Upon learning from his subordinates that two Kazekage had appeared outside Konohagakure, the Third Kazekage let out a sigh and ordered Tenzō to go find Kakashi, then have Kakashi bring Minato over to fill in as extra manpower.
However, Kakashi and Minato Namikaze had already sensed Manda's appearance and rushed straight to Konohagakure Training Ground 44.
The other genin did the same, converging on that direction to see what was going on.
Shikamaru, Hinata, Gaara, and the others in particular all thought of the same troublesome team at once: Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura.
The three people everyone was worrying about were completely dumbfounded at that moment.
When Manda heard someone call his name, his first reaction was to curse loudly, his rough voice shaking the air. "Orochimaru, you bastard! Did you summon me without preparing a hundred living sacrifices?!"
Orochimaru, facing him: "......" He lowered the three kunai in his hand, awkward and silent.
Sasuke, standing on Manda's head: "......" He realized he was starting to lose control of the situation.
So this was… an acquaintance.
"Kid, you look familiar!" said the tiny sage perched on Naruto's shoulder.
"It's me! Naruto! Naruto Uzumaki, dattebayo! Didn't we just sign a contract not long ago?!"
"Na… Naruto?!!!"
Seeing the two toads staring at him in shock, Sasuke hurriedly reminded Naruto, "Idiot, don't forget. When we made that contract, we were in another parallel world! Even if it's the same parallel world, sixty years have already passed!!"
Sakura asked the Katsuyu sage in surprise, "Then aren't you the Katsuyu from our parallel world?!"
The gentle, girlish voice replied softly, "Are you Sakura? It really has been sixty years since we last met~"
"!!!!"
"Wait?!" Sasuke looked at the dog-sized slug. "You know Sakura?"
"You're Sasuke?!!!" Manda's booming voice rang out, the shockwaves making everyone on his head sway violently.
At that moment, Minato Namikaze and Kakashi Hatake arrived as well, along with Jiraiya, who was supposedly out 'gathering information'. When it really mattered, he never dropped the ball.
Seeing Kakashi-sensei, his dad, and even his dad's teacher, that lecherous sage, all show up, Naruto's first concern wasn't the tension in the air.
"What about the exam?" he blurted out. "Does it still count?"
Minato smiled at his son and his teammates. "It counts."
Then he turned, his gaze turning cold as it fell on Orochimaru, who was disguised as a Konoha ninja. "After all, this gentleman stopped being a genin a long time ago. As one of the Sannin, do you really find it interesting to come here and bully a group of children, Orochimaru-san?"
Orochimaru's slit pupils contracted, then slowly widened again as he stared at the blond man wearing an ANBU mask.
"Minato…Namikaze…"
So this was the man who had once competed with him for the position of Fourth Hokage and won. As expected, he hadn't died during the Nine-Tails incident.
"Orochimaru!!" Jiraiya's killing intent surged as he stared at his former teammate. "You already defected from Konoha! What is your purpose in coming back today?!"
His fists clenched tightly. Back then, he hadn't been able to bring himself to cross blades with a former comrade, choosing instead to shoulder the blame for mission failure rather than fight.
He had thought Orochimaru would never return to Konoha, but…
"If you dare lay a hand on Konoha, I will never stand by and watch!"
Orochimaru let out a cold sneer. "Where does that confidence come from, Jiraiya? Do you really think you can beat me?"
To be honest, no one present knew what would happen if Orochimaru and Jiraiya fought with the resolve to kill. Who would win, who would lose, or whether they would both be gravely injured.
Completely ignored, Manda grew furious. He slammed his tail down, trying to fling the three people on his head, along with the toad and the slug, straight off his back.
"Where are Obito Uchiha and Madara Uchiha?!!" Manda shouted the moment he saw Sasuke. "Tell those two bastards to get their asses out here!!!!"
Sasuke: "......"
Back when he had summoned Manda during Konoha's founding era, Obito and Madara were always grabbing random tree branches to tease the little snake. Looks like karma finally caught up with them.
"Manda, calm down," Sasuke said, patting his head.
Young Master Sasuke was the classic type: composed and aloof in public, but secretly very fond of small animals.
Not only did he never tease the little Manda, but since it was his first summoned beast, he treated it especially well. He stopped Madara from bullying it and even hunted small animals to feed it.
After he spoke, the enormous Manda actually quieted down.
"After fifty-nine years and seven months, you finally remember to summon this great lord. So what is it this time? If it's something trivial, you'd better be careful. I might just swallow you whole!!"
He remembered it that clearly?
Though if Manda could stop flicking the tip of his tail with those constant smack-smack sounds like an arrogant cat, it might be a bit more convincing.
With Jiraiya, Minato, and the others already present, and even the strongest battle summon, Manda, switching sides on the spot and seeming rather close to that Sasuke, Orochimaru had no choice but to retreat.
Still, there was no way he intended to give up on all this fascinating, highly valuable research material right in front of him.
He had thought Konoha was already stagnant and decaying.
Turns out Konoha had simply been waiting for a storm, and this great storm didn't need his help at all.
Orochimaru narrowed his golden eyes, his smile growing deeper.
Seeing that Manda clearly recognized Sasuke, Minato Namikaze found it extremely strange. It didn't align with his previous deductions about space-time ninjutsu. He wanted to question Manda further for research, but Orochimaru was both dangerous and brilliant. Even the smallest bit of information could be analyzed by him down to its core.
Minato gave his sensei a meaningful look.
At this point, Orochimaru had no interest in directly opposing Konoha. He obediently allowed himself to be personally detained and monitored by Jiraiya.
After all, with such a huge commotion, that child Anko would arrive soon enough. And the cursed seal on her would let him learn everything he needed to know.
After Orochimaru was taken away, Minato couldn't wait to question Manda about the logic behind space-time interactions.
The conclusions drawn from the four sage beasts were strikingly consistent.
Sixty years ago… no, fifty-nine years and seven months ago, during Konoha's founding era, Naruto Uzumaki, Sasuke Uchiha, Sakura Haruno, Obito Uchiha, young Kakashi Hatake, Rin Nohara, and the others had indeed formed contracts with them.
But…
If those contracts were formed in another parallel world, then why did Manda and the others in this parallel world recognize Sasuke, Naruto, and Sakura?!
Minato's mind raced, running through every possible cause of this anomaly.
In the end, he locked onto a single possibility.
That was it. The summoning systems of the Three Sacred Grounds were interconnected across parallel worlds!!
Naruto and the others had signed summoning contracts tied to this world's Three Sacred Grounds. Meanwhile, the Katsuyu Sage, the Toad Sage, and Manda had been summoned from another parallel world. If that was the case, then the breakthrough he and Tobirama-sama had been searching for all along regarding Flying Thunder God and inter-world travel lay with the Three Sacred Grounds?!!
In simple terms, Naruto and the others had signed summoning contracts from another parallel world, causing the Three Sacred Grounds of both worlds to become linked. As long as special Flying Thunder God markers were left at the Three Sacred Grounds, they could exploit this loophole to travel back and forth between parallel worlds they had visited before?!!
Naruto had no idea his dad had already reached this conclusion. Even if he heard it, he probably wouldn't understand anyway.
For now, the three of them could only calm their respective summoned beasts and continue with the exam.
When the other examinees saw that the proctors, ANBU, and jōnin had all arrived, they finally worked up the courage to come closer.
"What the hell, summoned beasts this huge?!!"
"Did you guys come to the wrong place? This is the genin-to-chūnin exam!!"
"Yeah! Not chūnin-to-jōnin!"
"Jōnin? Who do you think you're looking down on?!!" one of the Oto ninja shot back. "Manda-sama is Orochimaru-sama's summoned beast!!"
That was one of the Sannin! One of the legendary Sannin! And the leader of Otogakure, practically Kage-level!!
They had originally planned to get revenge on those brats Sasuke, Naruto, and Sakura during the second exam after some unpleasantness in the first round.
But after seeing this scene, the three Otogakure ninja could only think one thing.
"Sorry to bother you."
Off to the side, Gaara stared coldly at Naruto Uzumaki and Sasuke Uchiha.
"Naruto Uzumaki… Sasuke Uchiha… what exactly are you people… kill them… prove my own existence… yes…"
This Gaara was on the verge of losing control, while the Gaara from another world was sitting calmly in the Hokage Tower conference room, humbly sipping Konoha's tea.
The contrast was staggering.