"Damn, I'd love to have a twin or something close to it," Anko said. "That's clearly the superior timeline."
"Superior?" Jiraiya asked with a grin as he read through his encoded notes.
"It had two of me, obviously it's superior," Anko said as if it was obvious.
"So if I made another two of you this would be the superior timelines?" Xander asked, trying not to laugh.
"Obviously," she said.
Xander called up the required Mana and created a pair of duplicate Ankos, having gotten down the skill needed in the Terminator world to match appearance if not DNA.
"Annie and Amy," Xander named them.
There was silence for several seconds as the nin looked from Anko to her two clones and back again.
"ANBU has prepared me for many things, but not this," Moose said numbly.
"Kai! Kai, damn it!" Squirrel exclaimed, pulsing his chakra to try and break the genjutsu.
Anko and her two new sisters moved to a quiet corner to talk to one another while Jiraiya continued to page through his notepad, glancing at the skillfully drawn pictures while reading the many hidden reports, written in his own hand, using his personal codes.
Kara just sighed at the two upset ANBU and pulled a small orange book out of her pouch to read, appearing to get rapidly engrossed in it as she let out a perverted giggle.
Kakashi entered with his team, carrying a passed out Naruto while Sakura helped an injured Sasuke. Tsunami quickly saw to them, healing the two boys and checking over Sakura.
"I don't recall a village with an X on their headbands," Kakashi said as he examined everyone, "and why do I feel like I should be suing someone for copyright infringement?"
Xander burned three Mana and created a copy of White Fang that he passed over to the silver haired nin. "Here."
"How?" Kakashi asked as the blade lit up, glowing a bright white proving it was White Fang, the sword that he'd inherited from his father and carelessly broken.
"We had a bored god drop in," Jiraiya replied as he finished reading the reports he'd written, wishing they were from later in that timeline rather than earlier.
"Not a god," Xander said.
"If it walks like a duck," the older man said with a shrug.
"Fair enough," Xander replied, "most of the differences are probably academic at the moment anyway." He created a jug of high quality sake and handed it to the two ANBU, hoping it would calm them down.
A cat masked ANBU arrived in a swirl of leaves and unsealed a man's corpse from a scroll. "Please?" she begged.
Xander tapped the corpse. "Resurrect," he cast, causing the head to re-attach itself and the nin to spring to his feet in shock, but before he could say anything the resurrected nin and the cat masked ANBU vanished in a swirl of leaves.
"He's been dead for a bit longer than three days," Jiraiya noted.
Xander shrugged. "Hopefully he doesn't mind being resurrected then." Xander turned and cast another Moon Healing Escalation on the room full of patients.
"If he is, I'm sure Cat can change his mind," Jiraiya said.
Sasuke hissed in pain and grabbed the side of his neck.
"Another one?" Xander asked, recognizing the seal from a brief glimpse of it.
"Orochimaru bit him during the exam," Jiraiya said. "Think you can remove it?"
"Yeah, just get me another bucket and glass of water," the Planeswalker said with a sigh.
"He can remove a cursed seal?" Kakashi asked intently, suddenly paying attention to something other than the sword he was holding.
"Yeah, they just taste awful," Xander said, "and then there is the awkwardness of sucking on a pre-teen's neck."
"I won't say anything about it if you won't," Kakashi offered with a trace of amusement as he waved for his team to come over, making the sword vanish somewhere on his person.
"That was an awesome healing jutsu," Naruto said excitedly, "can you teach me it?!"
"You're the only one here I actually could teach it to," Xander admitted, "but I'd have to create a magical artifact that would swallow up the fox and you'd have to promise to be responsible with it. No taking over the world or mass resurrections and try to avoid messing with time travel."
"You know?" Naruto asked nervously, hand going to his stomach.
Xander nodded. "You'd need Sarutobi's permission."
Moose set a bucket by Xander's feet and stood ready with a glass of water.
"Sasuke, he's going to remove your curse seal," Kakashi explained.
Sasuke's hand went to the seal. "It's powerful."
"It limits how powerful you can get," Anko spoke up from where she was talking with her sisters, the experienced nin having kept track of everything that was going on despite her seeming inattention.
"It weakens you in several ways while making you feel strong," Kakashi told his student.
Sasuke reluctantly moved his hand. "Please remove the cursed seal."
Xander leaned forward and copied what he'd done for Anko, having to suck harder to remove the snake before biting it in half and spitting the corruption into a bucket. "God, that tasted even worse than Anko's." He quickly rinsed out his mouth and spit into the bucket, Moose vanishing with the glass and bucket a moment later.
"It's gone," Kakashi said as he checked his student's neck, a wide smile under the mask that covered his mouth made obvious by the way the corner of his eyes crinkled.
"I feel... weaker," Sasuke complained.
"It was anchored a lot deeper than Anko's," Xander said, "so it was probably feeding a bit of power to you even while sealed to try and tempt you. Want some enhancements to make up for it?"
"Yes," Sasuke said instantly.
"Enhancements?" Kakashi said cautiously.
"Permanent physical enhancements that don't limit your potential," Xander replied. "I can make him stronger, tougher, regenerate to full health once a day, have an instinctive grasp of any forest he's in. That's about the limit of the one's I've come up with. I should be able to grant people the ability to fly, but I haven't figured that one out yet."
"That sounds awesome!" Naruto exclaimed.
"Bored god," Jiraiya repeated, "but one that likes Konoha."
"Go ahead," Kakashi said, seeing that Jiraiya wasn't concerned.
Xander licked his thumbs and wiped them on Sasuke's neck. "Holy and Unholy Strength," he said, as Sasuke's muscles swelled, the amount of Chakra the boy held noticeably increasing to low jonin. Xander licked his thumbs and wiped them across the kid's forehead. "Regeneration and Forest Walk."
"I feel... stronger," Sasuke said, a rare smile on his face.
Xander cupped his hands and they glowed green for a moment before he opened them revealing a gold ring with an emerald stone. "Once a day you can heal to full health using this stone as a power source, try not to let it get destroyed." He handed it to him.
"Just like that?" Naruto asked, confused.
"Just like that," Xander agreed. "Konoha is a nice place filled with good people, that's why I don't mind helping out while I'm here."
"Yeah," Naruto said with a toothy smile. "Um... I don't suppose I could get some of that too?"
"Sure," Xander agreed and proceeded to enhance Naruto and give him a gold emerald ring as well.
"Does that just work on boys?" Sakura asked hopefully.
Xander laughed and waved her forward, enhancing her as well, giving her a Mox Emerald Necklace.
"A word to the wise, the first time you use your regeneration you'll probably grow a couple of inches taller as it heals you to the best condition you can possibly be, so make sure you have very loose clothes on." Jiraiya warned them, having read about it from his other self's notes.
"So we'll grow even stronger," Sasuke said, eyes lighting up.
"The energy of the emerald refills at sunrise and can only be used once a day," Xander said, "and yes it'll release your body's full potential as if you had done everything right in terms of eating and exercise your entire life."
"You claim you aren't a god?" Kakashi asked curiously.
"Gods are... locked in place? They have their people and domains," Xander explained as he tried to work out how to explain it, "while Planeswalkers don't. I don't need worshippers, can travel wherever I like, and the magic I use isn't limited to domains."
"Sounds like a better deal," Naruto said cheerfully.
"I think so," Xander agreed. "My only real problem is finding where I want to go."
"Ready for another mass heal," Tsunami reported.
"Moon Healing Escalation!" Xander called out as he did the customary twist and twirl, sending a wave of White Mana through the room. "That's my limit on Mass Heals for today," Xander told Jiraiya, "I'm about tapped out on White Mana until morning."
"I'm sure the doctor's can take care of the rest," Jiraiya said. "Learn anything else interesting since my other self wrote this?" he asked, holding up the notepad.
"Cyborgs, spaceships, and a vaguely defined mental enhancement using Blue Mana," Xander said. "Spaceships would be of little use, you don't have the tech level to keep them fueled up or to repair them. Cyborgs are weaker than ninja, though they would be a boon in cryptography and helping you increase your tech level." Xander cupped his hands and created a gold ring with a blue Mox stone. "This can be used once a day to enhance the wearer's mind for a few hours, but like I said I'm not really sure what that means exactly."
"If you can make a half dozen I can have them tested to help nail that down for you," Jiraiya offered.
"Another reason I love Konoha," Xander said with a smile as he started making rings, "you guys are really helpful."
"I could say the same of you," Jiraiya said.
"When I first met you I'd just gotten jumped by some magical girls, had no local currency, not a lot of power, and my clothes were mostly burnt off," Xander said. "I only got this powerful this fast cause you extended a hand to me."
"We're just that awesome," Naruto said with a grin.
"Yes you are," Xander agreed.
"Magic girls?" Sakura asked.
"Exactly what it sounds like," Xander told her. "I'd just popped up out of nowhere and was probably still on fire, so maybe attacking me was understandable, but I still plan on pranking them when I figure out how to find my way back to their world."
"You live a very strange life," Sasuke said.
Xander nodded. "I really do."
A Bear masked ANBU appeared in a swirl of wind. "The Hokage has declared the battle won and would like everyone to report to the tower."
"Probably a speech," Sakura guessed. "People need to hear that everything's over and they can get back to their lives."
"Morale is to the physical as ten is to one," Xander quoted as they all filed out of the hospital, leaving the medical staff to deal with their remaining patients.
"What's that mean?" Naruto asked curiously.
"One motivated genin can take out ten lazy ones," Kakashi told his knuckle headed student.
Crowds filled the streets as everyone gathered in front of the Hokage's tower to hear what the Hokage had to say as he stepped out onto the balcony with two very familiar faces by his side.
"But the first two Hokages are dead," Sakura said as the crowd stared at the three.
The Third Hokage gave a speech about the strength of Konoha and the Will of Fire, the city's massive damaged walls suddenly repairing themselves as a wave of energy swept the crowd.
Jiraiya looked at Xander and raised an eyebrow.
"Not me this time," Xander replied, "one of them set off the seal that forms the city." He gestured to the three Hokage as the crowd roared in approval.
The speech went on for another ten minutes before everyone was dismissed and the third Hokage announced a meeting for everyone special jonin and above as the crowd dispersed.
"You'll probably want to be here for the meeting," Jiraiya offered.
"I don't think I have the security clearance for it," Xander said, "they may want to talk about things I shouldn't know."
"I'll personally clear you," Jiraiya promised.
"That works," Xander said and followed the older nin into a large meeting room with a little under a hundred people present.
Sarutobi looked over the crowd and gave them a small smile. "It's good to see that everyone came through the battle alright, though I'm sure part of that is thanks to Xander."
Xander gave a wave as everyone turned to look at him.
"We're going to tighten up our security over the next week," Sarutobi said, "so an attack like this can not happen again, we'll also be doubling up on missions for the next month. We can not show weakness at this time. Our losses were thankfully small, but they are still going to embolden our enemies."
Xander raised his hand and waited for the Hokage to point to him before asking, "How many did we lose?"
"We're down twenty seven chunin and over fifty genin at last count," Sarutobi said sadly, the deaths obviously weighing on him, "and I expect the actual numbers when they are finished will be at least twenty percent higher."
"Would I be stepping on any toes if I resurrected them?" Xander asked, getting many wide eyed stares.
"Can you resurrect that many people?" Sarutobi asked.
Xander nodded. "It may take me a couple of days and I'll probably need the corpses of any enemy nin you don't need, though animal corpses of sufficient size work just as well, but that's well within my power."
"If you do this we'll owe you a great debt," Sarutobi said, "you've already done so much for us this day."
"There are no debts between friends," Xander told him, "I'd be happy to help."
"Then yes, please do so," Sarutobi said.
Xander nodded and Sarutobi returned his gaze to his people. "The First and Second Hokage, despite their claims that death absolves them of all need to do paperwork, will be coordinating with me to go through all your reports on the recent battle. Please try and make them as complete as possible, that is all."
"I thought you were tapped out on White Mana?" Jiraiya asked as the nin formed little cliques to discuss the battles they were in and verify details for their reports.
"I am," Xander agreed, "but I have another spell that works about the same using Black Mana to bring people back. Resurrect is cheaper, but it's White heavy, while Raise Dead requires a single Black Mana and then scales according to the strength of the person."
"And since you rely on White Mana for healing, the other colors are almost untouched," Jiraiya said, as he worked through what he'd read in his head.
"Exactly and come sunrise it all refills," Xander said.
"Sure you're not a god?"
"They have a lot more limits than I do," Xander told him.
"That's kind of frightening," Jiraiya admitted.
"I grew up as a normal human, no huge ego and the like," Xander told him, "we all know where that leads. Gods are less... well adjusted because they are all one thing or another, it makes them unbalanced I think."
"So you're just... a normal person writ large?" Jiraiya asked doubtfully.
Xander nodded. "Now you're getting it. I manifest my pants every morning out of incalculable amounts of power and will, just like everyone else."
Jiraiya snickered. "Okay, I feel better now."
Xander grinned. "If you ever get stressed I can also create a Tanuki's gourd filled with top quality booze for you."
"I've always wanted to try that," Jiraiya admitted. "Maybe after things have calmed down."
"Lead me to the morgue and we'll start on the genin," Xander told him, "I'll hold off on the chunin until I have more White Mana."
"Follow me," Jiraiya said, looking forward to being able to report there were zero percent Leaf casualties.
Typing By: Abyssal Angel
Beta By: Abyssal Angel and Mist of Shadows
AN: The difference between even a young Planeswalker with a handful of mana and one with dozens of every color is vast!