A Little Shock for the Young Minato and Jiraiya

When Menma slowly opened his eyes.

What came into view was a huge, deep cylindrical space, like an ancient well abandoned for a thousand years.

Looking around, he saw mottled stone walls carved full of ancient patterns. From very high overhead, a faint thread of daylight filtered down, illuminating the dust drifting in the air.

He braced himself on his arms and sat up from the cold ground. Beneath him were broken rubble and years of accumulated dust.

He found himself inside a cylindrical space that resembled the interior of an abandoned temple. Aside from moss and weeds, there were no traces of any other living creatures around him.

With a slight shift of thought, he tried to sense the coordinates of the Flying Thunder God formula, the Seal Chakra Network, and the Giant Tenseigan far away on the moon.

However, the sensations that had once been as clear as stars were now nothing but emptiness, as if completely cut off by an invisible barrier.

"As expected..." Menma murmured. His voice carried a faint echo through the empty ruins. "It isn't time reversal. It's a parallel world?"

This conclusion did not exceed his expectations. Instead, it confirmed his previous guess.

Just then, from the fluffy collar around his neck, a little dark-red head cautiously poked out.

Mini-Kurama blinked his lively eyes and curiously sized up this unfamiliar environment, his tiny nose twitching lightly.

"What a strange feeling, Menma." Mini-Kurama's voice carried a hint of natural softness, yet also contained the sharpness of an ancient existence.

"The chakra aura here is a little different! It's mixed with something... hmm... decayed and oppressive. Is this the 'parallel world' you talked about? Then... will there be another me here too?"

Menma stood, patted the dust off his Hokage Cloak, and swept a calm