Chapter 560: The Konoha Village of the Past
The grid-like search continued for a full two days without finding any valuable information.
"There's no trace of the Fourth and the others. It's difficult to find them with our current methods. Do you have any ideas?" Shikamaru racked his brain but couldn't come up with a solution.
He could only ask Ino.
Ino was also conflicted. Many things from her memory had changed, so she couldn't handle the problem in the same way as in the original timeline.
She pointed to the surrounding Rōran ruins and said, "Let's make an assumption. Let's assume that the Fourth Hokage and Mukade came to these ruins one after another. The Fourth Hokage definitely knew that he had sealed the massive Ryūmyaku chakra here. Mukade came here, so he obviously knew about it too, right?"
Shikamaru nodded. "That's right. Mukade must have discovered this huge energy source in some of the Sand's records, but... what could he do with this energy?"
Ino held up a finger. "No matter what he wanted to do, with the Fourth's and Naruto's personalities, or rather, with Naruto's personality, he would definitely jump out to stop him. The Fourth is very wise, but faced with a hot-headed, foolish son, he would choose to jump into the fire pit even if he knew it was there."
Shikamaru agreed with this speculation. Naruto's and the Fourth's personalities were indeed like that.
Following Ino's line of reasoning, he continued, "Then they fought, the seal on the Ryūmyaku was broken, and they were..."
Shikamaru believed the four of them were already dead.
He carefully observed Ino's expression. "You think they're still alive?"
Ino took out a piece of paper, folded it, and then poked a hole in the middle. "When energy is massive enough, it can create passages that pierce through dimensions. I can mark points A and B on this paper, but the Ryūmyaku has no consciousness. It can't lock onto a point B. It will only mechanically search for the person who has truly 'contacted' it. Currently, only one person has left an imprint on it: Minato Namikaze, who sealed the Ryūmyaku twenty years ago."
Shikamaru was stunned. It took him a long time to sort out the logical connection. "You think they traveled through time during the explosion? To twenty years ago?"
Ino didn't say it definitively. "There's a certain possibility."
She continued, "I have a treasure that can travel through time. I'm going to find them. Theoretically, one second after I activate the treasure, I will return with them. But if I don't come back within a day, you must hold the army steady. If I'm not back in three days... you'll have to summon my 'good friend' to save me. The price for that is extremely heavy. It might cost you your entire lifespan."
She said it very bluntly, and finally handed the Shinigami's prayer beads to Shikamaru.
Shikamaru smiled bitterly and pushed the beads back. "Are you kidding me? I haven't lived enough yet. I'll go with you. Isn't it just a matter of a second? It'll be quick."
"I'm going too!" Choji walked in with unwavering determination.
"This sounds interesting. Count me in," Sasuke followed closely behind.
The three hot-blooded youths were resolute. Ino tried to persuade them for a long time but found she couldn't change their minds. She had no choice but to agree.
She handed the Shinigami's prayer beads to Sakura, explained all the backup plans, and scared Sakura into a daze.
"Do I have to die?" Sakura was a little terrified.
Ino didn't speak, just stared at her.
Sakura said with a pained expression, "I know, I know. I'm a ninja too. I have that much resolve..."
Ino seemed completely oblivious to the heavy pressure on her and continued to share her 'experience.' "Actually, death isn't that big of a deal. If you die and reach the netherworld, follow the tide of ghosts for about one thousand five hundred meters, and you'll see a headless ghost looking for its head. I kicked its head into a mountain to the southwest. If you help it find its head, it will help you get a good spot in the line..."
Sakura let out a hysterical scream and ran away as if she had gone mad.
"I'm not finished yet! There are two more hidden quests I haven't told you about!" Ino shouted a couple of times, but Sakura only ran faster.
Teasing Sakura was one of her few pleasures now. It was a good stress reliever.
Ino entrusted the army to Fu Yamanaka. As Danzo's right-hand man, he had the necessary command ability.
Then she signaled for Shikamaru, Choji, and Sasuke to stand by her side and activated the treasured tool Plough.
"Descendant of the Ōtsutsuki clan, I am the treasured tool, Plough. Please allow me to introduce the precautions for use..." The treasured tool Plough was often very mechanical and repeated the precautions verbosely.
Shikamaru and Choji were unmoved, looking straight ahead as if they hadn't heard anything.
Sasuke was full of curiosity. Descendant of the Ōtsutsuki clan? Who is it talking about?
Before he could think about it, a halo of energy enveloped the four of them. Colorful strips of energy formed a tunnel, wrapping them up and sending them back twenty years.
Ino, being familiar with the process, led the others out of the gate of light. Looking at the familiar streets and the Hokage Rock on the mountain in the distance, Shikamaru, Choji, and Sasuke were a little surprised. We've time-traveled just like that? Are we in the Konoha Village of twenty years ago?
Ino, however, was horrified. She had activated the Plough in the Rōran ruins. Logically, they should have appeared in the Rōran of twenty years ago, not in Konoha Village.
She had specifically gone to the Rōran ruins to time-travel to avoid causing too many changes to the timeline.
"Plough, what's going on? Why is the landing point in Konoha Village?" she asked urgently.
The Plough's head peeked out of its shell and looked around. "The time point is correct, but the landing point has deviated... What could be the reason?"
Ino rolled her eyes. "Are you asking me?"
The Plough said matter-of-factly, "I'm just a tool. How would I know?"
"Fine, fine. Go back to sleep. I'll call you when we're ready to go back."
"Should we head directly to Rōran, or should we gather some information in Konoha first?" Shikamaru asked.
Ino thought for a moment. The Plough hadn't landed them in Rōran, so there must be something wrong there.
Rushing over recklessly would be too rash.
She said, "Let's investigate in the village and gather some intelligence."
Konoha at this time was still during the Third Hokage's era. There was no Sensory Division, but there were a few sensory barriers.
To an old hand like Ino, these barriers were as good as non-existent.
However, she still had some things to warn them about. She said pointedly, "Let's split up and meet back here in an hour. Remember the most crucial point: do not contact anyone you know from this time, especially your relatives, like your young parents, one-year-old older brother, and so on. You can't see any of them."
Sasuke pursed his lips and, after she had stared at him for five seconds, nodded lightly.
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