Chapter 562: Trapped
Ino thought that the encounter between the two Minato Namikazes had caused a change in the timeline, but in reality, she had underestimated the Fourth Hokage's wisdom. Unless it was a scene where his wife was giving birth, a situation where any man would panic, Minato's calm mind was sufficient to handle any complex situation.
Four days ago, they had arrived at the Hidden Sand Village.
The Akatsuki, led by Obito, had already set up a chaotic situation there.
Obito wouldn't say that he coveted the Rinnegan. The excuse he used was to punish Konan and Ajisai for betraying the Akatsuki.
Kakuzu also believed that Konan had embezzled a large amount of funds when she was in the Akatsuki. Later, as the liaison between Nagato and the Hidden Rain ninja, Ajisai also managed the village's finances. The scale of the Hidden Rain Village was second only to the five great ninja villages and the Hidden Waterfall Village, so it must be very wealthy.
In other words, both of them were rich women.
One Konan, one Ajisai. In Kakuzu's eyes, they were walking money bags. Since there was profit to be made, what else was there to say? Kill them! Quickly!
The Akatsuki's team of four had come to the Hidden Sand Village under these circumstances.
Hidan and Kakuzu struck first. Kakuzu set a trap, and Hidan collected some of Baki's blood. Then he activated his forbidden jutsu and cursed the formidable Sand ninja to death from a distance, faking the wounds to frame Konoha's Hayate Gekko.
Obito used some of Sasori's puppetry to ignite Mukade's ambition. This puppet master, who believed his talents were unrecognized, took advantage of Baki's death and the chaos within the Sand to steal a large number of the Sand's secret ninjutsu and historical records, then disappeared into the vast desert.
After Minato's team arrived at the Hidden Sand Village, Shizune thought Baki's wounds were a bit unnatural. Through open and secret investigations, they locked onto the rogue ninja Mukade and then pursued him.
There was no deep meaning to it; they just didn't want to get involved in the Sand's civil war.
The Hidden Sand was in chaos. Under Obito's and Zetsu's guidance, they turned their attention to Yahiko, Konan, Gaara, and the others, who were also in the Land of Wind.
Many Sand ninja had complicated feelings for the former Kazekage. More people were unwilling to admit their mistakes. Since they were not wrong, who was? The one at fault must be Gaara!
The Sand ninja and the Akatsuki, led by Yahiko, fought for three days. Both sides suffered heavy casualties. Gaara wanted to step forward to stop this meaningless battle, and Yahiko supported him. But at the critical moment, a middle-aged man with short brown hair stopped Gaara.
This was the Fourth Kazekage, Rasa, who had been reanimated. He was also Gaara, Temari, and Kankuro's father.
His body had been in Ino's possession, but when he died, his heart had been taken by Orochimaru and then fell into Kabuto's hands. Reanimating him now was effortless.
Father and son were not good at talking. They started fighting after exchanging a few words. Sand controlled by Magnet Release flew everywhere, even obscuring the sunlight.
Minato was unwilling to get involved in the Sand's civil war. He had left the Hidden Sand Village early with his son and subordinates, pursuing Mukade all the way. Finally, the Ryūmyaku exploded, and the four of them were swept into the turbulence of time and space, back to twenty years ago, to the time when he had first sealed the Ryūmyaku.
Even though Mukade had arrived in Rōran six years before them and had created a puppet army as a weapon, he was still defeated by the father-son duo's combined Rasengan.
After eliminating the main culprit, Mukade, the Rōran crisis was not resolved. Not only did the four of them not return to their own timeline, but they were also surrounded by an even thicker fog.
A boundless fog enveloped the ancient city of Rōran. The sound of waves crashing against reefs could be faintly heard in the wind.
This was completely impossible. Rōran was located in the Land of Wind, a typical desert country. The few remaining residents were about to abandon the land of their ancestors and migrate to other oases. How could there be seawater in this godforsaken place?
Naruto shouted and stood by the railing, gazing into the distance, as if trying to see through the fog with his own eyes.
Minato Namikaze, the Fourth Hokage, was quietly conferring with that other Minato Namikaze, the jonin.
The surrounding fog was too thick. It wasn't a fog caused by chakra, but it was also different from natural fog. The jonin Minato Namikaze, Choza Akimichi, Shibi Aburame, and the ten-year-old chunin Kakashi were also trapped in the city of Rōran.
Shibi Aburame tried to use his Parasitic Destruction Insects to scout in the fog, but without exception, all the insects lost their life force as soon as they entered the fog.
"You can't sense your Flying Thunder God markers either?" the Fourth Hokage asked his jonin self.
"I'm sorry, I can't sense the markers I left in other places. It seems we..." He hesitated for a moment and said, "...have become an isolated island?"
The Fourth Hokage agreed with this assessment because he thought the same thing.
For some unknown reason, it seemed some kind of power had separated them from the real world.
This was a very bad result. The Fourth Hokage was very worried that something would happen in the village.
But he had no good solution for it.
The two Minato Namikazes gave orders to their respective subordinates to scout the surroundings and report any abnormalities. They also warned them not to enter the fog rashly.
Naruto was a pure optimist and not anxious at all. On the contrary, seeing the ten-year-old Kakashi with both eyes intact, he was ecstatic and kept pestering him with worthless questions.
Shizune, and Choza and Shibi from this timeline, split up to search.
Hayate Gekko also chose a direction and searched for any suspicious people or things.
Rōran had been transformed by Mukade using puppetry combined with the Ryūmyaku's energy. There were tall buildings and well-planned roads. In this respect, Mukade was talented to have built a small village like Rōran into a pearl of the desert in six years.
Hayate searched along the city's ventilation ducts. Previously, Mukade had been a major steel producer and had even created a puppet assembly line. He was a true infrastructure madman.
Now that Mukade was defeated, all the assembly lines had stopped. The air was filled with the smell of burnt wood that had been processed for puppetry.
Hayate noticed that the sound of flowing water was getting clearer. He immediately followed the sound, walking quietly.
In the northwest corner of the city, there was a lake, the place where the original oasis residents got their water. After Mukade arrived at this time, he had cut down the surrounding trees to make puppets, and the original lake had been destroyed. He only needed puppets that obeyed orders. Humans? He didn't need them.
The lake had long been dry, but when Hayate arrived at the original location of the lake, he found that the water was crystal clear, and he could occasionally see fish playing happily in it.
By the lake sat a young man in an ancient robe, with pale skin and long, light-blue hair.
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