At long last, the tall spires of the Land of Lōran rose into view, and for the first time in days, Sakura felt a fragile flicker of hope stir within her breast. The way back to the future lay before her, plain as daylight, and she knew what had to be done: whatever happened, she must either end Anrokuzan's life or cast him into the Ryūmyaku… and only then would she return to her rightful time period.
Minato's band stopped behind a dune of sand to carry out some reconnaissance.
"That's odd," Minato murmured, peeking over the crest. "Where's the welcoming committee?"
"Anrokuzan-daijin's puppets should be standing guard at the entrance," Princess Sāra said worriedly. "Something's wrong... could it be that Sunagakure attacked…?"
Sunagakure regularly sent raiding parties to intimidate the Land of Lōran and rob their trading caravans, according to Sāra. However, after finding a fortune in chakra metal on Pakura's person, Sakura was now certain these attacks were not random, but rather carried deeper, more sinister intent behind them.
Due to the Ryūmyaku's proximity, the ground was replete with chakra mineral veins, which made the Land of Lōran very rich indeed in chakra metal. Furthermore, the chakra metal had taken the form of gears and springs; puppet materials, in other words…
And then there was Anrokuzan: the puppet master who had somehow turned up in a ventilation shaft six years ago and had since clawed his way to power, now flaunting the title of Minister of Defence along with a handful of other grand-sounding positions. He commanded the puppets and their means of production alike, so to Sakura's mind, it ought to have been child's play for him to smuggle out a few of their most valuable components…
…and use them to bribe Sunagakure!
Into doing what?
Exactly what they had already been doing since the start of the Third Shinobi World War: harassing the Land of Lōran! Thus, exaggerating Suna's threat level in the eyes of Lōran's inhabitants… and as Sakura well knew, fear was one of the easiest ways to manipulate people.
Queen Sēramu had said as much herself; the people of the Land of Lōran were a peaceable lot, so when Anrokuzan appeared out of nowhere, offering a clean and convenient solution to strengthen the kingdom's defences that didn't involve sacrificing lives or sending anyone to war— well, who could blame them for leaping at the chance to give him everything he'd ever wanted?
"He's using Lōran's own resources to subvert the country from within!" Sakura murmured to herself. "Using their Ryūmyaku and their chakra metal to manipulate them into giving him ever greater power over themselves— what idiots!"
Anrokuzan was taking a page out of Konoha's playbook, exploiting the Land of Lōran through methods other than direct military aggression… but Sakura had no doubt that his ambitions wouldn't stop at the Land of Wind. After all, puppets were weapons of war, and Anrokuzan was sitting on an infinite supply of building materials, chakra, and manpower…
"The city's streets are almost empty," Shibi said quietly, breaking the silence. "There are hundreds of shinobi with identical, monstrous chakra signatures fighting in the main plaza against a dozen puppets."
Sakura gaped at him. He could tell all that from the Kikaichū wiggling its butt in his palm!?
"The Multi Shadow Clone Jutsu?" Chōza said, frowning. "But who could possibly have that much chakra?"
"I suppose we're about to find out," Minato called. "Let's go, move in!"
Chōza bent his knees, and Princess Sāra clambered onto his wide back. Team Minato and Sakura flickered to the entrance pavilion and sprinted down the winding corridors, before emerging in the large plaza where Sakura had been arrested a few days ago, but by the time they arrived, the fighting had already ended.
"Naruto!?" Sakura screeched, goggling at the hundreds of Shadow Clones high-fiving each other amidst the broken-down puppets. "What the— what in the world are you doing here!? Aren't you supposed to be training at Mt Myōboku!?"
Startled, the Narutos looked in her direction. Hundreds of consecutive poofs rang out, each Shadow Clone exploding into a puff of white smoke as Naruto dismissed them, until only two Narutos remained.
"Sakura-chan!? What are you doing here, ya know!?"
"Sakura-chan!? What happened to your chest, ya know!?"
The two Narutos looked at each other in confusion. Hadn't they ended the jutsu? If so, then…
"What are you still doing here, ya know?"
"What are you still doing here, ya know?"
Their eyes widened in realisation. That wasn't a Shadow Clone!
"An impostor!?" scoffed the first Naruto, taking up a defensive stance. "I'll teach you to mess with the great Uzumaki Naruto, ya know!"
"That's my line!" retorted the second Naruto, mirroring the first's stance. "There's only one Uzumaki Naruto around here, and it's my amazing self, I'll have ya know!"
"That's exactly what a faker like you would say, ya know!"
"And that's exactly what a liar whose pants are on fire would say, ya know!"
Sakura's eyes widened in turn as she realised what was happening. Evidently, she wasn't the only one to have fallen into the Ryūmyaku in the future; it seemed that a couple of parallel-world Narutos had also taken the plunge and returned to this nexus event, which they all had in common…
One Naruto was difficult enough to manage, let alone two… or more. There was an infinite number of parallel worlds, so could it be that an infinite number of Narutos was about to show up…? But there wouldn't be enough place on the planet for all of them!
"Stop!" Sakura hollered, flickering between the two Narutos just as they were about to come to blows. "Whatever you do, you mustn't touch each other, or you'll die!"
Blood trickled from the Naruto on her right's nose. Oh no! He was already starting to experience adverse effects from being in two places at once! The universe wasn't liking this at all!
"Er… Sakura-chan?" he said timidly, vaguely pointing at her chest area. "What happened with your… like… er, ya know…"
Sakura turned towards him and opened her mouth to speak, and Naruto cringed away in fear, as though anticipating that she would give him a smack for asking such an insensitive question. But before she could say anything, the other Naruto's voice rang out behind her.
"I knew you were a faker," he crowed triumphantly. "I stopped getting nosebleeds a long time ago just from looking at Sakura-chan, ya know? You're not even close to my level, heh."
This wasn't good; the first Naruto was starting to eye her suspiciously as well…