Revitalizing the Uchiha clan starts with becoming a Kage.

At this moment, Baizu let out an extremely arrogant and shrill laugh. Overconfident, Baizu truly looked down on everyone. In his narrow-minded view, he, who had completely mastered the power of the dragon vein, was the strongest person in the world!

Mass-produced puppet soldiers!

And there's also his own complete puppet art!

"Your Highness Sarah, please wait! Your Majesty, I will escort you to reunite with the late Queen right now!"

A chilling light flickered in the centipede's pupils, and then it leaped forward, hurtling towards the very bottom of the tower.

Beneath it lies not only the most important dragon vein of the Loulan Kingdom, but also the perfect puppet art that Baizu boasts as the most complete he has achieved in recent years. He believes that with the power of this supreme art he has created matching the power of the dragon vein, he can easily kill all the attackers!

Centipede was eager to take the first step in its quest for hegemony.

Little did they know that at this moment, Shoji, Naruto, Minato, and the others were also trying to find this so-called minister of the Loulan Kingdom as soon as possible, each with their own intentions.

Although the storyline of Sara and Naruto, who left early, differed slightly from the original plot, the development between them was still quite similar to that in the original work, thanks to Naruto's special charm. Most importantly, with Naruto's help, Sara met her subjects for the first time and learned the truth from them who had been completely imprisoned and bound by Centipede.

Sarah fell silent. Outsiders could deceive her, but she had no choice but to believe her own subjects. And what about dozens, hundreds, or even more people?

Sarah had to consider the possibility that An Lushan was the real source of trouble!

"So, Sara, trust us. I, Naruto Uzumaki, swear on my ninja way that I will absolutely protect you. And I can promise you that if there is any misunderstanding, I will definitely stand firmly on your side!"

Naruto clenched his right fist and pounded his left chest hard, speaking in an extremely firm and serious tone.

"Naruto-kun..."

Looking at the blond boy in front of me making that earnest promise.

Sarana's heart, uniquely that of a young girl, was stirred by this. After taking a deep breath, she nodded emphatically and said, "Yes, I believe in you, Naruto-kun!"

To put it jokingly, from the perspective of "viewers" watching anime, anything in anime that's hard to explain logically is generally called "plot necessity," like someone's death being called a "plot kill." But this is obviously just a comment from an "omniscient" perspective. If you were actually in that world, no matter how far-fetched something seems, you'd have to find a reasonable explanation. After all, you can't call everything that happens in your real life, like failing an exam or getting into a car accident, "plot necessity," right?

We must find a relatively reasonable reason from this perspective. Therefore, in this specific world, it must be the same as our real society. For example, the relationship between Naruto and Sara at this moment, from a normal perspective, Sara, like other heroines in the 'movie version', 'fell' too quickly. But you certainly can't explain it as 'plot necessity'. You can only explain it as Naruto's personal charm being too high, which easily wins over these girls!

At least the Queen, who was standing on the high point at this moment and who had previously distrusted Naruto completely but was now almost confiding in him, couldn't help but shake her head slightly.

'So this is what they call the protagonist's halo!'

Jiang Si admitted that he did feel a little envious.

Just by being separated and staying together for a short time, Naruto was able to gain Sara's pure trust. It would be a lie to say that he wasn't envious!

However, Naruto's ability would save a lot of trouble. After all, Shoji still needs to be on guard and needs Her Majesty the Queen to step in and curb the power of the Dragon Vein!

An agreement reached.

The factory here is where the dragon vein's power was manifested, even though it was shut down beforehand.

The production process for the puppet soldiers was also temporarily halted.

However, the power of the dragon vein itself still requires Sarah to go to the bottom of the central tower and use her authority as a queen to completely shut it down!

Clearly, Centipede would never give Sara such an opportunity, almost exactly when Naruto was about to take Sara to the location at the bottom of the central tower.

Having already made all the necessary preparations for battle, Centipede not only dispatched all of its remaining puppet soldiers, but also used what it considered to be the pinnacle of puppetry art!

“Salslsla!”

The sheer number of puppet soldiers, two or three hundred in total, and the filthy, centipede-like crawling creatures that snaked upwards from the ground, made Jiang Si shake his head slightly upon seeing them: 'These things are incredibly ugly; compared to scorpions, they have absolutely no artistic merit.'

Even if the focus of a puppet is on its practical combat effectiveness, shouldn't it at least be made to look aesthetically pleasing within the scope of its capabilities? Take Scorpion, for example, who transformed his body into a human puppet form. He completely replicated his youthful appearance, resulting in a handsome young man!

Moreover, it doesn't affect the strength they can exert at all. Even the Third Kazekage, who was made into a puppet, only looks a bit sinister and mechanical, but overall still looks like a human. The puppet-making of Centipede is truly disgusting, one after another.

This was achieved by leveraging the power of the dragon vein.

The difference between the two is obvious, and the gap is not just a little bit!

"Haha! See that? This is the power of the Dragon Vein! Kid, since you dared to track me down, be prepared to die here! Today marks the first step in my, Lord An Lushan's, conquest of the ninja world! Let your blood forge my, Lord An Lushan's, formidable name!"

From the head of what could be called a puppet, a burst of extremely arrogant laughter erupted from the lips that opened and closed.

Although from Shoji's perspective, this thing is at most just something that can take a beating, in reality, the aura it exudes is already comparable to the 'Kage' level!

Not far away, the other three arrived almost half a beat later. Minato was alright, but Choza and Shiki's expressions were extremely solemn and serious.

For Ding Zuo and Zhi Wei at this moment, the aura displayed by the human puppet Bai Zu was already terrifying enough. Moreover, they were unaware that, with the power of the dragon vein, Bai Zu's human puppet could also be repaired continuously and in a timely manner!

Don't be fooled by the few seconds of repair time in the original work; that's just for the 'audience' to see. In reality, the repair time is less than a second.

Therefore, to truly destroy this human puppet, either Sarah needs to shut down the power of the dragon vein, or the strongest spell needs to be used in one go to destroy the core inside the human puppet!

Of those present, only Shoji could destroy the centipede puppet with pure power, but it was clear that Shoji would not do so, as that would inevitably expose his Sharingan and Susanoo.

Even if they are not in the same time and space.

Shoji didn't want to cause trouble for the Uchiha clan in this parallel world, where there was still a person named 'Uchiha Shoji'. Shoji didn't know if the 'Uchiha Shoji' in this timeline also had a chance to lead the Uchiha clan to a comeback, but at least he couldn't reveal himself!

Therefore, it is still necessary to refer to the standard answer in the original work.

Send Sarah to shut down the power of the dragon veins.

This was a decision made almost from the very beginning.

"Sizzle sizzle sizzle!"

The burst of lightning.

"Lightning Release - Lightning Descent Technique!"

The figure flipped down, leaving behind the rapidly formed marks.

"boom!"

A terrifying burst of lightning, violently unleashed from the sky, struck down, instantly destroying several puppet soldiers who had closed in on it below.

"Naruto, you protect Princess Sara as she shuts down the Dragon Vein's power. We can handle things here!"

Jiang Si also leaped up and landed directly in front of Naruto, saying the same thing to him. At almost the same time, Minato, Choza, and Shiki launched an attack from the other side, destroying the puppet soldiers one after another!

This instantly divided the battlefield.

"Oh? Brother Si! Hmm, I understand. Then I'll leave this to you!"

When Naruto saw Shoji appear, a hint of joy appeared in his azure eyes, and his voice rose slightly at that moment.

"Sarah, you can do it!"

Naruto turned his head and looked at the dashing young woman beside him, and said this.

"Yeah, no problem, Naruto. I can definitely shut down the power of the Dragon Vein!"

"Great, let's go then!"

Naruto also revealed an extremely bright smile, nodded heavily, and amidst Sara's extremely surprised and shy expression, Naruto reached out and bent down to pick Sara up around the waist, then suddenly leaped up and sped towards the depths of the underground.

"What are you doing, Naruto? Put me down!"

"That's faster, ls!"

The rapidly departing figure, along with the distant sounds of a girl's embarrassed anger and a boy's cheerful words, startled Jiang Si at first. Then, he couldn't help but shake his head with amusement. Who said Naruto was a blockhead? In the original story, he traveled all over the world flirting with girls. This 'fool' was a master at picking up girls!

"So, in this respect, you're far inferior to your father, Naruto!"

Jiang Si smiled slightly and thought to himself.

"Sarah, you're not leaving! None of you are leaving!"

Upon seeing Sara being led by Naruto towards the location of the dragon vein below, the human puppet in the form of Centipede revealed a look of rage on its face. It not only controlled the puppet soldiers to swarm after Naruto's departing location, but also...

He, too, crawled upwards in a winding path, trying to intercept Naruto and Sara.

However, it was clear that the four people sitting to the side—Shoji, Shuimen, Dingza, and Zhiwei—would not give Baizu such an opportunity.

"Lightning Release - Lightning Gale Technique!"

The hand seals that Shoji immediately formed, the large-area covering technique he directly chose, the soaring Silver Serpent Dance, although it was only a B-rank escape technique, under the chakra that Shoji deliberately enhanced.

"Boom!"

A terrifying wave burst forth.

"Boom!"

"Boom!"

"Splash!"

They aimed at the direction the centipede puppet was moving and unleashed a series of swift, horizontal bolts of lightning.

The puppet soldiers who were caught up in the chaos were destroyed one after another. The centipede puppet only paused for a moment, and its broken surface was quickly repaired in less than a second.

"Can this puppet repair itself!?"

"So this is the power of the dragon vein!"

Almost the instant I saw it.

Minato, Choza, and Shimi immediately grasped the tricky part of this puppet. Usually, such a special existence can either be completely destroyed in one blow, leaving not even a trace, which would make it impossible to repair, or its core can be found!

No matter how perfect a puppet is.

He was ultimately a puppet.

There must be a core area where he operates!

Especially with the centipede-like human puppet, Konoha, which has been dealing with the Sand Ninja for many years, knows the strengths and weaknesses of puppets well. The most basic way to break the puppeteer's control of the puppet is by using chakra threads. For human puppets, you need to find their core to destroy them in one blow!

However, when faced with the centipede puppet, Minato's trio were clearly somewhat outmatched!

However, they don't need to force themselves to do this.

"Namikaze-kun, all we need to do is hold this guy off for a short while. Once we cut off the supply of dragon vein power, this puppet is nothing more than a slightly harder tortoise shell!"

It must be said that, in Jiang Si's opinion, the way Bai Zu used the dragon vein was too crude. He had arrived in this world so many years ahead of schedule, yet he had not truly unleashed the power that the dragon vein should have!

They're simply using the dragon vein as a 'perpetual motion machine'!

'No wonder you're only a rogue ninja, and one with hardly any reputation at that!'

Jiang Si looked at the centipede puppet not far away, a faint hint of mockery in his eyes.

"Yes, we understand!"

What the general said.

That was exactly what Minato was thinking.