After hearing Kimimaro's account, Hoshiyomi couldn't help feeling deeply moved.
He originally wanted to offer a few words of admiration, but Kimimaro stopped him:
"Between the two of us, there's no need for polite nonsense.
All of that is in the past.
And you've seen it yourself—I'm doing pretty well now.
Those few Ōtsutsuki guys? None of them could beat me. I wiped all of them out.
Right now in this shinobi world, saying I'm the strongest wouldn't even be an exaggeration.
I brought you here today for two reasons.
First, to ask about things from our original world—someone to talk to, someone who understands the stuff I've held in for over thirty years.
Second, to discuss how to send you back.
If we look at it kindly—you have family and friends on your side.
Staying here long-term would definitely weigh on you.
As the host, I should help you if I can.
But if we look at it from the darker angle… I won't hide anything from you.
We're both transmigrators.
Originally, each of us living peacefully in our own parallel world was fine.
But this time you came here through the Ryūmyaku—a point that connects worlds—and it makes me uneasy.
To put it bluntly, without being humble about it, in our respective worlds we're probably close to what novels call 'the Child of the Plane.'
And if that's true…
Your arrival here through a boundary like the Ryūmyaku makes me genuinely worried that the two worlds might start affecting each other—pulling together or even gradually overlapping.
If that happens, eventually one world will overwrite the other.
Even if the chance is only one percent, we absolutely cannot allow something that dangerous to occur."
When Hoshiyomi heard this, he nodded as well.
Both of them had grown up in the information era, had read countless webnovels, and understood the theory of parallel worlds.
Now that his own transmigration had confirmed their existence, preventing such a scenario was necessary.
As Kimimaro said—
even a one-percent risk couldn't be ignored.
Short-term visiting was fine—they could be good friends.
But if the worlds truly began merging, neither side would want to face what that could lead to.
Seeing that Hoshiyomi understood the gravity of the situation, Kimimaro secretly let out a breath of relief.
If both sides were reasonable people, then things would be simple.
He'd actually worried Hoshiyomi might have… improper ambitions, which could lead to transmigrators fighting each other to the death.
After chuckling lightly, Kimimaro spoke:
"It's good that you can accept this.
Since we're on the same page, tell me exactly how you got here.
I'll help you think it through.
Two transmigrators working together—no way we can't send you back."
Hoshiyomi agreed readily.
He explained in detail how he accepted the Rōran mission, how he was plotted against by Black Zetsu and Tobi, and how—on the brink of death—he used Heavenly Rift Flowing Light and, by sheer luck, broke through the unstable spacetime turbulence and arrived here.
Kimimaro listened to this long chain of events with widening eyes, completely shocked.
After hearing everything, he couldn't help sighing:
"Wow…
Your world really has gotten chaotic.
But then again, it's not your fault.
You transmigrated so many years ago—such a massive butterfly effect is basically inevitable.
As for the whole Black Zetsu and White Zetsu situation…
Don't be too discouraged.
Facing enemies in the dark while you were in the light—if it had been me instead, I might not have found even that sliver of a chance you did.
After hearing how you got here, I more or less understand the situation now.
To put it simply, during that chaotic spacetime fluctuation, you force-stabilized a tiny piece of spacetime and then slipped through it, relying on sheer luck to break through and land here."
It's equivalent to this:
you locked onto a known safe coordinate and gambled your way into another safe coordinate.
If that's the case, then I more or less know how to send you back.
Since we know both coordinates are stable, all we need to do is reproduce the same spacetime turbulence that occurred during your crossing, and then determine the coordinate of the shinobi world you belong to within the chaos.
Once we fix that, we can simply repeat the process and send you home."
As he spoke, Kimimaro suddenly seemed to think of something.
He lifted his head, an excited smile spreading across his face:
"Ah, right—Hoshiyomi, that technique you mentioned, the one that let you cross over—the Heavenly Rift Flowing Light…
That was a skill granted by your system when you leveled up, wasn't it?"
Hoshiyomi was stunned by Kimimaro's jump in topic, but still nodded:
"It counts as a reward from leveling up. Why?"
Hearing Hoshiyomi confirm it, Kimimaro's smile grew even wider:
"Based on what you said earlier, your system lets you gain EXP and level up by fighting strong opponents, right?
If that's how it works, then I suddenly feel like your arrival here is practically divine intervention.
Heaven deliberately sent you here to meet me—so I can help you get stronger at top speed."
When Hoshiyomi first heard that, he was confused.
But then, almost instantly, he understood.
His eyes widened as uncontrollable excitement surged within them.
Right—why hadn't he thought of this earlier?
Hoshiyomi had figured out long ago that his system rewarded cross-tier battles.
Sword Heart System's whole intention was to encourage its host to fight stronger opponents—especially those far above his own level—in order to grow quickly.
But that intention, combined with its somewhat stupid EXP formula, created what was essentially a pseudo-exploit.
If a ridiculously powerful person was willing to spar with Hoshiyomi daily, he could farm massive EXP every day by repeatedly triggering cross-tier battle bonuses.
Before, this method wasn't possible because nobody else knew about the Sword Heart System—he had no partner who could help him grind experience.
But now?
A super-massive, walking EXP pack was standing right in front of him.
Kimimaro of this world was unquestionably at the Six Paths level—
he'd single-handedly beaten both Six Paths Madara and Ōtsutsuki Kaguya.
In terms of raw power, he might even surpass the usual Six Paths standard.
And that led to one terrifying conclusion:
Defeating even the half-crippled, near-Six-Paths old Madara in Hoshiyomi's world had given him absurd amounts of EXP.
So if an Elite Kage-level Hoshiyomi were to actively challenge a Six Paths-level Kimimaro…
just how insane would the cross-tier EXP bonus be?
Even imagining it made Hoshiyomi feel breathless.
If this was actually feasible, then during the time before he returned to his own ninja world, he might very well max out his EXP bar—
directly leaping from Grandmaster level to Six Paths level.
By the time he went back?
Forget Black Zetsu and White Zetsu.
Even if Ōtsutsuki Kaguya and Madara popped out together, he could probably take them head-on.
Kimimaro wasn't wrong—
From this perspective, Hoshiyomi landing in this world really did feel like the heavens were deliberately giving him a fast-track to power.