The Hyūga clan's sacred library.
This was a place few could step foot in, and it was also the perfect environment for a certain person to concentrate and gather intel without prying eyes. That person was Alexander.
Yet it wasn't actually him; it was his clone from the Shadow Clone technique. The real Alex was with Jiraiya and Tsunade in Tanzaku Town.
Right now, the clone was currently engrossed in the task of creating a seal on blank parchment.
The lamp's soft glow illuminated the room at night. He worked with a relaxed composure, giving him a serene disposition. When suddenly, a sharp light pierced through the window and cut through the tranquility of the room.
He paused his work to look at the grid-like pattern forming in the sky. "Looks like someone finally died…"
Now, Alex was not uninformed of the many events that transpired in the Leaf Village. For instance, he knew that Jada was visiting Rock Lee consistently until the latter recovered.
Alex, too, was visiting Lee. And what he found out was that Jada abruptly got up and left the room only after Lee had mentioned Arthur's name.
'Could she have possibly gone after him?' the clone thought at the time.
To confirm his positions, he used his Byakugan to search for her. Yet she wasn't in the village. Of course, that didn't mean she couldn't have just left for a mission. But when he checked the mission logs, her name was listed.
That could only mean one thing: she had teleported out of the village because she found Arthur's whereabouts.
Little did anyone know, Alex was the one to set up this entire charade. He purposefully nominated Jada to track Arthur down because she wanted to test Arthur's abilities. If Jada failed, which he had hoped, then he would personally track Arthur down himself.
But why would Alex do such a thing? It's because this was his world.
With a calm yet grim smile, he dropped his brush, stood, and then casually walked to the windowsill. Just by looking at the gridlines crossing, he could tell that only one person had died.
Jada, for certain, would have called on all the others to her side. She liked everyone and blindly trusted them.
But three things eluded him: who exactly had she called, who died, and why hadn't she called him? Or perhaps she did try to call him, but since he was just a clone, he wasn't going to be able to teleport to her side.
"For just a Christian, you sure are interesting," he said to no one in particular. As the last of the gridlines faded, he returned to the table and twirled the brush between his fingers. "Arthur Bennett…"
✟
Two days later.
In the players' main apartment, the atmosphere was light. Alex, in particular, seemed lost in thought because of the apparent news: Arthur Bennett had died.
The news had hit him harder than he had anticipated. He was certain that Arthur wouldn't have died. He couldn't have. But after his main body heard the details back in Tanzaku Town, his thoughts about Arthur's character became low.
Jada, meanwhile, was the most content. She not only believed the world would be a safer place, but everyone was currently sharing what they knew about it.
The rules, as they all understood them, were far more complex than they had initially thought since Dr. Kapoor told them all something different. Except for Alice, who hadn't been told anything for some odd reason.
Alex wound up telling the truth, revealing that he was also told a rule: if he sees gridlines cross a certain way, then it correlates with how many people are remaining. Two nights ago, they crossed six times, meaning there were now six people left.
All the other rules seem standard enough not to arouse any more suspicion in what they all signed up for.
As such, the room became filled with idle chatter as everyone was in a lighthearted mood now that Arthur was eliminated. It was like a heavy weight had lifted off their shoulders.
Only Alex remained indifferent inside.
William, trying to be the voice of reason, said, "We could finally focus on Shippuden, right? I mean, Arthur's gone, and Tsunade's being inaugurated as the fifth Hokage soon."
William and Alex had finished their mission of getting Tsunade to come back to the village and take the mantle of the next Hokage. It was fairly easy for them since they knew both her and her background well enough to convince the woman without Naruto's presence.
While a success, each person in the apartment knew that their celebration wouldn't last long.
"We still have to stop Obito and the rest of the Akatsuki," Jasper pointed out. "As far as I'm concerned, I'm the only one who can beat them alone."
"Keep telling yourself that," Margaret countered.
For the first time, they all shared a laugh that seemed genuine.
Later that day, Jada, Margaret, Sakura, and William went to go visit Naruto and Sasuke in the hospital.
Naruto was on the mend with high spirits. Sasuke, on the other hand, was still unconscious from Jada's sealing tag. It was removed after he was brought here, but he still needed time to recover.
Seeing his friends visit, Naruto's face lit up as he said, "You guys sure took your time paying us a visit!"
"Just be happy we even showed up," Sakura replied.
Jada patted Naruto's shoulder and said with a smile, "You're doing well, I see."
"Ya got that right!" Naruto replied, raising a fist. "I'm gonna get stronger so that I don't have to keep holding you guys back."
That contagious determination, that confident declaration—they all could never get tired of it. Naruto was indeed fit to be this world's main character.
"So," he said, "I heard you guys got payback for me by taking down Arthur."
"It was payback for everyone in Team 7," William corrected.
"Right!" the boy cheered. "I knew you guys loved me."
The group laughed at how ignorant and slightly conceited he was. But they all enjoyed being in his presence. Even Sakura couldn't find a reason to doubt him like she used to.
Suddenly, Sasuke's eyes twitched as he slowly opened them to see everyone present in the room.
"Sasuke!" Sakura yelled, holding onto his bedside.
Disgusted, he turned around, unwilling to talk to anyone. Especially Jada, after what she had done.
Whatever the actual reason, she felt the need to apologize. "I'm sorry for what happened in the Land of Tea, Sasuke. But we managed to take Arthur out. Everyone helped, and we did it for your sake."
Sasuke didn't want to respond; he clutched his bedsheets, angrier that he wasn't the one to kill his enemy—the same enemy who had ridiculed him, put him to shame, and mocked his clan's pride.
Jada still kept her smile, believing that she at least got the chance to express herself. Whether he despised her or not, he wasn't trying to leave the village. Something like that would break Team 7 apart and spiral them right back into mayhem.
"We'll give you your space, okay?" she said, gesturing for William and Margaret to leave with her.
As they were leaving, Margaret made a comment on how Naruto should use this moment to woo Sakura off her feet. And because she winked, it caused Naruto to blush and both Sakura and Jada to scold her.
Now Team 7 was left alone.
Sasuke finally turned to Naruto and Sakura. This prompted Sakura to give him a hug, but he didn't even flinch.
"Can you believe we failed the mission?" Naruto asked him. "Idate died, but at least we managed to get revenge for him."
So it was true; Arthur really had died.
The thought only made Sasuke narrow his gaze in a cold stare at Naruto.
When Sakura felt how stiff he was, she let go of him. And when she looked at his features, he looked genuinely upset. "Is everything alright, Sasuke?"
"Who's we?" he asked, ignoring her. "Naruto… I didn't do anything because you kept getting in my way…"
"What're ya talking about?" Naruto said, raising his voice.
"You heard me!"
"Sasuke!" Sakura said, feeling the tension. "We're a team. We all tried our best. Had Jada not come to help, who knows what might have—"
"Be quiet!" he said, cutting her off. He then looked back at the blond boy. "Naruto… I want to fight you."
Those were the same lines uttered in the original story only moments before the two got into a serious scuffle on the hospital's rooftop. But why was he saying this now of all times? He never even met Itachi for him to be so angry over nothing.
There could only be one explanation.
✟
Elsewhere.
Sunlight poured into a clearing like a flood washing over a certain young man's face. It soon shattered the haze of his unconsciousness as he felt the warmth against his skin.
When he slowly lifted his eyes, he squinted against the brightness. It was Arthur. The last he recalled, he was at death's door. But now he felt his back lying against soft dirt.
A hand was brought up to shield his face as he heard muffled sounds reach his ears. They were barely audible but filled with urgency.
"Daddy, wake up! Wake up, daddy!"
Once his vision adjusted, the brightness faded into clarity, revealing who was nudging him. It was Koko, and she was perched on her haunches with eyes that looked as if she'd been crying for hours.
As soon as she understood that he was awake, she leapt forward and wrapped her arms around his neck. Her little body then shook with emotion.
In that moment, Arthur's mind was fully aware of things: he had survived the impossible.
"Koko…" he managed in a hoarse tone. After gently pulling away from her, he shifted his head down at his chest to see the fabric of his shirt marred with a hole but devoid of any wounds. "What happened…?"
"I took it out!" she whimpered. "There was a green stick inside you, daddy!" The panic in her voice was clear as she explained, "I didn't know what to do at first because every time I touched it, I kept losing chakra!"
The gravity of her statement didn't register at first until he remembered what led to this moment.
"You did good, Koko… I almost died."
"But you did die, daddy!"
"Oh…?"
"You were out of chakra, so I remembered what you taught me and used the Chakra Transport!" What she meant to say was Chakra Transfer jutsu, a technique that allowed one user to transfer their chakra to another. "You were not moving ever since the moon was out."
That meant he had been dead for several hours. That also meant she had been performing the technique until he finally woke up. And based on the smell of sulfur, she had also mixed in natural energy from the hot springs.
Arthur stretched out his arm and patted her gently on the head. This made her embrace him tightly around his neck again.
He then closed his eyes to recount things.
While he had been preparing to travel to the Land of Tea, he had also made a detour to the Cayman Jungles. There, he had taught Koko two important things.
First, if he didn't return within three days, she was to use the reverse summoning technique to bring him back. And second, he taught her the Chakra Transfer technique in case of a life-and-death scenario.
He hadn't believed that he would find himself in such peril, not really. But such was his mindset: to always be ten steps ahead of everyone.
"What was it like being dead, daddy?"
Arthur wasn't too sure how to answer that question. All he remembered was that once his chakra finally hit zero, he could only think of one name and one name only: Jesus Christ. Now he was conscious again and free to carry out his plot.
Even though Team 7 managed to survive his assault, and even though the players were audaciously stronger than expected, his journey to the Land of Tea was not wasted.
The first thing he did was reach into his bag and pull out a scroll with blood on it. Koko's eyes widened after he unfurled it.
"What are those, daddy?"
Arthur held the blood-soaked objects in his palms as he spoke with a steady calmness that echoed in the expanse of the jungle, highlighting the gravity of the moment.
"The flesh of the two main characters…"