Analyzing the Ninja World Starting from Konoha

Within the Land of Wind.

Qingye was wearing an earth-yellow cloak, and the gourd on her back had shrunk considerably, with a thin sand rope extending from the gourd's mouth into the air.

Before the surrounding sandstorm could even get close to them, it was carried away by a thin layer of flowing sand.

"What a convenient ability."

As Akimichi Choza chewed on a soldier's ration pill, he mumbled a praise, "When I came to the Land of Wind before, I was full just from eating sand. This time, I didn't even get my clothes dirty."

"It's just a little trick. It just so happened that it was all sand. I just tried it out and I didn't expect it to actually work."

Aoba explained modestly.

Aburame Shiki pushed up her sunglasses, looked at Aoba's back, and remained silent.

His parasites would have a hard time surviving in the sandstorm, but within the boy's sheltered environment, the insects were unusually active.

This boy's control over chakra is terrifyingly astonishing.

"Loulan is just ahead."

Shuimen stopped and crouched behind a sand dune.

"It's so quiet! There's nobody here!"

Unlike the sandy buildings in other settlements, most of the buildings here are made of huge rocks, exuding a sense of antiquity and desolation.

But the entire settlement was deserted, eerily silent.

"Something's not right."

Minato cautiously surveyed his surroundings. "According to intelligence, the main buildings of Loulan are all underground."

He spread out a map and pointed to a tall tower in the central area: "Dingzuo, Zhiwei, we're going there to find Princess Sara. Qingye, you're in charge of gathering intelligence, try to find a local, and find out exactly what happened here."

"clear."

Aoba nodded without saying anything more.

That just so happens, he'd been wanting to try that for a while now.

Then, to the bewilderment of the three, a stream of dark red sand suddenly spewed out from the gourd behind Qingye.

The sand did not disperse, but instead quickly coalesced into a sand cushion beneath his feet.

Then the group watched as Aoba was lifted up by the sand mat, looking fresh and clean.

"Flying...it's flying?!"

Ding's little eyes almost popped out of their sockets.

Even Zhiwei, who was usually taciturn, couldn't help but open her mouth.

In an era when most ninjas were still doing parkour on the ground, the ability to fly was simply a game-changer.

A hint of surprise flashed in Minato's eyes, which then turned into admiration.

He hadn't expected Aoba to be able to play with sand in so many ways, but he quickly regained his composure: "Be careful, don't alert them."

Qingye nodded, manipulating the sandbag to increase its altitude, and using the cover of the yellow sand, flew towards the sky above the ancient city of Loulan.

From the air, the ground was clearly visible, and there were indeed no signs of life.

Chakra perception didn't detect anyone else either.

Seeing that Minato and the others had entered a house and hadn't come out again, Aoba immediately went in as well.

They quickly found an entrance leading underground, and in a flash, they slipped inside.

It is completely different from the desolation of the world above ground.

The underground area is clearly more like a city, with huge high-rise buildings everywhere, just like a modern city. If it weren't for the lack of people, it would be much more prosperous than Konoha.

Aoba controlled the sand cushion, using the cover of night and shadows to soar through the sky and fly towards the tallest tower in the center of the underground city.

From the air, Loulan appears even more bizarre.

Although there were people coming and going on the street, the pedestrians' movements seemed somewhat stiff, and they did not communicate with each other at all, as if they were machines with a pre-programmed schedule.

Moreover, the whole city was too quiet.

Apart from the occasional creaking, there was almost no human noise to be heard.

"As expected, no one's here anymore."

As a man who had read the script, he naturally knew that those so-called "subjects" below were just puppets in clothes.

That guy named An Lushan, who is actually a centipede from the future, had already killed the original Loulan Queen. Now he's just using these puppets to deceive Sara, using the power of Sara's bloodline to control the dragon vein, create a puppet army, and attempt to conquer the five great nations.

However, a script is just a script, and Aoba still needs to confirm it again, just in case something "wonder" happens.

The ordinary people have been mostly arrested, but Centipede will likely have some henchmen following him.

Aoba's goal is very clear.

He didn't need to search the streets for clues; he just needed to grab someone who looked like a high-ranking official, read their memory, and he'd know the truth.

He quickly located a target inside a tall tower—an elegantly dressed official working on documents in his office.

He slipped silently into the room, and before the official could react, a hand was already on his head.

The Art of Mind Reading

A massive flood of information instantly rushed into Qingye's mind.

Six years ago, a man claiming to be An Lushan came to Loulan... He persuaded the then-Queen (Sarah's mother) to use the power of the Dragon Vein and his puppetry to develop and expand Loulan... He convinced the Queen with the power of the Dragon Vein... He built this underground city and countless puppets... The Queen discovered his ambition to use a puppet army to rule the ninja world... The Queen attempted to close the Dragon Vein, but was killed by An Lushan... In order to completely control the Dragon Vein, An Lushan needed the help of Princess Sara, who possessed royal blood, which is why he maintained this false peace...

The information matched the plot perfectly with my memory.

Qingye withdrew her hand, and the official's eyes rolled back as he fainted.

He sorted through the information in his mind, his eyes becoming serious.

He saw scenes from deep underground in the officials' memories.

That's something that's never been shown in anime.

Centipede was not exaggerating; there were indeed tens of thousands of puppet soldiers densely packed there, which, once activated, would be enough to flatten a small country.

However, this only applies to small countries. The power possessed by large countries is completely unknown to Baizu, otherwise he would not have dared to attack the five major powers with just a few puppets.

"However, it's really not easy to fight with so many puppets."

Aoba made a comment, and at that moment a swarm of small insects flew onto his palm and arranged themselves into symbols. This was a message from Zhiwei.

Stepping back onto the sand mat, they flew towards the rendezvous point agreed upon by Minato and the others.

Aoba was sometimes speechless. These villains were all out of their minds. They only had a little power and they wanted to rule the world. They didn't know how deep the water was in the world and whether they would drown.

Meanwhile, as Minato and his two companions navigated the intricate underground passages in search of Princess Sara, they were suddenly struck by the sounds of fierce fighting and the clanging of metal around a corner.

Something's up!

The water gate gesture paused, and the three immediately concealed themselves.

Several oddly shaped puppets were seen attacking a blond boy wearing an orange tracksuit.

Although the boy was agile, he was clearly no match for the puppets. He could only dodge the kunai and claws shot out by the puppets in a sorry state, and was finally blasted into the ground by a chakra beam shot out by the puppets.

"Konoha's headband?"

Choza Akimichi, with his sharp eyes, spotted the familiar symbol on the boy's head.

"Help!"

Without the slightest hesitation, Minato vanished from his spot in an instant.

……