Hokage's Office.
After their long conversation came a long silence. Both sides had confirmed each other's identities. Uzumaki Naruto looked at the familiar face before him and said with a complicated expression, "When I was little, I had a dream. But it was so long ago that I'd nearly forgotten it. It was only recently, when Hinata reminded me, that I remembered it again."
"In that dream, I went to another world. There was a huge home there, and a lot of family..."
Jiraiya could sense the heavy emotions in the man before him. He had known from the emotions the other had revealed upon first seeing him, but he could not fully understand them.
"I want to ask you to help save my world," Jiraiya said.
Nara Shikamaru, standing nearby, hesitated to speak. He felt that he should persuade the Hokage to stay, that there was no need to take such a risk. But as someone who had grown up alongside Uzumaki Naruto, he knew very well what Jiraiya meant to Uzumaki Naruto.
Sure enough, Uzumaki Naruto answered quickly. "All right."
Nara Shikamaru said helplessly, "Naruto, think this through. You're the Hokage."
Uzumaki Naruto grinned. "Of course I know. Even after all these years, I still remember everyone in that world whom I should remember."
Nara Shikamaru added, "Whether you go or not, no matter what happens to that world, it won't have any effect on ours. But if something happens to you, it'll be an enormous blow to Konoha."
At that moment, Jiraiya turned his gaze toward the man who looked remarkably like Shikaku. He also had a beard, but there was no scar on his face.
"May I ask what your relationship is with Nara Shikaku?" he asked.
"He was my father," Nara Shikamaru said.
Jiraiya nodded