Rin nodded, "I see. Such a beautiful city, it would really be a pity if it were destroyed."
Then, she couldn't help but sigh, "Zetsu is really useful as an intelligence agent. If we had a few Zetsus, that would be great."
Obito laughed, "It's not impossible. Once we deal with Madara and meet certain conditions, I'm confident I can bring Zetsu under control."
There was a hint of wariness in Minato's eyes, "When I first heard you say that Madara was still alive, I was shocked."
"Luckily, he has limited mobility and can't cause trouble everywhere. Otherwise, I would've had to leak some information to Konoha and gather a large number of ninjas to surround him."
Obito sincerely said to Minato, "Thank you, Minato-sensei, for keeping my secret for so long. Don't worry, I will take care of the Madara situation."
Minato nodded, "Obito, I trust you."
Then, he changed the subject, smiling slightly, "Since Naruto has also come to the Land of Wind on a mission, it looks like the Third Hokage's plan was a success. This can bring a great deal of income to Konoha. It was truly a wise move."
Obito shook his head at first, "Naruto's mission was a little different."
"At that time, Suna and Konoha were allies. Naruto's squad was probably deployed in response to an ally's request."
"But…"
Obito shifted his tone, "The Third Hokage's plan was indeed successful. In the future, Konoha will receive a large number of commissions from the Land of Wind. Of course, this also means Suna's mission volume will plummet, leading to financial difficulties."
"Even their Kazekage had to personally go to the desert to mine gold just to make ends meet. Honestly, it was the first time I had seen a Kage step in personally to make money."
Minato immediately felt awkward. The Third Hokage's actions had undoubtedly benefited Konoha, and even Minato found it hard to argue against them.
Resources in the ninja world were limited, if Konoha prospered, others would inevitably suffer.
He coughed a few times and said, "Let's enter the city first and gather information."
The group stopped talking and quickly entered Rōran, splitting up to collect intelligence.
Rōran was only a small city with few ninjas, so they quickly gathered a large amount of information and regrouped.
Looking at the numerous puppets on the streets, Minato frowned, "It's been confirmed that this Anrokuzan is a puppeteer from Suna, and his puppets are spread all over the city. His strength is not weak."
"He once used the name 'Mukade.' I suspect that's his real name. What's strange is that, despite being such a powerful puppeteer, I have no recollection of him at all."
"There are two possibilities: either Suna deliberately concealed information about Mukade, or he doesn't actually exist yet. Considering he appeared suddenly in Rōran six years ago, I suspect he's from the future and has traveled back in time using some kind of space-time ninjutsu."
Everyone was shocked.
Rin couldn't help but ask, "Just like Obito's situation?"
Minato shook his head, "He physically came back, and I don't think he truly mastered such high-level space-time ninjutsu. It's more likely that he stumbled upon a natural force that sent him back."
For a moment, everyone was amazed. However, since they had already experienced Obito's situation, they were relatively open to the idea. They quickly regained their composure and continued exchanging information.
Rin said, "The intelligence I gathered indicates that Rōran's current queen, Sara, trusts Anrokuzan completely. But it seems Anrokuzan is planning to use puppet techniques to replace her with a doll and control the country from behind the scenes."
Kakashi also spoke lazily, "I found out that all of this country's energy comes from an underground source called the Dragon Vein. Its power seems endless, which is how they managed to build a city in the middle of the desert. Perhaps the Dragon Vein is the natural force Minato-sensei mentioned, the one that accidentally sent Anrokuzan back in time."
[T/N: Dragon Vein or also know as Ryūmyaku. You can search online]
Obito fell into deep thought, "Based on all this information, I've come to a shocking conclusion."
"First, my investigation shows that the Dragon Vein is a fusion of chakra, similar to a tailed beast, and it contains an enormous amount of chakra."
"So Anrokuzan—or rather, Mukade—wants to take control of this country because he wants to harness the Dragon Vein's power to create a puppet army and rule the world."
Obito continued, "Second, in the future, Naruto was assigned a mission to capture a rogue ninja named Mukade. If I remember correctly, this Anrokuzan might be the target of Naruto's mission."
"If that's the case, Naruto might have been caught up in all this and followed Anrokuzan back to the past. Of course, this is just my guess, with no concrete evidence."
This revelation shocked everyone.
Minato began to ponder, "Naruto might have been dragged into this? Does that mean that, in an alternate timeline where Obito hadn't returned, I might have met Naruto during this mission?"
Thinking about this, Minato's eyes showed a hint of regret, "Unfortunately, we may not get the chance this time."
Rin asked, "Why?"
Minato explained, "Because Obito came back and changed everything. The future we were heading toward has shifted. If the Nine-Tails attack never happened and I'm still alive, Naruto might not have even been born. And even if he was, there's no guarantee he'd receive this mission at the same time."
Everyone nodded in understanding.
Minato continued, his expression growing serious, "Even the smallest changes in the past can lead to massive alterations in the future."
"So if we really encounter someone from the future, we must not ask them about future events. To prevent temporal interference, I may even seal away our memories if necessary."
Kakashi looked a little disappointed, "Do we really have to go that far?"
Minato responded firmly, "Think about it, Kakashi. If you traveled from the future to the past and revealed key information that changed events, what would happen when you returned to the future?"
Kakashi thought for a moment, "If the past affects the future, then everything I know might no longer exist."
"That would be… terrifying."
Minato nodded, "So from now on, keep everything a secret, even if we meet a Konoha ninja from the future."
Kakashi nodded, "Understood."
Just then, in the distance, near a tower, the sounds of intense battle and explosions erupted.
The group instinctively looked over, but the distance was too great to see clearly. They could only make out a few small figures fighting.
Minato crouched, pressed his fingers to the ground, and closed his eyes to sense the situation. Then he opened his eyes.
"There's a ninja fighting Mukade's puppets. Those puppets are powered by the Dragon Vein, and there are a lot of them. That ninja is strong, but it looks like he hasn't found a good way to counter them yet and is just running."
Kakashi frowned, "A ninja appearing in Rōran at this time, fighting Mukade's puppets… Could he be from the future?"
Minato said, "That's a possibility. Let's go check it out to prevent any unexpected incidents."
Everyone immediately nodded and rushed toward the battle.
As they got closer, they saw a young ninja, about 16 years old, with spiky blond hair, three whisker-like marks on each cheek, and a Konoha forehead protector. He was being chased and bombarded by numerous puppets.
The puppets, powered by the Dragon Vein, seemed to have limitless energy, launching all kinds of attacks from their various parts without stopping.
The young ninja tried to form hand seals several times, but each time, he was interrupted and forced to continue running.
Kakashi couldn't help but sigh, "Talk about timing. Unless that guy is faking being a Konoha ninja, which is unlikely, he's probably from the future."
"Come to think of it, he looks a lot like Minato-sensei. Same blond hair, but Minato-sensei doesn't have whiskers…"
"Wait… whiskers!", Kakashi suddenly realized something and turned to Obito, "Obito, don't tell me… that's Minato-sensei's son, Uzumaki Naruto?"
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