Naruto: In Konoha Village, I awakened Wood Release at the start.

The Province of Wind.

Dragon Vein Ruins.

Watching the five figures disappear into the purple pillar of light.

Chiba found a relatively flat boulder to sit on and waited silently.

Time passed by, second by second.

The only sound inside the underground palace was the hum of instruments running.

One day passed.

Two days have passed.

Three days...

Until the fifth day.

The purple beam of light remained unchanged.

The receiving equipment set up by Orochimaru was also filled with meaningless gibberish.

But neither Chiba nor Orochimaru was in a hurry.

When time and space cross such an unknown realm, any changes are to be expected.

Until the morning of the seventh day.

The sandstorm outside the underground palace seemed to be more intense than usual.

"Drip—drip—drip—"

The previously silent receiving equipment suddenly emitted a sharp alarm.

Orochimaru suddenly raised his head, his fingers flashing across the keyboard like afterimages.

"A specific chakra frequency has been detected!"

"Signal being analyzed..."

"Image being created!"

The air in the center of the metal archway underwent a violent distortion.

After a series of crackling electrical sounds.

Five slightly blurry holographic images appeared directly below the archway.

The person in charge was none other than Kabuto Yakushi, who wore glasses.

"His Majesty."

"Lord Orochimaru."

"We have successfully reached our destination."

"Everyone is safe, with no casualties."

soon.

Kabuto's voice came through, with a slight sense of distortion.

Upon hearing this...

Orochimaru licked his lips, his eyes gleaming with extreme excitement.

It worked!

Cross-dimensional communication technology—this is absolutely a miracle in the history of the ninja world!

"What trouble did you encounter over there?"

Why did it take a full seven days to establish contact?

Chiba slowly stood up, his gaze sweeping over the five people in the image.

Hearing Chiba's words.

The five people in the video were clearly stunned.

Uchiha Sasuke frowned.

Neji Hyuga looked completely puzzled.

Nara Shikamaru stared wide-eyed, as if he had heard something unbelievable.

"His Majesty."

"We didn't encounter anything."

"After stepping into the pillar of light, I felt a blur before my eyes and suddenly found myself in the Dragon Vein Ruins."

"The whole process took less than a second."

"As soon as we got a foothold and confirmed that it was safe to be around us, we immediately activated the communication beacon we were carrying."

Kabuto was the first to come to his senses.

He quickly answered, his tone clearly showing surprise.

Chiba raised an eyebrow.

One second?

Seven whole days have passed here!

"I see."

"These are truly amazing statistics."

"His Majesty."

"It seems that when traversing parallel worlds, there is a huge difference in the flow of time between the two dimensions."

"Because there is no stable spatial anchor point, their moment in the spacetime tunnel is stretched infinitely."

"Seven days on the Empire's side are equivalent to a single moment in their physical experience."

"Once a transmission base station is successfully established on the other side, the spatial coordinates on both sides will be completely anchored."

"This distortion of the flow of time will disappear completely."

"..."

Orochimaru seemed to have thought of something.

Orochimaru pointed to the fluctuating curve on the screen and explained to Chiba.

Chiba nodded slightly.

After all, it's a barrier that crosses the world, so some twists and turns are perfectly normal.

"In that case, the plan remains unchanged."

"Find out information about that world immediately."

"The primary task is to find suitable materials and a suitable location to build the portal."

"Go."

"The Empire awaits your good news."

After saying this...

Chiba then vanished without a trace.

He has an entire empire to manage and can't afford to stay here at the Dragon Vein forever.

Communication was cut off.

The holographic image under the archway instantly disintegrated into countless points of light.

Orochimaru, however, continued to stare at the screen, as if he could truly see the world on the other side.

"The little ones."

"Looking forward to the surprises you'll bring back."

……

Parallel Ninja World.

The Land of Wind, outside the Dragon Vein Ruins.

A fierce wind, carrying a cloud of yellow sand, lashed against the faces of the five people.

The air was filled with an extremely dry, even somewhat pungent, earthy smell.

"Hey, Shikamaru."

"His Majesty has entrusted you with overseeing the overall situation; which way should we go now?"

Sasuke looked at Nara Shikamaru, who was squatting on the ground.

His tone remained that of a haughty young master.

But in this parallel world full of unknowns.

He also had to admit the value of Nara Shikamaru's head.

"This is so troublesome..."

"This is the territory of the Wind Province."

"Temari is the daughter of the governor of the Kaze Province, so she knows this land better than anyone else."

"Temari, you lead the way."

"First, find a populated oasis or town and gather information about this world."

Nara Shikamaru muttered a weak complaint.

He turned his gaze to Temari beside him.

"Keep your distance!"

Hearing what Nara Shikaku said.

Temari drew the giant three-star fan from her back and swung it fiercely.

A fierce wind howled out, carving a path through the surrounding yellow sand.

however.

After walking in the desert for half an hour.

Temari's expression turned extremely unpleasant.

She stopped atop a towering sand dune, her gaze fixed intently on the horizon ahead.

"What's wrong?"

"Are we going in the wrong direction?"

Sasuke and the others landed beside her.

"The direction is right."

"According to the geographical location of our original world."

"Once we cross that sand dune, we should reach the new Greentown!"

"That was a large oasis city created by His Majesty using Wood Release techniques in the second year of his reign!"

"But now..."

Temari shook her head.

Her eyes were filled with undisguised shock.

As far as the eye can see, there is still an endless sea of ​​deathly sand.

Forget about cities, there isn't even a speck of green vegetation to be seen.

The scorching sun baked the earth, and even the air was distorted and refracted due to the high temperature.

"It seems..."

"You haven't gotten used to the concept of parallel worlds yet."

"Since they are parallel worlds, the course of history will naturally be different."

"..."

The pharmacist pushed up his slipped glasses, the lenses reflecting the pale sunlight.

Then.

He grabbed a handful of scalding yellow sand and let the grains slip through his fingers.

"The environment here is exactly the same as that of the Wind Kingdom before the establishment of the Empire."

"Barren, desolate, and filled with the aura of death."

"Without His Majesty's Wood Release modification, this land would never have been able to nurture such a miraculous oasis."

"..."

Just then.

The veins around Hyuga Neji's eyes bulged suddenly.

The white eye's field of vision expanded to its limit in an instant.

"There's a chakra reaction in the southeast direction."

"Four people, a standard ninja squad."

"They are moving rapidly in our direction."

next moment.

Hyuga Neji lowered his voice and spoke to the four people beside him.

"How strong are they?"

Nara Shikamaru immediately got into the zone, his brain starting to work at lightning speed.

"A team leader whose chakra level is between that of a Chunin and a Jonin."

"Of the remaining three, one is at the Chunin level, and the other two... are somewhere between Genin and Chunin."

After careful examination.

Hyuga Neji provided a standard assessment of the Empire's combat strength.

Under Chiba's rule.

The empire's ninjas, through countless resource allocations and the popularization of ninjutsu.

The standards for judging a ninja's strength have long been raised to a level far beyond those of the old era.

"Don't be careless."

Sasuke made no attempt to hide his contempt.

He thought that he would encounter some formidable opponent as soon as he arrived in the parallel world.

"Don't be careless."

"Take them down as quickly as possible and interrogate them to extract information about this world."

Nara Shikamaru calmly issued the order.

The five men immediately dispersed and hid in the shadows on the leeward side of the sand dunes.

A short while later.

Four figures dressed in khaki windproof suits appeared at the edge of the sand dune.

The leader of the ninjas was a burly man with red face paint.

He looked around warily, as if searching for some trace.

The moment I saw the burly man's face clearly.

Temari, hidden in the shadows, suddenly narrowed her eyes.

She recognized him!

That was an ordinary Jonin from the Sandstorm Squad of the Wind Province, one of Maki's subordinates!

In the Empire, although this guy was just an ordinary Jonin, he had mastered several powerful A-rank Wind Release techniques.

but.

This guy from a parallel world...

The chakra fluctuations on his body were pitifully weak, like a malnourished and defective product!