Chapter 279: For the Greater Good

One week later, Main World, Laboratory.

"Okay, I'm heading home. If you need me, just drop by my place anytime."

Hiruzen Sarutobi—looking about three years old—exclaimed this excitedly, hastily pulled up his shorts, and dashed off on his tiny legs.

"Lord Minato, Lady Kushina, are you both ready?" Link asked with a smile, turning to Namikaze Minato.

Uzumaki Kushina, still dressed in maternity clothes, clapped him on the shoulder in her typical bold manner. "Don't be so formal, 'ttebane!"

Ah, that odd catchphrase was back—proof she wasn't quite as calm and collected as she tried to seem.

Off to the side, Naruto felt an urge to complain but instead just rubbed his still-throbbing forehead. From what he'd seen in the past few days, an angry mom could be terrifying.

Minato patted his wife's shoulder, signaling her to go first. Link, now fully prepared, waited for Kushina—grimacing at the foul stench of the Edo Tensei's "black sludge"—to step forward. Then he activated the Reanimation jutsu.

When the mud effigy formed and began to crack open, Link tactfully left the lab with Utakata and Naruto.

After all, there were no clothes once someone was first reincarnated.

A few moments later, a three-year-old "Red-Hot Habanero," now clothed in a white romper, peeked her head out the door. "Link, Naruto, come on in!"

Her voice was super energetic, with a huge grin on her face. She had a slightly chubby, toddler-like roundness to her cheeks, which squished into little dimples when she smiled. Her big eyes narrowed happily, making her look absolutely adorable.

Naruto, feeling a bit unsure, found himself tugged inside by his (now three-year-old) mom.

"So I've now got a mini Aunt Mikoto and a mini Aunt Kushina…" he mused inwardly.

Link also let her lead him in. Inside, Minato—wearing a big smile—looked their way. Link's own lips curved a bit before he composed himself again, quietly slipped free of Kushina's tiny, pudgy hand, and directed his shadow clones to replenish the black sludge for one more person. Utakata placed a three-year-old boy's outfit nearby.

The second reincarnation proceeded smoothly, and in no time, the Fourth Hokage couple was whisked away by Naruto—still somewhat dazed—holding each of them by the hand.

"That's all the tasks for today. Next up is what I need to do in the Second World…"

Link flipped through his notes. Everyone who needed reincarnating had been reincarnated. He'd also secured fifty standard portions of his chakra, each enough to cast the Funa-tsū technique.

He hadn't devoted much effort to training recently. He hadn't summoned anyone new, just stuck to fixed summonings. Honestly, he even missed Maki a bit—that long-suffering shinobi from the Sand who was now completely overshadowed by all the higher-level folks and never got a chance to appear.

His shadow clones were limited by the strength of his base body, and Tsunade, as Hokage, had become more and more lax about developing new medicines. No new drug progress meant Link's physical advancement had stalled out. After all, most of his previous gains came from "doping." Without fresh drugs, making progress by basic training alone—after all the investment he'd already poured into his body—was nearly impossible.

So even though there was still a small amount of Susanoo chakra left over from Uchiha Madara, and a Three-Tails in another world waiting for him to "develop" it, there was no immediate need to create more shadow clones. They weren't strong enough to be worth the effort. Better to wait for further developments in research.

Still, he was thinking about the next step in that same research line—could he possibly manufacture a "Stand" of some sort? Picture standing there flanked by Hashirama on the left and Tobirama on the right, with War Arc Sasuke in front and Minato by his side. Then maybe pick a not-too-strong Stand—one with a mouth—and feed it a couple of those Tailed Beast chakra cubes. That'd be no problem…

And after that, it was time to learn some new jutsu. He still hadn't mastered Wind Release: Net. Maybe he should look for a teacher from Sunagakure? Perhaps an off-world instructor, or maybe one from the main world.

Link pondered it for a bit but then decided to let Senju Tobirama handle it. He'd just wait at the base for someone to show up and train him.

By now, in the Second World, the war had basically ended. Battles involving Konoha, as well as those between other villages, had all been halted. A single week was enough for both Hashiramas to rampage across the entire world.

Tomorrow was the day of the Six Kage Summit. Lady Tsunade from the main world would also attend on behalf of Konoha. Based on Tobirama's plan, the first step was forming a loose alliance to end the negative cycle of competition among the villages. Further collaboration, joint growth, unification—that was all for much later. After so many years of warfare, the deep-rooted hatred on every side was a real obstacle.

Tobirama had never seen a world under a single government. He had no idea what would happen if they suddenly tried to unify everything. Since the main world was relatively stable, he'd decided to experiment gradually in the Second World first.

"Still, that old Madara, plus the possible return of Kaguya, is a major threat…"

"But we can't just send a team in blindly—if Madara ambushes them, we'd be stuck in a 'firefighter trapped saving a cat from a tree' fiasco…"

"Seems like you've got a lot on your mind, Link," a voice chimed in. Orochimaru had entered the lab after the reincarnation and now stood to one side, his tone laced with amusement. "From the looks of it, the other worlds haven't gone exactly as planned?"

"Or are you facing some problem even you can't solve?"

"You and that clever tongue of yours…" Link shot him a wary look, sounding coolly dismissive. In truth, though, he felt more relaxed.

Months ago, if he'd seen Orochimaru, his first instinct would've been to kill him, then toss his soul into some Swamp of the Underworld. But after such a long period of cooperation, he'd come to see that while Orochimaru was undoubtedly sinister, he also had real talent—and he was surprisingly upfront about his motivations. He wanted eternal reincarnation and unlimited access to other worlds, so he had every reason to be on Link's side.

Call it pragmatic, but until someone else came along offering a different path to immortality and inter-world travel, Orochimaru was one of the most reliable allies around. Senju Tobirama, for one, shared a certain "mad scientist" synergy with him. They clicked perfectly on research, swapping data across the dimensions to push their experiments forward.

"Indeed. He's a handy tool. Might as well let past grudges slide," Link thought with a quiet sigh. He'd always believed he'd stand by "justice" no matter what—or "bear a grudge" until the end, at least. But less than a year later, he was already compromising for the sake of benefits.

Of course, it was a very rational decision, paving the way for his climb to "the Throne."

"Get your things ready. We'll be heading to another world soon," he said, directing his shadow clones to clean up the lab equipment as he spoke without looking up.

Orochimaru didn't look surprised but did smile. "Link, did you know? During my experiments, I discovered a small secret about the Funa-tsū technique."

"Oh?" Link glanced over.

Orochimaru didn't tease him by withholding details. He got straight to the point. "It can track the chakra of anyone who's used it before."

"…But no matter what, it can't track yours."

~~~

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