteen; it hardly seemed necessary. Summoning that timeline's Hashirama and letting him step up was enough. With an Eternal Mangekyō Sasuke by his side, the Third Shinobi War background was basically in the bag.

All Tobirama's scheduling was in place: they'd reanimate that world's Hashirama first, let him take a month or two to recover some power, then reincarnate Hiruzen. Once that world's war ended, wave in Minato.

Beyond those three top-level fighters, everyone else would get reincarnated immediately, to start regaining power. That would be more beneficial in the long run.

Putting aside "village business," Link also had his own plans:

1. Go to Amegakure, find the Akatsuki. Bring the main-world Nagato's trio plus Sasuke, Bubble, and see if they'd join voluntarily. If they couldn't be persuaded, they'd capture them.

2. Tailed Beasts: war was the best time to capture them. Attempting it in the main world might prompt more conflict—but in that parallel world, forcibly seizing the enemy's Tailed Beast was fair game. Aside from the Nine-Tails, the other eight were up for grabs.

3. Link wanted to test whether Delicate Illness Extraction could save a jinchūriki who lost their beast. If they were hopeless, then Edo Tensei was always an option. "Kill them big, give them back small," so to speak.

4. Possibly snatch more ninjutsu in the chaos, especially from Sunagakure or Iwagakure, since he'd only learned the basics of Earth Release and Wind Release.

Finishing off the final bit of his sweet drink, Link made a small belch, crumpled the empty can, tossing it in a trash bin. He picked up the bouquet of lilies again, flickered toward Konoha Hospital.

Time to get to work.

…

Parallel World, near Kusagakure, underground…

"Link's arrived,"

Two half-white, half-black Zetsu emerged from the ground. The black one from the main world spoke respectfully.

Sitting before the massive Gedo Statue, Madara—old and frail, hair white and unkempt, clothed in a black robe—lifted his ringed eyes, expression cold. After his "own" Zetsu nodded confirmation, he said:

"Looks like they plan to move themselves into this world. We need to speed up capturing the Tailed Beasts."

Six figures in black robes swayed in the shadows.

"Use those two Myōbokuzan summoners we captured before to stall them. They're yours, Zetsu—shouldn't be a problem, right?"

The other timeline's Zetsu bowed. "Your will."

Watching that "other" Zetsu leave, Madara's face remained cold. "Keep a close eye on it."

"Yes," his own Zetsu responded, then also departed.

Information from the "future" had helped fill in his original plan: find a successor, then deliberately die so that successor would gather the Tailed Beasts while waiting for whoever might handle Rinne Tensei.

But from the new intelligence, that "successor" in the future clearly wasn't loyal, and "Zetsu" had let them do as they pleased. Strange, indeed.

Madara stood. If Zetsu was truly "his creation," normally he'd trust it wholeheartedly. Now, though, the possibility of other "Madara" sending in a Zetsu overshadowed that.

He didn't trust anyone. If even Zetsu might be someone else's creation or will, that was unacceptable.

It's either absolute trust or absolute distrust.

Even if it's "himself," each version of "Madara" wouldn't share or submit. They understood themselves too well: how could they serve some other them?

"Tailed Beasts… matter little,"

He revealed a rare grin. What truly mattered was the infinite realm of possibilities. Through that "other-worldly" intel, he'd learned enough about Link's technique.

He needed to occupy those two Zetsu. Then he himself would visit other worlds, find a suitable "Nagato," forcibly resurrect himself, presumably.

"Just you wait, Hashirama…"

Madara yanked out the tubes from his back, ignoring the crippling weakness. Relying on the Rinnegan's chakra feed, he managed to stand.

Pulling open a scroll, with six equally ringed–eyed forms in black robes, he vanished into a swirling dimension of space-time.

~~~

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