The door of the intensive care ward opened with a click, drawing everyone's gaze from the corridor.
After Link walked out, his eyes suddenly fixed on the pregnant Second-World Kushina not far away, who was being helped to stand.
Wait, going by the timeline, Naruto shouldn't even be conceived yet.
Minato, you worked a bit too fast!
Hmm, or rather… "worked" might not be the best word…
He turned his head toward the young Minato of the Second Parallel World, only to notice that, originally, the two sides in the corridor had been sitting apart—yet now, in their shared concern, they'd come together. Helping the Second-World Kushina stand was her smaller self, the child-Kushina of the Main World.
Link felt a slight stir in his chest. Ultimately, it was love that could erase the dividing lines, uniting everyone in the same heartfelt emotion.
"How are Jiraiya's injuries?" x2
One voice was childishly high-pitched, the other old and hoarse—both the Third Hokages, each asking in sync. They came up face to face, tension visible.
Link snapped out of his thoughts, nodding calmly:
"They're fine; they'll wake up soon."
In truth, he had initially planned to just outright reincarnate both of them. But on second thought, that'd be letting them off too easily, especially when they'd caused so many troubles. Merely letting them smoothly begin new lives felt… insufficient.
So in the end, he'd used his Delicate Illness Extraction Technique to treat them up to a workable level, then left the rest of the surgeries and treatments to Tsunade of the Main World.
Everyone else present—family, friends, colleagues—finally relaxed. They were relieved that at least it wouldn't require saving up large amounts of "Contribution Points" to resurrect those two troublemakers.
"Tobirama-sama, I have something I want to talk to you about."
Link issued a private invitation.
Since directly manifesting chakra to communicate through the Network with so many people around might seem rude—and Link wasn't Sakura—he figured it best to talk in private.
Main-World Tobirama nodded.
The two of them stepped aside into a nearby room; Link spoke up first:
"About Jiraiya and the others—have you decided how to deal with them?"
Tobirama paused for a bit. Indeed, it was somewhat unexpected that those two had managed to return alive.
Initially, he had assumed they'd end up dead, so that their relatives could pay Contribution Points to resurrect them, which, from one point of view, might've been the price for their mistakes.
But with them coming back alive, that changed things. After all, it involved quite a few people from three different worlds, including two versions of the Third Hokage, two versions of the Fourth Hokage, multiple Nine-Tails Jinchūriki, and Kakashi.
On top of that, Naruto from the "Future" world had pleaded for them. Doing anything too ruthless would have its repercussions.
Still, he couldn't help feeling anger over the fiasco they had caused, nearly leading to Kaguya's invasion.
He and Link exchanged glances, each understanding the other's thoughts.
"How about this," Link slowly proposed the idea he'd just come up with.
Actually, the Second-World Jiraiya wasn't so bad—he'd mostly been forcibly discovered by someone else. According to what the Second-World Madara had said, Jiraiya had wandered the world for a few days before Madara captured him.
The major headache was the Jiraiya of the Main World. In the early period of exploring other worlds, back when nobody fully grasped the procedures or the dangers of the "Funa-tsū ", he'd roamed alone—knowing full well that his strength had declined drastically after losing contact with Mount Myoboku. Then he'd ended up messing up everything.
Thereby inadvertently letting the cross-world travel scroll and Link's chakra fall into enemy hands—thus triggering the subsequent string of disasters. By all rights, that was a major, near-unforgivable blunder.
But to be fair, Tobirama himself bore some responsibility. As the Second-World Madara had said, Black Zetsu had followed Tobirama to the new world. If he hadn't gone after Jiraiya, he would've targeted someone else.
Not to mention Obito with two Rinnegan—anyone caught off-guard could be instantly killed. Even the First-World Hashirama might have lost if he'd let down his guard. Limbo: Border Jail was just too nasty.
So, if one truly wanted to chase accountability to the end… you would find each side blaming the other.
Still, Jiraiya of the Main World remained the bigger problem—he had insisted on roaming alone, leading to the fiasco. So Link's suggestion was:
Let him return to the Main World and serve as Hokage.
Yes, Jiraiya had once expressed interest in that seat. If he took the job, it wouldn't exactly be letting him off easy. Managing Konoha could be considered an endless punishment, plus it might give him a chance to atone.
Tobirama squinted.
"You simply want to dump your seat on him."
He fired back with that mild taunt, then added:
"As for the Second-World Jiraiya, let the Second-World Konoha handle it."
After all, that Jiraiya wasn't "ours." Even though everyone was now part of the Shinobi Union, internal personnel matters should be solved by each "world's" village. And you never know—maybe they'd want to do him some favor or hold him accountable in a certain way.
Anyway, consider it some small courtesy to keep out of others' internal affairs. As for the original fiasco with those Jiraiyas, that was water under the bridge. Kaguya had shown up, but ended up repelled—no reason to fuss further.
"Then about the Main-World Jiraiya…" Tobirama paused. Ears tinted red with annoyance. "He can forget about becoming Hokage. Let him help you with your workload."
He could at least do something. Frankly, Tobirama found the man irritating. No sense in killing him—nor letting him off scot-free. So simply forcing him into administrative work was fitting.
Two hours later, inside the ward:
"Lord Third…"
The Main-World Jiraiya cast a plea-filled look at—ugh—a three-year-old Hiruzen Sarutobi. The scene itself was surreal. Then Jiraiya frowned and sighed, giving in:
"…Never mind."
A simple healing from the Delicate Illness Extraction Technique could have instantly revitalized them—enough to fight Pain for 300 rounds. So why were they still lying around? Only because Link was "petty."
Over on the side, the Main-World Minato also sighed, not sure how to speak up for his teacher who'd messed up so royally. Meanwhile, the Third Hokage from that same world wore a helpless expression, repeatedly glancing at Tobirama for a read.
Link stepped forward. He was already fully recovered—why keep them bedridden? Precisely because they'd caused so many problems. He pressed a hand onto the Main-World Jiraiya's body.
In seconds, he extracted the last bits of damaging "patient matter" with Delicate Illness Extraction and flicked them away, then tossed a soldier pill into Jiraiya's mouth without any change in expression.
"Lord Jiraiya, let's be on our way,"
—he used a polite form of address, but zero politeness in tone.
Feeling his earlier stabbing pains and weakness vanish, Jiraiya opened his mouth as if to protest, but, seeing Tobirama's icy gaze, he swallowed the words back. After a pause of a few seconds, he gave a weary nod.
"All right, I understand…"
Lecherous, undisciplined, going his own way—he had plenty of faults. Yet for all that, he wasn't the type to shirk responsibility once pinned down. He would just quietly accept the penalty he deserved.
~~~
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