Four-World, the Kannabi Bridge
Swish!
The Sasuke from the Main World appeared atop the water's surface, carrying the Sasuke of the Fourth World. Close behind him was Naruto.
With several months of development in his Eternal Mangekyō Sharingan, beating a mere Three-Tomoe Sharingan user—no matter that he possessed all of Orochimaru's knowledge—was a piece of cake. Not worth mentioning.
Link glanced at his watch. In Main World time, it was nearly four in the morning, about to be dawn. Why hadn't Sakura and the others come yet?
Still, he intended to give his subordinates a little trust. If they weren't back by four-thirty, then he'd contact them via the Network.
So the four of them waited quietly for a few more minutes. Suddenly Utakata said,
"Six unknown chakras are following Sakura and Karin."
Main World Naruto formed a hand seal, and after a few seconds entered Sage Mode with his eyes closed in concentration, then opened them in delight:
"It's that world's me, Kakashi-sensei, Sakura, Kiba, Hinata, and..."
He pondered for a while but couldn't recall the last one, up to the moment they approached.
Swoosh! Swoosh!
Primary Sakura and Karin from the Main World landed on the scene.
"Alright, let's not waste time," Link said. "We've already got what we came for."
He turned a brief glance in the direction of the group from Fourth-World Konoha but opted not to engage them.
Naruto gave a nod, and Utakata began preparing the Chakra to open the Portal. Soon enough, the group—carrying the unconscious Fourth-World Sasuke, Nagato, and Konan—proceeded through.
From the opposite side, one could faintly see Hashirama of the First World glancing curiously this way.
"Put Sasuke down!"
A voice called out behind them; the fourth-world Naruto rushed over in panic.
Thud!
The way he arrived was exactly how he got sent flying back out.
"Careful!"
Kakashi, from Fourth-World, tried grabbing his impulsive student. Watching the black shadows on the ground regroup under that short figure, Kakashi said warily,
"Who the hell are—"
But the rest of his question was cut off. Link triggered the Funa-tsū again with Utakata, severing the Portal, and vanished in a swirling vortex.
High above them, orange-masked Obito stood on a tree branch, silently observing all that transpired.
…
Second World, inside the Laboratory
"No problem," said First-World Hashirama as he deactivated his Sage Mode, smiling while nodding.
"Thank you for your efforts, Lord Hashirama," Link politely responded, then waved everyone else to leave.
They had to do a brief quarantine check in case anything like Black Zetsu tried to hitch a ride back. Some untraceable parasite inside a trans-dimensional traveler would be a nightmare, after all.
After confirming nothing unusual followed them, the group departed. Sakura soon received a message on the Network, said goodbye to Sasuke, and left in a hurry.
Karin also had tasks to do. Exhausted from the overnight mission, she looked half asleep and bid farewell, leaving for the next scheduled Network portal.
Sasuke temporarily handed the unconscious "fourth Sasuke" over to some hidden Shadows, gave a polite nod:
"If you have time, come visit the 'Friend Hub' shop." Then he left.
Ultimately, only Link and Utakata remained, plus the three unconscious captives.
The Fourth-World Nagato's condition was severely compromised—far weaker than the Main World version's. Link simply performed some basic healing, then tossed Nagato and Konan off to Tsunade.
That left the captured Fourth-World Sasuke, whose situation was more complicated.
Link first took him to see "Main World Orochimaru" so that the cunning serpent could help extract "the Orochimaru" from Sasuke's body. Then he had Shadows carry him to the Allied Shinobi Army's "Otherworld Relief Bureau."
With the Third-World having so many refugees, and its decimated lands requiring indefinite reconstruction, many homeless from that world were being resettled into the Second World. All the procedures—intake, housing assignments, disbursement of relief—were handled at this newly formed bureau.
The waiting lines were huge. Normally, Link could have walked right in—his status would allow it—but the staff didn't necessarily recognize him by face alone, and ironically he found it awkward to claim special privileges.
So, ironically, he queued for half an hour. Only near the end did a manager from the Main World, seeing him in line, come over in alarm:
"Lord Link, why are—??"
But Link just shook it off.
Anyway, the processing itself was fairly straightforward. They'd attach a Network rope, the subject would fill out the standard forms online. Then they'd get allocated a place to live or at least some shelter, maybe job assistance. If the individual was a ninja, there'd be added oversight.
Because the Network so easily handled paperwork, everything was digital rather than on scrolls. It streamlined the entire relief effort.
Still, a new crisis was already emerging: With more and more new users, the Network's scale had exploded, meaning it was increasingly burdened by massive data. The old days—where one could instantly do a full search—were gone. The "IDs" grew lengthier and more complicated.
Even Link himself could no longer quickly search the entire network. Eventually, it might become unwieldy, with corners overlooked. Some folks even mentioned that the two Hashiramas and Tsunade, for example, might be messing around with a gambling app again, hidden somewhere in the network, and digging it out was no longer trivial.
Meanwhile, word was that "Main Orochimaru" and "Second-World Orochimaru" were working together to develop a sort of organic computer to interface with the Network.
Utakata abruptly glanced over at the captive Fourth-World Sasuke:
"He's awake."
Link got the hint and said,
"All right—no need to pretend." The Shadows promptly dropped the captive to the ground.
"Who...are you people?" The captive Sasuke rose to his feet, eyes stern.
When forced onto the Network, he had regained consciousness. He'd feigned unconsciousness until the conversation about "other worlds" rattled him enough to blow his cover.
Link used his administrator privilege to send him all the relief-bureau guidelines plus a portion of the "Naruto Timeline" that Link had compiled from Part I up to the final Valley of the End battle. That was already enough info.
"Read it thoroughly," Link said. "If you want to leave, no one here is going to stop you."
A mere triple-tomoe user, lacking Cursed Seal, not even close to being a threat. If he ran off, nobody would particularly care.
Besides, before "killing Itachi," that Sasuke usually refrained from doing random bloodshed. They reasoned no big conflict would arise.
"Oh, also, this is how you can contact your 'Main World' self. If something comes up, find him," Link added, sharing the ID. Then Link and Utakata departed.
Leaving the Fourth-World Sasuke standing alone, still confused, in the middle of a foreign world's street.
~~~
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