A flash of white light burst through the air, and in the next instant, both Narutos, Yamato, and Orochimaru were pulled away—each returning to their own respective timelines.
When the light faded, Naruto exhaled softly.
Though the journey had been brief, he couldn't help but feel deeply satisfied. For the first time, he had seen his father—Minato Namikaze—alive and standing before him.
Even as a transmigrator whose soul had merged completely with Naruto's, the feeling of blood running through his veins—the bond between father and son—had been unmistakably real. That warmth alone made everything worth it.
As they reappeared in their own world, Naruto glanced at the now-sealed Dragon Vein of Rōran. Its pulsing energy had quieted, bound beneath layers of chakra-infused crystal.
He could tell from the faint distortion in the air that this wasn't a historical timeline they had changed—it was a completely different branch of time.
A parallel world.
Just as he was about to leave, a voice suddenly rang out.
"Who are you?"
Naruto and Orochimaru turned toward the sound. From behind a half-collapsed stone pillar, a young woman stepped into view. She was strikingly beautiful—her features bore a faint resemblance to Queen Sara of Rōran.
Both immediately realized what she must be.
A survivor of Rōran.
Naruto smiled warmly and raised a hand in greeting.
"Hey there! My name's Uzumaki Naruto. Don't worry—I'm not here to cause trouble."
The girl didn't relax.
Her violet eyes were sharp, filled with caution.
"Then why are you here?" she asked, her tone steady but wary.
Her gaze flicked toward the Dragon Vein's seal behind him, her muscles tensing ever so slightly.
Naruto instantly understood what she was thinking.
She was afraid they were after the Dragon Vein's power.
"Relax," he said gently.
"We're with the Umbrella Organization. We're not here to harm anyone. Our purpose is to stabilize and protect the Dragon Vein—nothing more."
He added, "This seal was placed here by my father."
The girl's suspicion deepened at first—anyone mentioning the Dragon Vein immediately drew distrust.
Her elders had taught her from childhood: anyone interested in the Dragon Vein's power was dangerous.
But then Naruto's words clicked. Her eyes widened slightly.
Because in the stories passed down by the elders, there had indeed been a shinobi from the Hidden Leaf who sealed the Dragon Vein alongside their ancestors.
Before she could speak again, an older voice interrupted.
"Child, who are these people?"
A middle-aged woman approached from the shadows of a nearby corridor, her movements steady but cautious. Though her face bore the lines of age, her bearing retained traces of nobility. Her wary gaze settled on Naruto and Orochimaru.
Naruto scratched his head awkwardly. Did he really look like a criminal?
Then again—he glanced sideways at Orochimaru—perhaps his companion didn't help that impression much.
"Hello, ma'am," Naruto said politely, smiling despite his unease.
"We're from Umbrella. We came here to reinforce the seal my father placed on the Dragon Vein years ago."
"Umbrella… Organization?"
The woman's eyes widened in surprise before her expression softened into relief.
"I see," she said, bowing slightly.
"My apologies for my rudeness. My name is Naisha—though 'ma'am' makes me sound far too important."
Naruto chuckled lightly. In the shinobi world, a middle-aged woman who had survived decades of war was already remarkable—most never lived to see such years.
"Please," Naisha continued, gesturing toward a nearby building. "Come with me."
Naruto and Orochimaru exchanged a look. After a brief nod, they followed her inside.
The home was simple yet elegant, built with remnants of Rōran's ancient architecture. After serving them tea, Naisha knelt before the low table and began to speak.
"We are all survivors of Rōran," she explained softly.
"Over twenty years ago, a shinobi from the Hidden Leaf came to our aid. He defeated the villains who had enslaved our people and helped seal the Dragon Vein once again."
Her eyes glistened with quiet reverence as she spoke.
"You… you must be his descendant, aren't you?"
She looked at Naruto with certainty in her gaze—recognizing in him the same bright, golden aura that once shone from Minato Namikaze, the man who saved her world.
Naruto, his curiosity piqued, asked softly,
"Then… do you know why Rōran ended up like this?"
He remembered the towering spires of Rōran he had seen when traveling through time—majestic, glowing with life and chakra. But now, it was only a shadow of that former glory, a ruin lost to the desert winds.
A hint of nostalgia flashed through Naisha's eyes before she sighed.
"Alas… although the villain who once corrupted our country was defeated back then, the damage he left behind was beyond repair."
"Our Queen, Lady Sara, chose to dissolve Rōran herself. She sealed the Dragon Vein and led our people into seclusion, becoming its eternal guardian."
Her voice grew heavier, touched by sadness.
"But peace never lasts in a world as chaotic as ours. The shinobi wars swept across the lands again and again. Even here—hidden and forgotten—we could not escape their tremors. Queen Sara fell ill in those years… worn down by worry, age, and grief."
"The young woman you saw earlier is her daughter—the Princess of Rōran. I was once Queen Sara's handmaiden."
She smiled faintly, though it was a tired smile.
"If it weren't for your Umbrella Organization, we wouldn't have survived this long in peace."
Naruto blinked in surprise.
"The Umbrella… helped you?"
Naisha nodded and began to explain, her tone soft yet filled with gratitude.
Some years ago, when the Umbrella Organization began expanding beyond the great nations, they reached even the desolate remains of Rōran. While other groups ignored the forgotten people of the desert, the Umbrella welcomed them—offering protection, supplies, and purpose.
Many Rōran survivors joined the organization, and some even became merchants under the Seven Colors Trading Company, spreading their craftsmanship and trade across the nations. Thanks to Umbrella's protection, the once-ruined bloodline of Rōran found new life and hope.
By the end of her explanation, Naruto couldn't help but smile.
So his actions—his ideology—had truly changed lives.
For a fleeting moment, a deep melancholy crossed his face.
Rōran… once a radiant jewel of civilization, now nothing more than a grave of sand and silence.
In just two short decades, a great city had turned to dust.
Without its own military might or political leverage, it had simply been abandoned—swallowed by the endless wars of the shinobi world.
Naruto's thoughts turned bitter.
In all his travels, he had seen too many lands ruined by the same cycle—nations destroyed, lives forgotten. The so-called "ninja system" built by the Five Great Nations was nothing more than a tool to preserve their own power.
The nobles sat in comfort while commoners starved. The gap between rich and poor grew wider with every generation.
Even the original Naruto of this world—despite his boundless compassion—had been shackled by the limits of his time. He had only managed to protect Konoha.
The Land of Rain, entrusted to him by Nagato, had been reduced to a dumping ground by the very nations that once waged war there.
As the Industrial Revolution swept across the shinobi world, pollution and waste were cast into that once-vibrant land. The Land of Rain became uninhabitable—its skies eternally gray, its soil toxic. It eventually became one of Kara's hidden bases.
Naruto clenched his fists.
How ridiculous.
From the perspective of someone born in the 21st century, the shinobi world's progress was deceptive. It looked advanced—filled with industry and innovation—but it was still trapped in Senju Hashirama's outdated one-country, one-village system.
The few ruled over the many. The cycle of power never changed.
The corpses that littered the Land of Rain were ignored—forgotten by the world.
Hanzo the Salamander had once lifted that nation through sheer strength, earning the title "Demigod of the Shinobi World." Yet even after Nagato killed him, few outside cared to know what became of his land.
That was Hanzo's true deterrence—the power of one man strong enough to make even the Five Great Nations think twice. His title was not undeserved.
Naruto's gaze darkened.
Nagato's path—the idea of using the Tailed Beasts as weapons to force peace—had not been wrong. But it had been idealistic. His dream had collapsed, leaving the common people as powerless as ever.
Even if it had succeeded, it would have only reshaped the surface of the world, not its foundations. Once that deterrence faded, history would have repeated itself again.
Only ideology—and the courage to act upon it—could save the shinobi world.
Empty dreams of peace meant nothing without the will to change the system itself.
And Naruto had already decided.
He would not just protect the world.
He would remake it.
...
TN:
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