Following the Konohagakure Anbu, Naruto and Sasuke arrived at a more hidden room. Apart from the two of them and the Anbu, the Queen and the Centipede also followed. It seemed like there was something important to discuss.
"But now that I think about it, your chakra feels really familiar, like I’ve seen it somewhere before," Naruto said, looking at the Anbu named "Water" who was leading the way.
Sasuke, curious as well, added, "I feel the same way."
The chakra of this person was incredibly powerful. Of the ninjas Naruto and Sasuke had encountered, only Jiraiya, Tsunade, and Orochimaru had chakra this strong. Rikudou Sennin didn’t count—his chakra wasn’t just strong; it was on a whole other level.
Even Kakashi’s chakra was weaker than the one in front of them.
If they were to say it felt familiar, there was something off about it. It didn’t feel like they knew this person, but they definitely felt like they’d encountered this chakra before.
Mizu didn’t make any other moves but spoke up, "No matter if you’ve met me before or know anything about me in the future, please don’t say anything. Let the future remain a mystery."
"We understand that," Sasuke nodded in agreement.
The future shouldn’t be spoiled, especially when it comes to time travel. Everyone’s probably heard of the famous time travel paradox.
Kurama’s situation was different. He wasn’t traveling through time—he had already transcended the concept of the future. What he knew wasn’t a fixed future, but rather a potential future that could happen.
Naruto, feeling frustrated, scratched the back of his head, "But I just feel like you’re really important to me, yet I can’t remember where I’ve felt this chakra before, no matter how much I search my memory."
Frustration, a lot of frustration.
"Maybe it’s because in the future, we’ve only met once," Water said with a hint of nostalgia.
Next to him, a chubby man named "Butterfly" suddenly laughed and said, "Who knows, maybe we died on some future mission and happened to be your squad leader. Hahahaha."
He said this in a teasing tone.
The three of them weren’t real Anbu; they were temporarily assigned to this mission under the Hokage’s orders.
It wasn’t impossible for them to become squad leaders later on.
"No," Naruto shook his head. "Our squad leader is Hatake Kakashi, the genius of the Hatake clan."
"Kakashi?" Butterfly was surprised. "That kid, huh? He’s grown into a reliable Jonin now."
After saying that, Butterfly looked at Mizu and asked, "Hey, Water, don’t you have anything to say when you hear Kakashi’s name?"
"I’ve always believed Kakashi would grow into a reliable ninja," Water said with a smile.
The strange feeling was becoming more and more obvious. Sasuke furrowed his brows, realizing something: "Kid? So, this era isn’t too far from our time. Kakashi hasn’t grown up yet. And you... you wouldn’t be Kakashi’s squad leader, would you?"
Water chuckled lightly but didn’t directly answer. "Well, that’s enough. If we keep talking about the future, it won’t be the future anymore."
It was clear that Water meant they should stop discussing it.
Sasuke understood: "Naruto."
"Ah," Naruto nodded with a complex expression. He understood now.
No wonder this chakra felt so familiar but he couldn’t place it. After all, the residual chakra wasn’t strong enough, and it was being interfered with inside his body. Given those conditions, for Naruto to still recognize it was already incredible.
Naruto looked up at Water’s back, a complicated expression appearing on his face as a smile emerged. He didn’t say anything though; he had matured a lot by now.
Butterfly turned his head to look at Naruto, then thoughtfully glanced at Water. "It seems like something interesting has happened. Water, don’t you have anything to say?"
"Huh?" Insect looked at him, completely confused.
Water chuckled softly. "Butterfly, enough."
Butterfly shrugged and didn’t say anything more.
Everyone silently understood what had happened, but no one brought it up. The people from the present didn’t want to spoil things for the people from the future, and the people from the future didn’t want to disturb the present. So, everyone remained quiet.
He scratched the back of his head, still confused. "So, what exactly did you guys find out?"
Inside Kurama’s mind, he was full of frustration. "I don’t believe it. It can’t be this smooth. In this situation, Roran definitely wouldn’t be destroyed. This is definitely a very similar parallel world. I’m sure of it!"
That was the only explanation he could think of.
In a secluded room, Insect and Butterfly went to check around to see if anyone was eavesdropping. Meanwhile, the queen and Mukade sat nearby, while Water and Naruto, Sasuke sat on the other side.
The first to speak was Mukade, his face clouded with a gloomy expression. "Let me explain first."
Water nodded, and Naruto and Sasuke quickly straightened up.
"First of all," Mukade began,
"I am now the prime minister of Roran. I’ve been in this position since I arrived here eight years ago." His voice was low as he continued,
"Thanks to you two, I was almost killed by that Fire Release Ninjutsu. I was saved by the queen when I arrived here, and I’ve temporarily survived by relying on dragon vein chakra and puppetry techniques. The price, though, is that I’ve basically turned myself into a puppet."
"Of course, this isn’t something I find unpleasant."
For Mukade, turning himself into a puppet to live forever wasn’t a bad thing. In fact, he wanted to become that way.
"But the problem lies in that blonde kid’s sealing technique." Mukade’s expression darkened. "That damned sealing technique can’t even be undone by the Uzumaki clan. It’s supposed to be just a regular Diamond Lock, but your kid’s Ninjutsu strength far surpasses any normal Diamond Lock."
Kushina had once tried to undo the Diamond Lock on Mukade, but failed.
The issue had two parts. First, because of its properties, the Diamond Lock theoretically required the caster to be nearby to maintain it. But Naruto’s Diamond Lock defied this characteristic, continuing to hold even after the caster was no longer present, and no one but the caster could undo it.
The second issue was its strength. While the Diamond Lock was a secret technique of the Uzumaki clan, it wasn’t a Ninjutsu but rather a sealing technique. To learn the Diamond Lock, one would need the Uzumaki clan’s physique, a large amount of chakra, and knowledge of sealing techniques.
Kushina immediately noticed that Naruto’s Diamond Lock wasn’t that strong in sealing arts. He could only use it, but within this lock, there was a strange, powerful chakra. This chakra formed a bizarre sealing ability that completely suppressed Mukade’s chakra.
Even if Kushina could undo the Diamond Lock, she wouldn’t be able to undo the chakra’s seal.
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