Chapter 248 The Ancient Kingdom of Loulan
"Someone who cares about me?" Gaara was taken aback.
"Yes, your sister is doing something very risky so that you can return to Sunagakure safely," Naruto said. "That's why she asked me to look after you for a while."
"My sister?" Gaara lowered his head. Naruto's words brought back memories of his sister Temari and brother Kankuro, whom he had always neglected.
Only then did he realize, looking back, that while his biological father had always instilled in him the idea that he was just a weapon, there were a few people who, though their eyes held fear, also harbored undisguised love and concern.
"So, I'm not alone after all?" Gaara murmured to himself.
"So, what you need to do now is learn to control your power, as yourself, not as a weapon," Naruto smiled.
"Control my power?" Gaara muttered to himself.
The next second, a huge commotion resounded in the space. Shukaku, already beaten to a pulp, was thrown by Kurama next to the two. Kurama clapped its paws, then returned to Naruto's back, saying, "I've already talked to this guy, he'll behave himself from now on."
"Thanks, Kurama-nii!" Naruto turned back and gave Kurama a bright smile.
The next moment, Naruto and Gaara left the space together and returned to the campfire.
After emerging from the sealed space, Gaara sat blankly by the campfire, staring at the flickering flames.
"Hey, are you hungry?" Naruto handed a roasted gerbil to the dazed Gaara.
Faced with something suddenly appearing in front of him, Gaara instinctively assumed an attack stance, but after a while, he froze on the spot. Usually, if his emotions fluctuated, the large creature inside him would amplify his negative emotions and become extremely irritable.
However, this time, Gaara didn't sense anything unusual.
"Thank you." Gaara, realizing what was happening, withdrew his attack and took the sand rat from Naruto.
"Brother Kurama told me that the giant tanuki inside you will be behaving itself for a while, so you don't need to be too nervous," Naruto said with a smile.
"You... are you comrades with it?" Gaara asked.
"You mean Brother Kurama?" Naruto said, "We're more than just comrades, we're more like family. After all, he's been with me the longest since I was born. But it took me a long time to get Brother Kurama's approval. I believe you can get along well with the tailed beast inside you too."
"Hmph! Even if I, Shukaku, am trapped inside a Jinchuriki for my entire life, I'd never be friends with a human like this stinky fox!" As soon as Naruto finished speaking, Shukaku's roar rang in his ears.
"If you don't want to get beaten up, show some respect to my Jinchuriki!" Kurama also spoke up at this moment.
"You stinky... Kurama, you even told him your name, could it be that you really are with this brat..." After hearing Kurama's words, Shukaku's still throbbing wounds calmed him down a little.
"Hmph, why should I explain my actions to others!" Kurama snorted coldly.
If it were any other tailed beast, such as the Seven-Tails, Chōmei, who had come to Konoha voluntarily, or the Two-Tails, Matatabi, who was captured in Konoha, or the Six-Tails, Saiken, or the Three-Tails, Isobu, who was still sleeping inside Karin, Kurama wouldn't hesitate to tell them his speculation: Naruto was very likely the boy the Six Paths Elder had told them about in the prophecy.
As for Shukaku? Kurama said he was too lazy to explain; the guy wasn't worthy of hearing it.
"That's nice," Gaara said, looking at Naruto somewhat absentmindedly.
The two chatted and ate roasted meat by the campfire when suddenly Naruto heard a croaking sound not far from their campfire.
"Eh? What's going on? Frogs in the desert now?" Naruto scratched his head in confusion upon hearing the sound.
From the direction of the croaking, a white-haired middle-aged man strode towards them.
...
The border of the Land of Swamps.
Shion, who had been knocked unconscious by Neji's chop, slowly awoke as night fell.
Upon waking, she saw Ashiho, whom she had foreseen to die, lying on a mat in their camp, a damp towel covering her forehead. The menacing green runes on her body had vanished, but her right arm was now empty.
"Ashiho..." Shion stared in disbelief at the scene before her. In the prophecy created by her ability, Ashiho was clearly destined to die in her place.
"Miss Shrine Maiden, it seems I've won this bet." Just then, Sasuke approached Shion, chuckling softly.
"I..." Shion looked at Ashiho, whose breathing was steady, her expression incredibly complex. After a moment, tears streamed down her face, but she managed to utter broken laughter.
"Haha...hahaha...hahahaha!"
"Miss Shrine Maiden, you don't think you can renege on our bet by pretending to be crazy, do you?" Sasuke frowned, looking at Shion's appearance.
"Hahaha! This cursed prophecy, finally... finally... finally can be broken!" Shion said, laughing and crying at the same time.
"If you could provide a little more information, his right arm might even be saved." At this moment, Sakura looked at the seemingly crazed Shion and couldn't help but say coldly.
In the surgery just now, in order to obtain the information to analyze this energy, which was similar to resentment, and thus construct a seal that could target this energy, Sakura had to directly amputate Ashiho's right arm to prevent the toxins of this energy from invading Ashiho's internal organs. However, if Shion had provided even a little more information, this step could have been completely avoided.
"I... I'm sorry..." Shion's expression also became gloomy.
"It's alright, it's already a great achievement that Ashiho-kun's life was saved." At this moment, Karin acted as a peacemaker.
"Miss Shrine Maiden, what other information do you know about this enemy? Please tell me everything now." At this moment, Neji also came to Shion's side and spoke.
...
"Perverted Sage?" Naruto, standing by the campfire, looked at the person walking towards their camp and his expression changed.
He was still a rogue ninja of Konoha.
"Naruto." Jiraiya walked into their camp with a smile, "Why are you running around all over the world, kid? I had a hard time looking for you."
Naruto breathed a sigh of relief when he saw Jiraiya's attitude. It seemed that the Perverted Sage wasn't here to take him back to Konoha.
"Haha, I originally just wanted to wander around the Land of Wind, but I didn't expect to get involved in some things in Sunagakure."
"Make way, give me a skewer too." After Jiraiya came to Naruto's side, he pushed Naruto a little away from the rock he was sitting on and sat down, then stretched out his hand to Naruto.
Naruto handed the extra food to Jiraiya. Jiraiya took the roasted gerbil, first pulling out a sake pouch from his waist, then eating the gerbil with sips of sake.
"Not bad cooking. I heard from Kakashi that you always eat ramen. I thought you couldn't cook, but I didn't expect you to have this skill," Jiraiya laughed.
"I learned it from Choji when I skipped class to play at school. Not bad, right?" Naruto said.
The way the two chatted resembled a grandfather and grandson talking in an ordinary family. To an outsider, it would be hard to imagine that one of them was a rogue ninja.
"By the way, who is this kid?" Jiraiya noticed Gaara staring at him and Naruto with a strange look and couldn't help but ask.
"Oh, a friend I just met," Naruto said.
"You can feel the chakra fluctuations on him. A ninja from Sunagakure?" Jiraiya continued.
"Yes, a ninja from Sunagakure, the Jinchuriki of the One-Tailed Beast," Naruto said.
"Pfft!"
Jiraiya spat out a mouthful of sake the moment Naruto finished speaking.
"Dude, you've only been out for a few days! And you're already hooking up with Jinchuriki from other villages?"
"Naruto, if the Sand Village notices your contact with Sand Village's Jinchuriki, they'll see it as Konoha declaring war on Sand Village," Jiraiya couldn't help but warn him.
At this point, Jiraiya finally understood why Uchiha Touko had sent him to follow Naruto. This kid was too much trouble. He'd only been out for a few days, and he'd already taken away another village's Jinchuriki. Would he be challenging another village's Kage soon?
"But Gaara is his sister, the Sand Village princess, and she asked me to take care of her. It shouldn't be considered provocation, right? Besides, what I, a rogue ninja, do can't possibly involve Konoha," Naruto shrugged, then pulled out his headband, which Sasuke had scorched.
"His sister, the princess of Sunagakure, asked you to take care of their village's Jinchūriki?" Jiraiya looked incredulous upon hearing this, but quickly recovered. "Could something have happened to Sunagakure? That's right, when I entered the Land of Wind this time, I didn't see a single Sunagakure ninja at the border. It seems something really has happened to Sunagakure. Do you know what happened?"
"Sunagakure? There's probably a coup going on right now," Naruto said.
"A coup?" Jiraiya was stunned.
"Yes, Gaara's sister is probably staging a coup in Sunagakure so that Gaara can return to the village normally in the future. I even called my teacher over to give her some guidance," Naruto said. Jiraiya
: ...
Okay, since Uchiha Touko is involved, he can't concern himself with that now. After all, he's still a demoted genin in Konoha's ranks.
"But why are you here?" Jiraiya asked, no longer dwelling on Gaara's identity.
"This area of the Land of Wind is a vast uninhabited zone, and there's a very dangerous area ahead," Jiraiya said.
"We just wandered around and ended up here, Grandpa Jiraiya. Do you know where this is?" Naruto asked.
"This area used to be home to an ancient kingdom called Loulan. However, after the Loulan kingdom declined over the years, only some ruins and a few remaining Loulan people remain."
"The Loulan kingdom? There's a kingdom in the ninja world?" Naruto scratched his head. As a slacker who skipped academic classes for years, Naruto's ninja knowledge was basically limited to knowing that there were five great nations in the ninja world, and within those five great nations were five great ninja villages.
"Of course, but more than ten years ago, this once prosperous country seemed to vanish into thin air, suddenly declining." Jiraiya explained to Naruto. "Speaking of which, before your father became the Fourth Hokage, he also came here on a mission. However, I remember that the mission report your father submitted to the Third Hokage after returning from that mission seemed very strange, and there must have been some hidden story. However, Konoha was soon threatened by war, and the matter was left unresolved."
"So this is where my father carried out a mission?" Naruto nodded upon hearing this, then slammed his right hand into his palm. "I've decided! Let's go see the ruins of the ancient Loulan Kingdom. After all, this is where my father fought. Gaara, want to come along?"
"Hey! Naruto! Don't just think about things on a whim. That place might be very dangerous." Seeing this, Jiraiya was also quite annoyed and couldn't help but remind him.
"What danger could there be?" Naruto waved his hand. "By the way, Grandpa Jiraiya, what brings you here?"
"Your teacher sent me to keep an eye on you and teach you a few things," Jiraiya said.
"Don't worry about that yet. Let's go check out the ruins in Roran first," Naruto said. After learning about Roran, Naruto became extremely excited. After all, since the Third Hokage returned to power, many traces of the Fourth Hokage in the village had been erased by some malicious individuals. After learning about his origins, Naruto had tried to find any traces of his parents left in the village, but apart from the Hokage Rock and photos of the Hokage's office, he couldn't find anything about his father, Minato Namikaze.
Now, in the Land of Wind, there was a chance to perhaps see traces of his father's battles, so Naruto naturally didn't want to give up this opportunity.
Gaara, after a moment of silence, nodded in response to Naruto's invitation. He too longed to witness the legendary Yellow Flash, the Fourth Hokage Minato Namikaze. More importantly, he wanted to know how this Fourth Hokage, also a Kage, differed from his biological father, the Fourth Kazekage.
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(End of Chapter)