On one hand, political intrigue! Assassinations, strange Worlds, other -former- Keyblader!

On the other hand-

"Why are you still here?" Xine's voice interrupted my thoughts.

I looked up, noticing that he was staring at me, his expression set in stone. There were guards around him, though many of them were confused, unsure of what to do.

I was the unknown here, after all.

"Oh, I was just thinking."

On the other hand, I would have to deal with Xine for the entirety of my stay here.

And no amount of intrigued interest was worth that.

I rested my hand on the Proof of Courage, feeling its transformed form.

"Because that sounded like an interesting conversation."

His eyes narrowed.

"Not that interesting, Xine. I don't want to have to deal with you for any longer than I have to." I shook my head. "I'm sure that the feeling is mutual."

"More than you realise."

I rolled my eyes.

"Oh, trust me. I am fully aware of your feelings to me. All that anger... all that disgust, all that fear, all that rage. I couldn't help but notice it."

Time to go.

My Glider spun around, facing upwards and shooting off, leaving behind trails of light.

I didn't bother to go too far up.

I blinked out of the World barely ten meters away.

I took a brief moment to admire the Sea of the Skies, before opening a Corridor of Darkness and zooming through it.

Zoom. Zoooom. Zoom zoom.

While I didn't mind flying around on the Proof of Courage, I also wanted to get back to Madoka's World quickly.

Zooooom. What a weird word.

And also get as far away as possible from this one.

I honestly had no idea what I was going to do for the next two-and-something years.

I'd been hanging around the Digimon World for the better part of three months.

Three months. Really, for everything that happened there, it was such an absurdly short amount of time. It certainly felt like I'd been there a lot longer than I actually had been.

It had been fun, eye-opening, and all sorts of interesting, but...

Hmm.

I still had a lot of time to waste. Slightly less than three years.

Did I feel like going on to another World?

I wasn't sure.

I stepped into the World, emerging from the shadows.

To be immediately tackle-hugged by a pair of brats.

"You're back!" Came the expected twin cries from Tsubaki and Kuroko, latched on to me.

I kneeled down, my cloak and coat dissolving back into my body, and hugged them both.

"Yep." I pulled away for a moment, holding my hands out to them. "And I have gifts." A pair of pastries appeared in my hand, both of them still completely fresh despite the fact that I'd picked them up several... hours? ago.

"Sweets?"

"Pastries." I corrected, handing the pastries to them. "I'm told they're quite good."

"Had to give them sugar, didn't you?" Yoshino commented, her face set into a mock-frown.

She lasted all of two seconds before breaking, smiling at me. "Welcome back."

"Good to be back." I stood up again.

"Is that... armour?" Yoshino asked, looking at my shoulder.

"Something like that." I glanced at my Armour for a moment. "It's a long, fantastical story."

An eyebrow rose up. "And you're not going to tell it, are you?"

I shook my head. "Sorry, Yoshino."

"This is delicious!" Tsubaki finished gulping her pastry down. The twins looked at me, eagerness in their gaze.

"Sorry brats, only had three." The third and final one appeared in my hand, which I offered to Yoshino.

She took it, mildly curious, before nibbling on it. "Oh! This is good."

I had a sudden feeling that I was going to be visiting the Matuski Bakery a lot more than I had previously intended.

"Shikaku." I greeted.

"Drich." He nodded. "Have fun while you were gone?"

"It was entertaining." I nodded. "And more asides. How have you been?"

"Good." He took a sip of his drink. "Hokage-sama officially elected Tsunade-sama as his soon-to-be successor."

"He's retiring again?"

Shikaku shrugged. "If I had to deal with the kind of paperwork he does, I'd pass it off as quickly as possible too."

"Huh." Well, what do you know... "How is Tsunade, anyway?"

"She tore apart and reassembled our entire medical system." He stated, sounding more than a little amused. "She actually successfully argued putting off her 'promotion' until she's finished with that."

"She did it on purpose, didn't she?"

"Officially, she insists that it's just a happy coincidence. Unofficially, everybody knows better."

"So, how are they doing?"

"Good." Jiraiya didn't even twitch. "The sheer dedication that all three of them have impresses even me. Though in Naruto's case, I'm not sure if it's dedication or just sheer, bull-headed stubbornness."

"The difference between the two is fairly subtle." I sat next to him, looking over at Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura as they trained.

"Yeah. Doesn't help that he's a stamina freak. He has enough Chakra that it actually takes me effort to wear him down. You've seen the Shadow Clones?"

"Oh yeah, I've seen the Shadow Clones." My head tilted to the side. "He was fond of them. And then he learned about the whole memory-transferal thing." Fond is perhaps too... weak a word to describe Naruto's opinion on Shadow Clones. "He tried to drown me in them, once."

Jiraiya gave a grunt of agreement. "Same. Sasuke can do it to, and Sakura can manage two or three, but neither of those two have the sheer capacity to match up with Naruto. Sakura makes up for it with her knowledge and her control, while Sasuke makes up for it with careful planning, speed, and skill."

"I haven't fought Sakura yet."

Jiraiya laughed. "I taught her the beginnings of Tsunade's Super Strength Technique a while ago. She took it and ran with it."

"You know Tsunade's technique?" This was actually news to me.

"Only the basics of it, which I figured out myself." He frowned. "It's a simple thing, really. It just requires a fair bit of effort, control, and timing. Perfect for her, but it doesn't merge with my fighting style so well."

My head tilted to the side. "Huh."

Maybe I'd have to have a spar with them.