A month later, in the main world, Konoha Village, in the corridor outside the records room:
"No way—I've been really busy lately…"
Main-World Sakura said with some difficulty.
She was now a jōnin. When it didn't involve romance, her brain worked extremely well, and she had more stored knowledge than many other jōnin. Thanks to this, Tobirama had assigned her a heavy load of tasks. She was just here to pick up some documents, only to run into the Hokage blocking the hallway, asking for help. She felt a bit torn.
"It's not like we'd be going over there full-time; I have work to do as well."
Link heaved a sigh. "We'll simply use our free time to go over. We'll be six in total, paired in twos, so we won't waste much time."
"Hold on, six of us? Who else did you invite?"
Sakura, from the main world, looked rather interested.
"Sasuke, Utakata, Naruto, Karin, you, and me," Link counted them off. Then he added, "I've already talked to Utakata and Sasuke. I haven't asked Naruto yet, and as for Karin—"
"I'm in!" Main-World Sakura agreed without hesitation.
"But I want to be paired with Sasuke!" ×2
In Link's head, he recalled Karin's exact same words from yesterday. Sure enough, the two girls had blurted out the identical line.
"You'll have to ask Sasuke about that." He phrased it tactfully. "Anyway, tomorrow—once you clock out—come by Training Ground Seven."
Main-World Sakura, so smart in all matters except romance and the man she liked, completely failed to notice his subtext. Excitedly clutching the files, she left.
Link shook his head, thinking that the chances of her successfully teaming up with Sasuke were slim. Not to mention competing with Karin, from Sasuke's perspective, his top pick was Link, then Naruto—these two girls weren't in the lead at all.
Uh, that sounded a little odd, but realistically, they were all still kids in their early teens. Where was there any romance?
The real pairing was probably him and Utakata, especially with Utakata as the "battery pack." The pairing would likely be the four guys in pairs, and the two girls in the other pair.
Contemplating it for a moment, Link messaged Main-World Naruto via the Network with a quick summary, inviting him. He'd talk to Sakura in person, but Naruto, being more familiar, could just get a text message.
"Sixth Hokage-sama."
Main-World Sakura suddenly circled back, returning for a moment. "Oh, right—Tobirama-sama asked me to inform you to hurry over to the Second Parallel World. He needs your help with something."
"Got it," Link replied, then reminded her, "Don't forget—after work tomorrow, be at Training Ground Seven."
"Sure!" she nodded, then hurried off again.
The Network portal opened at regular intervals under normal conditions—every half hour for five minutes. If he didn't hurry, he'd have to wait for the next one. As for who was opening that portal? The Tailed Beasts.
Indeed, the Shinobi Union had decided how to handle the Tailed Beasts: thanks to Hashirama (from the Second Parallel World) and Tobirama talking things over with them, they'd basically hired the Tailed Beasts as ["Network Portal Specialists"]. Given their enormous chakra capacity and ability to produce chakra, operating a Network portal was as easy as breathing.
Humans would feel pain from expending too much chakra at once, but Tailed Beasts had no such concerns about physical weakness. For a Tailed Beast, launching a Tailed Beast Bomb was akin to vomiting up a large mass, which caused discomfort if done excessively, whereas fueling the Network portal was more like spitting saliva—a piece of cake. So the Tailed Beasts no longer suffered.
Specifically, the eight Tailed Beasts in the Second Parallel World plus the four that had been sealed in the Gedo Statue (courtesy of Obito) made up 12 in total. Among them, 4-Tails Son Gokū and 7-Tails Chōmei wanted to return to their respective homelands, so they left. The rest were content to stay, thanks to Tobirama's negotiating (plus the unspoken threat of Hashirama's terrifying Wood Release). Possibly, they realized there was no big difference as long as they could live in an environment suited to them.
Anyway, the reason Link was summoned remained uncertain. Maybe someone had finally gathered the "contribution points" needed for a rebirth, or something else. Either way, he took out a scroll, teleported to the Second Parallel World.
"Sixth Hokage-sama."
As soon as he landed, a young ninja stationed to oversee the arrival point called out and slightly bowed from atop his chair.
Link made a down-wave with his hand, waiting for them to report to the Barrier Team. Then he passed through the barrier, heading for the Shinobi Union building.
That used to be the Hokage building of the God Tree Bridge Outpost, just refurbished. He went directly to find Tobirama, but upon arrival at the top-floor office—knock knock—no one was there. Checking the Net, he learned they were all at the Shinobi Union Hospital.
In an instant, he headed there, arriving outside ward #17. The corridor was full: the Second Parallel World folks on one side, the Main World folks on the other, neatly divided.
The elderly Hiruzen Sarutobi from the Second Parallel World and his Main World toddler counterpart sat across from each other, both wearing grave expressions.
The two Minatos (young and child) stood nearby, looking tense. The Second Parallel World Tsunade was in a corner with her hands over her face, evidently distraught.
When Tobirama from the Main World saw Link arrive, he stood and said, "Go on in and help. Hashirama and the others captured Black Zetsu."
"Meaning Jiraiya…?"
Link realized why they were in the hospital.
Main World Tobirama nodded.
Link wasted no time, pushed open the door, and saw Main World Tsunade with Shizune and a group of med-nin gathered around two beds.
Both Jiraiyas appeared, and neither looked good, each breathing weakly as if about to die. The entire treatment team was pouring all their energy into them.
"Link." Tsunade from the Main World felt relief at the sight of the man who could save them. In the puzzled eyes of the other medical-nin, she moved aside so he could step in front.
Shizune also stepped back, pulling the others away.
Link moved right up and pressed a palm against the nearest Jiraiya. Boy, his body's functions had deteriorated so badly, his chakra must have been forcibly drained by something, and his meridians were in total disarray. Under ordinary healing, even if he survived, he'd be crippled.
By Link's standards:
Might as well just give him a new life via rebirth.
~~~
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