As Uchiha Shin stepped into Roran, he felt an eerie sense of familiarity, as though he had walked into a modern city from another time.
Towering buildings loomed over the streets, where people bustled about like ants beneath his gaze.
"Kagura's Mind Eye!"
Uchiha Shin fully unleashed his sensory abilities. Instantly, he could perceive the entire city, feeling the heartbeat of every living being in half of Roran.
His gaze lowered to the ground below, and he murmured, "The Dragon Vein's power… it's buried deep under this land."
While tracking the Dragon Vein's unique energy signature, Shin also picked up another peculiar presence—countless chakra puppets spread throughout the city.
The entire Roran was tangled in chakra threads, with clay puppets hidden everywhere. Some were fused into the architecture, camouflaged as statues or decorations.
But they couldn't fool his keen perception.
"There's another chakra presence here… not as strong as Karura, but formidable nonetheless. That should be the Third Kazekage."
Shin's Sharingan swirled as he peered underground, catching glimpses of the Third Kazekage patrolling a factory below.
"Hmph, so Sunagakure has turned Roran into its own war fortress. How deeply have they tapped into the Dragon Vein's power?"
Shin didn't rush in blindly. Unlike in the past, Roran was no longer just a lost city—it was a fortified battleground under Sunagakure's control.
The Third Kazekage was a monster in his own right, and if he had harnessed the Dragon Vein's power, taking him head-on would be a reckless gamble.
"If I could assassinate the Third Kazekage first, everything else would fall into place."
As Shin muttered, his mind drifted toward a crucial figure.
In historical records, the royal family of Roran had controlled the Dragon Vein. If he could find a surviving member and have them seal its power, his path would be much clearer.
"Transparency Jutsu."
With a few quick hand seals, Shin vanished from sight.
Gliding through the city unseen, he made his way toward Roran's palace.
But as he entered, a chilling emptiness greeted him.
Where is everyone?
The entire palace was deathly silent. No guards, no servants—nothing but eerie desolation.
Shin narrowed his eyes. Could the entire royal family have been wiped out?
To confirm his suspicion, he created five shadow clones and sent them to scour every corner of the palace.
Moments later, all of them returned with the same conclusion.
"Tch… those bastards from Sunagakure… did they really massacre the entire royal bloodline?"
His fists clenched. If there was no one left to control the Dragon Vein, then there was only one option left.
Destroy every underground factory and ensure Sunagakure couldn't exploit the power.
Shin knew they couldn't afford to let the Dragon Vein fall into enemy hands. If Sunagakure succeeded, the entire balance of power in the shinobi world would shift.
No matter what, Roran had to be taken away from them.
Determined, he honed in on the chakra signatures of Mikoto and Kanako and moved toward them at full speed.
Before he even reached them, the sound of violent explosions echoed in the distance.
Feeling the resonance of the cursed seals he had placed on them, Shin's pace quickened.
—
Unlike Shin, Mikoto and Kanako had entered Roran without the advantage of foresight. They had no way of immediately identifying the palace's inhabitants.
Instead, they had opted for a simpler approach—interrogation.
Kanako acted as their sensor, detecting enemy movements and ensuring they avoided high-risk areas.
Once they isolated a target, Mikoto used her Sharingan to subdue them with genjutsu, extracting information piece by piece.
"How long did it take to turn Roran into this monstrosity?"
"The entire royal family was assassinated some time ago… only one survivor, a girl?"
"Sunagakure is still recruiting Roran's people while replacing them with their own? And they're expanding the underground factories?"
As the pieces fell into place, a chilling realization dawned on them.
A net had been cast over Roran, and Sunagakure was pulling the strings.
They knew Shin had mentioned the Dragon Vein's existence, but they had underestimated just how far Sunagakure had gone to exploit it.
However, as they gathered intel and mapped out Roran's layout, their actions didn't go unnoticed.
A group of missing Sunagakure shinobi raised the alarm, and soon, an army of puppet ninjas was deployed to hunt them down.
Despite their best efforts to evade detection, they were eventually surrounded.
—
Deep within Roran's underground command center, a Sunagakure ninja rushed toward the chief controller, Ebizo.
"Elder! We've detected intruders!"
Ebizo, the seasoned strategist wrapped in white cloth, immediately linked himself to the Dragon Vein's Chakra Surveillance System.
Within moments, he saw everything through the eyes of the chakra puppets.
—
"Fire Style: Great Fireball Jutsu!"
Uchiha Mikoto wove a rapid sequence of hand seals, inhaled deeply, and unleashed a massive fireball that engulfed the nearest chakra puppet.
The resulting explosion sent debris flying, but Mikoto didn't let her guard down.
Because more chakra puppets were already closing in!
Shing! Shing! Shing!
A puppet soldier's chest mechanism snapped open, launching a barrage of kunai controlled by chakra threads.
Mikoto's Sharingan spun to life, instantly analyzing the trajectory of the incoming weapons.
Drawing her chakra-infused dagger, she nimbly dodged and severed the chakra threads that controlled them.
"Mikoto-san! Watch out!"
Kanako's voice rang out as Mikoto turned her head toward a floating puppet.
Unlike the others, this one had built-in cannon barrels for arms.
A split second later, bright purple energy orbs launched from its barrels.
"Moon Walk: Rotation!"
Mikoto channeled chakra to her feet and leaped several meters to the right in a sharp spin.
Boom! Boom! BOOM!
The energy blasts struck a cluster of buildings behind her, detonating into massive fireballs.
Judging by the sheer destruction, those blasts carried more power than her Fireball Jutsu.
Kanako, who had been preparing something, finally made her move.
"Adamantine Sealing Chains!"
Golden chakra chains erupted from her back, snaking toward the advancing puppets and wrapping around them, restraining their movements.
Mikoto seized the opportunity, dashing forward and slicing through the chakra threads that controlled them.
With their control severed, the puppet army crumbled, their bodies collapsing into lifeless husks.
—
But they had no time to celebrate.
Because more enemies were already on their way.
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Bonus Chapter - 150 Power Stones