Chapter 17.

Hiruzen stared in shock at the pair that had appeared out of the thin air. The albino man was marked as Sensei, important and valuable person by the Memory. He looked to be around his forties; however, his brain said that he was around seventy with the only explanation being his lineage.

The second Hiruzen got back to camp, his memory began to collect 'keys' to his 'locks' and was finally, albeit slowly, revealing more information. This helped a lot, as he was able to spend the evening without getting found out by his comrades. He began to get in terms with his new reality and even handled this sudden development fairly well.

Nevertheless, that young girl flabbergasted him and his uncooperative brain. He had never seen her in the anime, his memory was keeping to itself and the way she was treated by others... It was stupifying.

As he stared at the girl who was introduced as Malika, he noticed her gaze. Her gaze of pure white irises that were locked onto him, as if reading his soul. Cold sweat started to roll down his back and hi subconsciously held his breath when he noticed a hint of enmity towards him.

"Well, as I can see, you were planning to rest." - She stopped looking at Hiruzen and her eye instantly became a heterochromatic mixture of red and blue.

'Dojutsu...'- Hiruzen could only stare in silent shock as the girl continued to talk as if nothing happened.

"Yeah, Root is operating just fine."- She nodded to Danzo's question, - "It is fine, Minari-chan, we can take our time. The hospital is in good hands. Homura-kun, could you, please, help here? If you still have some food left, give it your Sensei." - At the unspoken question about her food, she replied that she will cook something later.

Hiruzen was moving according to what he was told to do and fifteen minutes later, everyone was in their tents, resting. Except for Alex, who was now Sarutobi and was too overwhelmed by the whole ordeal.

He felt so out of place, lost and hopeless at the same time. He felt like he would be going crazy very soon; however, he could only suffer alone, since he didn't want to end up as a corpse.

He curled up into a ball, shut his eyes closed and before he fell into the warm embrace of Dreams, he once again recalled that chilly glance of the girl, whose very existence was very much unexplained.

***

The next morning, everyone continued the journey back to the famous Konohagakure no Sato. Hiruzen was as excited as a child on the way to the Theme park. Yet, conversations between his teammates shattered his expectations. They still had four days on the move before they will see the main gate of the village.

On the third day after the reunion with Sensei, they stopped for a short break to take lunch. This time no fire was lit. They just ate the premade rations and filled the water flasks.

"Hiruzen, could you please come with me for a second?" - Malika-san approached him for the first time since their meeting and honestly, Sarutobi was a bit horrified by her friendly smile on her innocent face.

He looked around for something he could've excused himself away from her but found nothing. As he was about to refuse, his memory decided to give ONE detail about her. She was the S-rank Jounin, thus, she was above him, an A+ rank. He had to follow her command regardless of his feelings, as long as it was without malice.

Resigning to his uncertain fate, he followed her into the woods.

Denim hair was gently flowing down her straight back, that suddenly seemed enormously broad, like a cliff of a mountain. His hands were shaking and body shivering, as he felt ominous premotion from this whole situation. Those icy eyes once again appeared in his head, as if hunting his very being.

"This seems to be a good enough spot for our little chat, Sarutobi Hiruzen." - She turned around, locking her Dojutsu onto him.

***

Well, when I was teleporting over to my stupid and brave Nii-san, I was expecting to see a battle. not a peaceful clearing with tattered, bleeding and unconscious body.

"And how did you end up in this mess, Tobirama-nii?" - I asked out loud while pocking his forehead. My mana-clone freed itself from its hiding place and walked over with apologetic face and dispersed, giving me the full picture of the incident.

I sighed. I wish there were ways for my clones to deliver all of the details, instead of simple signals, without dispersing; but for now, there are none found.

"Hey, wake up, sleepyhead." - I gently shook the man when I healed him up. Tobirama-nii muttered something under his breath and started to slowly crack open his eyes.

"Mali- "

"Yup, me." - I nodded while a bit of fury was slowly building up on the inside.

"How did you know?" - He sat up and accepted the flask of water I gave him.

"I have my ways." - I stated with a smirk that was slowly turning evil. - "Why did you cut the telepathy channel, my dear, idiotic Nii-san?"

"I didn't cut it... I mean, I didn't see the reason to keep it active." - He hastily corrected himself after my warning glance. - "We were on a dangerous mission and I couldn't afford my chakra being wasted... used on something other than what was necessary." - He continued firmly.

I nodded, agreeing with his words. Sure, this is a good reason to close off the channel, but he actually severed it. Which I didn't forget to inform him about. The look of confusion on his face made it clear that it was an accident, so I had to gulp down my displeasure. Miscalculations do happen.

"Where are Gold-and-Silver brothers?" - I inquired as I began to reestablish the connections which we had many of. Us five, Hogosha and a few of the trusted subordinates. He twitched with pain every now and then when I was reattaching the threads. - "Endure. It's your retribution."

"Why is it this annoying." - He allowed himself to complain as he felt another connection being restored

"Unlike the easy process of simply connecting two or more beings from the beginning, reattaching them requires a lot more work. In the first case, your consciousnesses were joining with each other by themselves with just a bit of my help. On the other hand, this time I have to fix the already created, complex channel with my own hands. I have to keep your minds from crumbling right? I'm not as skilful as Nature, so it's a given that it won't be a comfortable ride."

He sighed in resignation and accepted his destiny. I couldn't release him from the struggle, because the pain was the sign of success. Besides, it'll teach him to be careful with this kind of things. My lessons are always effective.

"I sealed those shinobi" - He answered my reasked question. Seeing my raised eyebrow, he elaborated. - "I tested the new combination of runes and Fuinjutsu. Now they won't be able to break out as long as I want them to be there."

"They could've broken away from regular medical scrolls?"

"Yeah. I tried them and they just weren't getting sealed. Apparently, they are pseudo-Jinchiriki of Kyubi's chakra and that helped them to break out." - He bragged smugly about his creation. While I was making a note not to forget about poor Bijuus.

"Done!" - I announced and Tobirama sighed with relief. - "I'll fill your reserve and we will head to your students. They are most likely worried sick about their stubborn Sensei."

"Yes." - He agreed and was about to stand up, but swayed, devoid of almost all chakra. I caught him before he fell face first, loaded his Chakra Circulation System and we teleported using my Taimuai to locate the group of our shinobi.

I wasn't expecting much when we appeared, but I sure didn't think of a possibility that that Thing still left some surprises for us.

"Let us get started." - I fixed the shinobi before me in a place. His aura started to scream 'Fear' and 'Struggle'.

"Who are you?!" - Young Sarutobi managed to squeeze out with almost no distress in his voice.

"Jana Ishvilli Malika, Jounin of S-rank. Most of the other things are restricted information. Now then, it is your turn, who are you?" - I peered deeply into his eyes and notice a black flicker just a few moments before he gave his answer.

"Sarutobi Hiruzen. A+ Jounin and a part of the Tobirama-sensei's team. Heir of the clan." - He said it with absolute conviction in his words and I approved with a slight nod.

"Of course, you are. It would be strange you were someone else in the same body."

He froze. Eh? Did he really believe that it was possible? Uneducated being.

"Ease up. I won't hurt you." - I coaxed the terrified teen as I was approaching him.

"Then..."

"I just have to remove a pest off of you. It'll be quick. You won't even notice." - And before his aura burst open by fear, I placed my hand on his spiky, brow hair and pulled out the so-familiar black substance.

"Even after your death, you're still a nuisance, Zetsu." - I muttered as I was burning the filth.

I heard a loud thud beside me and saw a crouching shinobi with his hands around his head.

"Who am I?... Alex... Sarutobi... Moscow or Konoha? Was Sasuke my father or..."

That was getting dangerous so I interfered.

As yellow light was slowly dispersing after contact with his head, he began to recollect and organise things in proper order.

"This was horrifying." - Hiruzen said with a smirk when he looked at me.

"Well, we still have to fix a few things, but welcome back." - I returned the smile.