Swish!
Two masked figures landed softly outside the ancient walls of Rōran, their forms barely disturbing the desert air. Minato and Kushina paused to take in the sight of the legendary city, both quietly impressed. The vast hexagonal buildings loomed over them, stretching into the horizon like a scene from a dream, radiating the weight of centuries.
"Hard to believe a place like this has survived out here," Kushina murmured, a touch of awe in her voice. But as her gaze shifted downward, her expression grew sharper, her senses attuning to the ground beneath their feet.
"This energy… it must be the Dragon Vein," she said, astonishment coloring her voice. Kushina possessed an incredible amount of chakra herself, but the sheer scale of energy saturating Rōran was overwhelming, almost unfathomable.
Minato crouched down, reaching out with a hand to touch the sand at the city's edge. He closed his eyes briefly, tuning his senses to the energy below. In a few moments, he opened his eyes, his expression darkening.
"There's something off about this energy," he muttered, frowning. He closed his eyes again, summoning natural energy to deepen his perception, seeking out the source of the strange, turbulent aura. After a few breaths, he opened his eyes suddenly, alert.
"Kushina," he said, his voice low, "someone is using the Dragon Vein's power to sense everything in the city. Quickly, shield your chakra."
Understanding immediately, Kushina nodded and formed a series of hand seals, suppressing her chakra to mask her presence. Minato did the same, and the two of them exchanged wary glances.
"I didn't expect we'd be detected the moment we set foot here," Minato said, his tone tense. The realization troubled him deeply. Whoever controlled the Dragon Vein was able to monitor the entire city, an ability that could uncover even the most skilled spies.
His thoughts turned to the intelligence they had received from The Hokage. The mysterious ninja, Anrokuzan, must have been the one responsible for this manipulation. "This Anrokuzan is more dangerous than I thought," he murmured.
Kushina looked at him, her eyes serious. "So what do we do now? If he already knows we're here, we should expect him to be ready for us."
Minato nodded, glancing back toward the city. "We'll need to be careful. Let's move in and get a better sense of the situation. I have a feeling we won't be able to gather much information from a distance."
With a silent understanding, the two disappeared into Rōran's shadowed streets, weaving between the imposing buildings as they moved deeper into the ancient city.
In a dark chamber within Rōran, the figure in a black robe stood alone, his hand resting on a glowing stone pillar. A faint smirk crept across his hidden face as he murmured to himself.
"They've arrived at last. What an amusing development." He chuckled, withdrawing his hand from the stone. "That reckless brat will surely lure them out soon enough. And then I can witness, after all these years, the power of so-called 'familial love.'"
An hour later, Minato and Kushina had explored much of Rōran, slipping from building to building while maintaining their hidden chakra. The city seemed eerily deserted, every street empty save for the occasional patrol of armored guards.
Kushina huddled beside Minato behind a wide stone column, frustration clear in her eyes. "This place is huge," she whispered, "and yet, there's no one here. Just these guards wandering around in that creepy armor."
Minato observed the guards, his keen gaze tracking their seemingly aimless movements. Though the armor resembled something a ninja might create, it didn't fit with Rōran's history. Rōran had no true military, no organized defense force that would explain such gear.
"It's strange," he murmured. "They don't seem to be searching for intruders, even though we've already been detected. They're moving around in no apparent pattern, but somehow… it feels like they're orbiting a central area."
Kushina followed his gaze, her brow furrowing in thought. "It's as if they're being controlled—like they're circling something without even knowing it."
Minato nodded, a sense of unease settling over him. "Something bigger is at play here. Someone is using the power of the Dragon Vein for a specific purpose, but what?"
Meanwhile, elsewhere in Rōran, the blond-haired boy paced restlessly in the room where he had taken refuge with the unconscious guard. A pang of guilt hit him as he glanced back at the man, who lay pale and unresponsive on the cold stone floor.
"I can't stay hidden here forever," he muttered, anxiety pressing down on him. He turned to the open doorway, his hands curling into fists. He had wandered the city for hours with no success, and the lingering silence of Rōran was starting to wear on him.
"I'll just have to go out there and see if anyone normal is left in this place," he decided. The boy wasn't suited to undercover missions. The thought of tiptoeing through empty streets felt stifling, and he couldn't even send a report back to Konoha. He needed action, not hiding.
He climbed to the top of a nearby building and sat cross-legged, taking a few steadying breaths. If there are any regular people left in this city, I'll find them, he resolved.
Closing his eyes, he pressed his fingers together, channeling natural energy as he extended his senses outward. The currents of natural energy rippled around him, filling his perception with Rōran's chaotic aura.
But as his awareness reached below ground level, his focus wavered. The flow of the Dragon Vein was so intense that it created a barrier, blocking his perception.
"It can block natural perception?" he muttered, frowning. It was rare for anything to obstruct natural energy, especially on such a scale. But the dense chakra of the Dragon Vein was impenetrable, shutting him out.
With a sigh, he shifted his focus to the city aboveground, letting his perception spread out in all directions from the center of Rōran. His senses brushed against the quiet streets, the towering buildings, the dull thrum of energy that pulsed beneath the surface.
Elsewhere, in a shadowed hall filled with stone pillars, the black-robed man chuckled to himself, watching as each pillar around him began to emit a faint glow. The patterns carved into the stone reflected his glee as he watched the city unfold before him.
"Foolish boy," he murmured, eyes narrowing as he traced the fluctuations of natural energy rippling through Rōran. "The more you search, the closer you come to being caught."
As Minato and Kushina made their way through Rōran, they stopped upon spotting a strange sight: deep cracks in the stone walls and floors, telltale marks of a recent battle.
"There were definitely shinobi here," Minato said quietly, examining the damage. Though the armored guards could repair themselves under the power of the Dragon Vein, the signs of conflict lingered in the area.
But before they could investigate further, Minato and Kushina both sensed it—a faint pulse of energy sweeping through Rōran, as if someone was casting a wide net with their perception.
Kushina gasped softly. "Is someone trying to perceive the entire city?"
She looked to Minato, confusion flashing in her eyes. "Who would be reckless enough to expose themselves like that?"
Minato's expression was one of intense concentration, his pupils narrowing as he extended his own senses. The feel of the energy was unmistakable. "It's not ordinary perception," he said, his voice barely a whisper. "It's natural perception."
Kushina's eyes widened. "You mean… Senjutsu?"
Minato nodded slowly, his mind racing. "There aren't many who can achieve this kind of perception. In fact, only Jiraiya-sensei and I are currently capable of it."
"What do we do?" Kushina asked, glancing back at him with a look of determination.
"We'll wait and watch for now," Minato replied, his voice firm. "If this person has mastered natural energy, they might be able to help us understand what's happening in Rōran."
Without another word, he grasped her arm, and they moved swiftly, pushing their speed to the limit as they closed in on the source of the natural perception.
On the rooftop, the young man's concentration broke as he sensed the approaching guards converging on his position. He opened his eyes, frustration simmering within him. "Of course," he muttered, forming a hand seal.
"Multi Shadow Clone Jutsu!"
A cloud of smoke erupted around him, and when it cleared, hundreds of identical figures lined the rooftop, each one braced for the impending clash. The clones stood with unwavering determination, some on the eaves of the hexagonal building, others pressed against the walls, their feet secured by chakra.
The boy nodded at his clones, who replied with a unified cry, "We'll hold them off!"
The clones launched themselves forward, engaging the guards with fierce, concentrated attacks. The clamor of battle filled the air as clone after clone charged forward, crashing into the wave of armored guards below. Meanwhile, the original boy closed his eyes again, focusing all his attention on extending his perception across Rōran.
As the shadow clones battled, the quiet city sprang to life, echoing with the sounds of combat. It was as if the ancient city itself had been roused from a slumber, its silent streets now filled with the chaotic energy of battle.
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