"Then, Your Majesty," Hagoromo asked, still unwilling to give up, "since you know my name, do you have any impression of me at all?"
He was making one last attempt. Maybe—just maybe—someone still retained a few scraps of erased memory.
Some things he didn't really care about.
But the things he did care about—if they weren't cleared up—left him feeling so restless he wanted to pull his hair out.
That said…
'Your Majesty'?
What kind of title was that?
Queen Sāra was essentially a ruler on the scale of a town leader. Being called something as blunt as "Your Majesty" made her feel awkward, but she didn't correct him. In the end, she also didn't go as far as saying something like "Don't call me that—call me Queen Sāra."
She herself was deeply concerned about the erased memories.
Vaguely, she felt that she had voluntarily agreed to the erasure—but the exact reason had completely vanished.
Still, this time Hagoromo had asked the right person.
Possibly due to the influence of the Dragon Vein, Queen Sāra retained faint, dreamlike impressions of what had happened earlier.
Like fragments of a dream upon waking.
After thinking carefully for a moment, she spoke:
"I don't have any memories either… but there are vague impressions."
"I don't think I've met you before, but your appearance… it feels like I've heard someone describe you."
White-faced Calabash Boy really left an impression, huh?
With that level of recognizability, it was only a matter of time before the calabash became Hagoromo's true form.
"An impression?" Hagoromo pressed. "What kind? Who described me to you?"
Mental-type techniques failing to work with perfect precision and leaving side effects wasn't unusual at all.
"When I was in danger," Sāra said slowly, "I feel like there was always a blond young ninja by my side—protecting me, encouraging me…"
"Like a hero… saving me again and again."
As she spoke, she looked down at the chakra blade in her hand with a confused expression. No matter how hard she tried, she couldn't recall any more concrete details—such as what that person actually looked like.
But hearing this—
Hagoromo suddenly understood everything.
He turned and gave Minato a deeply meaningful look.
Blond hair?
Wasn't that standing right here?
So this so-called memory erasure was basically an alternative form of silencing witnesses?
He never would've thought Minato was this kind of person. Wearing the face of a righteous protagonist, yet secretly pulling off classic flirt-and-wipe behavior.
This proved one thing conclusively:
Hagoromo's brilliant brain had potholes.
Quite a few of them.
He had naturally assumed the figure in Sāra's impressions was Minato—and that Minato, in order to avoid being dismembered by Kushina later, had decisively erased everyone's memories.
As for the queen… well, young royalty falling for heroic figures was perfectly normal. Just like how every edgy youth needed a skateboard, every queen at that age probably dreamed of a holy monk.
But Minato was already spoken for.
Alright. Enough nonsense.
Hagoromo shut down his wild speculation.
Something like that clearly couldn't be the real reason behind the memory erasure.
But then—what was the truth?
Without the cooperation of the person involved, Hagoromo realized he would never get a clear answer.
Once he accepted that he was chasing a mystery with no resolution, he finally forced himself to set the doubt aside.
Enough of that.
Back to the mission.
His gaze shifted to the sealing formula Minato had placed on the Dragon Vein. He walked over and crouched down, examining it closely.
A hemispherical structure protruded from the ground—like a bulging, lifeless fish eye.
At its center was a Flying Thunder God kunai, while square sealing patterns spread outward around it.
This was the outlet of the Dragon Vein.
"So this is the seal on the Dragon Vein?" Hagoromo asked, patting the dome as he looked up at Minato.
"Yes," Minato replied. "I've applied a permanent seal. There won't be any further energy leakage."
Hagoromo lowered his head again, falling silent.
He felt that a seal alone wasn't enough.
Something this dangerous would inevitably attract people who wanted to exploit it. A small nation like Lōran ( Tsuchigumo clan territory )—one without its own shinobi force—had no way to protect against such threats.
"Is there something wrong with the formula?" Minato asked when Hagoromo remained quiet.
As Kushina's disciple, even if his sealing skills weren't on par yet, his judgment certainly was.
"No," Hagoromo said, standing up. "There's nothing wrong with the formula itself."
That much was true. He couldn't find any flaws. It was undoubtedly a powerful chakra-sealing method.
"The problem is the method."
"Any powerful seal that suppresses an enormous force will weaken over time. Order suppressing chaos is a process of mutual erosion. Seal failure isn't a matter of if, but when."
"Ten years. Thirty years. Fifty years."
In terms of sheer chakra volume, Minato's seal could never surpass the Dragon Vein itself. Over time, the balance would tilt, the seal would loosen—and eventually fail.
"Besides," Hagoromo continued, "this kind of power isn't something Lōran ( Tsuchigumo clan territory ) can protect. Even if your seal is flawless, someone will eventually target it and break it."
Minato fell silent.
…He couldn't deny it.
The Dragon Vein was indeed too tempting. And Konoha couldn't station ninja here forever.
"So," Minato asked, "do you have a solution, Hagoromo?"
"There's actually a one-and-done way to deal with things like this," Hagoromo said calmly. "The Dragon Vein is just an energy well, right? Then destroy it completely."
"Just blow it up."
Bomb-disposal experts handled dangerous explosives that way all the time. If something might explode someday, why not detonate it under controlled conditions?
"Hagoromo…" Minato broke into a cold sweat. "With the Dragon Vein's energy, doing that wouldn't just destroy the city—it would send the entire nation of Lōran ( Tsuchigumo clan territory ) into the sky."
"That's fine," Hagoromo replied indifferently. "A country like Lōran ( Tsuchigumo clan territory ) surviving this long in wartime is already a miracle. A weak nation sitting on something that draws hatred like this is doomed sooner or later."
His logic wasn't wrong.
Even Uzushiogakure, home of the powerful Uzumaki Clan, had been wiped out—despite their strength. Compared to that, Lōran ( Tsuchigumo clan territory ) didn't stand a chance.
Hagoromo's real concern was whether something like this could be exploited by someone like Uchiha Madara. That was why he wanted a permanent solution.
Unfortunately—
Everyone present was utterly stunned.
Imagine this:
Someone comes to your house as a guest.
First, they break a few teacups—fine.
Then they suggest blowing up your ancestral home.
At this moment, Queen Sāra of Lōran ( Tsuchigumo clan territory ), the thirty-second monarch, already had her blade in hand and was one step away from reenacting "Born of the same roots—why so eager to burn each other?"
Sāra wasn't a domineering ruler.
But unfortunately for Hagoromo, she had previously received a buff from someone.
The memories were gone.
The effect… was not.
Because what that person had used wasn't so much Talk no Jutsu—
It was closer to Kotoamatsukami-level brainwashing, instant cast, zero cooldown.
PS: I've been releasing chapters daily . Honestly, it hurts seeing almost no support on Patreon after all that work.If you're enjoying the fic, even a little, supporting me would mean a lot. It helps a student stay independent .
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