Seeing the situation, Thor put aside the pride unique to Asgardians. That might have been difficult in the past, but after a month spent in a mental hospital, he had nothing left to be proud of.
"Did my father ask you to help me?" Thor, slowly descending from the sky, asked the first question that came to mind.
"Sorry, he didn't," Shin replied, glancing at him. "And I think you'd better return to Asgard as soon as possible."
"What you saw wasn't an illusion... to a certain extent, you were witnessing the future of another timeline."
Thor's expression changed slightly. "The future of another timeline? Are you wizards from Midgard?"
This wasn't a fully cinematic universe, and Thor, with over a thousand years of life experience, knew a thing or two about Midgard's powers.
What stood out most in his memory was Odin telling him that Midgard, as the foundation of the World Tree, had a powerful Sorcerer Supreme who could control time and protect the realm.
"Though we're not exactly wizards, the Sorcerer Supreme did ask us to help you," Shin said.
"Got it. I'll come back to the courtyard to drink with you later." Thor nodded, then raised Mjolnir to the sky. "Heimdall!"
Silence. After a moment, there was no response.
Thor looked confused. He raised the hammer again and shouted louder. "Heimdall! Take me back!"
"...What's the hell is he doing?" Quicksilver murmured.
Wanda frowned. "I read about Asgard while I was in Kamar-Taj. Heimdall is the guardian of the Bifrost. It's said that the Bifrost can transport people across the Nine Realms."
"And Heimdall can see any place in the Nine Realms. He can also hear anyone calling him."
"That powerful? So why isn't it working now?" Quicksilver asked, rubbing his chin.
"Something might have happened in Asgard," Tony Stark said as he walked over. "Otherwise, how do you explain the crown prince being locked up in a mental hospital?"
Seeing the worsening situation, Thor's face broke out in cold sweat. At that moment, a circular portal opened in the air.
"Thor of Asgard, no need to shout. Asgard is currently fighting the Frost Giants. The Bifrost won't be coming for you now."
The white-bearded Ancient One stepped out with a calm smile. Thor's expression immediately changed. "How could this happen? It's all my fault! If not for me, Asgard wouldn't have gone to war with the Frost Giants!"
"Wait... Midgardian wizard, can you send me to Asgard?"
Eyeing the Ancient One's portal, Thor suddenly had an idea and asked.
"Of course. That's why I came." The Ancient One nodded, traced a circle with his hand, and a grand war scene appeared on the other side of the portal.
Without hesitation, the anxious Thor rushed through. The Ancient One smiled indifferently and casually closed the portal.
"Who is that? I feel like I'm just now starting to understand how this world works," Tony Stark said, holding his head. His original worldview, well, it had already been shattered. Further shattering didn't even faze him anymore.
Wanda and Pietro, standing nearby, gave respectful salutes to the Ancient One. Tony took note. Clearly, this person was not ordinary.
The Ancient One nodded slightly to the siblings, then stepped into a portal behind him and vanished without another word.
"That was the Sorcerer Supreme of Kamar-Taj, essentially the guardian of Earth right now," Wanda explained to Tony.
Of course, only Shin knew this wasn't the first time Tony Stark had interacted with the Ancient One though Tony had never actually seen him before.
Shin inwardly scoffed at the old man's dramatic entrance. After all, he had been the one dealing with all the trouble directly. Still...
Considering he had borrowed Mjolnir and significantly enhanced his chakra's lightning attribute, Shin was willing to let it slide.
His chakra had already reached a high level, making further enhancement extremely difficult.
If he had remained in the Naruto world, even for a thousand years, he couldn't have advanced the nature transformation of chakra any further. That world simply lacked any higher-level energy than sage-level chakra there wasn't even anything to imitate. How could he evolve his technique just by himself?
Besides, most of the trouble came from the butterfly effect caused by his arrival in this world. If not for that, Thor would've returned to Asgard long ago.
That said, Thor was much stronger now. Given some time, he'd fully awaken his thunder god power. In the end, he didn't lost anything.
...
The Ancient One's timing was impeccable. Barely five minutes after he left, a group from S.H.I.E.L.D. arrived looking for them.
Shin ignored them, teleporting away with Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver using the Flying Thunder God technique. He left them the off-road vehicle.
After a burst of light and darkness, Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver found themselves in a bustling city, far from the wilderness.
"What a strange feeling. This is completely different from Kamar-Taj's teleportation," the Scarlet Witch said thoughtfully, reflecting on the Flying Thunder God technique.
Shin seemed to realize something and said to her, "You could actually do this yourself. Don't forget that you can change reality."
In the comics, the Scarlet Witch had teleportation abilities. As long as one could manipulate reality, teleportation wasn't that hard to achieve.
After all, the Scarlet Witch could exist anywhere on Earth. Modify the reality slightly, and she could appear wherever she wanted.
That said, the current Scarlet Witch hadn't reached that level. Even her ability to alter reality couldn't yet permanently affect large-scale objects. Though, in a frenzied state, it might be a different story.
Still, Shin had now planted the seed in her mind.
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