Second Parallel World – Kannabi Bridge Base, Training Ground
"You probably won't be leaving here anytime soon," Link said, palms up in a helpless gesture.
"Yeah." The young Baki's voice was sullen. He tried to keep a calm face, but his gaze kept flicking uneasily toward the nearby Anbu guards sent by the main-world Konoha.
The Cast Net Jutsu was critical and now public knowledge, but unfortunately for this new jōnin from Sunagakure, he happened to be the first outsider to learn about it.
That meant he might be able to deduce the connections between Reincarnation, the Funa-tsū technique, and Link himself—a big problem.
Right away, Uchiha Sasuke used genjutsu alongside the Yamanaka clan's secret arts to wipe his memories, but there was no telling if some jutsu might later restore them. So he had to stay in the base under observation for a while.
After all, Sunagakure was famously adept at information warfare, skilled with sealing jutsu, memory-altering techniques, and so on. One had to be on guard.
Thus, until the Ninja Alliance stabilized and Link's central role was at least partially revealed, young Baki was stuck here.
"Oh yeah, about the Wind Release: Net—"
Link promptly shifted into training mode.
"Wait, did I ever teach you about Net?" Baki asked, taken aback. But then his expression turned hazy, and three tomoe seemed to flicker in his pupils. Under the transfer-seal genjutsu, everything from the past moment was wiped clean.
[This guy's really unlucky.]
Link rubbed his forehead. The main-world version of Baki had spent a while both generating profits for him and serving as a disposable pawn – only to end up in that messy Pure Land "server."
The second-world Baki, for stumbling onto Link's secrets, wound up under Sharingan control, intermittently hammered by genjutsu brainwashing. Poor kid. Link felt almost guilty, like shearing the same sheep so many times that it'd gone bald.
"Um, I… you—" Young Baki mumbled, confused, as he came back to himself.
"Regarding Wind Release: Great Cast Net," Link reminded him.
Baki nodded on reflex, automatically explaining how to use the "Great Cast Net" technique and where it could be applied, though a sense of puzzlement flitted through his mind.
[Did I ever teach this kid Cast Net Jutsu? …So how come he's skipping straight to Great Cast Net?]
He didn't dwell on it. Maybe the kid already knew. Little did he realize that if he pressed Link about it, he'd be in for another genjutsu mind wipe.
"I got it," Link said after just a short time. Adding the word "Great" to Net was a bit like Danzo's "Vacuum Sphere" versus a bigger "Vacuum Great Sphere"—just a literal scaling up.
Per the explanation, it was about one step above the normal Cast Net Jutsu in size, testing more advanced wind-chakra control skills—especially shaping wind-nature chakra to create natural gusts.
Not too hard, and it overlapped somewhat with Danzo's "Vacuum" series, so Link had an easy time picking it up. Of course, once he learned it, he refrained from demonstrating—no need to cause more trouble for Baki. Shaking his head, he said, "Next: Wind Release: Air Current Wild Dance."
He wanted to learn as many jutsu as possible right now, then go back to the main world and practice at his leisure.
By name alone, "Wind Release: Air Current Wild Dance" sounded like a fairly basic ninjutsu, simply releasing wind-nature chakra to whip the air into violent gusts. Clearly lower-level than Cast Net Jutsu.
Technically, once you learned Net, you didn't really need a simpler wind technique. But Link wanted it anyway. Baki, mystified, still explained it all dutifully.
[Another one down.]
Link scratched out two more ninjutsu in his little notebook. "Next: Wind Release: Wind Cutter."
That was yet another low-level wind technique.
Baki was starting to feel toyed with. Even his calm demeanor wavered. After a moment of silence, he resumed explaining.
"Next: Wind Release: Blade of Wind."
"Wind Release… Blade of Wind?" He instinctively thought he'd misheard. From a low-tier ninjutsu straight to an A-rank advanced one—this was far too big a jump. But when he saw Link's earnest face, Baki shut his eyes, inhaled, exhaled, then returned to his stoic-teaching-machine persona and laid out his prized technique in detail.
Sigh… These other-world visitors… Sigh… Lord Kazekage…
[Seems kind of tough.]
Link found it hard just hearing the theory. His pure chakra control was actually decent—above average for a jōnin. If he were measured numerically, maybe 8 out of 10 for hand-seal ability. But controlling wind-nature chakra after the transformation was tricky. After all, his natural affinity was Earth.
Not everyone could be like Hiruzen Sarutobi, mastering all five nature transformations in childhood. Even someone like Kakashi—who possessed all five transformations, had copied over a thousand jutsu, and scored 10 in hand seals—wasn't great at wind release.
Knowing a jutsu, being able to cast it, and truly mastering it were three different things.
Cast Net Jutsu was difficult mainly because you had to stir up actual wind into a net shape. Wind-nature chakra naturally cuts; hiding that in a broad net means large area, high killing power… but that's the extent of it.
Blade of Wind, however—an A-rank, extremely advanced technique—required perfect mastery of wind-nature transformation, so that the chakra emerging from your fingertip was as sharp as a blade, plus top-tier form manipulation. Compress, flow, shape—turn an airborne gust from your palm into a razor-edged wind blade.
[For him to have learned such a tough jutsu so young, Baki really is a genius,] Link mused, fully immersed in this sea of knowledge.
…
Second Parallel World – Hokage Building, Office
"Knowing myself, he's probably gone to another world looking for a way to revive," said Uchiha Madara, who had just been summoned with a "no-shadow form" after being released from Edo Tensei. He sat on the windowsill. "Hashirama."
"Uh—!" ×2
All three of the people there looked a bit awkward.
Madara brushed aside the slip of addressing both Hashiramas as if they were one. "I can go as a scout to probe what's out there. But I have a condition."
Figures, he's up to something, Tobirama's glance at his brother seemed to say.
Madara ignored the 'little brat' Tobirama and got right to the point: "Have that brat Link reincarnate Izuna, and I'll do the job right away."
He regarded his brother's mindset as backward, and he knew no one except Hashirama could really understand him. But that didn't mean he had no feelings for Izuna.
"I agree," the 'first' Hashirama replied without hesitation, ignoring his own brother's murderous look.
Madara showed no surprise. In a low voice, he added, "One more thing: before I leave, I want to find those two traitors."
"Obito and Black Zetsu."
~~~
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