The Next Day, Second Parallel World – Kannabi Bridge Base, Hokage's Office
"No problem—we'll help," Final-Chapter Naruto said with a hearty laugh, agreeing at once to lend assistance.
Final-Chapter Sakura looked a little dissatisfied. After all, she herself was part of her village's upper ranks, and having her village's Kage run off with rations and manpower to some other world's fight, without any compensation, sounded absurd.
But objecting wouldn't do much. Naruto was simply that kind of guy—if someone was in danger and asked for help, he'd dive in without a second thought or any thought of reward.
"In what capacity are we supposed to help you, exactly?" she finally asked.
Long ago, on the Land of Wave mission, when the threat level turned out to be much higher than expected, she'd wanted to retreat—but Naruto chose to keep going and protect Tazuna, and all she did was silently comply.
During the Chūnin Exams, when Kakashi-sensei recommended her, she'd felt too weak and wanted to bail. When her two teammates decided to participate, she silently went along.
She even considered following Sasuke when he planned to defect…
Later, she grew a lot stronger, resolved to kill Sasuke herself if need be, fought in the Fourth Great War, and experienced so much—eventually becoming one of Konoha's high-level decision-makers.
Deep down, she still wished for the old days, with Sasuke and Naruto both at her side, acting together. But things are different now.
Fifth Hokage Tsunade glanced at her in mild surprise—Sakura used to be so timid and compliant, but the grown-up her had turned into a determined kunoichi, huh?
Senju Tobirama wasn't surprised she'd bring that up; he'd prepared for it. "You'll be our allies. We can sign a treaty of alliance."
He was genuinely astonished that the Seventh Hokage had so casually agreed to provide help for free.
(We'd better make sure our own world's Naruto never becomes Hokage—this guy...) he thought privately, fueling his bias about his own version of Naruto.
All the ninja present knew a "treaty" was about as solid as a scrap of paper. Only Naruto was naïve enough to see no problem with that.
"That jutsu. The one that crosses worlds," Final-Chapter Sasuke said. "We want that crossing-world technique."
Being able to move between parallel worlds would radically change everything. Not having the technique themselves would leave them behind.
"No," Tobirama denied bluntly, then tried pulling out lesser stuff—resources, for instance—to exchange for their help and an alliance.
But Final-Chapter Sasuke and Final-Chapter Sakura clung stubbornly to the demand, so in the end, Tobirama feigned reluctance and agreed, saying yes, Funa-tsū would be part of the alliance deal.
Standing by, Final-Chapter Naruto looked uncomfortable. He'd come wanting to help, out of a drive to protect, but under his teammates' maneuvering it had morphed into a round of bargaining. Yet as Hokage, he couldn't exactly protest.
Final-Chapter Sasuke subtly frowned. They had indeed pressed the point on logic, but he suspected the other side might have intended all along to exchange that technique.
(Well, if we do get the jutsu but can't activate it, that's not our problem.)
(Tobirama was quite pleased with the arrangement.)
"Then here's to a smooth alliance," Tsunade of the main world said, offering a handshake.
"Got it, Granny," Final-Chapter Naruto said breezily, taking her hand.
"...?" Tsunade felt a strong urge to smack him.
(Don't you "Granny" me with the old lady from your world!)
She gave him a resentful glare.
Final-Chapter Naruto gave an awkward but polite smile. Having an alternate version of your own friends and family was… complicated.
"Right, let's connect via the Cast Net Jutsu. That way we can cross worlds easily," main-world Tsunade suggested. A half-transparent thread slid from her fingertip, and she began explaining how "the Net" worked.
"Amazing," Final-Chapter Naruto said in genuine admiration. Before he could reach out, Final-Chapter Sakura snatched the thread, wanting to keep it under her control.
Final-Chapter Sasuke, meanwhile, was recalling that earlier traveling kid, Link, who hadn't shown up. Then he remembered seeing "his parents and himself" that morning.
This world had that "Rebirth" technique to restore the dead as children, along with a parallel-world transit technique.
(We must get hold of both.)
From his vantage, Naruto didn't grasp how huge this shift was. Worse yet, it hadn't begun in their own world. If they didn't change, if they didn't grab the initiative, maybe their world would end up shaped by someone else's plan. Wandering the ninja world for so long, Sasuke knew people could be cruel; he wouldn't trust them so easily.
…
Main World, Konoha.
"So I can't meet with them for now?"
Link listened to the Third Hokage's diplomatic explanation and realized it boiled down to: Don't interact with the Final-Chapter "Team Seven" folks, don't be in the same world with them. Let the grown-ups handle the Kaguya issue.
Tobirama had that mischievous grin, as if to reassure him. They even assigned Link a "mission," like learning new ninjutsu, overseeing the Chūnin Exams, or going to the Five Kage Summit. Because, indeed, the main world was about to hold its own Five Kage Summit.
Why? Simply put, Obito's mischief. After Obito vanished, he'd apparently come back at some point with a Rinnegan, kidnapping host after host. Except for Gaara (the One-Tails), Utakata (the Six-Tails, who fled to the Second Parallel World), the final Seven-Tails host, and the Nine-Tails Jinchūriki Naruto. Everyone else had been seized for the Gedo Statue.
In the end, the "first" Hashirama didn't kill or drag off the Seven-Tails Jinchūriki, while the "first" Madara just ignored them, so that host survived and reported "someone is capturing tailed beasts."
The disappearance of Bee and Yugito plus the fiasco with the Gold and Silver Brothers enraged the Raikage, leading to the same "plot" as in the manga. A Five Kage Summit in the Land of Iron.
It was all so rushed. The Tailed Beast fiasco had the entire world on high alert. Envoys from the Hidden Cloud were still in the village, waiting for the "busy" Fifth Hokage.
Originally, Tobirama and Tsunade hadn't planned to bother with the Raikage's summons, but now they intended to offload it onto Link.
"But am I allowed to attend the Five Kage Summit if I'm not a Kage?" he asked, eyeing the three-year-old Third Hokage across from him. Soul-searching question.
"Oh." Sarutobi Hiruzen responded blandly. "If you want the Hokage title, you can take it tomorrow."
"Haah?"
Link nearly choked. "W-what the…?"
"Tsunade says she's so busy dealing with that 'Ninja Alliance' in the other world," Hiruzen explained. "Anyway, the main world's future is in your hands, so you may as well be the Sixth Hokage."
He fiddled with his fingers, looking uncomfortable. Having been forcibly weaned off his pipe by his wife after reincarnation, Hiruzen was constantly on edge.
"That's… is that really okay?" Link frowned. "Shouldn't Kakashi be the next in line?"
"At this rate, the shinobi system will keep advancing anyway. Who's Hokage now won't matter," Hiruzen said philosophically. He'd seen how the Ninja Alliance functioned smoothly in the Second Parallel World, flourishing under the looming Kaguya threat.
With the Cast Net Jutsu and the lure of reincarnation, the various villages were gradually uniting. A new era was dawning. Just like how in the old Warring States times, clans eventually gave way to the villages, so now villages would become part of multi-world alliances. And just as a Kage doesn't care which clan leads in the village, soon enough, the alliance might not care which Kage leads which world.
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