The infiltration into Roran went even more smoothly than expected.
Kiyohara found himself wondering whether the Dragon Vein could be used by him.
A Dragon Vein jinchūriki?
After all, aside from the Nine Tailed Beasts, Shinnō had even created a "Zero-Tails." He was, in effect, the Zero-Tails' jinchūriki.
And sealing techniques in the shinobi world could seal all kinds of things.
Even a small leak of the Nine-Tails' chakra had created "pseudo–Nine-Tails jinchūriki" like Sora.
In theory, if Ōtsutsuki Kaguya showed up, you could seal her inside a body too—like Momoshiki and Boruto.
A line like "Ahem… Kaguya, lend me your power!" wasn't impossible.
I wonder what the Dragon Vein's chakra has to do with natural energy… Kiyohara thought.
In canon, it was described as a massive energy aggregate.
Compared to a tailed beast, which one held more chakra?
"It's probably the Dragon Vein," Uchiha Kiyohara's voice said inside his mind as he emerged from the urn.
"Maybe," Kiyohara replied noncommittally.
After all, Roran was only the largest node of the Dragon Vein.
The Dragon Vein itself ran through the entire earth.
Without realizing it, they'd reached the city's interior.
"This place…" Kurenai murmured, eyes wide with disbelief.
Up close, the dozens-of-meters-tall spires felt even more oppressive.
But the city was quiet.
Even a tiny village wouldn't be this subdued.
Roran might only be one city, but it still carried the name of a nation—yet no one spoke.
Everyone moved in the same direction, as if a grand celebration was happening there.
"So quiet," Rin couldn't help saying.
"When I came here before, it wasn't like this," Minato frowned. It was quiet in a way that felt wrong.
"I'll take a look," Kiyohara said.
His dark eyes flushed crimson—his single-tomoe Sharingan opened.
In that red-tinted vision, chakra flow became clear.
Those "people" didn't have normal chakra pathways at all. Instead, countless purple chakra threads spread from a core in the chest to every limb.
Their movements were smooth, but puppet-like.
Every step was identical in length. Even the curve of their smiles looked measured with a ruler.
"They're all puppets," Kiyohara said.
Everyone glanced at him. None of them could simply see chakra flow like that.
Minato crouched and pressed a hand to the street.
A formless wave of perception spread outward—basic contact-type sensing.
Truly powerful sensors could detect chakra tens or even hundreds of kilometers away.
"They're puppets," Minato confirmed with a nod. "All of them—marionettes being pulled along."
"They're… that realistic?" Kurenai whispered, stunned.
Kakashi lifted his forehead protector slightly and looked into the distance with his Sharingan—now spinning with three tomoe.
He timed it and lowered his eyelid again.
Unless it was absolutely necessary, he didn't keep it open. Less seeing meant less chakra drain.
"We should split up," Minato suggested.
Roran was only one city, but it was massive. If they followed a single route, they'd learn too little.
Splitting up would be far more efficient.
"I'll scout with Kakashi," Minato decided. "Rin, stay with Tsunade-sama's group."
"Fine," Tsunade agreed.
With Flying Thunder God, Minato was ideal for reconnaissance. And Kakashi's Sharingan could read chakra flow.
Together, they'd gather intel fast.
On Tsunade's side, as long as Kiyohara stayed, they'd be covered.
They split.
Minato and Kakashi vanished into other streets.
Kiyohara stayed with Tsunade, Kurenai, Rin, and Shizune, heading toward the market center.
There, a circular plaza over three hundred meters across opened up.
In the center, a hundred-meter spire rose like a needle into the sky.
Thousands of "citizens"—or rather, puppets—filled the plaza, facing the tower and "cheering."
But if you looked closely, their mouths just opened and closed while the sound came from somewhere in their abdomen.
Following their gaze upward, you saw a red-haired girl in ceremonial dress standing on a platform.
In the original, Naruto time-traveled in… so this time, will we run into Naruto? Kiyohara wondered.
The Dragon Vein's power was enough to distort space-time, weaving past and future together here.
At that moment, Queen Sara seemed about to speak to her "people." She stepped closer to the railing—
—and a puppet behind her shoved her.
"Ah!"
A scream rang out from a hundred meters up.
Sara lost her balance and toppled forward, flipping over the railing and plummeting.
Her red gown blossomed midair like a wilting flower.
Time seemed to slow.
Kiyohara scanned the plaza and spotted two figures bursting from shadow on the far side—both in Konoha Anbu animal masks. One moved like a blade, the other was slimmer.
Their goal was clear: the landing point.
But they were too far.
"Too late…" Kiyohara judged instantly.
By the time they arrived, Sara would already hit the ground.
His chakra detonated beneath his feet.
Lightning Release: Lightning Feet!
Magnet Release: Rotating Magnetic Field!
With cells activated, he could output more chakra at once. Repulsion exploded underfoot—electric arcs snapped, the ground cracked.
Kiyohara shot forward in a straight line.
Thirty meters.
He could see the panic in Sara's eyes, her pupils reflecting the fast-rising ground.
Twenty meters—arms out.
Ten—closing.
Sara had only fallen a few meters when Kiyohara crossed dozens.
Then distance became zero—he caught her.
Midair, he twisted, using magnetic lift to reduce the pull of gravity.
Like a feather, they drifted down.
From leap to catch: three seconds.
In the plaza, thousands of puppets turned their heads in perfect unison toward the landing point.
Silence.
Kiyohara released her and helped her stand.
Sara's legs were jelly; she could barely stay upright without his support.
She looked up at the stranger who'd saved her—
—and fury surged through the shock.
"Y-you… who are you?!" Her voice trembled with fear and anger. "Why are you in my country? Let go of me!"
She struggled and reflexively raised her hand to slap him.
Kiyohara calmly caught her wrist.
He remembered Naruto hadn't dodged that slap—he'd taken it clean.
"Calm down. A puppet pushed you," he said.
Hearing that, Sara finally looked at him properly: a handsome man she'd never seen, dressed like a shinobi.
Her panic eased a fraction, and she hurriedly apologized, embarrassed by her outburst.
Tsunade, Kurenai, Shizune, and Rin arrived as well—seeing Queen Sara up close for the first time.
"Look where you were standing," Kiyohara said, pointing upward.
Sara followed his gesture.
"It pushed you." Kiyohara pointed directly at the puppet.
"That's impossible!" Sara snapped instinctively.
"Then why didn't it rush to help after you fell?" Kiyohara cut in. "Why did it just stand there and watch?"
Sara froze.
Only then did she notice the plaza's wrongness.
Thousands of "citizens" stood perfectly still, all facing her, unmoving.
They wore celebration smiles—but their eyes were hollow.
Not a single person reacted to their queen nearly dying.
"They…" Sara's voice shrank.
She'd been told by Minister Anrokuzan that a queen shouldn't mingle with commoners. Today was her coronation—her first day as "real" queen.
Since her mother's death, Anrokuzan had controlled everything.
"They're all puppets." Kiyohara let go of her wrist. "Not one of your real people is here."
He shook his head.
The last true citizens of Roran were likely underground somewhere, forced into labor.
Honestly, the movie version always had a glaring logic hole: if Anrokuzan already had a huge puppet empire powered by the Dragon Vein, why use living civilians as manual labor to produce puppet parts—while puppet soldiers stood guard?
If you had puppets and an infinite energy source, wouldn't you use puppets to automate production?
How much labor could a tiny nation provide, anyway?
Sara stared, disbelieving.
Just then, the two masked shinobi finally reached them.
They stopped a few meters away, and Kiyohara could feel their eyes lingering on him longer than necessary.
"Kid, you're Konoha too?" Future-Kurenai asked, studying his forehead protector—yet she seemed oddly familiar with him.
Future-Rin hesitated, then said softly, "You… remind me of someone I know."
Kiyohara narrowed his gaze, trying to place them.
Two women. Konoha Anbu masks. They recognized him.
Then Future-Kurenai spotted the younger Kurenai beside Kiyohara and connected the dots.
She remembered Kiyohara once saying the Dragon Vein could distort time.
So had they come to the past?
Or had the past been dragged into their present?
Future-Kurenai felt dizzy—until the "familiar feeling" clicked.
This was younger Kiyohara.
"Heh. So you were this small once," Future-Kurenai teased, matching his face to her memory.
She reached out and pinched his cheeks like an older sister.
Kiyohara frowned.
That tone…
"About time I got to ruffle your hair. I've had my head patted enough," Future-Kurenai said, rubbing his head with exaggerated satisfaction.
Kiyohara's eyes narrowed further.
Yeah—this was almost certainly his Kurenai, the one he always teased by patting her head.
Then who was the other one?
He looked at Future-Rin.
Too bad Sharingan could only read chakra flow—it couldn't see through masks like the Byakugan.
Otherwise, he'd just peek and confirm their faces.
"What is going on?" Sara demanded, cheeks puffing in irritation.
These people saved her, then started chatting like she wasn't even there!
She was still a queen—well, a seventeen-year-old queen.
"Who are you?" Sara asked again.
"Queen Sara," Future-Kurenai said, switching to a formal tone, "we're Konoha shinobi. We're here to protect you."
"I never requested that!" Sara shot back.
"No," Tsunade said, "your people did."
Anbu had learned of this place because a Roran citizen escaped and reported that Minister Anrokuzan had gone mad, kidnapping people for labor.
Kiyohara understood: the escapee alerted Konoha, Anbu investigated, found puppet leads, and then Tsunade and Minato were assigned.
"My people…?" Sara whispered, stunned.
Before she could process it, the puppets in the plaza moved.
Not chaotically—perfectly in sync.
Thousands turned as one and began closing in.
Their celebratory smiles vanished, replaced by blank, cold faces.
"No time for explanations." Kiyohara pulled Sara behind him. "We're leaving."
"Agreed." Future-Kurenai dropped into a fighting stance. "Clear a path!"
Future-Rin formed seals.
"Fire Release: Great Fireball!"
A massive fireball roared into the puppet crowd.
Dozens of puppets melted and collapsed—metal shells warping, chakra threads burning through, bodies falling like severed marionettes.
Kiyohara's brow twitched.
Uchiha?
Great Fireball was an Uchiha signature… was this woman Uchiha?
Then he saw her form pale-blue chakra into a thin blade that extended outward—
A Chakra Scalpel.
And he noticed something else:
Inside her was a huge hidden chakra mass—only a tailed beast's scale.
Kiyohara saw her draw on that power.
Konoha only had two tailed beasts under control: Rin and Kushina.
Kushina wouldn't know Chakra Scalpel—an A-rank medical technique mastered by only a few.
So that left one possibility.
Future Rin.
Had only the two of them time-slipped over?
Or had Future Kurenai and Future Rin arrived first?
Kiyohara didn't know.
"Move!" Future-Kurenai barked.
They broke through the edge of the plaza.
The puppets flooded after them—fearless, mindless, executing a kill-order.
Genjutsu was useless on puppets, so Future-Kurenai fought with taijutsu and Wind Release instead.
"Wind Release: Vacuum Bullets!"
She fired high-pressure wind shots in bursts, each one punching through multiple puppets.
Her style was nothing like the slightly shy, still-growing Kurenai beside Kiyohara—this was a hardened veteran.
Kiyohara took the direct route.
With Earth Spear and Steel Release reinforcing his fists, one punch could blow a puppet into a spray of parts.
The five of them carved through the puppet sea like a hot knife through butter.
Just before they fully escaped, a new wave surged in.
These were heavier—bigger frames, thicker shells, arms modified into blades and drills.
Kiyohara inhaled, drew his right fist back, and concentrated chakra.
Magnetic Field Rotation surged through his muscles.
Magnet Release: Electromagnetic Fist!
His punch compressed the air into a visible shockwave.
The moment it hit, more than a dozen heavy puppets shattered like they'd been struck by a siege hammer.
Metal fragments blasted backward, knocking down more behind them.
Kiyohara exhaled, cold breath visible.
"…Monster Strength," Tsunade muttered—and then she answered with her own.
She smashed a fist through a nearby building, collapsing it and burying more puppets under rubble.
She hated blood and couldn't always fight at full power—but these puppets had none, so she had no restraint.
She turned. "Go."
"Yes, Tsunade-sama," Shizune answered immediately.
Kiyohara grabbed Sara's wrist, and the group sprinted.
After they finally shook pursuit, they ducked into a safe corner.
Minato and Kakashi, having spotted the disturbance and followed Kiyohara's subtle trail marks, found them.
"Who are they?" Minato asked, hand already on a Flying Thunder God kunai.
"Helpers we ran into," Kiyohara said.
Tsunade's golden-brown eyes swept over Future-Kurenai and Future-Rin.
As a top medical-nin, she was deadly at reading posture, movement habits, and body language.
Those two felt… weirdly familiar, like she'd been seeing them all week.
But she was sure she'd never met them, and Konoha's Anbu shouldn't have faces like this.
"What are your ID codes?" Tsunade demanded.
Future-Kurenai and Future-Rin exchanged a glance.
"Sorry, Tsunade-sama," Future-Kurenai said—using a disguised voice, but the honorific already proved she knew Tsunade. "Our mission is classified. We can't disclose it."
"Then take off the masks," Kakashi said flatly.
The air tightened.
Kiyohara sighed and stepped beside Tsunade, lowering his voice.
"Sensei. Come here a second."
Tsunade raised a brow, but followed him to the corner of a warehouse.
The others watched, confused.
"The two of them," Kiyohara whispered, "are probably future Kurenai and future Rin."
Tsunade's eyes widened. "What?"
Was she drunk? Was Kiyohara dreaming?
Kiyohara continued calmly, "The Dragon Vein chakra is abnormal. It can distort space-time."
Tsunade found the idea crazy—but the Dragon Vein was special, that much was true.
And Kiyohara was always absurdly well-read.
She forced herself to nod. "Assuming you're right… why won't they remove their masks?"
"They're avoiding identity disclosure to prevent interfering with the timeline. Unknown ripple effects."
Tsunade stared at him. "And how are you sure it's them?"
"Instinct," Kiyohara said. "The wind user fights like Kurenai, just more mature. And—Uchiha-level Fire Release doesn't usually get taught outside close circles."
His implication was obvious: it could have been taught by a future him.
Tsunade fell silent, then looked again at the two Anbu.
The silhouettes… the feel of them… it was unsettlingly plausible.
"So what do we do?" Tsunade asked.
"Play along," Kiyohara said. "Act like we don't know. Finish the mission. Once the Dragon Vein is sealed and time stabilizes, they'll likely return to their era."
Tsunade took a slow breath. "Understood. I'll cooperate."
Their mission had three goals: confirm the puppet weapon, expose and stop Anrokuzan, and seal the Dragon Vein.
A chakra mass that unstable was basically a bomb.
They returned to the group.
Minato and Kakashi were still guarded.
"Minato-sensei," Kiyohara said, "I think we can trust them—for now. Our objectives align."
Minato looked at Kiyohara, then at Tsunade.
Tsunade gave a small nod. She was choosing to trust her disciple.
"…Alright," Minato said, loosening his grip on the kunai. "But at least tell us why you're in Roran."
Future-Kurenai answered after a moment, "We tracked a dangerous shinobi here. He's a Sand deserter targeting the Dragon Vein. We have to stop him before things spiral."
"A dangerous shinobi?" Sara blurted. "Is it Anrokuzan? He… he's a deserter?"
"Anrokuzan is an alias," Future-Rin said. "His real name is Mukade. He wants the Dragon Vein."
Sara swayed, catching herself on the wall.
Her mother's sudden death six years ago. Anrokuzan's rapid takeover. Her "queen" title while knowing nothing about her own nation…
"Take me," she said, tears shining. "Take me to my people. The real people—where are they?"
"Then you need to sense the Dragon Vein's location," Kiyohara said. "These puppets are powered by Dragon Vein chakra. We find the source first."
Sara nodded shakily.
Her bloodline could sense the Dragon Vein—maybe even draw on it.
But her mother died before teaching her how to truly use it.
All Sara knew now… was how to seal it.
~~~
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