[Continuing from last time: We watched as that traitor Orochimaru summoned two Hokages, and the Third Hokage fought three shadow‐clones by himself yet managed to gain the upper hand…]
[That kid from Konoha has entered fantasy mode again!]
The usual riffraff who had been bubbling along steadily muttered something furtively again—so much so that Link's mood for telling his story was slightly affected.
But it didn't matter. That punk had already whispered it several times in secret; he'd nearly "got his tail," and with two more such slips, Link would just pull that damn little punk out of the Pure Land along the network line and rip off his headgear!
Though Link's mood was a bit dampened, his Summoning Jutsu was unaffected. He continued recounting his "enhanced‐version" tale of the Third Hokage's battle against the three Kages.
Originally, he had not intended to expose his identity as a Konoha ninja—but it turned out that these ninjas tacitly assumed that anyone capable of communicating with the Pure Land was a Konoha ninja. In conversations via Summoning Jutsu there was no room for lies; so he decided to be frank, openly telling the story as a Konoha ninja.
He just couldn't understand why neither the First Hokage nor the Second Hokage ever came over to talk with him. Could it be that they were so deeply controlled by Orochimaru that they had become mere shadows of themselves?
Putting aside the progress of his Summoning Jutsu for a moment, he found that chatting and "shooting the breeze" with a group of people was actually quite enjoyable—almost reminiscent of his old group chat in a past life. As long as he wasn't on a mission or facing combat, he often casually activated Summoning Jutsu in the Pure Land to "hang out."
After all, he could @ everyone; and if it got annoying, he'd simply blacklist and mute them.
"Dong dong dong~"
When he heard the knock on the door, Link paused briefly, prepared to finish his story and have one of his shadow clones go open the door.
["What's next?"] his father's disappointed voice interjected.
["Link-chan, wouldn't it be better if you finished your story all at once?"] Uchiha Mikoto said politely.
Some of those riffraff who dared not show their faces or names were even more curt, muttering that they should immediately retract their statements. Yet most people remained silent.
Link quietly recorded the impressions he got from the voices of the dead—he thought that the more familiar he became with them, the easier it would be to pick them off one by one. Perhaps telling his story in segments might even help him catch someone?
Lost in thought, he got up and stretched his legs so that his shadow clone could put his slippers on for him—only then did he stand steadily.
The door opened, and outside stood Uchiha Sasuke. He gestured for the shadows under the refrigerator to rise, saying, "Come in and have a seat. Would you like something to drink?"
The room was filled with an almost palpable sense of danger—any dark corner might conceal one or more shadow clones, making it extremely hard for intruders to slip in unnoticed.
After entering, Sasuke, still holding a gift box of sweet chestnuts, set it on the table and said, "I've moved—my new place is just next door."
He then extended an invitation: "Tomorrow, let's go out for barbecue together—I'll treat you."
"Moved over here?" Link was slightly surprised and laughed, "What's the need for all that trouble? We can eat at home. How about I help summon Auntie to come out and cook?"
"Uh, you've invited several people—your place seems large enough, right…?" he added as he followed Link over to take a look next door. After a quick survey, he said, "This apartment is indeed a bit small. If too many people come, it might be a problem."
Sasuke, trailing behind with slightly reddened, tired eyes, said, "You're the first one [to move]." He paused, then quietly agreed to the idea of dining at the new place, adding, "I'd like to invite Iris, Ami, Sakura, and even Kakashi—they should all fit."
He didn't mention his new teammates any further; after all, Naruto would always be Sasuke's "eternal crush." Given his personality, it would be at least several years before any new teammate could truly enter his life.
"I'll arrange everything for you," Link said as he directed his shadow clones to slide the sofa back, lift the TV cabinet against the wall, and reposition the table. After fussing around a bit, he theatrically patted the dust off his hand and said, "How does that look?"
"Mm." Sasuke replied, "Thank you."
"Don't be formal with me," Link said, patting his shoulder. "Alright then, it's settled: Tomorrow night, you invite them over, and I'll handle summoning Auntie and Uncle."
"Alright." Sasuke smiled, his eyes sparkling.
…
The next afternoon, at the Cryptology Division.
"Are you Link, the Special Jonin?"
A short-haired, brown-eyed female ninja, clutching documents, asked.
"That's me," Link replied as he entered a room lined with bookshelves and various texts in the Cryptology Division.
The female ninja walked briskly and quickly arrived at a computer desk, placing the documents on the table. She tapped rapidly on the keyboard and said, "I'm Yurika from the Cryptology Division. I'm in charge of decoding the data you sent back…"
She continued, turning the computer screen toward him: "Some of the codes use a cipher pattern similar to our village's standard, but the translated parts are related to you."
A block of text appeared on the screen:
[███ LINK ███ PROTOTYPE ███ SEAL]
Amid a mass of indecipherable symbols, a few annotated words in translation were visible.
"Do you have any clues you can provide?" Yurika asked.
Link thought for a moment. Although his name was mentioned, the information was scant. What exactly was "Prototype"? And what did "Seal" have to do with him?
[It must be something connected to me—the seal… huh? The Five Elements Seal?]
His interest was suddenly piqued. He had originally assumed it was some boring curse or experimental data regarding soft-body transformation, but now it really became intriguing.
Could it be that after his Five Elements Seal was applied to Orochimaru, that bastard discovered something?
Link's mind raced. Following this line of thought, might the "Prototype" be the body he sealed with the Five Elements Seal?
If that were so, Orochimaru may indeed have discovered something extraordinary about the Five Elements Seal.
"Hello?" Yurika said, noticing his sudden daydreaming. She waved her hand. "Have you come up with any ideas?"
"A little," Link nodded. "But it involves my secret technique."
"Alright," Yurika shook her head and sighed. "I'm sorry to trouble you—if you have any further clues that don't involve your secret techniques, please share them with me."
She looked a bit pained; as the Cryptology Division's top decryption specialist, the most troublesome cases were when completely unfamiliar ciphers were encountered—it was like trying to drag a mouse by its tail with nowhere to grip.
"It's alright," Link said after a thoughtful pause. "I can't reveal anything about my secret technique, but I can tell you that the Prototype inside is most likely a body I sealed with my jutsu."
"A sealed body… Prototype…"
Yurika's face lit up with sudden understanding. "Thank you—you've been a huge help!"
Then she lowered her head and began scribbling on the desk.
~~~
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