No matter how hard Tsunade hit, those puppets only ever burst into parts.
Kiyohara sprinted through the corridor with Queen Sara in his arms.
But just then, the citizens Sara had evacuated also surged over, crowding the passage.
"Can you open that door for me, so my people can get inside?" Sara pleaded with Kiyohara.
If they stayed out here, they'd be slaughtered by Anrokuzan's puppets.
Kiyohara looked at her and nodded.
There was still time—opening a door would only take a few seconds.
Roran would still be useful later, so Kiyohara decided to save these people.
"Everyone, listen to me—behind this wall is an inner courtyard. The Dragon Vein's power can't reach there," Sara called out.
"It's Her Majesty!"
"Everyone, follow the Queen's orders!"
Roran's citizens were fiercely loyal to Sara.
In Roran, the queen was like the daimyō of the great nations—royal bloodline mattered above all else.
It was as if the throne was "naturally" theirs by right, and no one else had the qualification.
The Land of Fire was the same. No matter how powerful shinobi were, only a tiny handful would even consider rebelling against the daimyō.
Even during the Fourth Great Ninja War, the Allied Shinobi Forces deployed an armed protection unit led by the Mizukage to keep the daimyō from becoming hostages.
And yet no one ever thought: Why not let shinobi rule?
As if shinobi were born only to take missions, fulfill commissions, and earn pay.
That was the so-called "ideological brand"—a mental stamp.
At Sara's cry, the crowd started moving up the stairs.
Still carrying her, Kiyohara reached a massive stone wall first.
Sara slipped down from his arms and tried the mechanism several times—only to find it jammed.
The fighting behind them was so violent that parts of the structure had collapsed.
"Use my ninja blade. It's chakra metal," Kiyohara said, drawing his sword and sliding it into a recessed slot.
In the original story Sara used Naruto's chakra blade, but Kiyohara's sword would work the same way.
Sara nodded.
A pale violet chakra—matching the Dragon Vein's color—rose over Kiyohara's blade.
Kiyohara watched that unique chakra.
In the ninja world, chakra had color. Most ordinary people's chakra was "blue."
Some were different. For example, once a Mangekyō awakened, each Uchiha's chakra color could shift depending on their ocular power—Shisui's "green," Itachi's "red," Sasuke's "purple," Madara's "blue," and so on.
At the Five Kage Summit, Ao of the Mist recognized Danzō's genjutsu on Mifune because he saw green chakra in Danzō's eye socket—a color he associated with Shisui after fighting him before.
What color will my chakra become someday? Kiyohara thought.
Once he completed the second wish—defeating Uchiha Itachi—he should inherit Uchiha Kiyohara's three-tomoe Sharingan.
By then, his Yin chakra would increase even more.
If his mental energy kept piling up, would his odds of awakening the Mangekyō rise too—without needing an extreme emotional trigger?
After all, the Sharingan was the emblem of Yin Release.
Click.
While Kiyohara was thinking, the stone wall finally responded.
Violet chakra poured from Sara's hands, ran along the blade, and flowed into the wall.
Gears turned inside, and a door slowly opened.
Beyond it lay a wide inner courtyard that could hold hundreds of people.
More importantly, the walls and floor were carved with sealing formulas, blocking the Dragon Vein's influence.
"Get inside, quickly!" Sara urged.
The citizens filed in.
Then Sara turned back to Kiyohara. "Now… we go to the Dragon Vein core."
Kiyohara scooped her up again and sprinted toward the spiral stairway.
The higher they went, the more the staircase wound upward like a helix.
Kiyohara gathered chakra underfoot and ran up as if it were flat ground.
Sara clutched his collar tightly, her red hair streaming straight behind her.
Suddenly, dozens of hidden panels snapped open along the corridor walls, and small combat puppets poured out like a tide.
They were only about waist-high, but there were countless of them—and they moved fast.
"Hold on tight." Kiyohara tightened his left arm around Sara and drew his blade with his right.
A flash of steel—three puppets were cut clean in half.
But more swarmed in.
"Magnet Release: Sand-Iron Drizzle!"
Black sand-iron needles burst out like rain, piercing over a dozen puppets ahead.
Still, the puppets kept coming—endless, streaming from the panels.
Kiyohara frowned. At this rate, they'd be bogged down.
"Lightning Release: Electromagnetic Murder!"
He poured chakra into the floor. Blue arcs spread like snakes, flooding the entire corridor.
The puppets seized up—wiring shorting out—and collapsed.
Kiyohara accelerated forward.
But another obstacle appeared: three heavy puppets blocked the path, their arms modified into spinning serrated blades.
"Wind Release: Vacuum Spheres!"
Kiyohara inhaled and fired multiple compressed air shots.
They hit the puppets' chest chakra cores with precision, triggering a chain reaction.
The corridor shook violently as rubble rained down.
He burst through the smoke and finally saw the corridor's end—
A circular chamber over a hundred meters wide, its ceiling so high it vanished into darkness.
At its center was a huge round pool filled with flowing Dragon Vein chakra.
In the middle stood a circular stone platform, with four Madonna-like statues facing its center.
There, protruding like a closed eyelid, was a curved structure.
The source of the Dragon Vein chakra.
But then the blade in Kiyohara's hand started to tremble.
Residual Dragon Vein chakra on the edge glowed pale violet, as if responding to something.
Kiyohara's heart stirred. He tried channeling his own chakra into the blade.
In an instant, a vast, violent energy surged up his arm and flooded his body.
It felt like being struck in the head with a hammer—his vision went black.
This is…
Kiyohara steadied himself.
That chakra raged through his system, but it wasn't like ordinary chakra—it felt closer to… natural energy?
So Anrokuzan didn't modify his body only to become a puppet, Kiyohara realized.
Anrokuzan was a rare puppet genius even in Sunagakure, a rising star after Sasori vanished.
But he'd chosen the same road—becoming a rogue.
By altering his body in advance, he could ignore the Dragon Vein chakra's side effects.
And the reason Kiyohara could endure it was likely his stacked mental energy and the boosted physical vitality from his Yang affinity.
Both were far beyond an ordinary shinobi's.
If a normal shinobi without Roran royal blood touched this violent chakra, they'd probably have a mental collapse on the spot.
Just like with tailed beasts—you needed the right "container," or you'd go berserk.
A spark of understanding flashed in Kiyohara's eyes.
Either way, he could borrow the residual Dragon Vein chakra stored in his blade.
Not much—but enough.
As more puppets approached from behind, Kiyohara tested a swing.
The blade erupted with dazzling violet light.
One slash—purple arc-light tore the air and cut the puppets behind him clean in half.
"This 'quality' is way higher than normal chakra," Kiyohara murmured, looking at the blade as it dimmed again.
Chakra metal couldn't store chakra for long. Even if he didn't use it, it would dissipate within minutes.
I wonder if Dragon Vein chakra could stack with Susanoo…
Kiyohara sheathed his blade and carried Sara forward.
"This is… Roran's heart," Sara whispered, violet light reflecting in her eyes.
"Future me—do you know any sealing technique that could store a portion of Dragon Vein chakra?" Kiyohara asked in his mind.
In his head, Uchiha Kiyohara's spirit appeared.
He studied the chamber, then fixed his gaze on the ruby necklace hanging at Sara's throat.
"See that necklace? It's a kind of 'sealing stone,'" Uchiha Kiyohara said inside Kiyohara's mind.
"The shrine maiden of the Land of Demons has something similar—used to seal Mōryō's power. Dragon Vein and Mōryō… they're both chakra aggregates, like tailed beasts."
Kiyohara's mind clicked.
He remembered Shion from Naruto the Movie: Legend of the Stone of Gelel—no, Naruto the Movie: Naruto's Death—the shrine maiden with the bell and red stone that sealed most of her power and held some of her mother's chakra.
At the end, she used it to resist Mōryō's deception and suppress him with her own chakra.
These "native" forces in the world clearly had their own methods to use special chakra masses.
Kiyohara turned to Sara. "Your Majesty—can I borrow your necklace?"
Sara froze and instinctively covered it with her hand. "Why?"
"This city runs mostly on Dragon Vein chakra," Kiyohara explained.
"Now we have to seal the Dragon Vein completely to defeat Anrokuzan. But if we do that, Roran will eventually decline."
He pointed at the chakra pool.
"If we seal off a portion of Dragon Vein chakra in advance, we can later use that connection to pry open a controlled 'gap'—keep Roran functioning without fully unsealing it, and prevent outsiders from coveting it."
Sara hesitated.
That necklace was her mother's keepsake—the symbol of Roran's queen.
But then she remembered the enslaved citizens underground, remembered Anrokuzan's ambition…
Anrokuzan might be the first, but he wouldn't be the last.
This world never ran out of people with greed and ambition.
This time, she was lucky Kiyohara and Konoha came.
What about next time?
That possibility hit her like a cold wave.
"…You're interested in Dragon Vein chakra too, aren't you?" Sara asked suddenly.
Kiyohara didn't dodge it. "Yes. This power is special. I want to study it."
To his surprise, Sara relaxed.
She removed the necklace and handed it to him.
"Honesty is better than lies. If you claimed it was only for Roran, I'd be more suspicious."
She paused, then continued softly.
"My mother once said the Dragon Vein's power is too vast for ordinary people to control… but if someone can wield it without being swallowed by it… maybe that's the Dragon Vein's true destiny. Power itself isn't good or evil."
Kiyohara took the necklace.
Under the violet glow, the ruby looked like liquid was flowing inside it.
"Your mother must have been a truly great person," he said.
Then he asked Uchiha Kiyohara what to do next.
"Let me," the spirit said, floating out. "Relax your control."
Kiyohara closed his eyes. The next instant, another will took over his body—like possession.
It was a strange sensation, like being "ridden" by a ghost.
Uchiha Kiyohara formed seals and used a relatively simple sealing technique.
The sealing stone itself already had sealing properties; it only needed guidance.
Violet chakra was drawn from the pool like a thin stream and poured into the ruby.
"Seal!" Uchiha Kiyohara snapped.
The ruby flared and swallowed the Dragon Vein chakra.
When the light faded, the ruby's color shifted from bright red to deep violet.
"Done. The most basic seal is complete," Uchiha Kiyohara said, returning control.
"It relied mostly on the sealing stone's nature. I just guided it."
At that moment, a golden flash appeared in the chamber—
Minato Namikaze arrived.
"Kiyohara—Queen Sara," Minato said quickly.
"I've set sealing formulas on the outer towers to stop them from transmitting chakra to Anrokuzan. Now we only need to seal the source here—then Anrokuzan can only draw from this location."
As he spoke, Minato noticed the necklace in Kiyohara's hand and the chakra sealed inside, but he didn't press—he only nodded.
"Ready?"
"Yes." Kiyohara tucked the necklace away.
Minato stepped to the pool and began forming seals.
Then he drove a special Flying Thunder God kunai into the "eyelid" slit in the center of the stone platform.
Black sealing lines spread across the floor.
The violet pool began to spin into a massive whirlpool—then calmed, its color fading from deep violet to clear, until it vanished entirely, leaving only a dry basin.
The Dragon Vein had been sealed.
Almost instantly, a deafening roar shook the halls above.
"No!!" Anrokuzan's voice—mad with rage.
With the Dragon Vein cut off, his puppet bodies began to crumble.
Kiyohara and Minato exchanged a look and rushed out.
Minato gripped Kiyohara's shoulder; Kiyohara grabbed Sara; the three of them flashed back into the underground factory.
Click.
Minato picked up a Flying Thunder God kunai planted in the ground—he'd used Flying Thunder God to bring them here.
The scene was chaos.
The twenty-meter giant puppet was coming apart, armor plates peeling away to reveal the tangled mechanisms inside.
Anrokuzan's consciousness howled from the head, but he couldn't stop the collapse.
"Now!" Tsunade shouted.
She kicked first, shattering the puppet's leg.
This time, it didn't regenerate.
Future-Rin gathered Water Release again.
A water dragon coiled up behind her and surged toward the puppet.
As a Three-Tails jinchūriki, her Water Release was naturally boosted.
And with her three affinities—Water, Fire, Yang—she was frighteningly proficient.
Kiyohara pulled out a long spike-shaped "flying shuttle" from his tool pouch.
This was the reforged form of the Executioner's Blade shard.
Even if he took it out, no one would recognize it.
Sand-iron from his gourd wrapped around the shuttle, extending its length.
Then Magnet Release exploded.
The shuttle's surface glowed a dark red, crackling with arcs of electricity.
Anrokuzan sensed the danger and tried a final counterattack with his disintegrating body.
Six mechanical tentacles shot at Kiyohara—but Tsunade and Minato intercepted them together.
"Go!" Kiyohara thrust both hands forward.
The flying shuttle broke the sound barrier instantly and shot out with overwhelming force.
It felt like the air itself was torn open.
Boom!
A circular shockwave burst outward.
The shuttle pierced the puppet like a hot knife through butter—entering through the chest and exiting the back—dragging shattered parts and broken chakra threads out with it.
From the impact point, cracks spiderwebbed across the entire frame.
Armor fell away, mechanical arms snapped, and the massive body collapsed into a heap of true scrap metal.
"Pretty sturdy," Kiyohara said, satisfied as the shuttle flew back into his hand.
In theory, like Samehada, it could help restore stamina—or rather, chakra.
But that required contact with blood. Even its self-repair relied on absorbing iron from blood.
Still, "blood" didn't have to be human. If it took damage, Kiyohara could just buy pig blood or use an enemy's blood.
Pig blood had more iron than human blood anyway.
So future maintenance could be cheap: just feed it blood.
And in a pinch, it could restore some chakra.
"AAAAH… impossible… the history of the Five Great Nations… was supposed to follow my will…" Anrokuzan's real body—the five-meter spider—twitched.
He had been lodged in the giant puppet's right chest and was pierced along with it.
His chakra was thinning fast.
"I won't die for nothing!" he screeched, trying to self-destruct.
Kiyohara pulled his hand. Magnetism flared—he drove the flying shuttle through Anrokuzan's back again, interrupting the attempt.
Anrokuzan's eyes bulged. Then he could only feel his chakra draining away, until he became nothing but puppet wreckage.
As the dust settled, everyone stared at the ruins and confirmed there was no longer any sign of life.
"Is it… over?" Rin murmured.
"It's over," Minato said, putting his kunai away.
But then—
A white glow bloomed around Future-Kurenai's body.
"…What is that?" Minato frowned.
As someone who used space-time ninjutsu often, he was extremely sensitive to it.
Future-Kurenai felt like she was being pulled out of this timeline.
The same light flared around Future-Rin.
The two women exchanged a glance, not surprised.
"Looks like the mission's complete," Future-Kurenai said.
She walked up to Kiyohara and gestured for a private word.
Kiyohara nodded, and they moved aside.
Only Tsunade looked calm, and Minato—who'd guessed something—kept a neutral face.
Shizune, Kakashi, Kurenai, and Rin could only stare, confused.
Kakashi had no idea why that Anbu wanted Kiyohara.
Once they were far enough away, Future-Kurenai smiled at him.
"Little Kiyohara."
She ruffled his hair.
"You knew it was us, and you still pretended you didn't."
Kiyohara didn't dodge it. "You were pretending too."
"We had to. Can't interfere with time," Future-Kurenai sighed.
She told him she'd come here with Future-Kiyohara.
But Future-Kiyohara hadn't landed in this exact timeframe—he'd jumped even farther back.
Just like Anrokuzan, who arrived six years earlier than them.
"Farther back…" Kiyohara's expression turned strange.
Oh no… he didn't jump to Kaguya's era, did he?
But then again—by the time Kiyohara lived that long, how many futures would he have inherited?
Maybe even Kaguya wouldn't be impossible to fight.
Future-Kurenai leaned in and whispered, amused:
"We're about to leave. I've got to get my fill of head-pats."
After she'd ruffled him enough, she dragged him back.
Kiyohara stared at her, deadpan.
This woman isn't from Konoha—she's from the Hidden Village in Head-Pats.
Dragging him that far just to mess with his hair…
Then Future-Rin stepped forward too, asked to speak privately—
…and promptly ruffled his hair as well.
Kiyohara was so offended he wanted to go home and ruffle both present-day Kurenai and Rin out of spite.
When Future-Rin returned to Future-Kurenai, the white glow around them brightened.
Their figures faded, dissolving into the light.
Kiyohara watched them go. Minato proposed sealing the memory.
The mission had been completed perfectly:
Expose Anrokuzan's conspiracy to Queen Sara, confirm what the puppet weapons were, and eliminate the mastermind.
Now all that remained was sealing memories.
"Minato's right. Sealing our memories is safest," Tsunade agreed.
So Kiyohara's explanation had been correct.
Shizune, Kakashi, Kurenai, and Rin were still completely lost—why those Anbu glowed, and why Minato wanted memory sealing.
Before Future-Kurenai and Future-Rin fully vanished, Minato performed the memory seal.
Finally, everyone—including Minato himself—had their memories sealed.
Minato had always been cautious about space-time matters.
The next moment, Kiyohara opened his eyes.
Huh?
He was… still here?
Kiyohara still remembered everything that had just happened.
~~~
Patreon(.)com/Bleam
— Currently You can Read 120 Chapters Ahead of Others!