Led by Sara, everyone passed through the ruins, heading towards the deep underground of Roran city.
Along the way, they saw even more shocking scenes.
In huge underground factories, assembly lines of hundreds of unfinished humanoid combat puppets were lined up… in cage-like rooms, hundreds of Roran male civilians were imprisoned, each emaciated, eyes numb, clearly having been forced to labor for a long ti.
When Sara and Minato's group opened the cages, these civilians initially couldn't believe it. Only upon seeing Sara and the Roran won who followed did they finally realize they were free.
"Princess... it's really the Princess!"
"We... we're saved?"
"Father! Mother! I'm here!"
"Son! My son!"
"Dad!"
"Husband!"
Crying, shouting, joyful sounds of reunion echoed in the underground factory.
Sara looked at these people who had suffered greatly, tears welling up in her eyes again.
"I'm sorry... I'm so sorry everyone... I didn't protect you well... the Roran royal family didn't protect you well..."
An elder who was rescued walked shakily to Sara, kneeling on one knee: "No, Your Highness, it's not your fault. It was that demon Anrokuzan! We all knew he bewitched Her Majesty the Queen, forcing us to work for him. Her Majesty... in the end, it was to release us that she was killed by him..."
Sara's entire body trembled: "Mother, she..."
"Before her assassination, Her Majesty secretly released so people, letting them seek help from outside." The elder choked up: "She also said... if anything happened to her, tell Your Highness... you must be strong, lead Roran's people back to the oasis, back to our forr life..."
Sara knelt on the ground, covering her face with both hands, shoulders shaking violently.
Naruto walked to her side, awkwardly patting her shoulder: "Um... don't cry. The bad guy is defeated now, everyone is rescued, you should be happy!"
Sara looked up, teary-eyed, looking at Naruto, then at the Roran people around her watching her expectantly. She forcefully wiped her tears and stood up.
"Everyone... leave this place first!"
"Your Highness, won't you co with us?" An old woman asked worriedly.
Sara shook her head, her eyes becoming determined: "Although Anrokuzan is dead, the Ryumyaku's power remains. If the Ryumyaku isn't handled properly, others might try to use its power for evil in the future. I must go to the underground shrine, reseal the Ryumyaku."
She looked at Minato and nma: "Please take to the underground shrine. This is the Roran royal family's duty."
Minato looked at nma. nma nodded: "The Ryumyaku indeed needs handling, otherwise temporal disturbances might persist."
Everyone split into two groups.
Choza and Shibi led the rescued Roran civilians to evacuate from the underground factory exit, heading to a relatively safe area outside Roran city.
anwhile, Minato, Naruto, and nma, led by Sara, continued deeper underground.
Passing through a long, winding underground tunnel, everyone finally arrived at the deepest underground shrine of Roran.
This was a huge natural cavern. In the center was a circular shrine, carved with ancient, complex symbols.
And right in the center of the shrine, a mass of dense purple energy was slowly rotating, surging, emitting a heart-stopping temporal and spatial fluctuation.
That was the core of the Ryumyaku Chakra.
"This is the place..." Sara walked forward, placed both hands on the shrine's edge, closed her eyes, and began chanting an ancient incantation.
As she chanted, the symbols on the shrine lit up one by one, emitting soft white light.
However, at that mont—
"Ryumyaku... my Ryumyaku... I haven't lost yet... haven't..."
A weak, twisted voice ca from behind the shrine.
Everyone turned sharply to see Anrokuzan's broken puppet body, actually crawling out from the tunnel like a dying snake!
His lower body was completely destroyed, only the upper half of the torso and one arm remained. His head was even only half a tal shell, the already burst brain organ inside clearly visible.
Yet this wreckage, relying on remaining Ryumyaku energy, was struggling to crawl towards the purple energy at the shrine's center!
"How is that possible... he's not dead yet?!" Naruto's eyes widened.
Minato imdiately drew kunai, shielding Sara.
nma, however, just calmly looked at the wreckage, shaking his head: "Obsession... truly pitiful."
He indeed didn't sense any life fluctuation from Anrokuzan. The current Anrokuzan was just a puppet manipulated by obsession, no different from other puppets.
Anrokuzan's wreckage crawled to the shrine's edge. The sole remaining arm struggled to reach towards the purple energy, voice intermittent: "Ryumyaku... give power... I can still... still repair... I haven't lost yet..."
At that mont, nma moved.
He didn't use Ninjutsu, not even Chakra, just walked forward unhurriedly, raised his right foot, aid at Anrokuzan's broken head, and stepped down.
Squish—!
A teeth-grinding crushing sound echoed.
The half tal head was completely flattened. The remaining brain organ inside was crushed into a pool of blurred pulp, mixed with purple energy liquid, splattering on the ground.
Anrokuzan's only remaining arm weakly dropped. The wreckage completely stopped moving.
This ti, he was truly dead.
nma retracted his foot, not even glancing at the filth, directly walked towards the shrine's center.
Sara had already finished chanting the incantation. The white light on the shrine grew brighter, beginning to resonate with the purple Ryumyaku Chakra energy at the center.
"Sealing the Ryumyaku requires royal blood as a key." Sara opened her eyes, looking at nma: "But just sealing it ans the Ryumyaku's power still exists. Others might use it in the future. You... do you have any thod?"
nma stood before the purple energy, extended his right hand, palm facing the surging energy mass.
"I don't need to seal it." nma said calmly: "I need to... absorb it."
"Absorb?!" Minato and Naruto were both shocked.
"The essence of the Ryumyaku Chakra's power is a mixture of vast Natural Energy and space-ti force." nma explained: "My current physique can withstand the impact of this energy. Moreover, I need this power to accomplish sothing."
He didn't elaborate on what, but Minato thought of nma's earlier ntion of 'leaving this space-ti'.
Sara hesitated for a mont, then finally nodded: "I believe you. Please... use this power properly."
nma glanced at her and nodded.
Then, he closed his eyes. His right palm erupted with a strong suction force!
Hum hum hum—!
The purple Chakra energy at the shrine's center violently fluctuated, as if stirred by an invisible hand, beginning to madly surge towards nma's palm!
The purple energy flow poured into nma's body like rivers flowing backward!
This was the Chakra Absorption nma had learned from Isshiki.
A faint purple glow appeared on nma's body surface. His hair moved without wind, robes fluttering.
As the Ryumyaku Chakra energy was absorbed, both nma and Naruto began to emit weak white light points, like fireflies.
"This is..." Naruto looked surprised at the light points appearing on himself.
"Repulsion reaction of space-ti force." nma explained while absorbing Ryumyaku energy: "The Ryumyaku is one of the anchors maintaining this space-ti's stability. absorbing its power is equivalent to destroying an anchor point. Both your and my existences are 'foreign objects' in this spaceti. Now the spaceti is starting to repel us."
"Repulsion... then what will happen to us?" Naruto asked sowhat nervously.
"We'll both return to our original space-ti." nma looked at Naruto, saying gently.
Hearing he was going ho, Naruto instinctively looked at Minato. Minato also looked at Naruto and nma, these two sons from the 'future', with a complex expression.
nma fully absorbed the last of the Ryumyaku energy.
The purple light on the shrine grew dimr, finally disappearing completely.
When the last wisp of Ryumyaku Chakra energy was absorbed, the entire underground shrine fell into brief darkness. Only the white light emitted by Sara and the light points on nma and Naruto flickered.
nma slowly opened his eyes. A flash of purple seed to briefly appear deep in his pupils.
He felt the full power within his body, nodding satisfactorily.
The Ryumyaku's power was even vaster than he imagined.
"Well then, it's ti to say goodbye." nma looked at everyone.
Sara looked at Naruto, who was starting to glow. An inexplicable tightness gripped her heart, a premonition rising in her heart of about to lose sothing important.
Naruto, carefree, smiled, waved vigorously at Sara, saying loudly: "Hey! Sara! Don't forget your promise with everyone! You must lead everyone to a better life!"
Sara nodded heavily, tears filling her eyes again, but this ti tears of emotion and determination: "I definitely will!"
Naruto then looked at Minato, sowhat embarrassed, scratched the back of his head, smiling brightly and brilliantly: "Um... although it's still a bit awkward... but, eting you this ti made really super happy! Thanks!"
Minato looked at Naruto's deep blue eyes and brilliant smile so similar to his own, a warm feeling surged in his heart. He also showed a gentle smile: "Yes, too, Naruto."
Finally, Naruto looked at nma, who had just absorbed the Ryumyaku Chakra, his halo growing stronger, saying loudly: "Hey! nma! That in your world, having an older brother like you as a kid, must have been super happy! Haha!"
Hearing this, nma's movents paused slightly.
"Yeah, he's very happy." He nodded lightly: "Just as much of an idiot as you."
Naruto laughed, laughing very brilliantly: "That's good!"
nma seed to rember sothing, took out a specially crafted kunai with a peculiar shape and engraved with a Flying Thunder God Technique's mark from his ninja pouch, then casually tossed it to Naruto.
"Take this."
Naruto instinctively caught the kunai, curiously examining it: "What's this? Want to visit my world? There's a lot..."
nma shook his head, cutting him off: "My own world still has a pile of troubleso matters to handle. This is just a coordinate. If you ever encounter a fatal danger you can't solve, you can inject Nine-Tails' Chakra into it. If... I can sense it, maybe I can co help."
Naruto was stunned at first, then showed an even brighter smile, carefully putting away the kunai: "Haha! Sounds unreliable, but still, thanks! I'll accept this sentint!"
Minato also looked at nma, asking solemnly: "Regardless, thank you for telling us this important intelligence. In the future, will you co back to this world again?"
nma turned to look at Minato, the corner of his mouth curling up casually, smiled: "Ah, perhaps. I'm also interested in the mysteries of parallel space-ti. After all, those enemies from beyond the sky have already mastered technology to travel between different space-tis."
"Enemies beyond the sky? Travel through space-ti?" Minato and Naruto's expressions instantly beca extrely grave.
This was undoubtedly an extrely frightening piece of news.
nma looked at their grave expressions, instead smiled, casually waved his hand: "Well then, farewell for now. See you again if fate allows."
As the words fell, nma's figure in the increasingly intense light gradually beca transparent, finally turning into countless firefly-like light points, dissipating in the shrine's air.
Naruto looked at where nma disappeared, suddenly touched his head, muttering: "It feels like... I forgot to ask sothing..."
Then, Naruto also turned into countless light points, dissipating in the air.
...
anwhile, outside Roran city.
The young Kakashi crouched on a sand dune, vigilantly observing the distant city that was continuously collapsing.
Beside him, Yamato, wearing a Konoha's Jonin flak jacket, was gradually becoming transparent, emitting a weak light.
"You are... disappearing?" Kakashi turned his head, looking at Yamato.
Yamato looked down at his gradually transparent hands, smiled bitterly: "They must have dealt with Mukade. What a pity, I didn't help at all."
He looked up at the already ruined Roran city in the distant desert, then at this Kakashi-senpai from his childhood beside him, a flicker of mischief in his eyes.
Suddenly, he raised his hand, punching Kakashi on the head!
"Ow!" Kakashi yelped in pain, covering his head and jumping back, glaring at Yamato: "What are you doing?!"
Yamato laughed heartily, laughter filled with the joy of a successful prank: "Seeing my senpai when he was little, of course I couldn't help but want to bully him a bit!"
He paused, his body now almost invisible.
"Well then, goodbye, Kakashi-senpai. In the future... do your best."
As the words fell, Yamato's entire person turned into countless light points, scattering with the wind.
Kakashi stared blankly at the dissipating light points, then touched his punched head, grumbling unhappily: "What the... are future juniors all this disrespectful..."
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