"Another failure… Why? Why is it always these iconic scenes from the Naruto manga?"
Link sat on a rock, looking rather vexed.
Off to the side, the Seven Swordsmen of the Mist lay sprawled out, subdued but not killed – the shadows had simply pinned them without knocking them unconscious.
Not far away, a younger Might Guy, Genma Shiranui, and Ebisu stood in stupefied silence.
"Finally made it!" Might Duy landed, chakra blazing around him, all seriousness on his face, ready to fight. But seeing the defeated enemies, he looked at his son in confusion.
This was the third time.
Three times in a row, and still no sign of the Fourth Great War. What was going on?
Link patted the spot on his chest where three scrolls remained. When he left the main world, he'd brought along six Funa-tsū scrolls. With the Second Hokage, Third Hokage, Fourth Hokage, and even Orochimaru all able to recreate the scrolls, he figured he'd never run short of Funa-tsū as long as he stayed in the Naruto worlds.
But three times now, it had failed to send him to the world he'd pictured, so clearly there was some deeper mechanism in the technique he'd never figured out.
[The first was Asuma's death, the second was Haku and Zabuza's death, the third is Might Duy's death… plus before that, in the Second Parallel World, it was the two Mangekyō heroes; in the third world, Gaara's death…]
[The common thread is regret.]
Regret, as understood by a Naruto-manga reader.
Summarizing, Link, from his own perspective, realized the problem: The Funa-tsū technique was powered by his special spiritual energy, and it was pulling him to dramatic points in these various "Naruto" worlds that had left a deep impression on him.
[So it's randomly landing at regretful moments in the timeline?] He gave a helpless laugh.
The Naruto manga contained countless events full of regret. After the Fourth Great War, though, there was hardly anything left to regret—everyone got a happy ending.
Even during the Fourth Great War, there wasn't that much "regret." For instance, Might Guy's nearly fatal strike against single-eyed Six Paths Madara wasn't really a regret. He achieved the very best result he possibly could, with everyone—Kakashi, Minato, etc.—supporting him to unleash his strongest attack.
Once he brought out Night Guy, that was the end of his strength; there was no controlling the aftermath. Could he have actually killed the Madara with terrifying regeneration? Probably not.
Yet he produced the mightiest power any non-Ōtsutsuki-bloodline user ever showcased. Even if he had died on the spot, it would've remained a top highlight for readers, and besides—he actually survived. So where's the regret?
[The regret closest to the Fourth War might be Konan's attempt to kill Obito…]
Link racked his brain for every detail he remembered from the manga. But all the other potential scenes were too far removed from the War. Was he supposed to keep bouncing around random regretful moments until he finally hit Konan's?
Then go through the entire war from scratch and team up with Naruto and Sasuke? That sounded so cumbersome. And both Naruto and Sasuke's growth paths were quite fixed—they had to level up stage by stage until the War. Moving it forward early wouldn't help at all.
"Ehm, excuse me, sir… or, well, young fellow?" Might Duy carefully tried to choose his words. "Who in the world are you?"
He'd just finished talking to his son, learning that someone had abruptly shown up and instantly crushed the Mist's famous Seven Swordsmen using only shadows.
[Shadows… Could he be from the Nara Clan? But where's his forehead protector?]
Watching carefully, Duy studied the person's every detail.
[What's this 'young fellow' nonsense…]
Link felt a flicker of annoyance, then forced it down. "They're yours now. If we meet again sometime, so be it." He decided to spin the wheel once more. Whatever it landed on next, he'd stay put and work on developing himself.
If he couldn't assemble a team of Six Paths Naruto and Sasuke from various worlds, he'd have to go it alone. Just thinking about it made him uncomfortable—he'd spent so long acting like a "Pokémon Master," sending others to do the big fighting.
Suddenly he had to take up the fight himself? And with no time to find suitable allies, the threat to his main world intensified by the day. He was petty enough that he'd never let Kaguya succeed and then come hunt him down.
[I should crush her first and seize the world in front of everyone's terrified eyes, ascending the Heavenly Throne—that's how it should be!]
But if his hunch was correct, he'd need a fresh plan: train relentlessly using the physicalized chakra cubes, learn as many new jutsu as possible, figure out how to recruit different Tobiramas for extra brainpower, and start working on synergy between "Big Breakthrough" and his Stand-like transformations.
All this required a suitable world, first, plus a new Jinchūriki "battery," plus a partner to help produce more Funa-tsū scrolls…
[One month—I want all that done in a month, then it's on to the next stage: exploring every regret in my Naruto memories.]
"Farewell."
Pressed for time, Link had a shadow deliver a final knockout to each of the Seven Swordsmen so they'd be utterly helpless, then activated the Funa-tsū technique once again.
…
Main Parallel World, Land of Fire—not far from Konoha
Rumble!
For the first time in who-knows-how-long, the Gedo Statue was summoned out into the daylight, and under those golden rays, it looked oddly sacred.
"So this thing… is the Ten-Tails' husk?" Tobirama eyed the newly arrived statue.
Nearby, the "first" Madara—who had just implanted the Rinnegan from his previous self—let out a slight, uneven breath. Newly revived, he wasn't back to his old level yet. Though he could use the Rinnegan's fearsome chakra without issue, his body was still weak.
"Go train. We'll handle this," Tobirama said, effectively dismissing him.
Once Madara left without protest, Tobirama turned to Orochimaru. "Let's get started."
Yes, the Ten-Tails was absurdly strong. A Six Paths–level fighter—by the second Madara's and Link's accounts—was insanely powerful. But Tobirama refused to accept that if ninjutsu failed at that tier, there was no hope.
So they'd look to Senjutsu. Ninja weren't limited to just ninjutsu. With no quick fix for taijutsu, they'd turn to natural energy. Conveniently, Orochimaru was just as stubborn, and they happened to have those "cores" available.
[Let Ōtsutsuki see how ninja resist,] Tobirama thought, eyes brimming with a murderous gleam.
Though the "second" Hashirama wasn't technically his brother, nobody could kill a perfect copy of his big brother without paying a price.
Absolutely not!
~~~
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