Logically speaking, [Namikaze Minato] could instantly reach any location just by using his Flying Thunder God markings.
Although the Namikaze Minato of this deeply cursed Limited Tsukuyomi World hadn't left many markings around due to his wildly selfish personality, his own son should definitely have one on him.
Yet, for some bizarre reason, after [Namikaze Minato] finally resolved to save his son, save the Tailed Beasts, and defend the ninja world, he didn't teleport away immediately.
Instead, he was frantically fiddling around with something.
It was exactly at this moment that Makoto, flying high in the air, brought back [Konan] after she had successfully completed the apocalyptic detonation of her six Billion exploding tags.
[Konan] had naturally consumed a massive amount of chakra, and her paper-transformed body was currently reduced to just her upper half.
However, as long as she dispelled the Paper God Technique, she could easily return to her original body—it wasn't like half her body was permanently blown off.
Maintaining this half-paper state was strictly necessary because she had to remain entirely immune to physical damage during the massive explosion; otherwise, she would have been instantly vaporized by her own blast.
Sure enough, after confirming the coast was clear, [Konan] reverted to her original human form and slid smoothly off Makoto's back.
Hikari's Susanoo extended a giant, glowing arm and gently caught [Konan].
"Quick, give us directions. Those two idiots down below are also going after the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki. It'll be a massive pain in the ass if they find him first."
"Alright, head that way." [Konan] glanced down at the cratered ruins, realized a few of her exploding tags had actually missed their targets, and without any further hesitation, pointed firmly in a specific direction.
"What a pity," [Konan] sighed, taking one last look at the smoking crater that used to be Konoha and the two tiny figures on the ground.
"Given a few more years of prep time, I could have replaced all the grass and trees outside the village walls with exploding tags, too."
With that terrifyingly casual thought, she sat comfortably in the palm of Uchiha Hikari's fully-speed-flying Susanoo as they departed.
Under the Susanoo's high-speed flight, Makoto's group very quickly arrived at [Konan]'s indicated destination—the Fire Temple.
"Good. The Nine-Tails Jinchuriki is still here."
As they got closer, all three of them could clearly sense the immense, brooding chakra inside using their perception abilities.
[Konan] breathed a slight sigh of relief.
After all, there was a guy out there who could use the Flying Thunder God and literally appear here at any given second to snatch the kid away.
If that happened, tracking him down would become a total nightmare.
Without their own Space-Time Ninjutsu, if you chase after someone and they immediately use FTG (flying thunder god) to relocate, they can effortlessly toy with their pursuers like monkeys.
Makoto was well aware of this annoying fact, which was exactly why he had been so curious earlier about why [Namikaze Minato] hadn't simply used the FTG to instantly escape with Kushina.
He had been fully prepared to intercept them.
But upon seeing that [Minato] showed absolutely zero intention of leaving until they departed first, Makoto held back slightly, genuinely wanting to see what was actually going on.
"Why are we at a temple?"
The three of them landed softly at the entrance of the Fire Temple.
Hikari set [Konan] down and looked around the sacred grounds curiously.
"Don't you know?" [Konan] replied, her tone dead-serious. "Temples are absolute dens of iniquity. During the Warring States period, they specialized entirely in arranging sick marriages between humans and Summoning Beasts. And this Fire Temple is particularly notorious for it."
"Look over there." [Konan] pointed a pale finger toward a massive, towering tree within the Fire Temple courtyard.
"That is the sinful origin of all bonds between humans and Summoning Beasts."
"Our leader once read a deeply disturbing story on an ancient stone tablet using his Rinnegan. It's said that long, long ago, [One] and [Rabbit] appeared in this world. [One] was an extremely perverted furry enthusiast who intended to transform the entire ninja world into a massive breeding ground for furries."
"[Rabbit] simply couldn't stand the degeneracy and took the opportunity to launch a desperate surprise attack, severely injuring [One]. After being gravely wounded, [One] hid inside a monk's ear, covertly spreading his wicked, furry ideology throughout the ninja world. His toxic influence even reached [Rabbit]'s own son... the Sage of Six Paths."
"The Sage of Six Paths became utterly obsessed with furries, going so far as to violently persecute his own mother and seal her away on the moon just for opposing his furry lifestyle. He then deliberately split the Ten-Tails into nine separate Tailed Beasts for his daily... entertainment."
"And that tree right there is the Divine Tree that [One] and [Rabbit] originally brought here. Because Tailed Beasts have infinite lifespans, and Summoning Beasts generally live for a very long time, while human lifespans are tragically short... this tree serves as the ultimate key to helping humans magically reincarnate, just so they can endlessly continue their sick bonds with Tailed Beasts and Summoning Beasts!"
"What the actual fuck?!" Makoto aggressively turned to look at Hikari.
No matter how deeply absurd the stories [Konan] had told earlier were, he had mostly grown accustomed to the madness.
But that last part about "reincarnating to continue bonds with Tailed Beasts" made him completely lose his composure!
This was completely the wrong setting!
Makoto distinctly remembered that he had only told this exact, fake, wildly cursed lore once—to Hikari and Temari during their time in the Land of Wind!
How the hell had his stupid joke been "borrowed" and hard-coded into the Limited Tsukuyomi World's actual lore?!
"Well... the story is quite interesting, don't you think?" Hikari purposefully looked away, pretending not to hear his accusation, and quickly power-walked toward the Fire Temple's main gate.
"Never mind." Makoto sighed, rubbing his temples.
"You stay out here," he instructed [Konan]. "Even if your chakra has recovered somewhat, there's no need for you to come inside. Leave the heavy fighting to us."
After making sure [Konan] stayed put, he followed right after Hikari.
The interior of the Fire Temple was eerily silent.
The bloodstained ground was violently littered with the fresh corpses of monks.
And standing right at the end of the path was their prime target—the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki, Uzumaki Menma.
"I'm honestly surprised Namikaze Minato hasn't arrived yet. Does he have some kind of terminal procrastination problem? Or..." Makoto stopped mid-sentence.
Because through his [Epitaph] ability, he just saw a fleeting vision of the future, and he instantly knew that [Namikaze Minato] was about to appear.
...
The utterly cursed reason why [Namikaze Minato] hadn't made a move earlier was because the Flying Thunder God mark he had left on Uzumaki Menma was located in a very special, highly compromising location.
It had been left during his... intimate moment with the Nine-Tails, and thus, the mark was simultaneously transferred directly into Uzumaki Menma's body upon birth.
Normally, a Flying Thunder God transfer doesn't necessarily require appearing right next to the exact mark—even if the mark is in some weird location, it wouldn't matter much.
But the glaring problem was that this particular mark wasn't just inside the boy's physical body, it was stamped directly inside the actual sealed space containing the Tailed Beast.
Therefore, any FTG teleportation was bound to materialize [Minato] straight inside Menma's body.
To avoid violently bursting his own son apart from the inside out like a meat balloon, [Namikaze Minato] had absolutely no choice but to summon a toad from Mount Myōboku, physically hide inside the small toad's body along with [Kushina], and then use the Flying Thunder God technique.
However, because [Namikaze Minato] had previously chosen to "merge" his love with the Nine-Tails, the toads of Mount Myōboku had waited for him bitterly for years, their unrequited love having long since soured into deep, vengeful hatred!
Because of this toxic ex-lover drama, he could only plead desperately after using the Summoning Technique, frantically explaining and persuading them with incredibly sincere words.
He had to dramatically appeal to their scorned emotions and reason with them, warning Mount Myōboku that the Akatsuki intended to slaughter all the Tailed Beasts, and that the Summoning Beasts would inevitably suffer the exact same fate sooner or later.
Finally, after a ridiculous soap-opera argument, Mount Myōboku temporarily forgave [Namikaze Minato]'s cheating ass and sent over a small toad.
The two parents hurriedly squeezed inside the small toad's body, and with one final Flying Thunder God flash, they completed the transfer.
...
Back in the Fire Temple.
"So, you two must be the Akatsuki members Kurama mentioned, intending to capture the Tailed Beasts?" Uzumaki Menma jumped down from a blood-stained Buddha statue and walked coldly up to the two of them, trying to look as edgy as possible.
Kurama?
Could it be that in this messed-up Limited Tsukuyomi World, Naruto had already reconciled with the Nine-Tails?
Hearing Uzumaki Menma actually speak the beast's true name, Makoto—as well as several people watching from the sky—was genuinely surprised.
"Not speaking? Hmph, then I'll just—oh."
Uzumaki Menma was just about to make a badass move when suddenly his entire expression and body completely froze.
His mouth violently twitched a few times, and suddenly, a small slimy toad hopped right out from the back of his pants with a loud, incredibly awkward "Ribbit, ribbit."