One hour later, in the Hokage's Office.
Link sat casually across from the Hokage's desk. The Seventh Hokage had gone off to attend a Five Kage Summit, leaving him to wait alone in the office.
(In any other world, letting some unknown ninja wander into the Hokage Building—let alone sit alone in the Hokage's office—would be unthinkable. But the future world's Hokage… life is way too peaceful.)
He looked around the room in curiosity. On the familiar Hokage desk was a thin laptop with a spiral-pattern sticker, a stack of empty tonkotsu ramen cups, a water cup, and even a bottle of what looked like—well, alcohol?
(An adult Naruto drinks? Heh. Guess he really is Jiraiya's student.)
(Wonder what adult Sasuke is doing…)
Suddenly:
Click—
The window slid open, and Boruto Uzumaki stuck his head in. Seeing only Link inside, he climbed through the window and onto the floor. Then he scrutinized the self-proclaimed "other-world visitor" who'd come asking for help, saying, "Huh? You look pretty plain."
He didn't see anything that resembled some fancy ability to cross worlds.
Well, maybe not completely plain—Link was indeed handsome, just shy of rivaling Boruto himself, in his own opinion.
"Oh?" Link, taking no offense, smiled placidly. After all, this was the son of a good friend. If events ever aligned in his main world, Naruto would marry and have children, and Link would be "Uncle" to them anyway. No sense getting mad at a kid.
Boruto, however, scowled. Getting treated like a child was infuriating for any kid. With a grunt, he demanded, "Hey, short stuff. What's your name?"
He disliked show-offs, but crossing worlds was definitely intriguing. Despite his annoyance, he braced himself to glean answers. Yet his face remained sour, and his tone was downright hostile.
"You can call me Uncle Link." Rising to his feet, Link came over and, quite naturally, stepped on his own shadow while ruffling Boruto's hair. "All that complaining about chores, but you still cleaned the Hokage Rock when told to. You're a good kid."
Pfft—
From the balcony outside, Sarada Uchiha, who was peeking in, couldn't help snickering.
A boy who looked only slightly older than Boruto, acting all "benevolent," patting Boruto's head with a childish voice praising him in a gentle tone… The scene was so comical that holding back laughter was impossible.
"Wha—?!"
Boruto was stunned at first. Hearing the laughter, he slapped that rude hand away and retreated toward the window, pointing an accusing finger. "What the heck do you think you're doing?!"
He got goosebumps, being patted and praised by some kid not much older than himself—super awkward.
"Er…" Link realized the gesture and his words might be over the line. He tried to soothe things: "I'm a friend of your dad in another world, so—"
"I don't care who you are! Don't just pat my head!" Boruto barked. "You're a total fraud, right? All this 'crossing worlds' stuff… who'd buy that?"
Kids often lashed out, rejecting anything that annoyed them.
"!"
Naruto appeared in the office in a blur, gently placing his hand on his son's head with a warm grin. "Sorry, sorry. Hope you didn't wait too long."
Boruto, thinking he was being manhandled by that weird kid again, struggled at first before realizing it was his dad.
"It's fine," Link said with relief. He felt uncertain dealing with kids. How would he manage once he truly became "Uncle Link"…?
"Boruto," Naruto said, signaling that he could leave. Even as a father, Naruto still had that hint of cluelessness, unaware that his son's flustered reaction had anything to do with the new visitor. After the two children left, Naruto took his seat behind the desk. His tone turned serious: "You mentioned facing Kaguya Ōtsutsuki in your world, right?"
"Yes. In one world, Kaguya has already been revived, and there's a good chance she'll attempt to invade our world," Link answered plainly. "So I've come here to seek your and Sasuke's help."
"Er… So you know me and Sasuke?" Naruto was still a bit lost.
Kaguya Ōtsutsuki… plus the mention of traveling from another world… definitely weird. But only Team 7 knew that name, so Link must be serious. Link patiently explained the concept of "parallel worlds." The Japanese language in Naruto's dimension had a word for it—"heikō sekai," or "parallel dimension"—but the shinobi world's pop culture was pretty barren.
After all, since the Sage of Six Paths died, the shinobi world had been wracked by constant wars. Until the Fourth Great War ended, there was never real peace, so technology developed in a lopsided way. Cultural entertainment was basically nonexistent.
If even Jiraiya's shallow "adult" novels could take the world by storm, well, you got the idea. Ero books sold so well that Jiraiya was able to pay off Tsunade's gambling debts. So the concept of parallel universes never really emerged.
"Oh, oh—I see, so that's how it is." Naruto finally looked enlightened, then continued, "But you still need to prove it to me."
"Sure. Genjutsu? Or have the Yamanaka clan read my memories, or…?" Link trailed off, feigning readiness to face any test.
(Gotta exploit his honesty. Good old gullible Naruto.)
"Okay, okay." Sure enough, the Seventh Hokage, arguably the world's mightiest shinobi, wore a troubled look. "Let's do this: how about you take my shadow clone along, so it can see for itself?"
"Great," Link agreed right away. "So which timeline do you want to see?"
"Huh?" Naruto was confused.
"I've visited lots of different points in time—First Great Ninja War, Second Great Ninja War, the Nine-Tails incident…" Link started listing the worlds he'd visited, even if most times he'd left immediately afterwards. He had changed plenty of things inadvertently—like seeing the Valley of the End fight, or interfering when the Gold and Silver Brothers cornered the Second Hokage, or saving Nagato's parents, etc.
More than ten jumps, mostly pre-Shippuden, had given him a possible rule:
He couldn't visit two points in time that were too close to each other in the same timeline.
For instance, if he'd gone to a certain death scene for Neji, he couldn't then jump to the point where Naruto overcame Six Paths Obito. He'd be forced back to a world he'd already visited. Using the gap between Kannabi Bridge and Might Duy's last stand, he'd concluded there was definitely a gap in time.
Naruto, quiet for a moment, asked, "You went to a timeline right after the Nine-Tails incident?"
(Ah, he's thinking about his parents… That's straightforward enough.)
Link took another Funa-tsū scroll from a shadow and waved it lightly, smirking: "Shall we go see?"
~~~
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