They're promoting the "Konoha threat" theory, and spouting nonsense about the Hidden

Chapter 199 The Real Graduation Assessment Task

"The Dragon Vein is an ancient power buried beneath the earth of my Loulan Kingdom, containing immense chakra. Legend has it that my Loulan royal ancestors, by chance, formed a wondrous connection with this Dragon Vein, enabling them to control its power at close range."

"It was with this ability that our ancestors were able to establish such a vast kingdom as Loulan in this devilish desert... Even this ability to control the dragon veins has been passed down from generation to generation along with the bloodline, becoming the greatest reliance of our Loulan royal family."

Sarah watched the pillar of light transform into specks of light and gradually disappear into the horizon, and introduced it with a touch of pride.

"I see... Does that mean that the scene we just witnessed was orchestrated by someone in your royal family?"

Naruto looked up at the pillar of light that had disappeared and suddenly realized what was going on.

"No, the Loulan royal family only has one member left in my generation... wait, that just now meant someone was trying to contact the dragon vein!"

Sarah had barely uttered her rebuttal when she suddenly remembered what the scene she had just witnessed meant, and immediately ran in that direction in a panic.

"Someone has come into contact with the dragon vein? Does that mean it could be the centipede?"

Only then did Naruto Uzumaki realize what had happened. He picked up Sara and ran off in that direction.

Before inexplicably arriving in this timeline, Naruto Uzumaki was forming a team with Yamato, Sakura Haruno, and Sai, and had come to Sunagakure at the invitation of the village to capture the rogue ninja, Hyakuza.

However, after the centipede triggered the seal on the dragon vein, he inexplicably found himself in this strange space-time.

Naruto Uzumaki couldn't possibly come up with a way to go back, but his greatest strength is that he doesn't get bothered by these pointless worries.

Since we can't go back for the time being and haven't met up with the others, let's finish the mission first!

In any case, capturing Centipede was the right thing to do.

At the same time, in Naruto's mental world, within the dark and gloomy water prison, a pair of scarlet eyes suddenly opened.

"Strange... I just sensed that guy Saiken's presence..."

Kurama raised its head, gazing in the direction Naruto Uzumaki was heading, its eyes filled with a hint of doubt.

"If I remember correctly, Saiken was assigned to Kirigakure by Hashirama Senju. Could it have escaped? Or are there people from Kirigakure here?"

"Well... whatever, it's none of my business anyway, I should just go to sleep."

-

At the place where the dragon vein was sealed, the people who had been captured by the centipede to be made into puppets looked at the suddenly appearing people from Kirigakure with horror. As they looked at the puppet-making tools that had been destroyed by the aftershocks of the dragon vein, a hint of joy gradually appeared on their faces.

"Lord Crescent Moon, the chakra contained in this underground dragon vein is truly astonishing. Just now, during the extraction process, it was merely the dragon vein's instinctive reaction that shattered my sealing runes... Unless you can suppress the dragon vein's reaction during my sealing process, I'm afraid it will be impossible to complete the extraction in a short time."

After briefly inspecting the stone platform upon returning, the Uzumaki Sect member immediately approached Hozuki Shingetsu with a face full of shame.

He naturally knew that Hozuki Shingetsu's main purpose for this trip was to extract the dragon vein's chakra. Now that he couldn't extract it, it meant that the mission had completely failed. And the main reason for this failure was him. How could he not feel ashamed?

"Suppressing the dragon vein chakra... Looks like I'll have to meet this queen after all!"

Hozuki Shingetsu wasn't too discouraged when he heard Uzumaki Muneto say that.

Originally, he wasn't interested in capturing any rogue ninjas; he just wanted to take the dragon vein chakra peacefully. But now it seems he has no choice but to turn the Loulan Kingdom upside down!

Click!Click!

Just as Hozuki Shingetsu made up his mind to meet the Sand Village rogue ninja and the Queen of Loulan, he suddenly heard the sound of puppet footsteps coming from all directions.

He turned his head and saw that, without him noticing, the area had been surrounded by a dense array of puppets.

The puppets surrounding this place are all strangely shaped, some humanoid, some spider-like, and some bird-like.

Moreover, the style of Sunagakure is clearly visible in the design of these puppets, which features bizarre bodies, ugly heads, and coarse hair.

Upon seeing this scene, the joy in the eyes of the imprisoned citizens vanished instantly, and they scrambled away from the area.

"Warning! Warning!"

"An unknown enemy has been discovered and will be eliminated."

As the alarm sounded, which had appeared out of nowhere, the eyes of the puppets suddenly lit up with red light.

"Looks like it's our turn to step in now!"

As Mei Terumi watched the endless stream of puppets approaching, a smile of great interest appeared on her delicate face.

"Hozuki Mangetsu, you seemed to be quite unhappy about losing to me before? How about we have another match and see who destroys more puppets? The loser can shout 'I'm no match for my opponent' three times at the entrance of the Ninja Academy after returning to the village, how about that?"

Mei Terumi turned to look at the eager Hozuki Mangetsu and proposed a bet with a smile on her face.

As for Mei Terumi's challenge, Hozuki Mangetsu, naturally not wanting to tarnish his family's reputation in front of Hozuki Shingetsu, immediately nodded in agreement.

"Great, now you should take good care of your voice!"

Mei Terumi smiled and then leaned forward, charging towards the massive puppet army.

As she charged forward, she formed hand seals and unleashed a ninjutsu.

"Water Release: Water Whip!"

The streams of water converged in her right hand, gradually condensing into a highly concentrated water whip.

boom!

It can only be said that this woman is a natural whip master. Under her skillful swinging, the highly concentrated water whip continuously struck the joints and feet of these puppets.

Despite her young age, Mei Terumi has extensive combat experience compared to her peers, having undergone complete training at the Kirigakure Ninja Academy.

Despite possessing the Boil Release technique, she knew that with her current chakra reserves, if she continued to use offensive ninjutsu, she would likely run out of chakra in no time.

That's why she chose Water Whip, a ninjutsu whose power can be altered by controlling the amount of chakra input.

Moreover, her combat strategy is not to seek direct destruction, but to restrict the opponent's movements first.

After all, the puppet's attack methods are nothing more than a few. As long as its movement is restricted, you can use explosive tags and other means to deal with it.

So, she used her agile figure to move through the huge group of puppets. With the waving of her water whip, one by one, the heavy puppets collapsed to the ground, powerless.

While Mei Terumi was showing off her skills, Mangetsu Hozuki was naturally not to be outdone.

His approach was the same as Mei Terumi's: first restrict the puppets' movements before considering anything else, except that their attack methods differed.

Mei Terumi relies on her water whip, whose power she can freely control, while Mangetsu Hozuki naturally uses... his superb swordsmanship.

As the only genius in the original work who could skillfully wield all seven ninja swords, Hozuki Mangetsu's talent in swordsmanship needs no further explanation.

Therefore, as early as when Hozuki Mangetsu began to engage in ninja training, Hozuki Shingetsu provided him with a large amount of resources, allowing him to run wildly on the path of swordsmanship from the very beginning.

The ninja sword he is currently using is naturally not one of the Seven Ninja Swords of Kirigakure. After all, given his seniority, even if Hozuki Shingetsu were to step forward, it would be difficult for everyone to believe that a five-year-old child who has just graduated from the Ninja Academy is qualified to become one of the new generation of Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist.

Therefore, the ninja sword he is currently using is a chakra ninja sword personally forged by the blacksmith master who "voluntarily" stayed in Kirigakure after the completion of the Kirigakure World's Number One Series Tournament.

At least in terms of sharpness, it is in no way inferior to the Seven Ninja Swords.

Along Hozuki Mangetsu's charge route, streaks of cold light accompanied the flying of severed limbs and broken arms.

The puppets, of course, would not sit idly by and wait to die. They either threw punches or spat out large amounts of poisoned senbon needles in an attempt to stop Hozuki Mangetsu.

Unfortunately, these puppets couldn't even touch Hozuki Mangetsu. Amidst the clanging and parrying sounds of ninja swords, they couldn't escape the fate of collapsing on the spot.

If Mei Terumi relied on her exquisite chakra manipulation skills and Mangetsu Hozuki relied on his superb swordsmanship to defeat these puppets, then Kisame Hoshigaki's fighting style seemed much simpler and more unpretentious.

What he relied on was—a massive amount of chakra.

As a "tailless tailed beast", even though he is only six years old, the amount of chakra contained in his body has already reached an astonishing one chakra.

In other words, Kisame Hoshigaki currently has enough chakra to unleash the A-rank ninjutsu Chidori four times.

This is an astonishing amount of chakra for a six-year-old child.

However, since the Ninja Academy could only exchange for C-rank ninjutsu at most, Kisame Hoshigaki, who came from a commoner background, was unable to fully demonstrate his characteristics during his time at the Ninja Academy and was relegated to the ranks below Mei Terumi and Mangetsu Hozuki.

However, this shortcoming was made up for by Hozuki Shingetsu's eagerness to nurture talent—on the way there, he specially taught Kisame two B-rank ninjutsu, the contribution points required for which could be paid later.

"Water Release: Exploding Water Wave!"

Kisame Hoshigaki's throat bulged, and then a huge stream of water gushed out of his mouth, turning into turbulent water that stirred up waves in the underground space.

Under the violent impact of this massive current, the puppets present swayed and lost their footing.

Taking this opportunity, Kisame Hoshigaki once again formed hand seals and slapped the water's surface.

"Water Release: Five-Flavor Shark-Eating Technique!"

In an instant, five ferocious sharks formed under his fingers, swaying their tails merrily in the water as they charged toward the puppets who were now unsteady on their feet!

This combination of Exploding Water Wave and Five Shark-eating Techniques was a ninjutsu carefully selected by Hozuki Shingetsu based on the characteristics of Kisame Hoshigaki from his previous life.

Not only can it make full use of its enormous chakra reserves, but this watery environment also allows the Mist Ninja to fully utilize their expertise in water.

As long as the enemy is surrounded by this huge flow of water, the Mist Ninja's chances of winning will increase by more than 30%!

Thanks to the efforts of the three children, these puppets, capable of wiping out a Chunin squad, were quickly wiped out.

Hozuki Shingetsu watched this scene with a satisfied smile in his eyes.

While the trio's exceptional talent was a key factor in achieving such a victory, their ability to so easily eliminate enemies of this caliber at such a young age must also be attributed to the reforms they implemented at the Ninja Academy.

After all, talent for cultivation can be innate, but combat wisdom, experience, and courage are things that truly need to be cultivated.

"27, 28... A tie? Damn it... If Kisame's Water Burst Wave hadn't interfered with my attack, how could you have possibly tied with me?"

After counting the results of their battles, Mei Terumi looked at Kisame Hoshigaki with a depressed expression. She couldn't tell from him that she would later become the mature and powerful Mizukage who would restore order and lead Kirigakure.

Kisame initially intended to ignore Mei Terumi's accusations. However, recalling what Shingetsu Hozuki had told him about the importance of companions, he pondered for a moment and then gave Mei Terumi an apologetic shark smile.

"..."

Just as Mei Terumi and Shingetsu Hozuki were speechless as they looked at the smiling figure, the mastermind behind these puppets, Hyakuzuki, finally appeared.

"I thought it was someone causing trouble here, but it turns out it's a Kirigakure ninja..."

A centipede dressed in jewels and jade appeared before the group, giving Hozuki Shingetsu and the others a contemptuous smile.

Before he transmigrated, Kirigakure had already become known as the Village of Blood Mist, and its connection with the Ninja World Continent had long been severed.

After he transmigrated, he stayed quietly in the Loulan Kingdom, trying to grasp the dragon vein.

Therefore, he did not recognize the people in front of him who were famous in both the present world and parallel universes.

In his view, the Mist Ninja, mired in internal strife at this point, no longer had the ability to interfere with the Ninja World. Didn't they see that the other side had even sent three children?

Those two adult ninjas were able to defeat these puppets, so their strength was barely enough to be considered Jonin level, which was acceptable.

But to think that he can cause trouble in Loulan Kingdom with just the strength of two Jonin is to underestimate him!

"I must admit, you do have some skill in defeating these puppets... In that case, I'll make an exception and show you the power of the Dragon Vein!"

With a fanatical expression, Centipede raised his hands, and along with his words and the whooshing sound of air being cut, countless puppet fragments flew in from all directions, orderly circling and assembling around him.

Soon, a giant humanoid puppet, tens of meters tall, appeared before everyone.

"As those who witnessed my first step in conquering the ninja world, I must admit you are fortunate!"

A dull thud came from the puppet's chest, and Centipede looked at the Mist Ninja with a smug expression.

"So, in response to this good fortune, let me show you what true power is!"

Looking at the giant puppet before him, which was far weaker than Susanoo, Hozuki Shingetsu turned to glance at the three children who were still in shock, and said in a nonchalant tone:

"See this? This is the graduation assessment task I assigned to you. As long as you can defeat him, you will be able to graduate smoothly."

"Of course, considering fairness, you still need a little help."

As soon as he finished speaking, three tails suddenly rose up from behind Hozuki Shingetsu and gently touched the three little ones.

In an instant, a crimson chakra filled with a strong sense of foreboding suddenly appeared on the three little ones, completely enveloping them!

(End of this chapter)