After the character review video ended, as usual, Tobirama Senju needed to contact the timeline of the Third Hokage.
He had to confirm the exact time period of the dimensional travel and also have Orochimaru prepare the technical data needed for the exchange.
Just as Tobirama was about to request a call with someone from the Third Hokage's timeline, he suddenly noticed another option on the light screen—[Fifth Hokage].
"Fifth Hokage?"
"Tsunade?"
A thought crossed Tobirama's mind, and he selected both [Third Hokage] and [Fifth Hokage] at the same time.
There weren't any rules saying you couldn't contact multiple timelines at once, so he gave it a try—and it actually worked.
Fifth Hokage's timeline.
After watching the video, Tsunade was lost in thought, trying to figure out how to deal with the coming war.
She hadn't noticed that after the video ended, the light screen didn't disappear.
Instead, a new function had appeared: the ability to connect and communicate with other timelines.
She only noticed the change when a notification sound came from the screen—it was Tobirama Senju sending her a communication request.
"What's this?"
Looking at the screen that showed: [Second Hokage Senju Tobirama requests a call with you], [Fifth Hokage Jiraiya requests a call with you]
[Accept], [Decline] options appeared.
Without hesitation, Fifth Hokage Tsunade quickly chose to accept.
In an instant, the light screen split into two halves.
On the left appeared the image of the Second Hokage, Senju Tobirama.
And on the right was Jiraiya—the Fifth Hokage from the timeline of the Third Hokage.
"Second Grandpa?"
"Jiraiya?"
"What's going on here?"
Seeing the two of them appear on the screen, Fifth Hokage Tsunade was both shocked and delighted.
To her shock, she saw two people here who were supposed to be dead.
To her joy, both of them were people she had deep personal bonds with.
"It's really great to see you both again."
Tsunade, being a woman—and having had a little sake earlier—couldn't hold back her emotions and burst into tears.
Her crying made Jiraiya, who was on the other side of the light screen, feel heartbroken.
Luckily, Tobirama was calm and composed. He knew the communication time through the light screen was very limited.
Even though this time they had connected to another timeline and the talk time increased from one minute to two, it still wasn't something they could waste.
"Alright, Tsunade, stop crying for now. Tell your Second Grandpa—what point in time are you at? Is it Pain's invasion? The Five Kage Summit? Or right before the Fourth Great Ninja War?"
"Point in time?"
That was the first time Fifth Hokage Tsunade had heard that phrase. But after watching the light screen video, her sharp mind quickly figured it out.
"It should be just before the Fourth Great Ninja War. Tomorrow, I'm leading the Konoha ninja to the border between the Land of Fire and the Land of Lightning to join the battle."
"Just as I thought~"
Tobirama muttered to himself.
Once he realized this timeline had his granddaughter as Hokage, he had already made a rough guess about the situation.
After all, he had gone through a similar experience when the timeline with Hiruzen as the Third Hokage was connected.
"Second Grandpa, Jiraiya, can you tell me exactly what's going on?"
On the light screen, Jiraiya saw Tobirama lost in thought, so he decided to speak up: "It's actually simple. The us you're seeing aren't the same ones from your timeline.
We're from different points in time.
For example, Second Hokage's point is the 18th year of Konoha's founding. Mine is about a year and a half after Orochimaru launched the Konoha Crush plan.
And your timeline is more than two years after mine."
"So that's how it is."
Tsunade nodded.
At first, Jiraiya's explanation felt hard to believe.
But then she remembered—even the upcoming Fourth Great Ninja War was shown on the light screen. So what's so strange about connecting multiple timelines of the ninja world?
"Tsunade."
At that moment, Orochimaru's figure suddenly appeared on the right side of the light screen.
Before the Fifth Hokage Tsunade could even wonder why Orochimaru was appearing in Konoha, she heard him continue, "Do you need our help over there?"
"Help?"
Hearing that, Tsunade instantly realized something. She widened her eyes and asked, "You guys can come over to my side too?"
"Of course we can. But there's only one chance to cross over each month, and we can only stay for an hour."
"An hour is more than enough to settle a lot of things."
Tsunade looked at Orochimaru with joy, then turned to Jiraiya and said, "Jiraiya, once this Shinobi World War is over on my side, let's get married."
"Huh?"
Jiraiya's mouth hung open as he stared at the image of Tsunade on the screen.
If the situation allowed, he would've definitely touched her forehead to check if she had a fever.
"What?" Tsunade raised an eyebrow, her tone slightly chilly as she asked, "You don't want to?"
"He doesn't want to."
Before Jiraiya could speak, the Tsunade on the other side shoved him and Orochimaru aside and snarled at the Fifth Hokage, "Jiraiya is mine. You old hag, stop trying to steal him."
The Fifth Hokage Tsunade froze for a moment.
She hadn't expected that not only was Orochimaru in Konoha, but the version of herself from that side was there too.
Seriously, what the hell had happened in that world?
Not only had Jiraiya become the Fifth Hokage, but Orochimaru and she were both living peacefully in Konoha?
But now wasn't the time to think about that.
There was one thing she'd hated all her life—being called old.
In the whole of Konoha, only that idiot Naruto could get away with calling her "Granny Tsunade."
Anyone else? Try it, and you're dead.
Even if it's another version of Tsunade, she can't just call her that.
"Tch, we're both Tsunade—who doesn't know who? You call me an old hag, but what about yourself? Don't tell me you really think you're still eighteen?"
"I don't care. If you want to flirt, go flirt with the Jiraiya from your timeline. Don't come seducing my Jiraiya."
"Don't get cocky. You're just the me from two years ago. I don't remember being that into Jiraiya two years ago."
"Heh, then you're just stupid. I'm not."
Fifth Hokage Tsunade frowned. Something about this didn't feel right.
She recalled how the light screen earlier had shown highlights of her and Kaguya Ōtsutsuki.
Could it be that before that, the screen had also shown other people?
Like... Jiraiya?
Maybe the Tsunade from the other timeline had seen Jiraiya's video—
And after learning what happened to him, changed her feelings?
She wasn't far off.
The Third Hokage Timeline Tsunade hadn't seen Jiraiya's video directly—
But from other videos, she already knew how his story ended.
So, with that soft spot she already had for Jiraiya,
She finally gave him a chance to pursue her.
But the moment she realized the one connected this time was the Fifth Hokage Tsunade,
She instantly had a bad feeling.
After all, no one knows yourself better than you do.
She figured that after missing her chance with Jiraiya once,
The Fifth Hokage Tsunade definitely wouldn't let it slip by again.
And just as she expected—Tsunade didn't waste time.
She went straight to Jiraiya and proposed.
There's no way she was letting someone else steal Jiraiya—
Even if that "someone else" was another version of herself from a different timeline.
And that's how this whole scene started.
*********
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