"Alright, everything is ready. We just have to wait for tomorrow noon."
The thought of returning home made the group quite happy. They had come to an alternate world and found it unremarkable. The village, besides being less advanced than theirs, was also very old and rundown. They figured it must be quite poor.
Torifu could understand this. A large portion of the current Konoha Village's funding still had to come from the Daimyo, so a shortage of funds was inevitable. Their Konoha, however, was completely self-sufficient and required no national appropriations. Torifu's private funds alone were enough to buy several of the original Konohas.
"If Konan knew the alternate Konoha Village looked like this, she probably wouldn't want to come, would she?"
Yahiko had been truly bored for the past few days. He had expected this Konoha Village to offer something new and exciting. Instead, apart from the Nine-Tails being novel, nothing else was better than their own village. Yahiko had a naturally cheerful personality and enjoyed traveling around and seeing different sights. But now, he had barely left the inn since arriving in Konoha Village. It would be best to hurry back to his own village. It was truly agonizing here. Only the encounter with the Nine-Tails had been stimulating for Yahiko. But even that was quickly suppressed by the two Minato. While Yahiko wished to play around a bit longer, this concerned Kushina's life and the original Konoha Village's attitude toward them. He could only obey.
Time flew by. By the morning of the next day, Torifu and his group were ready to embark on the journey home. Torifu's Chaos Event was complete. Now, he just had to wait and see what rewards the System would give him upon returning to his world.
Knock, knock, knock, the inn door was knocked. They had been offered a better room, but since they were leaving the next day, they hadn't bothered to move and had stayed put.
Yahiko opened the door, and outside was indeed Sarutobi Hiruzen, carrying only a sealing scroll.
"Hahaha, Hokage Torifu, when shall we depart?"
Torifu stepped to the doorway: "Anytime."
Sarutobi Hiruzen gestured a welcome: "Then let us go."
Torifu had not expected Sarutobi Hiruzen to be so eager to visit their world, to the point of being impatient. However, it didn't matter. He could roughly guess Sarutobi Hiruzen's intentions, so it was harmless.
"No need to go through all that trouble. Please, Hokage Hiruzen, come over to my side."
Though Sarutobi Hiruzen was confused, he complied. He then saw a large amount of clouds and mist emerge from Torifu's sleeve, which then condensed into several arms that gently grasped all four of them. Sarutobi Hiruzen was initially cautious, but seeing that the three people behind Torifu did not resist, he relaxed. The moment the Cloud Hand touched him, he instantly left Konoha Village.
When he opened his eyes again, what he saw was no longer an inn but a lush, green forest. The wooden house Torifu and his group built was still there.
"Where is this?" Sarutobi Hiruzen asked, confused. This looked like an ordinary forest. He hadn't been tricked, had he?
"Be patient. Traveling between worlds is not that simple. This is still within the Land of Fire." Torifu entered the house and fiddled around for a bit, finally making the Teleportation Gate appear. It turned out he still needed to use Cloud Release to make it visible; it was just missing the courtyard.
The vortex within the Teleportation Gate was deep and mysterious, and Sarutobi Hiruzen was momentarily lost in wonder as he looked at it.
"What a spectacle! A structure like this exists? What is this thing?"
Torifu smiled faintly: "This is a Teleportation Gate. Entering it will take us to our world."
Sarutobi Hiruzen was clearly very surprised. A small portal could traverse worlds? He wanted to reach out and touch it, but Torifu stopped him: "Not yet. The Teleportation Gate needs to stabilize for a bit, or you could be flung into another world by a spatial storm."
"Then you would never be able to return."
Startled by Torifu's warning, Sarutobi Hiruzen pulled his hand back. If he were truly thrown into an unknown world, Sarutobi Hiruzen would probably die there.
"Alright, then I will listen to Hokage Torifu." Sarutobi Hiruzen stood beside Torifu. The two of them silently watched the Teleportation Gate. When the purple color turned to a faint blue, Torifu smiled.
"Alright everyone, we are ready to depart."
The four of them looked delighted. Torifu once again manifested Truth-Seeking Orbs that enveloped them all, leaving only their eyes, noses, and mouths exposed.
"Hokage Hiruzen, this is one of my ninjutsu that will protect you from the cosmic currents."
Sarutobi Hiruzen wasn't particularly afraid. Since they had already reached this point, pretending to be scared was pointless. Furthermore, he was old and had seen every kind of hardship. Though traveling between worlds was a big deal, he wouldn't act like a young person.
One Torifu and four 'black jars' thus embarked on the path back to their own world.
Jumping into the Teleportation Gate, the scene of the cosmos once again appeared before them all. The usually composed Sarutobi Hiruzen was now in a state of shock. He had never imagined the universe looked like this.
"Is... is every planet a world?"
Torifu immediately nodded: "That's right. They are all individual worlds. From space, our ninja world also looks like a planet; it is a small world."
Sarutobi Hiruzen exclaimed with emotion: "I never thought I would live to see this day. Is this what it feels like to travel between worlds? It's truly marvelous."
To be honest, this was only Torifu's second time, so he didn't look down on Sarutobi Hiruzen's reaction. The majesty of the universe truly astonished Torifu. The others all poked their heads out to look as well. Yahiko, restless as ever, even shouted into space, but unfortunately, no sound traveled out. The fact that they could breathe freely here was mainly due to the Teleportation Gate. Otherwise, they would have suffocated long ago from venturing into space. Here, all electronic products failed, and people completely lost all sense of time.
After an unknown amount of time, Yahiko gasped: "Look! We've arrived!"
The first person to look up was Sarutobi Hiruzen: "Indeed! Isn't that the map of the ninja world!" The planet was almost identical to the map of the ninja world, allowing Sarutobi Hiruzen to recognize it instantly.