Sara clearly felt as if someone had just shoved her, but she refused to believe it.
How could this prosperous, painless Roran possibly have anyone plotting against her, plotting against the beloved queen?
Impossible!
Absolutely impossible!
She kept lying to herself — until Kiyosuke's words shattered that self-deception.
Her face went deathly pale. Her lips parted, but she didn't know what to say.
"No way. The people love me so much — how could they hurt me?"
"But weren't you just pushed?"
"I—I must be mistaken." Sara lowered her head and said.
At that moment, the three of Minato reappeared, sighed, and said,
"I didn't expect to meet again so soon."
"It looks like your mission is to protect Her Majesty the Queen," Kiyosuke said. "We need to find the Mukade hidden here. You protect the queen — the missions don't conflict."
"As for Mukade... according to our investigation, a ninja by that name did indeed come here six years ago. He suddenly visited; I personally suspect it's very likely he, like you, came from the future," Minato speculated.
Kiyosuke said, "That guy devoured the sealing technique that was left behind after you earlier — no, in our time it would be 'later' — and used the dragon-vein's power to perform a spatial-temporal secret technique, which brought us to this era. If it lasts too long, the timeline might get distorted."
Mukade used the dragon-vein to perform the secret art; that must have cost him a lot, too. But the technique probably had flaws — otherwise they wouldn't have come to a time more than a decade ago while Mukade arrived six years earlier than them.
There must be some limitation: it can locate only an approximate time, not an exact one.
"Indeed." Minato nodded and said, "If that's the case, then as long as we defeat Mukade, the timeline can return to normal and you can go back to your era."
"The dragon-vein lies sleeping beneath Roran. Mukade used its power to develop a puppet army and attempted to conquer the world," Kiyosuke said with a headache. "I don't get why these people want to conquer the world — are they that power-hungry?"
Minato and the others smiled wryly, to be honest, they didn't fully understand it either.
But Sara said, "Don't be ridiculous. The person who came to Roran six years ago wasn't that Mukade at all, but an outstanding man named Anrokuzan! He has carried on my mother's will and has devoted himself to this country. As a minister he has faithfully assisted me! He's a man who loves peace — he could never be the villain you describe, someone who would use dragon-vein power to conquer the world!"
She refused to believe that the man she trusted was the scoundrel they described.
"Huh? Another young woman who's been completely deceived?" Kiyosuke laughed. "I've seen this a lot. Anyway, you'll understand in the end. Heh heh heh — amusing. I can't wait to see this future."
"That Kiyosuke-sensei sounds like a bad guy!" Hinata whispered to Naruto.
"Kiyosuke-san sometimes gets weird like that. Don't bother with him now."
"Okay."
"Shut up — I can hear you two brats!"
"Sorry!"
The two quickly apologized and fell silent.
Minato was gentler. "Your Majesty, I'm sorry, but you have been deceived by that man."
"I won't believe it. You are the suspicious ones! You suddenly appeared in my country, suddenly said my minister is a danger to the world — and you were the ones who hurt me just now, weren't you?"
"Huh? Are you an idiot?" Kiyosuke dug into his ear and said, "If we wanted to kill you, would we push you off and then bother to save you? Use that waterlogged brain of yours to think. By the looks of it, you're an old woman older than me."
"You are the old man, okay? Gross!" Sara stomped on Kiyosuke's foot, but missed.
Sara looked down and screamed when she saw a foot missing its sole.
"Big deal." The sole returned to normal and startled Sara again. Pointing at him, she said, "Y-you, you, you — are you human or a ghost?!"
"Of course I'm human."
"Alright, alright, stop this." Minato said, "We'll investigate this matter. Before that, please protect Queen Sara."
"Fine. But personally, I'd rather find that Anrokuzan and give him a good beating to be sure." Kiyosuke said.
"No — that would alert him."
"I think it's fine. If it's true, we beat him up, if it's false, we can use the Sharingan to erase that part of his memory. Also, one of us is Tsunade-sama's disciple and can use medical ninjutsu to heal him and clean up the scene — then nothing will have happened."
...
Minato and the others fell silent.
"Are you sure this isn't some criminal gang?" Sara asked.
That sounded awfully professional.
"No, and Naruto, Yamato — you two protect Queen Sara. I'll go confirm Anrokuzan's true identity."
"Okay."
They disappeared with Minato and his group.
Traveling through the tall-tower forest, Kiyosuke looked at Roran's highest tower and said,
"Why is there such a massive chakra on that tower?"
Minato answered, "Beneath that tower is where the dragon-vein lies."
"I see. No wonder I sensed such a terrifying chakra. Also, there's influence in that direction too." He pointed to a factory ahead. "Not just there — the black pipes throughout the city are full of chakra as well."
"The chakra in the pipes is used to control those puppet civilians." Minato and the others had figured that out after arriving.
"I understand. Let's go check that place. By the way, where's Kakashi?"
He remembered Kakashi was also on this mission with them.
"He's somewhere else in Roran. Why?"
"That guy's been causing me quite a bit of trouble lately. I want to beat him up — even when he was a kid."
"Ha, let's not bother with that." Minato wiped the cold sweat from his forehead and shielded his student from trouble.
"Fine."
They arrived at the factory and slipped inside.
Steam filled the space, making it hard to see. A group of gaunt adult men in prison uniforms, shackled at the hands and feet, were working hard.
The factory was eerily quiet; assembly lines were producing various parts for different types of puppets.
This was a puppet manufacturing plant!
"Tsk tsk, it looks like Her Majesty has really been deceived. The puppet factory is right under her nose and she didn't even know. Isn't this guy Mukade's caged canary?"
"This looks troublesome."
"No trouble at all. After we rescue everyone, I'll blow this place up."
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