My Techniques are a bit off

"So it really is you..."

Tsunade (the "Fourth Tsunade" of this timeline) composed herself upon seeing Link descend from the sky and uttered those words.

Immediately, she asked,

"Just who on earth are you people?"

Because shadows had previously captured their Hidan and Kakuzu, the information had long since spread among the upper echelons of that Konoha Village. They simply had never expected the shadows to be so strong in such massive numbers.

During the recent battlefield sweep by the Black-Shadow Army, she had already suspected the "shadows" were that same jutsu, remembering the mysterious appearances of "Sakura" and "Karin" in the village. But the notion of "parallel worlds" still struck her as unbelievable.

"It's too complicated to explain," Link felt no inclination to clarify. He only said,

"You all—"

Nearby, the reanimated Five Kage were having their Edo Tensei bodies gradually break down.

The second Tsuchikage, wrapped in bandages and clearly displeased, said in a sullen voice,

"So you undid this low-down jutsu, dammit..."

"And what a disgrace," grumbled the second Mizukage, Gengetsu Hozuki, half his body still made of slimy fluid as he returned to human form. "Does the Konoha just leave their forbidden jutsu out for anyone to use—enough to trigger a shinobi world war?"

Because the Hozuki clan's liquefaction techniques were tricky, the usual sealing was quite ineffective, so the Shadows simply pounded him nonstop, preventing him from returning to solid form and escaping or attacking—an extremely rough approach.

Soon, the reanimated Five Kage in front of them all departed.

Slap! Slap!

In the distance, a few shadows delivered two hard smacks to the unconscious Fourth Raikage, who had been duking it out with the reanimated Third Raikage in a frenzied melee. Evidently, once the shadows arrived to contain the fight, he actually killed one shadow (thinking it an enemy) and teamed up with the actual enemy Third Raikage to destroy two more—

So once the backup arrived, they flattened him too.

The Fourth Raikage, looking as though he'd calmed down, rubbed his swollen face. His vision blurred, ears still ringing, and mind muddled. He stood, somewhat swaying, scanning around, at last taking in the figure of Link standing there with arms folded.

"Hahaha~"

Old man Onoki let out a carefree laugh.

The Fifth Mizukage pursed her lips, suppressing a laugh. Gaara and Tsunade kept straight faces, more focused on what that unknown powerhouse planned next.

"Five Kage," Link said without emotion, "why don't you go finish cleaning up what's left of the battlefield?"

Initially he'd intended some stylish pretense here, a "rehearsal" for the future Fourth Great Shinobi War in his own main world. But thanks to the stupidity of that musclehead (the Raikage), he'd lost the mood completely.

Never mind. No point engaging further with these "natives."

As his countless shadows returned to his feet, the massive Earth Dragon lowered itself so that its head touched the ground, letting him step calmly onto it before lifting off slowly and leaving.

The Five Kage gazed up in silence. Even after the Earth Dragon vanished from sight, the disoriented Fourth Raikage was still unsteady, pressing one hand to his knee:

"What...did he just say?"

In that split-second, he'd been hammered senseless by the Shadow Army for resisting them. Even now, his vision and hearing remained fuzzy. He really couldn't process what had happened.

Tsunade of this timeline furrowed her brow, pondering.

Since the other side really had shown up and solved the war so swiftly, perhaps what the "Sakura" and "Karin" from before had claimed was true after all—

Parallel worlds, another Konoha Village, a "Ninja Alliance"...

She mulled over how this changed her entire worldview.

Some distance from the main battlefield, up on a hill...

"All finished."

Link landed lightly. Nearby, the Sage-Mode Kabuto of this world lay unconscious on the ground.

Main-World Sasuke stood watching the allied shinobi forces cleaning up the battlefield. Personally witnessing such a large-scale war left him significantly shaken.

"The 'me' from the future has gone off to find the 'me' of this world," he gave Link a brief explanation.

It was rather confusing to phrase: a time-traveled future version, a local self—two Sasukes. But no matter.

Link, seeing no sign of interest in the unconscious Kabuto, likewise paid little attention to Fourth Obito's earlier escape. At this point, that outcome didn't matter.

He was more concerned about talking with Sasuke—and told him all about what had happened in the main world these past days: his intentions for upcoming plans, including the unification of the main world and the "Fourth Ninja War" to be staged there.

Link's mood had brightened as he spoke, obviously excited.

He certainly wasn't keeping anything secret from Sasuke; presumably Tobirama also knew that Sasuke would learn it all. If Tobirama truly wanted secrecy, he would have done something else.

Unifying the main world and launching a war might sound ludicrous, but from Link's vantage, once they had the Shadow Army, it wouldn't even be a challenge. He merely wanted to do it in suitably theatrical style—unlike how he blitzed the earlier small-fry wars.

When it came to "going full Aizen," you had to do it with flair.

"So that's how it is," Main-World Sasuke listened quietly, occasionally offering an opinion.

After seeing Link's recorded videos, he responded with a faint smile:

"I'll likely be quite free once we wrap up things here in the Fourth World. I look forward to your performance when the time comes."

"Hahaha~" Link laughed, feeling fired up. The two began discussing how to handle their own "Fourth Great Shinobi War."

One idea was simply unleashing the entire Black-Shadow Army, but that would be too fast—no chance to show off villainous grandeur. If the aim was a full "Aizen moment," you needed a more elaborate setup.

Most importantly, they'd prefer to avoid unnecessary casualties. Sasuke smiled softly:

"If you like, Utakata and I can go out first. After all, what kind of 'deity enthroned above the heavens' wouldn't have trusted subordinates appear first?"

~~~

Patreon(.)com/Bleam

— This Fanfic is Completed in Patreon!