"Speech."
'Think.'
Jutsu
Past Events
Naruto opened his eyes and the first thing he heard was the voice of a woman. He was lying on his side at the moment, looking at a grave. He turned on his back and saw that he was in a huge room with a dome-like ceiling. At the very top of the ceiling were 5 large holes where the sun's rays came through. He had no idea where he was. All he knew was how he was dragged into the dragon vein. He had been given the mission to capture a missing ninja. It was to prevent him from reaching the Dragon Vein and claiming it for himself.
The dragon vein was a huge chakra source. These were found in the land of wind, under the ruins of Rōran. Rōran was once a city with dozens of towers rising into the sky. In the third great ninja war, however, this city was destroyed.
Naruto had tracked the missing ninja named Mukade to the Dragon Vein and couldn't stop him from transferring the seal from the Dragon Vein to his body. This temporarily activated the Dragon Vein, and the Fourth Hokage's Special Sealing Formula sent Mukade back in time. However, this was only possible because it favored the circumstances. Naruto had tried to stop Mukade, but it was too late. When the dragon vein trapped Mukade and the main platform, and the power shot into the sky, Naruto was too close. He was drawn with him into power of the dragon vein and thus he was also sent into the past.
Naruto himself was a man at the age of 20. He had spiky blond hair and blue eyes. (A/N Without his Whisker Marks) He was currently wearing a blue top with long sleeves and long blue pants. He also wore blue sandals and bandages could be seen between the trousers and the sandals. He wore a Konoha flak jacket over his blue top. Bandages were tied around his right thigh, and a shuriken pouch was attached to that very spot. He also wore a blue headband wrapped around his forehead with the Konoha symbol on it, and over his hips was a larger pouch and under it was a kind of dagger in a scabbard. This dagger was a chakra sword from Konoha, which was specially made for this mission. With this, Naruto was able to strengthen the blade with chakra and thus cut the chakra threads that Mukade used for his puppets. (A/N The Normal Outfit of Konoha Shinobis)
Naruto had a lot going through his mind right now. However, he kept these thoughts in the back of his mind for the time being. He had to figure out what was going on. He didn't want to get up, though, because the singing was really beautiful.
He had strange images in his mind's eye of him playing with a boy who looked a lot like him. He didn't know what was going on, but he needed to concentrate. He straightened up and saw a woman with long, beautiful red hair and purple eyes. She was currently sitting on a piece of rubble and looking up at the ceiling. She was singing a song. He was in a trance as he watched the woman for a while. He didn't know why, but somehow this woman reminded him of someone. He just didn't remember to whom. He held his head for a moment when another image of a man who looked like him appeared in his mind's eye. This man looked so familiar and yet he was a stranger to Naruto at that moment.
He shook his head and stood up. "Hey, excuse me-" The woman looked Naruto straight in the eye and looked a little surprised. She jumped off the rubble and ran away. "Hey wait!" Naruto jumped after her and saw the woman disappear into a hallway that had a staircase. He was just getting to the aisle when he jumped back slightly. Down there stood the woman and right next to her stood 2 marionettes with blue cloaks. The puppets raised their arms, and from the claws of the puppets came kunai, which were provided with a purple chakra thread. Naruto immediately pulled his chakra sword out of its scabbard and stood ready, but as the kunai flew through the entrance, something strange happened. A purple barrier appeared, and the kunai detached from the chakra threads simply fell to the ground.
The two puppets then flew up the aisle to attack Naruto personally. Naruto was getting ready and was about to use a technique, but then he didn't. When the puppets crashed into this purple barrier, they also simply fell to the ground and were now scattered on the ground in their entirety. Naruto looked around for a moment until he heard a sound in front of him. The entrance was closed by 3 stone walls, that appeared. "Hey!" The woman just looked at him with a serious look and he could still see her starting to walk away.
Naruto looked around and couldn't find any other exit besides this one. So, he had to come out of here through the openings in the ceiling. He jumped against the wall and started running up the wall. When he arrived at the top of the opening, he noticed that there was a disc in front of it. He took a bit of a run-up and just jumped through the window. When he landed in a meadow, he was speechless.
'That's impossible.' Towers. All he saw were towers reaching up to the sky. He looked around and didn't see a soul. He wondered what was going on here. He had inquired about the ruins of Rōran and what the city had looked like before. The description of what the city was supposed to have looked like before the destruction matched perfectly with what he sees in front of him right now. He jumped onto a ledge that was attached to one of the towers and looked around. He saw what was going on around this incredible place right now. Desert could be seen everywhere, and Naruto was now sure that this was Rōran. 'But that would mean that Mukade and I...' Naruto was snapped out of his thoughts when he heard strange noises. He turned around and looked up a bit to see where the sound was coming from.
Several puppets flew to his position. 'Damn, that's the work of Mukade!' He saw how many there were and decided to run away for the time being. He jumped from one tower to another and was chased by the puppets. The puppets often shot kunai, which were connected with purple chakra threads as before. They also often fired some kind of purple fire at Naruto. If there were 5 or fewer puppets, he would simply cut the chakra threads with the chakra sword, but he was chased by 20 to 25 marionettes right now and that's a bit too much for Naruto's liking.
He landed on a bridge and saw several puppets coming out of one of the towers as well. "Damn!" He had to dodge several shots of fire from the puppets. He jumped over a projectile, and just before he was hit by another, he simply disappeared and reappeared 10 yards away in a crouching position. That's where the next projectiles came straight at him. He gathered more chakra in his legs and jumped to a tower far away. The puppets were still close to him. Unlike Naruto, the puppets could simply fly through some sort of propulsion on their backs, where purple energy was constantly emitted.
Naruto took a kunai out of one of his holsters on his thigh and threw it in the direction of the puppets. "Shuriken Shadow Clone Jutsu!" One kunai became dozens, and they flew towards the puppets. The puppets all had about 30 kunai attached to their bodies, which they could fire and control with the help of the chakra threads. They could also pull them back to their bodies.
Naruto has created many kunai from one, but due to the sheer number of puppets, not a single one of his kunai had managed to touch a puppet. The puppets all fired their own kunai, fending off Naruto's kunai's.
'Damn!' He was only inattentive for a moment, and he immediately regretted it. 3 puppets just came out from behind a tower, where he jumped right away. He was in mid-air and at that very moment the 3 puppets attacked him. He gritted his teeth as he blocked the first attack. Puppets didn't have strong muscles in their arms or anything else. Nevertheless, the blows of a puppet were never to be underestimated. Naruto turned his body so that he slid over the next attack. He just looked to the side and saw a blade getting closer and closer to his body. Time seemed to pass in slow motion.
Three observers who heard the noise of the fight were already chasing the puppets and Naruto. All three were wearing some kind of modified Anbu clothing and all wore masks. When he saw Naruto's blond hair, his eyes widened behind his mask. His own blond hair, longer than Naruto's, blew in the wind as it flew through the air.
The blade was so close to seriously injuring Naruto when he just disappeared again and reappeared a few meters away. Naruto popped up right at a tower and jumped right on. 'Come on, not many more!' Naruto landed on another turret and left his palm on the turret for a moment before jumping away again. The puppets changed strategy and split up. Naruto saw some of them simply disappear behind some towers, eluding his field of vision. He drew the chakra sword and let his chakra flow into it, forming visible chakra around the blade. The shape of the chakra took the form of a blade. He turned to the puppets and used them to deflect some of the fire. Through the chakra of the chakra sword, he was able to deflect the fire projectiles like a kunai.
Especially when you talk about kunai, he had to fend off several of them. Naruto didn't know why, but the puppets somehow got faster. He landed on another tower and touched it with his free palm as well, and instead of jumping away, he had to run up the tower a bit. Some puppets came out from behind the tower and attacked him from below, while the other puppets gave him no room to jump away. Naruto looked over his shoulder and counted something again in his mind. 'Just one more, come on!' He saw an opportunity to jump away and did so.
As he jumped away, he was surprised by several kunai's. They simply came out from behind several towers and were precisely controlled by the chakra threads. He had his chakra sword ready and turned his body a bit and blocked a kunai. He made several back flips in the air and when he was back in a straight position, he had to block kunai after kunai again.
Again, and again the kunai almost touched him. However, he simply disappeared into the air and reappeared a few meters away. However, he was hit in the right thigh by a kunai. He gritted his teeth and landed a little bumpy on the turret. He placed his hand on the tower, and when he took it away, he put the chakra sword back in its scabbard. He began to walk at a fast pace through countless hand signals. He ended up in the snake sign, and when he did so, strange markings began to light up all around the tower where he was. They began to connect and created a huge jutsu formula in mid-air.
"SEALING JUTSU: PARALYSIS BARRIER!" The jutsu formula began to glow and all the puppets that were in the field of the jutsu formula stopped in all movements. Just like that, because a puppet was about to injure Naruto with a blade and that was fatal.
Naruto wasted no time in picking up the chakra sword again, ignoring the pain. He jumped to the first puppet and cut the chakra threads that the puppet controlled. Naruto jumped from puppet to puppet, simply floating in the air and not moving. Naruto felt his leg hurting more and more and he knew he had to hurry. He didn't catch all the puppets with his sealing barrier. Some just waited outside of the jutsu formula to be able to attack him when he left the jutsu formula.
He might have been able to defeat all the puppets in a different way, but he didn't want to cause much damage to the city, so he hadn't used any other jutsus yet.
He jumped to the last puppet and when he separated the chakra threads from it, the jutsu formula also dissolved. Naruto was still in mid-air, not seeing the incoming projectile of fire. He was hit right in the back. He squinted one eye and refused to make a sound. He fell to the ground and just crashed through the floor. He crashed into the ground in the old Rōran. He was now in a normal village with normal houses. Everywhere in this village, which was only ruins, broad columns rose up everywhere, thus forming the pillars for the Rōran on the surface with all the tall towers.
Naruto saw some puppets come flying through the hole in the ceiling. He was already holding a hand on his thigh and using Medical Ninjutsu to stop the bleeding. He would like to reminisce now, at least the ones he remembered. But he didn't have time and had to stop his medical ninjutsu. However, it was enough to relieve the pain and stop the bleeding. So, the adrenaline in his body was enough for him to ignore the pain for the time being. He stood up and held the Chakra Sword in his right hand and in the other hand began to collect Visible Chakra. It began to gather just above his palm and within a second a sphere formed and grew larger and larger. The sphere began to rotate at a rapid pace.
Naruto let chakra flow into his chakra sword again and so the chakra blade formed again. Naruto crouched down and jumped towards the puppets. The puppets flew towards Naruto and attacked him with kunai's, swords and projectiles. Naruto turned his body to the side and thus dodged the attacks. As he approached the first puppet, he blocked a burst of flame with his chakra sword and then simply disappeared and appeared between 2 puppets. He slammed his jutsu into one of the marionettes. "Rasengan!" In the case of the other puppet, he cut the chakra threads and separated the puppet from the network that controlled the puppet. The puppet that was hit by the Rasengan was immediately destroyed. The other puppet simply flew to the ground in its pieces, as Naruto severed the chakra threads of it.
He turned his body so that it slid over a blade. He fended off a few kunai with his chakra sword and kicked a puppet towards the ground. Out of the corner of his eye, he watched as suddenly a huge hand rammed 2 of the remaining 3 puppets against one of the pillars and the other puppet was attacked by insects. He dropped to the ground and landed safely in a crouch. When he stood up, there were 3 people standing in front of him. All three wore about the same thing.
There wore dark blue pants and a shirt, with dark blue sandals to go with it. Bandages could be seen between the sandals and the pants. They wore protective vests similar to Naruto's, only theirs were dark brown and not green. All three wore different masks. What immediately caught his eye, however, was the hair of the man in the middle. It was blond hair, just like his own. This hairstyle reminded him of the guy he saw in his mind's eye. The other two had black and red hair. The man with the black hair also had some kind of vessel on his back. Naruto only thought about the bugs and knew right away.
Before anything could be said, Naruto looked up at the Rōran with its many towers. He didn't know what it was, but something called up to him. He looked at the three shinobi and they looked at him through their masks. "Naruto Namikaze, Jonin of Konohagakure. We'll discuss everything else later, I have to get something done." So, he disappeared, and the three men widened their eyes after they heard Naruto's name and saw him disappear. It looked exactly like the use of the Hiraishin when Minato teleported with it.
"Minato, that's impossible. This man can't be who I think he is." The man with the red hair said this.
Minato just looked at where Naruto was and couldn't believe it. 'That's impossible. He looks exactly like him, and his voice is exactly the same, but he just disappeared in the past.'
"Minato!" Minato was snapped out of his thoughts and looked over his shoulder. "We have a mission, pull yourself together. We'll find out what's being played here. First of all, we have to get an overview and find the queen. Everything else will be sorted out." This was what his black-haired comrade said, and Minato just nodded to his old friend. "You're right, Shibi, I'm sorry. Let's go." Minato and the other two disappeared. Minato pushed his train of thought to the back for now, he already had a small guess and if this was true, the disappearance of Naruto was not a coincidence at the time and his sudden reappearance.
Naruto was on a bridge that was between 2 towers and saw a big place where there were a lot of people. This seemed like a parade for something or someone.
"Long live the Queen!"
"Queen!"
"For the Queen!"
Naruto heard the word queen and decided to see who it was. He didn't know why, but something seemed to be calling him and where the crowd was looking, the call came from.
Remember Naruto!
An image appeared in Naruto's mind's eye. He was still a child there and had an arm around another boy's shoulder. Both grinned broadly into the camera. What Naruto immediately noticed was the boy's hairstyle. It was exactly the same as the man he just met. The two were standing in a desert with 2 other people. Naruto couldn't recognize the other two people, but what he did was clear. The two of them were standing right in front of a small town, and that city was none other than Rōran.
The image blurred again, and Naruto kept his head short. Something was wrong in his life; he always knew that. He couldn't remember his childhood at all. The first memory he had was the face of the third Hokage. He woke up in Konohagakure Hospital at the age of 15. He couldn't remember anything that happened before that time. The Hokage had offered him a home and explained to him that Naruto suffered from amnesia.
Naruto was surprisingly a ninja from Konoha, although Naruto didn't remember that fact at the time. When he was released from the hospital a week later, he had a test fight against someone.
He was amazed at what he was able to do. He was able to remember several things he could do during the fight, and he had used them. Be it Taijutsu or Ninjutsu. He didn't know where he had learned Sealing Jutsu, but Naruto was a seal master and with a seal he even won at the end of the fight.
The third Hokage didn't seem surprised, and from that point on, he appointed Naruto directly as Chunin. Naruto even became an Anbu pretty quickly and was placed under the leadership of Kakashi Hatake. From then on, Naruto lived in the shadows and had many experiences with his comrades. He lost many comrades over the years and in the end, when he left the Anbu along with Kakashi Hatake, only he and Kakashi were left alive from his old team. Apart from Tenzo, who switched to another anbu squad at the time.
Naruto always felt that he didn't belong to the place, and he never knew why. He had some weird dreams of a boy with blond hair and a girl with long red hair. The two children seemed to know each other, and Naruto saw himself in this dream doing things with the two of them as a child. He always recognized the hairstyle and clothes sharply, but the faces of the two people were always blurred.
Sometimes the dreams filled up so really and it seemed that this was where his real life took place. Most of the time, he could barely remember what exactly he was dreaming. He always woke up drenched in sweat and sometimes had tears on his face and sometimes he had such strong palpitations that he thought his heart was about to jump out of his chest. He had often been to the Hokage with it, because after all, he was really his only contact person. The Hokage was hiding something from Naruto, that much he knew himself. The Hokage knew something about Naruto that he didn't. He'd never been able to figure out what it was, though. Nevertheless, he owed his life to this man and besides the secrecy, the old wise man was always there for Naruto.
Naruto shook his head, concentrating on what was happening in front of him. Trumpets began to play, and a balcony could be seen at the tower right in the middle of the large square. There were 2 wooden doors opening and Naruto recognized the person who came out of there. It was the woman with the beautiful long red hair and purple eyes that he met at the very beginning.
'So, she is the Queen of Rōran. That would also explain the puppet guards who appeared next to her at the very beginning. The only question is how it fits into the overall picture.' Naruto looked closely and saw her smiling and waving to her people. Naruto got a picture in his mind's eye, of a woman with long beautiful hair and purple eyes. She resembled the queen, but only slightly. The queen's red hair was slightly darker than that of the woman Naruto just saw in his mind's eye. Naruto was standing next to her, and he had a hand around her waist. He was wondering if he had a special relationship with this woman. The image blurred again as fast as it came.
The next thing he saw, his eyes widened a little. The queen fell from the tower just like that and was in free fall. She screamed. Naruto concentrated Chakra into his feet and jumped off. He caught the queen in mid-flight and flew with her farther away from the field. He landed behind a building where a small garden could be seen. This small garden was away from the big square and therefore unobserved. Naruto limped a bit as he landed and hit his back against a pillar of the building at some point.
He sighed slightly and before anything could happen, he got a few whistles. "LET ME GO!" The queen in his arms screamed and even slapped her elbow right in his face. Naruto tipped over backwards, and the queen went straight to distance. "WHAT IMPUDENCE!"
Naruto straightened up and rubbed his nose. 'Damn, she's got power.' "What a way to thank the Savior."
It was only now that the woman seemed to realize how lucky she was. Without Naruto, she would be dead now. "Huh? Oh, thank you for that, of course. Thank you very much."
The two looked at each other awkwardly until Naruto spoke up. He first had to make sure that this was really the person he was thinking. "I have a question for you. Are you really the Queen of Rōran?" Naruto didn't even have to wait a second for the answer.
The woman nodded and closed her eyes. "Yes, I am the Queen of Rōran. My name is Sāra. I inherited this beautiful city from my mother." Naruto understood the context directly and got a slightly sad smile.
"My name is Naruto Namikaze. I am from the village of Konohagakure. I'm sorry for the loss of your mother. It's never easy to lose a loved one." Naruto only remembered one person from his past and could remember every second he stood in front of that person's grave and just stood still. Always haunted by these dreams and images in his head. He had never learned the whole truth about the person, but still, this person meant a lot to him.
Sāra recognizes this gaze directly. It was the same look she always had when she's singing and remembering her mother. She didn't know what it was, but something was different about those blue eyes. Something that didn't let her look away. Something tied her to those blue eyes, and she just couldn't look away.
Naruto closed his eyes for a moment and when he opened them again, he had a serious expression on his face again. "I have another question, if you'll allow me." Naruto looked over at the main tower, which could be seen from here. "Why did you fall from the tower?"
"Huh?" She looked at Naruto first and then looked over at the tower. It took her a moment to go through the events again and she noticed something right away. She looked a little thoughtfully to the side and had a dejected expression on her face. "I felt like someone had pushed me."
"Wait, what?" Naruto could actually remember seeing something behind Sāra just before she flew down the tower. 'So, it wasn't just imagination.'
"Could it be that someone is threatening you?" Naruto was reluctant to ask this question, but it had to be.
"What? No way! Why would anyone want to take my life? You saw how people welcomed me, didn't you?" Sāra said this in a voice that clearly stated that this could not be. How could he? Sāra just couldn't imagine it.
"Please stay calm, Sāra. You just said it yourself that you were pushed." Naruto tried to calm Sāra down a bit, she seemed quite tense right now.
"T-that was all just imagination!" She just couldn't imagine anything else. No matter how she looked at it, there were those blue eyes again. They were brimming with care and honesty.
Naruto suddenly stood in front of Sāra and drew his chakra sword. He held it right in front of him and when he saw who was showing up, he lowered it again. He sighed and put the blade back in its sheath. "Sorry for that. Let's go somewhere else, it's too open here."
"That's what I would say." Minato and his two comrades took 2 steps back when Sāra stood in front of Naruto. "Hey, who are you and what do you want?"
Naruto put a hand on Sāra's shoulder "Sāra, calm down. These are also shinobi from Konoha and acquaintances of mine."
Minato and the others took off their masks, and when Naruto saw Minato's blue eyes, he got a headache again. He held both hands to his head and had to get down on both knees in pain. "Naargh!"
"Come on, Naruto! You promised to help me with the Shuriken! You know I'm not that good in there yet!" The voice sounded like a child's, and it was so familiar.
"I'm coming, don't rush Minato. You still have to help me with the seals." This was clearly the voice of Naruto as a child.
"HEY YOU TWO! WAIT FOR ME!" A female voice rang out and ran towards the two of them. The two boys turned around and saw long red hair. Minato opened both arms and caught the person who had just jumped at him. "I said I could do it, dattabane!" She held up a small piece of paper with a seal on it and grinned from ear to ear. Minato lowered her back down, his eyes wide. "You're already done? Wow Kushina, you're awesome!"
Naruto heard a voice, "Naruto, come on! Naruto!" Naruto opened his eyes and saw Sāra crouching over him, looking at him with a worried look on his face. He was currently lying on the grass where he had just collapsed. He straightened up and held a hand in front of his head. "Damn, this is getting worse and worse."
Naruto took the hand that was being held out to him and let Minato pull him up. "Everything ok?" The eyes of the two blondes meet and something seemed to be happening in both of them. Minato was genuinely concerned about the person who looked so much like him. It seems like something was happening in his head, which was quite exhausting for his mind. Whatever it was, it needed to stop as soon as possible.
"Yes, it's all right. I'd say we'll go to a quiet place first." Naruto turned to Sāra, who was now standing again. "Do you know a quiet place where we can talk in peace?"
Sāra nodded, "Follow me." Naruto followed her and the others followed Naruto at a distance. Minato was looking at Naruto's back the whole time, deep in thought. 'If he's like Mukade, then what I think has really happened. I'll have to talk to him right away and find out more. After all, it would not have been possible for Mukade to use a space-time ninjutsu. He is a puppet user and thus incapable of using space-time ninjutsu.'
Everyone was now in a tower, and Sāra was sitting at a window looking out. She still couldn't imagine that someone was after her and she was still trying to figure out why she was just getting along with Naruto. After all, she didn't know him at all. He saved her, which of course said a lot. Still, there's something wrong with her and she didn't know why.
"So that's the situation." Naruto has just explained the situation to the others and how he ended up here. "After Mukade absorbed the seal, I woke up here in this city. I still don't know why this happened all of a sudden. I mean, he cursed at first, because it didn't work out the way he wanted. However, something seemed to affect the formula." Naruto only thought back to the moment when he stepped onto the bridge and suddenly Mukade was able to absorb the jutsu formula.
"It's probably because of you, Naruto." Minato looked him straight in the eye and he just sighed. "You have a special kunai?" Minato took a specially shaped kunai out of his holster and held it out to him.
Naruto took it and just nodded, "You're a Namikaze, I suppose?" Naruto looked directly into the man's blue eyes, and he just nodded.
"So, we're really related. I've already had my suspicions, first the pictures of you that keep popping up in my head and now this kunai. So, I was the trigger because I have the blood of a Namikaze flowing inside me."
"However, the problem remains. We're in the middle of the ministry and we can't just get you involved." Shibi Aburame said this and adjusted his glasses accordingly.
"You're right, of course, there's still the problem with Mukade. He managed to harness the power of the dragon vein and use it to strengthen his puppets." Naruto agreed with Shibi.
The 4 shinobi talked for a while until Sāra had enough. She could hear them all the time talking about a Mukade and how he wanted to use the power of the dragon vein to build a war machine. She told them about Anrokusan, how he showed up here 6 years ago and since then he has only helped her people and especially her personally. She refused to believe what these shinobi just said and had pointed her fingers at them and told them that they were rather the ones who were suspects.
Naruto watched as Sāra walked down the long corridor and slowly disappeared from view of the 4 shinobi. Naruto turned to Minato, "We'll have to talk later. I have a guess as to what unites us. However, you still need to complete a mission. I'm following Sāra and making sure nothing happens to her." Naruto wanted to spend more time with Minato, but Sāra was also important to him, and she was definitely in danger.
"Of course. We're counting on you." Naruto nodded and just disappeared. "There is no longer any doubt. It's your brother Minato." Chouza said this and got ready.
"You're right, Chouza. We've got to find Mukade first, so let's go." Thus, the other three shinobi disappeared from the tower as well.
Sāra was taking an elevator up the main tower and looked to the side, annoyed. 'You don't know anything about Anrokusan. I'll prove his innocence!' She got out of the elevator and walked down the hall. "I'm definitely going to make it!" As she walked along a door, she was suddenly pulled into a room. She stumbled slightly but didn't fly there. The door behind her was closed and when she lifted her head, she saw several people with objects in their hands. The faces of all of them were also covered by a black headdress.
'Oh no, these people!' Sāra didn't see the faces, but she felt frightened. Fear for her life. 'So there really are people who are trying to kill me!'
One person took 2 steps forward and took a good look at Saara. "Are you the real Sāra?"
"Yes, I am Queen Sāra of Rōran. If you want to take my life, you will have to attack me openly!"
Everyone raised their weapons or devices a little in the air and Sāra took a step backwards out of reflex. "Give it back to us." Said the woman's voice that had just spoken to Sara.
Sara looked at the person in confusion, "Huh? What to give back?"
All the people behind the person with the female voice started talking wildly. Sāra, however, kept hearing "Give it back to us!"
Naruto appeared out of nowhere in front of Saara with his chakra sword drawn, his eyes icy cold. " Sāra! Stay behind me!" Sāra was a little frightened, but already felt safer with Naruto in front of her.
"Ahh, please don't hurt us!" Naruto blinked once and watched in confusion as the light in the room suddenly came on. All the people took off their headgear and now everyone present could be seen. They seemed to be normal people who couldn't do anything to anyone.
Over the next few minutes, the people of Rōran explained why they had reached out to Sāra personally. It appeared that relatives had been kidnapped on Sāra's orders and were being used to make a weapon. Naruto didn't believe it, of course, but the residents were still a little relieved about something.
After that, Naruto, Sāra and 2 other residents named Sarai and Masako went outside and watched the parade. Naruto immediately recognized that something was wrong and showed Sāra that all the enthusiastic people were really just puppets.
Sāra just couldn't believe what she was seeing. In their place stood a puppet as well, waving to the wrong people. "Mukade has also swapped you for a puppet, Sāra."
These words had been said by Naruto, and they were true. Sāra just couldn't believe it, so she ran away from Naruto and the other two. Naruto chased her and found her on a staircase while she was singing.
"To protect the dragon vein..." Sāra sat on the stairs with her legs drawn up and looked sadly in front of her while she sang.
"You sang that song when we first met." Naruto stood several steps above her and looked down at her with a slight smile.
Sāra looked at him with a slightly sad smile, "My mother used to sing this song to me when I was younger. It was Anrokusan who suggested to my mother that we use the energy of the dragon vein for the benefit of the people. With the help of the dragon vein, which my mother ruled over, and the technology that Anrokusan brought with him, Rōran quickly became this city with its 1000 towers."
Sāra's eyes began to water slightly as she continued, "But just before the city was finished, my mother passed away and since then I've only had Anrokusan. Other than that, I didn't have anyone by my side." She closed her eyes and was about to bury her head in her legs until she heard Naruto's words.
"I can hardly remember anything. I don't remember anything from before I was 15 years old." Naruto stood at the railing and looked at the beautiful window picture, which showed a mother with her child. "I don't remember where I came from or who I was before I woke up in the hospital and got to know my Savior." His gaze seemed to focus not on the window, but on the expanse beyond.
"Do I have family? Do I have siblings somewhere who are looking for me and who miss me? Do I have parents and if they do, are they worried about me?" Naruto closed his eyes and Sāra couldn't look away from him right now. She just couldn't do it, no matter how much she wanted to.
"I ask myself these questions over and over again." He opened his eyes and looked directly into Sāra's purple eyes. "But one thing was clear to me right from the start. I can't give up, no matter what. If I give up, I will never reveal the truth about my past. My Savior has also given me many things and taught me many things. How important it is to value life and never do anything for no reason."
Sāra seemed impressed by Naruto's speech, because her head was now straight again, and she listened to every single word of Naruto. Her tears had dried, and her heart was pulsing with warmth.
Naruto crouched down in front of her, making eye contact with her. "I'm sure your mother left you something. Something worth fighting for and protecting your people."
Naruto leaned forward a little, and Saara closed her eyes. Saara could feel something moist and warm on her forehead. When she opened her eyes again, they widened slightly. She saw Naruto's chin and torso. She looked up and could feel the feeling move away from her forehead. Naruto smiled softly at her, "Whatever happens Sāra, I will be by your side. You have reawakened something in me that I thought I had lost. Thank you."
Naruto stood up and Sāra watched him. Inside, the doubts disappeared, and only pure determination remained. She wiped away the 2 tears she got during the speech and steeled her gaze. She stood up and glanced briefly at the picture on the window and then at Naruto. "First of all, I have to take a look at the true situation." She looked up at all the tubes where the dragon vein flew. "As a queen, I can feel where the dragon vein flows. I want to see with my own eyes what's going on in my city."
"Then let's find out what's going on in your town, Sāra. I will protect you; I promise you. Nothing will happen to you as long as I'm alive and standing next to you." Naruto and Sāra looked into each other's eyes and neither of them could take their eyes off the other.
Naruto was able to break eye contact at some point, and Sāra was brought back to reality. She had a slight pink tone on her cheek and looked away slightly.
A few minutes later, Naruto lifted up a grate, revealing a ladder that led into the depths. Sāra, with the help of her special ability, had felt the flow of the dragon vein and together with Naruto she went to the place where many of the tubes lead together into the earth.
Naruto and Sāra climbed down the ladder. Very soon they came to a huge underground room filled with steam. There were tubes everywhere and it seemed like a factory down here.
Naruto and Sāra were currently hiding in a high position in the large room and looking around. You could see several treadmills in the middle, where parts of puppets were carried over them. Some puppet guards stood next to the treadmill and kept watch.
"Sāra, look over there." Naruto pointed to the left and when Sara looked there, she couldn't believe her eyes. All the missing people were working there. They moved around a large tube, all pushing a wooden arm that was sticking out of the tube.
"It looks like we've found the place where Mukade makes his puppet army." Naruto looked around and counted the number of puppet guards.
"I just can't believe it. All this time, Anrokusan has been lying to me." Sāra became angry at her own naivety. How could she believe that this man was innocent? He must have pushed her off the tower, where Naruto had rescued her.
Sāra looked around and seemed to follow the tubes with her gaze. She was using her ability to follow the flow of the dragon vein. At some point she looked at a kind of altar where a jutsu formula could be seen on the floor.
"Naruto, can you take me there?" Sāra pointed her finger at the spot she had just discovered.
"Huh?" Naruto looked at her for a moment and then followed her finger. He also saw the altar and the jutsu formula. "It's just like in..." Naruto was interrupted when Sara said something again.
"There, I can interrupt the Dragon Vein. So please get me there quickly! Come on." Sāra just resembled a person who looked familiar to Naruto. He didn't know why, but Sara always triggered something in him. He just didn't know exactly what it was and why. Her direct and demanding manner seemed so familiar to him.
Naruto just nodded and took her in his arms like a bride. Sāra held on tight and looked at him briefly. She nodded to him, and he took that as a sign that she was ready. He simply disappeared with her and reappeared at the altar. He sat her down and turned around.
"Hurry up." Naruto only looked over his shoulder once and then in front of him again. He was sure that he and Sāra would be discovered here very soon.
Sāra knelt down in front of the altar and raised both arms directly across the center of the altar. In the middle of the altar, he seemed to be kind of an eye: "In the name of the queen, I order the flow of the dragon vein to be cut off and the power to rest." The eye glowed purple and began to look around briefly until it simply closed and the jutsu formula disappeared as well.
Naruto looked around and could see how the power of the dragon vein stopped flowing down here. Steam stopped coming out of the tubes and all the treadmills stopped moving as well.
Naruto turned to Sāra and walked over to her. He really didn't expect it to be so easy. 'Something's not right here. The puppet guards haven't moved a bit since Sāra, and I showed up down here. Normally, they should react immediately when someone comes close to the dragon vein. After all, that's how it was in the city when all the puppets attacked me.'
"I cut off the flow of the dragon vein that was powering this factory." Sara looked around and was just glad she had made it.
"That's very good, now we have to..." Naruto was interrupted as all the puppet pieces began to move. They began to float through the air and sat down together on the treadmill to form puppet guards.
"Queen." A male voice rang out in the factory. Naruto and Sāra looked up at a balcony, where a fat man with a beard appeared.
"Anrokusan!" Sāra got angry when she saw the man. The man who tried to kill her and only used her for his purposes.
Naruto glanced at Sāra for a moment and then at Anrokusan. 'I think he's gotten fat and he's got a beard now, but there's no doubt about it. That's Mukade.'
"So, you've figured it out. Too bad, but you were such a good puppet right from the start!" He looked at her with a crazy smile, which just disgusted Sāra. "Anyway, I don't need you anymore. The puppet army has long since been completed, so I'm going to get rid of you and that shinobi." He raised his arms and began to control the puppets in this room with his hands.
"Sāra, bring your people out of here. I'm going to take care of the guy and make sure nothing happens to him or your people."
Sāra looked Naruto straight in the eye. She was a little worried about him, but his look said it all for her. She didn't have time for that now, so she just nodded. She ran off and Naruto witted himself to the bastard while she did so.
"We haven't seen each other in a long time, Mukade." Naruto jumped over a kunai, which was attached to a purple chakra thread. He drew his chakra sword and let chakra flow into the blade. The chakra blade formed and with it he simply cut the chakra thread that attached the kunai to the puppet. He landed safely on his feet and looked up at Mukade again.
"We haven't seen each other for 6 years now. I still don't know how you managed to chase me shinobi from Konoha. However, it doesn't make any difference anymore, I'm invincible!" Mukade raised his arms and began to control the puppets again.
Several puppets approached Naruto. On the upper body of the puppets, 2 openings opened, and several metal spikes flew out of them. Naruto dodged all the attacks and jumped at a puppet. The puppet suddenly produced a blade from her arm and the puppet wanted to stab Naruto with it.
Naruto's blade slammed into the puppet's blade. At the moment, Naruto's blade was not surrounded by chakra, so there was the familiar climax when metal collided with metal. Naruto spun his body in the air and kicked the puppet against her head. He used his head as a springboard and pushed himself off the head. He looked over his shoulder and 2 puppets running towards him. Naruto landed on his feet and, out of nowhere, held 2 kunai in his free hand.
He threw them at the two puppets. He only used this moment as a distraction because he just disappeared afterwards. While the two puppets were still fending off the kunai with their blades, Naruto appeared behind the two puppets. His chakra sword was just back in its scabbard. Naruto created a Rasengan over each palm and with it he simply destroyed the two puppets. The puppets were completely shredded by the two Rasengan.
Naruto dissolved the two Rasengan and looked up at Mukade again. "You can thank me Mukade, it was only thanks to me that you were able to travel back in time."
"Do you really believe that?" asked Mukade with a smirk. "I was the one who absorbed the sealing formula from the forth Hokage on my body and made it possible to let us both travel into the past."
"You really don't remember that it only functioned after I was near the sealed dragon vein? Because I am a Namikaze and a relative from the fourth Hokage did it work at all." Naruto had to jump back a bit to dodge some kunai that were shot at him from a puppet.
"Nonsense! I am invincible! No one can stop me, not even you!" Mukade held both arms up and controlled his puppets again.
"What?" Just as 2 puppets were about to hit Naruto, he simply vanished and appeared right in front of him. Naruto punched Mukade in the face. Mukade flew to the ground with a hole in his head as if he wasn't even human anymore.
Naruto narrowed his eyes when he saw how the wound, he just inflicted to Mukade simply health directly. It was like Mukade was also a puppet.
Mukade stood up and saw how Naruto jumped down and landed in a crouch 5 meters away from him. "Didn't I say it already? I am invincible inside of Roran!" He held his hands up and the puppets behind Mukade began to move again.