"There's still more than a year left before Pain destroys Konoha on the screen. Hanare should still be out gathering intel from other villages, right?"
Third Hokage's Timeline.
Seeing Hanare appear in the village after Pain's attack on the light screen, Jiraiya secretly let out a sigh of relief.
He had been coveting Hanare's eye-hand signs here—if she had ended up dead, then all of his plans would've been for nothing.
Luckily, Hanare was still alive. That gave him enough room to maneuver.
Alright, no need to hesitate now—Operation Pretty Boy: Kakashi is on!
"Hokage-sama, I want to join the team sent to search for Hanare."
Jiraiya looked at the speaking Sakumo, a bit surprised.
"That's just a small shinobi village. Sending two ANBU squads to retrieve her should be enough. I don't think they'd dare go against Konoha now."
"I want to make absolutely sure."
Sakumo's tone was firm and final.
For the sake of the Hatake clan, and for his own son, he needed to make sure his future daughter-in-law, Hanare, returned to Konoha without any incident.
"Alright then. Since even you, Sakumo-san, is saying that—I'll approve it."
"Thank you, Hokage-sama."
Fifth Hokage's Timeline.
Tsunade made more or less the same decision as Jiraiya.
But due to the timeline differences, the Kakashi in this world had already seen Hanare disguised as a female performer.
Whether Hanare was alive or dead—honestly, that was still uncertain.
If she was alive, then great. It might take some time, but they'd eventually find her.
If she was dead, that was still acceptable. As long as the body remained, they could use the Resurrection Jutsu to bring her back.
"Granny Tsunade, leave this mission to me."
At that moment, Naruto stood up, expressing his desire to take on the mission.
"I'll go instead. You should just stay in the village and focus on building your relationship with Hinata."
"Sasuke, are you trying to steal this mission from me?"
"Heh, what can I say? I'm interested in this mission too."
Naruto wanting to leave the village to find Hanare didn't surprise Tsunade.
But Sasuke wanting to go as well—that did surprise her.
From what she knew, Sasuke was always cool and indifferent, never showing much interest in anything.
Now, for him to volunteer for a mission just for Kakashi's sake—that truly made Tsunade look at him differently.
"You two, if I let you go, it might attract the attention of the other Great Ninja Villages. I think it's best if I go instead, so stop fighting over it."
In the blink of an eye, Sakura joined the competition for the mission too.
Just as she said, Naruto and Sasuke were already the top two strongest shinobi in the ninja world, far ahead of the third.
Sending either of them out might cause the other villages to overthink things and stir up unnecessary trouble.
As for her—Haruno Sakura—while she was also a member of Team Seven, she was fully aware that neither her status nor strength could compare to her two teammates.
But she truly was the most suitable person to go find Hanare.
First, she was the disciple of the Fifth Hokage of Konoha—her identity was solid and trustworthy.
Second, while she might not be as strong as Naruto or Sasuke, she wasn't weak either. In the ninja world, aside from a few kage-level shinobi, she had little to fear.
"Sakura, you're so sneaky."
"Sakura, your strength isn't enough. Don't get involved this time."
"No. This mission can only be done by me—Haruno Sakura."
As the three of them argued more and more intensely, even the usually aloof, half-crazy version of Kakashi couldn't help but feel a little comforted.
He walked up behind the three of them, gently patting each of their heads. In a soft voice, he said, "Stop arguing, you three. I'll handle this mission myself."
"Huh?" ×3
Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura looked at each other, confused and helpless, before finally nodding in reluctant agreement.
Then, with tears streaming down his face, Naruto looked at Kakashi and cried out, "Kakashi-sensei, you better live happily ever after! Waaaah~"
"…That was a fast emotional shift."
"I couldn't help it!"
"…Alright then, cry all you want. I won't stop you."
The video ended, and soon it was time for the four timelines to reconnect and communicate.
In the Second Hokage's Timeline, things were relatively calm for now.
The task of uniting the ninja world was still in progress, and it would take time to gather enough talented individuals.
Once the manpower was ready to meet the needs of the entire ninja world, Tobirama Senju would initiate the war for unification.
In the Fifth Hokage's Timeline, there wasn't much going on either. After all, it would still be around two years before Toneri arrived in the ninja world.
Naruto and Sasuke could use that time to fully absorb the yin and yang powers gifted to them by the Sage of Six Paths.
Once they had completely digested those powers, they'd be even stronger than their counterparts from the same era.
With just the two of them, they could take care of Toneri perfectly—even without help from the other timelines.
The Fourth and Third Hokage's Timelines, however, weren't nearly as peaceful.
In the Fourth Hokage's Timeline, Uchiha Obito had just died, and there was no way Black Zetsu and the Akatsuki would let that go easily.
Based on the strength of the Fourth Hokage's Timeline's Konoha Village, Nagato's Rinnegan was undoubtedly a major threat.
So, in order to prevent the village from being harmed, Minato decided to strike first. He would take the initiative and head to Amegakure to deal with Nagato.
Of course, Minato needed help from the other timelines to make sure this threat was eliminated in one go.
The crisis on the Third Hokage's Timeline's side was the Ōtsutsuki on the moon.
To release Kaguya, Six Paths Madara and Six Paths Hashirama had destroyed nearly one-seventh of the moon.
Luckily, the Ōtsutsuki on the moon were still in the middle of internal conflict.
Otherwise, they would've already descended upon the ninja world, demanding answers from Konoha.
Jiraiya, naturally, couldn't just sit around waiting for disaster to strike.
Even though Uchiha Madara had promised to help him deal with the Ōtsutsuki when the time came, what if Madara couldn't hold them all back?
What if some of them broke through and caused chaos in the village?
If a battle started within the village, the losses would be immense.
So, just like Minato from the Fourth Hokage's Timeline, Jiraiya chose to take the initiative. He would go to the moon himself and settle things before they escalated.
"Alright, Naruto and Sasuke from the Fifth Hokage's Timeline will head to the Third Hokage's Timeline to assist Jiraiya. Our Madara and my elder brother will go to the Fourth Hokage's Timeline to deal with Nagato. If none of you have any better suggestions, then we'll proceed with this arrangement."
No one objected to Tobirama's allocation.
After all, these were all overwhelming battles. With four Six Paths-level ninjas, it didn't matter which timeline they went to.
Letting Fifth Hokage's Timeline's Naruto go to the Third Hokage's Timeline was a brilliant move.
It would give him a chance to experience the strength of the moon's Ōtsutsuki in advance—preparing him for the time he'd face them in his own timeline.
"By the way, Obito, aren't you coming to get the list?"
On the light screen, Fourth Hokage's Timeline's Minato asked Third Hokage's Timeline's Obito.
"No need. When the time comes, just hand the list to Lord Madara or Lord Hashirama."
Obito hadn't saved up enough money yet, so getting the list a bit later wouldn't make much difference.
"Alright."
Minato nodded, then turned to Obito from the Fifth Hokage's timeline and asked, "Do you guys need this list?"
Fifth Hokage Tsunade glanced at Obito, who was still "peacefully asleep," and answered for him, "We do."
"Then who are you sending to collect it?"
"Let Orochimaru go."
Upon hearing this, Fifth Hokage's Orochimaru raised an eyebrow in surprise. "Why me?"
"Didn't you notice there's no version of you in the Fourth Hokage's timeline's office? Go there and have a chat with your counterpart. Maybe convince him to stop wasting time on those pointless human experiments."
Originally, Orochimaru had no intention of going. He still had plenty of unfinished experiments—how could he spare time to visit another timeline?
But for some reason, after thinking for a moment, Orochimaru suddenly changed his mind. Then he let out a sinister and perverse chuckle before agreeing.
"Hehehe… Since you're the one asking, I'll reluctantly accept."
****
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