Chapter 325: Naruto's Arrival
"Rising sunshine, rising sunlight…"
Accompanied by a gentle melody tinged with sadness, Naruto awoke before a tomb. Rolling to his feet, he stared in confusion at the five round windows in the ceiling through which sunlight poured.
"Where… am I?"
Naruto was bewildered. Just a moment ago, he had been chasing Mukade and was caught in the pull of the Dragon Vein. The next, he was here.
"Passionate longing…"
As he pondered, he noticed the haunting melody echoing through the chamber. He stood up quickly, following the sound.
A red-haired girl in a crimson outfit was sitting gracefully atop a stone ruin, quietly singing. Two tear tracks ran down her cheeks.
"Hey, where is this place?" Naruto called out.
"Ah!"
Startled by the unfamiliar voice, the girl leapt down and fled through a corridor.
"Wait, hold on!"
Naruto chased instinctively, but was blocked at the corridor entrance by an invisible barrier.
Meanwhile, from the far side of the corridor, several large-eyed humanoid puppets rushed toward him.
But as they crossed the barrier, their chakra threads were cut, and they collapsed into heaps of parts.
Apparently, the barrier was designed to block chakra.
Seeing this, Naruto followed the light filtering in from above and climbed upward, breaking through a window into a world of towering buildings.
Before he could marvel at the scene, two sword-wielding humanoid puppets appeared.
"Of course… this is going to be a pain."
At the bottom of the Dragon Vein crater, as Naruto battled Mukade's puppets, Li Yao frowned deeply. He was sensing intense, widespread changes in the chakra nature of the Dragon Vein.
At this rate, not even a year would be enough—Li Yao now doubted whether he could complete the analysis of the Dragon Vein's properties at all.
And Naruto's arrival had triggered more than just fluctuations.
From the moment he appeared, the Dragon Vein's chakra had become unstable.
Not in nature—but in essence. It was growing more unstable by the second.
If it reached a critical point—
Li Yao had a terrifying hunch: the Dragon Vein chakra would collapse on its own, vanishing without needing to be sealed.
As if it had entered an early, irreversible dormant cycle.
"Mother…freaker…"
Li Yao cursed loudly, venting his frustration.
He had been just six months away from fully replicating the Dragon Vein chakra—and now this.
But there was nothing he could do except stay focused on analyzing the changing properties from deep below the Dragon Vein.
He had no time or interest to deal with Mukade or Naruto's group.
As long as they didn't come down and interfere, he'd ignore them.
If they did… well, he'd deal with that if it happened.
A thought flickered through Li Yao's mind: what if Naruto died here?
"Probably wouldn't change anything."
Li Yao frowned, then shook his head. The cyclical behavior of the Dragon Vein's chakra seemed inherent to its space-time nature. Naruto's death wouldn't alter that.
Whatever. First, finish analyzing the Dragon Vein.
Li Yao steadied his mind and immersed himself once more.
Outside.
Naruto had been knocked into a lower street level by four puppets and injured his leg. At the last moment, he was saved by Minato's squad.
Father and son met for the first time—neither recognized the other.
However, when Minato saw Naruto's headband and age, he grew suspicious.
Naruto was unfamiliar to him—yet he looked like he belonged to the village. Minato, aware of almost every young shinobi in the pre-Third War era, found this odd.
Recalling recent intelligence reports, the sharp-minded Minato started piecing things together—but wasn't certain yet.
When he told Naruto they were in Rōran, Naruto looked utterly baffled.
Minato remained calm on the surface, but internally, the pieces clicked. He then suggested Naruto leave Rōran.
Naturally, Naruto refused.
After Minato's group left, Naruto went out and saved Queen Sāra of Rōran—earning himself a few slaps in the process.
Later, Minato's team returned. Mistaking them for assassins targeting the queen, Naruto rushed forward—leading to the iconic scene of a father pinning down his son.
After clearing up the misunderstanding, Minato and Naruto shared some truths. Only then did Minato fully confirm—Naruto had also come from the future.
Naruto didn't quite understand talk of space-time travel. It all sounded like gibberish to him.
But at least they agreed on one thing: Mukade was the enemy.
Unlike Li Yao—who had gone into hiding to study the Dragon Vein upon arrival—Mukade had emerged in a Rōran that was far less developed than the current one.
He quickly seized power and began ruling from the shadows. To build puppets, he needed vast materials, which meant occasional conflicts with outsiders.
His formidable puppet techniques had long since drawn attention.
However, due to the late stage of the Second Great Ninja War and the frequent sandstorms shifting the terrain around Rōran—like a natural illusion barrier—none of the major villages paid much attention.
That changed a few days ago.
A former queen of Rōran had escaped and finally reached Konoha, reporting the true state of the city. That led to Minato's mission.
After several days of investigation, Minato was sure—Mukade was also from the future.
Combining Naruto's story, they concluded: Mukade had triggered space-time travel by absorbing a sealing jutsu embedded in the Dragon Vein. Killing him or resealing the Dragon Vein might return Naruto to his own time.
But to avoid disrupting the future, Minato chose not to reveal this. He simply told Naruto to help defeat Mukade.
The group split into two teams: Naruto would protect Queen Sāra, while Minato's squad, familiar with the area, would search for Mukade.
However, Minato knew full well that no one knew Rōran better than Queen Sāra.
Mukade's goal was clearly the Dragon Vein. And the area where its power concentrated was the most likely place he would be hiding.
And Sāra, as queen, knew best where the Dragon Vein's energy was distributed throughout the city.
Still, Minato intentionally ignored that, sending Naruto to protect her.
"Minato, isn't the Queen the key to finding Mukade?" Akimichi Chōza asked, voicing his doubts.
"No. That child is the key," Minato shook his head. "Both he and Mukade came from the future. Due to temporal resonance, they're most likely to encounter each other."
(END CHAPTER)
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