"So, Great King, since you know my name, what impression do you have of me?"
Hagoromo wanted to struggle a bit more; maybe someone still had some residual dregs of memory left.
There were some things he might not care about, but for the things he did care about, if he couldn't figure them out... the feeling made him want to pull his hair out.
However, what the hell was Great King?
Sara was, after all, essentially a mayor-level official. The title "Great King" genuinely made her feel awkward, but she didn't correct him. Ultimately, she held back from saying something like, "Don't call me Great King, call me Her Majesty the Queen."
Regarding the erased memories, Sara herself was also highly concerned. She vaguely felt that she had voluntarily allowed her memories to be erased, but she couldn't remember the exact reasons.
But this time, Hagoromo really had asked the right person... after all, he had already asked everyone else.
Perhaps due to the influence of the Dragon Vein, Queen Sara retained a hazy impression of what had happened previously.
Like a dream.
Therefore, after thinking carefully, she said, "I don't have my memories either, but I do have some vague impressions..."
"I shouldn't have met you before, but your appearance... it's as if I've heard someone describe it to me..."
The white-masked gourd-carrying boy look was indeed very distinctive, practically unforgettable. More so if the gourd he carrying around is counted.
"An impression? What kind? What did they describe to you?" Hagoromo hurriedly asked.
A mental jutsu failing to work perfectly and causing a glitch, this phenomenon in itself was perfectly normal.
"I just vaguely feel that whenever I was in danger, there was a young, blonde ninja who was always by my side, protecting me, encouraging me... saving me time and time again like a hero..."
As she spoke, Queen Sara looked at the chakra blade in her hand with bewildered eyes. No matter how hard she tried, she simply couldn't recall any further details, like what the person actually looked like.
But hearing her say this, Hagoromo suddenly had an epiphany!
He shot Minato a rather bizarre look.
Wasn't the blonde right in front of them?
The so-called memory erasure was probably an alternative form of silencing a witness, right?
To think Minato was actually this kind of person. Sporting the face of a classic protagonist, yet engaging in the activity of flirting with girls on the side.
Facts proved that Hagoromo's brilliant brain also had some pitfalls... quite a few of them, actually.
He naturally assumed the figure in Sara's impression was Minato, so to avoid being dismembered by Kushina, Minato had resorted to erasing memories to destroy the evidence.
As for the Queen... it was probably just a young girl's crush. Just like every edgy youth goes through a phase, every queen of this age wanted a heroic savior to sweep them off their feet.
Unfortunately, Minato was already taken... Okay, Hagoromo hit the brakes on his wild imagination. Something this absurd couldn't possibly be Minato's reason for sealing their memories.
But what exactly had happened? Without the cooperation of the people involved, Hagoromo would probably never figure it out.
Realizing he was pursuing a dead end, no matter how much it bothered him, Hagoromo could only temporarily bury his doubts.
Back to the mission.
His gaze shifted to Minato's sealing formula for the Dragon Vein. He walked over, squatted down, and observed it carefully.
It was a hemispherical shape protruding like a dead fish's eye. A Flying Thunder God kunai was stabbed straight into the center, surrounded by a dense array of square sealing formula patterns.
This was the exit of the Dragon Vein.
"Is this the seal for the Dragon Vein?" Hagoromo asked, looking up at Minato while reaching out to pat the dead fish eye.
"Yes. I've applied a permanent seal to the Dragon Vein. Leaks like this won't happen again," Minato said.
Hagoromo lowered his head and fell silent. He felt that a mere seal wasn't enough.
It was inevitable that someone would try to exploit something this dangerous in the future. For a small country like Roran, which didn't even have ninjas, there was absolutely no way to fend off those with ulterior motives.
"Is there a problem with the jutsu formula, Hagoromo?" Minato asked. Seeing Hagoromo remain silent, he thought the boy had discovered a flaw in the seal.
After all, he was Kushina's disciple; sealing jutsu proficiency aside, he definitely had an eye for it.
"No, the jutsu formula itself is fine..." Hagoromo said as he stood up.
It was true; at the very least, he couldn't find any issues. It was undoubtedly a powerful chakra and energy sealing method.
"The problem lies in the approach..."
He continued explaining his viewpoint. "Any powerful seal suppressing a massive force will gradually lose its strength over time. The ordered suppression and the chaotic energy will ebb and flow against each other. You could say the seal failing is only a matter of time—maybe ten years, maybe thirty, maybe fifty..."
In terms of raw chakra capacity, Minato's seal couldn't possibly match the Dragon Vein itself. Therefore, Hagoromo believed that in the ongoing tug-of-war, the seal would eventually loosen and fail.
"Furthermore, this kind of immense power isn't something a country like Roran can protect. Even if your seal is absolutely foolproof, Minato-senpai, it's inevitable that it will be destroyed by someone targeting this power in the future."
"..." Minato fell silent for a moment. What Hagoromo said did make a lot of sense.
The Dragon Vein's power was truly massive; someone really might target it in the future, and Konoha couldn't just station ninjas here to guard it forever.
"Do you have any ideas, Hagoromo?"
"Actually, there is a once-and-for-all solution to this kind of problem... The so-called Dragon Vein is just an energy well, right? Why not just blow the whole thing up?"
Didn't bomb disposal experts deal with this all the time? Since there was a constant risk of an explosion, just artificially detonate it ahead of time.
"Hagoromo... given the energy of the Dragon Vein, doing it your way wouldn't just blow up this city; it would blow the entire country of Roran sky-high." Minato broke into a heavy sweat. This method can work, it was just a bit too wild.
"Then blow it up. For a country like this one to have survived the chaos of war until today is already a miracle. Lacking strength yet possessing something enough to draw massive aggro, its destruction is only a matter of time."
Hagoromo's judgment was highly logical. Even the Land of Whirlpool, with its own hidden Village, had been destroyed. Although the Land of Whirlpool itself was small, the Uzumaki Clan was incredibly powerful, yet they still fell... let alone Roran.
And the main reason Hagoromo had this thought was out of fear that someone like Madara might exploit this thing down the line. That was why he wanted a permanent solution.
However, his words shocked everyone present.
Imagine if someone visited your house as a guest. First, they smash a few teacups—whatever, no big deal. But then, they casually suggest blowing up your entire hometown...
Her Highness Sara, the Thirty-Second Queen of Roran, already had her blade in hand, ready to enact a Historical drama with Hagoromo.
Although Sara wasn't the aggressive type, as luck would have it, she had previously been buffed by a certain someone. Even though the memories were gone, the effects remained.
After all, that certain someone's technique was less of a powerful Talk no Jutsu and more like an overwhelming brainwash akin to Kotoamatsukami—and it was an instant cast with zero cooldown, to boot.
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