Minato's golden flash of movement split the battlefield once more. The centipede puppet's strike gouged the stone floor but met only air—Konoha's Yellow Flash had already whisked himself safely across the chamber with the Flying Thunder God.
Without hesitation, Minato's hands blurred through seals, hurling pairs of shuriken that multiplied into a storm of steel. When the shadow-cloned weapons collided, the illusion dispersed, revealing the centipede's heart core exposed for just a fraction of a second. Its armored shell split open down the middle, a brief but crucial vulnerability.
At the same moment, high above the chamber, Queen Sara clasped her hands tightly and forced the dragon vein beneath Loulan shut. With a rumble like the roar of a subterranean beast, the torrent of violet chakra was abruptly cut off.
"Super-speed regeneration technique!" The centipede's shrill voice echoed through the cavern, its pincers clattering. It tried desperately to channel the dragon vein's overwhelming chakra to reconstitute, but nothing answered its call. The life-giving conduit was gone.
"Sarah's closed it!" Minato shouted as he vaulted aside once more. "Naruto, he can't regenerate now! That's his weakness—finish it!"
Naruto's eyes blazed with energy at the opening. "Then here I go!" he yelled, charging headlong toward the titanic puppet.
The centipede screeched, launching a volley of jagged weapons from hidden compartments. Kunai, senbon, bladed ribbons—the air was filled with iron death. Yet Naruto ducked, sprang, twisted, every step driven by a deep knowing that he couldn't afford to stop now. Even when the centipede unleashed waves of purple shockwave energy, Naruto pressed through, his orange-clad form a streak of determination.
"Take this—Taijū Rasengan!" Naruto roared, spinning a swirling sphere of chakra that churned like a storm in his palm. He slammed it against the centipede's core.
"Brat!" the puppet howled as the force detonated inside its armored carapace. Yet Naruto's target wasn't only the puppet's outer shell—it was the very mechanism that housed its life force.
The Rasengan tore through, shredding gears, chakra conduits, and sinew-like threads. The centipede's massive body rattled and fractured, plates falling away like shed insect skin. Its vitality drained rapidly, its voice fading to nothing but rancor.
"The Five Great Nations…" it wheezed bitterly. "They should have… been bent to my will… My death will not be in vain. I'll drag you—and this dragon vein—to the grave with me…!"
It tried to ignite itself, to erupt in one final suicidal explosion. But before it could, a shadow appeared behind it like the flick of fate's blade.
A hand pierced clean through the centipede's chest. Its single remaining eye widened in disbelief. "You… Impossible…"
The one who stood behind it was Uchiha Shigure. His calm face was spattered with residue of chakra dust. Upon his forehead, the diamond-shaped seal he bore suddenly shimmered gold. A massive wave of chakra circled within it—the energy of the dragon vein itself.
"You! How are you still alive?" the centipede rasped, shrieking as cracks split its massive body. "You… you swallowed so much of the dragon vein… You should have exploded!"
Shigure touched the glowing seal on his brow. "The Yin–Yang Seal," he explained evenly. "It absorbed and locked the excess dragon vein chakra into my body where it can't run rampant. As for what I kept for myself—" his Sharingan spun, glinting like embers "—that's enough to end you."
"No—!" the centipede screamed.
"Empty Palm." Shigure thrust his hand outward. The invisible strike slammed into the puppet's core. The centipede screamed once more before collapsing into fragments, scattering like dust.
The chamber fell eerily silent, only the soft thrum of fading chakra lingering in the stone.
Shigure let out a slow breath, gazing at the sealed fracture of the dragon vein below. "With the centipede gone, the dragon vein should never run rampant again. But…" His red eyes narrowed. "Did I change history just now? Or did this world always have different possibilities? Maybe… the shinobi world follows the law of parallel universes."
Minato approached and gave a nod of respect. Naruto stumbled forward too, panting but smiling from ear to ear. "We did it! We really did it!"
Sara, trembling but resolute, stepped closer to the group. Behind her, the few surviving citizens of Loulan emerged from hiding. Their queen's eyes shimmered with tears. Yamato and Kakashi raced in from the shattered entryway just in time to see the battle's conclusion.
"Captain Yamato!" Naruto called happily, waving even as his legs wobbled.
"It looks like everything's been resolved after all," Yamato sighed in relief. "There's nothing more for us to do."
"Yes," Sara said softly, gazing at her people. "But this power… even sealed within him," she glanced at Shigure, "it must not remain free. The dragon vein must be sealed forever, away from those who would use it for destruction."
Minato nodded gravely. "You're right. Naruto, the kunai I gave you."
Naruto pulled the three-pronged kunai from his pouch and handed it over. "Here you go, dattebayo."
Minato stepped toward the pulsing eye of the dragon vein buried deep in the chamber floor. Chakra surged around him in green waves as he drove the kunai into the core. "Seal!"
The cavern rumbled. Light burst outward, washing the walls in radiance before ebbing into stillness. At last, the dragon vein's pulse flickered and disappeared entirely.
But as the silence settled, Naruto's body began to glow white at the edges. Yamato blinked and looked down at himself—the same phenomenon was consuming his arms.
"What's happening?!" Naruto exclaimed in alarm.
"The time-space jutsu," Yamato realized, eyes wide. "The centipede's defeat restored the flow of time. We're being pulled back to our own era."
"Then… Kakashi too," Minato said, turning toward the younger ninja leaning against the wall. "You've completed your mission as well."
Naruto's eyes went wide. "Kakashi… Sensei!?"
Kakashi gave an unconcerned shrug. "I only saved this Konoha shinobi because he fainted pitifully in front of Loulan's gates." His smirk was short-lived, however, as Yamato promptly smacked him on the head.
"Ow! What was that for?"
"Years of pent-up payback," Yamato quipped dryly.
Naruto stared at Minato, almost trembling. "I… I don't want to say goodbye yet. There's so much I wanted to—"
Minato silenced him with a gentle but firm smile. "Naruto. One day, I'll hear it all. I promise you."
For a brief, painful moment, Naruto's throat tightened as though he were facing someone impossibly close yet unbearably far. Minato's gaze softened further. "If I ever had a son," he murmured quietly to himself, "I would want him to grow into a ninja like you."
"Minato-sama… Shigure-sensei… must you really go now?" Queen Sara's voice trembled.
"You've already proven yourself a worthy queen," Naruto said earnestly. "You don't need us anymore—you'll be fine on your own!"
Tears fell down Sara's face, but she forced a smile. "I'll never forget you, Naruto."
"To keep the timeline stable," Minato interrupted, "best we all forget what happened here."
"I can help with that," Shigure said calmly, his Sharingan spinning to life. "My eye technique can erase these memories from everyone."
"No! Wait!" Naruto shouted, stepping forward. "Didn't you promise to hear me out?! If you erase—"
"Naruto," Minato said quietly. "There will be another time. Believe that."
Sara raised her chin. "Even if Loulan falls one day, I'll still have my people. For them, I'll always do what I must. That's something you taught me."
Naruto's tears ceased as a wide grin broke back across his face. "Yeah! With that kind of perseverance, you'll never fail!"
The world around them shimmered with light. Time was collapsing back into place. Shigure's Sharingan flared blood-red—
"Sharingan: Memory Release."
In an instant, Minato, Naruto, Kakashi, and Yamato were caught in his genjutsu. Their memories of these final words dissolved like smoke in the wind.
But Shigure's eyes hardened. His promise had been a lie. He hadn't erased his own memories. He couldn't afford to. After all, he existed in this time for one reason only: to change the future.
As Naruto and Yamato's white silhouettes flickered, they were pulled back through the fabric of time to their proper world. Minato and Kakashi, unconscious, crumpled to the floor of the collapsing chamber. By the time they awoke, Shigure was already standing before them.
"Huh? Where are we?" Kakashi asked groggily, clutching his head. "What about our mission?"
Shigure's kunai gleamed faintly under the fractured ceiling. His voice was calm but unreadable.
"The mission is complete."
Minato glanced up at him. In his eyes was sudden recognition, a realization of something far heavier than victory.
Shigure pointed his kunai directly at him.
Minato froze, expression darkening as he spoke softly. "…I understand."
--
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