Minato grabbed the companions beside him, activated the Flying Thunder God Technique, and returned once again to the forbidden sealing ground where he had first encountered Ryosuke.
He looked at the Queen of Roran. "Konoha doesn't like to interfere in other countries' internal affairs."
Queen of Roran, "Heh."
Minato ignored her mockery, pointed at the battle in the distant sky, and said, "But you saw it. Their fighting has already crossed the limit. If they keep going, all the innocent civilians of the Roran Kingdom will be in danger."
Minato stepped forward, extremely serious and sincere, and said, "I beg you, as the 'ruler,' to think of the civilians who live under your governance…"
"Seal the power of the Dragon Vein."
The Queen of Roran folded her arms, lowered her head and glanced at the kunai pressed against her throat, the corner of her mouth twitching. "What a 'not interfering in internal affairs,' what a 'begging.'"
If it were someone else, with Minato's personality, he wouldn't use a life-threatening tactic on a woman who couldn't even fight back.
But the Queen of Roran had been heavily brainwashed by Itachi. Whether he reasoned with her or appealed to her emotions, none of his words could get into her rigid skull.
After thinking it over, this was the only move left.
"I'm indeed very afraid of dying."
The Queen of Roran swallowed. "But I refuse."
"Mr. Crow definitely already predicted this. Either you won't kill me, or the moment you decide to kill me, he'll make a move and save me."
Minato, "…"
Akimichi Choza, "…"
Aburame Shibi, "…"
Hopeless.
Just how thick and deep of a steel-solid ideological imprint had Uchiha Itachi hammered into this woman?
And she doesn't even think, if Itachi's predictions were really flawless, why is he still getting beaten up by Ryosuke?
The three of them exchanged looks.
"I'll do it."
In the silence, Sara stepped forward.
"I'm also of the Roran royal family. Since childhood, I've learned the rituals for manipulating the Dragon Vein."
"You dare!"
The Queen of Roran, who had felt certain of victory from beginning to end, panicked for the first time and reached out to grab her daughter.
Sara nimbly dodged. "You can drag the entire country into the war machine for some wild man whose origins are unknown. Why wouldn't I dare stop you? Besides, "
Sara stepped back a few steps, arriving at the center of the sealing core.
"If he truly can know all things, then everything I'm doing right now is also within his predictions, isn't it?"
The Queen of Roran's expression froze.
Using her own rhetoric against her.
"I… you…"
The Queen of Roran struggled for a long time but couldn't think of a retort. She could only watch helplessly as her daughter spread her arms and activated the Dragon Vein sealing formation.
Obscure, hard-to-understand incantations were chanted from Sara's mouth. Countless tiny but extremely bright specks of light appeared, swirling around her. The Dragon Vein flowing through the earth instantly slowed.
Just as the Dragon Vein's power came to a complete stop, Sara's brows twitched slightly.
The Dragon Vein stopped for one second… then started moving again.
It began flowing once more, at an extremely slow pace.
Sara abruptly looked up toward the sky.
Uchiha Itachi...
"The formation inside his body is fighting me for control permissions over the Dragon Vein!"
Sara gritted her teeth.
If she had trained a little harder on normal days, maybe she could have snatched that portion of control back.
In the original, Sara's Dragon Vein manipulation was practically peak level, she completed the sealing easily and forced the Centipede into a desperate corner.
But because the world-line had changed, her mother hadn't died.
As a "princess" rather than a "queen," even if Sara had trained millions of times in private, as long as she hadn't truly taken that position, hadn't borne that crushing responsibility, there were some things she would always fall just a bit short on.
Sara looked remorsefully at her hands.
With a loud boom, Susanoo fell from the sky and crashed into the forest not far away.
Ryosuke stepped on its face, turned back, and nodded lightly at Sara, "Not bad."
Sara's dim eyes suddenly brightened at that simple sentence.
"RYOSUKE!"
Uchiha Itachi's furious roar came from Susanoo's mouth.
Ryosuke and Star Platinum, one on the left, one on the right, each punched Susanoo in the face, smashing the half-risen Susanoo back down again.
Its faceplate shattered, flying out and slamming into the ground, kicking up a huge cloud of dust.
Stung by pain, Uchiha Itachi whipped Ten-Fist Sword and Yata Mirror around like a madman, sending Ryosuke flying.
Large sprays of blood burst from Ryosuke's body. Sara's pupils tightened at the sight, but immediately, she saw the blue butterflies again.
All the scattered flesh turned into butterflies, re-entering Ryosuke's body and repairing his wounds.
Looking again, Uchiha Itachi was also absorbing the Dragon Vein to heal himself.
But because part of the Dragon Vein's power had been sealed by Sara, his recovery speed was clearly several times slower than before.
Minato subconsciously swallowed.
Ryosuke and Uchiha Itachi, two travelers from the future, the power they were displaying was completely beyond Minato's understanding.
Destructive power was one thing, but what was this terrifying recovery ability they had?
Susanoo and the Dragon Vein Armor could still be explained as chakra- and Dragon-Vein-generated external constructs.
But during the high-frequency clash between Ryosuke and Uchiha Itachi, Minato had seen Ryosuke's body get pierced, his arms severed, his internal organs blasted out and turned into blood mist countless times.
Yet in the blink of an eye, every body part that left the main body would transform in midair into birds or butterflies and merge back into Ryosuke's body, not even wasting a single drop of blood.
"The ninja world of the future… has already reached such a dangerous state?"
Minato pulled out a Flying Thunder God kunai, took a deep breath, and reminded his two companions, "Prepare for battle."
"Huh?"
Akimichi Choza pointed at the falling chunks of Dragon Vein Armor raining from the sky. "Do they still need our support?"
"Most of the Dragon Vein has been sealed. At this rate, it won't be long before Ryosuke tears apart the Dragon Vein Armor along with Susanoo."
Minato nodded, his expression growing even more stern.
"Exactly because of that, we need to be even more prepared to step in at any moment. Didn't you notice? Ryosuke's fighting rhythm has slowed down."
Choza, Shibi, Sara, and the Queen of Roran looked up at the sky. The two figures clashing, colliding, and crossing like two stars made them all swallow unconsciously.
Wait, this is what he calls slowing down?
Minato pointed at the corner of his eye. "My vision is better. Anyway…"
"A conspirator who travels through time, claims to predict all things, and seeks to rewrite history, I can't imagine what kind of insane thing he'll do once forced into a desperate corner."
"Ryosuke must've predicted this too. That's why he deliberately slowed the rhythm, making sure he has enough strength left when Itachi enters 'insanity mode' so he can stop him."
"And we must become the second barrier, preventing Itachi from destroying this country."
"Bullshit!"
Having been betrayed by her daughter and now seeing her lover get beaten up by Ryosuke, the Queen of Roran could no longer maintain her past elegance and gentleness. Eyes red, she shouted at Minato, "Crow would never hurt the people of Roran, he swore to me..."
Halfway through speaking, the Queen of Roran felt her throat itch. Something was surging upward. She dry-heaved twice, unable to suppress the urge to vomit.
"Ugh!!!"
Long, thin white threads spewed out one after another.