Chapter 259: Illusion Shifts, Naruto Arrives
In the blink of an eye—
A month had passed.
The illusion of the ruined city of Rōran appeared more frequently, each time lasting longer and becoming increasingly solid.
Five days ago, even Yuzu was able to see the illusion of the Rōran ruins.
At the same time, Li Yao sensed the Dragon Vein's energy growing stronger, to the point it began affecting the nearby weather—even from another world.
Today.
Now.
Endless gale-force winds, stirred by the Dragon Vein's power, whipped up vast clouds of yellow sand.
Amid the dancing sands of the desert stood a ruined city. At a glance, one could hardly tell it was just an illusion—it looked real.
"It's been a whole day,"
Suspended in the sky above the raging winds, a spherical barrier cloaked a clay bird, shielding Li Yao and Yuzu from the storm. Li Yao frowned as he looked down at the city ruins below and murmured to himself.
The illusion of the Rōran ruins had persisted for an entire day without vanishing.
The energy fluctuations from the Dragon Vein also seemed to have reached their strongest yet.
But within the illusion, the sealing formula that sealed the Dragon Vein remained intact. Unless that seal was broken and the Dragon Vein's power fully released, it could never break through the barrier between worlds for Li Yao to truly interact with.
"What now?"
Li Yao felt a rising urgency in his chest, but was helpless. From another world, he could only observe—he couldn't affect the seal that Minato had placed.
If this continued, the Dragon Vein's power would likely peak and then dissipate, and the illusion of the ruins would vanish from his world forever.
Who knew how many years it would take for it to reappear again?
Li Yao had no desire to wait that long.
"So strange… A mirage from another world… Unbelievable. The power of the Dragon Vein! The power of time!"
"What if…"
Yuzu gazed down at the ruins, a thought flashing through her mind—but when she remembered what Li Yao had explained about parallel worlds, her heart dimmed again.
A mother from a parallel world would never be the same as the one who raised her.
She turned away from the illusory city below, choosing not to look at it anymore.
"Huh… what's that?"
Just as Yuzu turned her gaze away, she caught a glimpse of something at the edge of the illusion—a moving figure—and gasped.
Focusing her eyes, she saw what appeared to be a puppet, racing toward them, trailing a black control thread.
"Uncle, I think there's something coming! It looks like a puppet!"
She quickly pointed it out.
Li Yao's brow furrowed. With his chakra sensing and spiritual perception, he could detect anything within a fifty-kilometer radius. Aside from small desert creatures, there were no people nearby.
How could a puppeteer get that close without him sensing it, yet still appear in Little Yuzu's field of view?
Frowning in confusion, he turned his head to follow her line of sight—and in the next moment, his heart skipped a beat. His eyes widened in shock.
There really was a puppet charging toward them.
But it wasn't from this world—it was from the illusory world of the Rōran ruins.
"There are people too!" Yuzu cried out.
Behind the puppet were four people. She squinted and exclaimed, "They're from Konoha! Wait—no, that's not right!"
Suddenly, she realized—at such a short distance, she should've sensed their chakra. But there was nothing.
"Uncle! They're from the illusion!" Yuzu said excitedly.
She understood now—what she was seeing wasn't from this world. The puppet and the people were from another world.
It was incredible.
She had thought the city illusion was just a frozen image, like a photo. She never imagined it could contain moving people—and puppets.
At that moment, Li Yao locked his eyes on the group fighting through the puppet horde, his gaze burning.
One of them had spiky blond hair and three thick whisker-like marks on each cheek—there was no mistaking it, it was Naruto.
The other three were easily recognizable too: Sakura, Yamato, and Sai.
"Them…?"
"Could it be…?"
Li Yao's heart began pounding. He looked down at the altar.
If his guess was correct, the world within the illusion was currently experiencing the plotline of The Lost Tower movie.
That meant the seal placed by the Fourth Hokage would be undone soon—and when the Dragon Vein erupted, its energy might be able to break through the world barrier and reach his side. He might be able to use the Dragon Vein's power to cross time and space and enter the true Rōran world.
"Yuzu , you need to leave this place."
Li Yao turned to her.
"Uncle, look!" Yuzu pointed to the direction where the puppet was coming from.
"Huh…?" Li Yao was stunned.
As Naruto's group fought their way forward with the puppet, the illusion of the city was… changing. No—it was solidifying. Multiple overlapping ruins were beginning to converge into a single, distinct image.
Before, what Li Yao had seen was not one illusion of Rōran's ruins, but many layered illusions of multiple parallel Rōran ruins.
He had dismissed the inconsistencies, thinking they were just random fragments of a destroyed city.
But now, as Naruto's group advanced, the multiple Rōran illusions were beginning to merge into one.
The illusion changed in real-time, shifting as they moved.
Soon, Naruto and the others reached the altar.
The surrounding area transformed into a barren, sand-covered field where only fragments of ruin remained. The altar Li Yao had seen earlier vanished.
Then, during the battle, Naruto unleashed a Rasengan, shattering the puppet. From the remains, explosive tags detonated.
Whoosh!
A brushstroke-style ink tiger appeared, grabbing Naruto and carrying him and Sakura to a collapsed wall. Yamato and Sakura could be seen speaking to him.
Li Yao couldn't hear their conversation—and he had no time to care.
"Yuzu , leave here now."
He was preparing to try to enter the world of The Lost Tower using the Dragon Vein's power. It could be dangerous.
"No. I'm going too."
Little Yuzu's gaze was firm. She understood what Li Yao intended—but she couldn't let him go alone.
What if he never came back?
She couldn't imagine a world without her uncle.
"Alright, then. Your choice."
Since she insisted, Li Yao didn't stop her. He respected her decision.
Poof!
Li Yao created a shadow clone to remain outside.
Then, he and Yuzu passed through the hole left in the illusion by the broken puppet and followed Naruto's group into the ruins below.
There, in a massive circular pit, at the top of a raised pillar surrounded by four humanoid statues, a Flying Thunder God kunai was stabbed into a strange eye-shaped object. Around it were black sealing runes.
That was Minato's seal placed on the Dragon Vein.
At that moment, inside the illusion, a thin, pale man emerged from behind one of the stone statues. He placed his hands on the eye-shaped object and began extracting Minato's seal.
Li Yao and Yuzu now floated above the sealing formation, waiting for it to break, for the Dragon Vein to erupt—so they could ride its power into that world.
Naruto and the others couldn't see them at all. Upon noticing the thin man's actions, Naruto was the first to rush forward, followed by Yamato and Sakura.
But it was too late—the man yanked Minato's Flying Thunder God kunai out of the seal.
The seal was undone.
In an instant—
A torrent of violet-white energy burst out from the Dragon Vein. A massive pillar of radiant energy shot into the air.
Li Yao and Yuzu , at the very center, were struck by the surge of power from the Dragon Vein's illusion.
"No!"
"How could this not work?!"
Li Yao's expression changed dramatically. Even though the energy wave felt real—so real it seemed like they were inside it—it didn't change the truth.
The Dragon Vein's power hadn't actually affected him or Yuzu .
(END CHAPTER)
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