Ninja World: I, Kisame Hoshigaki, am no longer human!

"Oh!"

As the clouds began to churn violently, a colossal creature emerged from the sea of ​​clouds.

Dozens of kilometers directly below, nestled among sand dunes and mountains, lies a ruin filled with crumbling walls.

We've arrived at the Loulan Ruins.

Surprisingly, however, there are still signs of ninja activity near these ruins...

204. Gallo and Sara

Deep in the desert, a cluster of abandoned buildings stands.

The buildings were distinctive, long and narrow, like a forest of towers, forming a unique landscape in the vast and monotonous desert.

This is the site of the ancient Loulan Kingdom.

This country once prospered because of a dragon vein buried underground, experiencing a surge in population and becoming a bustling metropolis. However, this also attracted the attention of a powerful nation, leading to its invasion and swift destruction by the army of the Wind Kingdom.

Today, Loulan is nothing but eternal desolation and loneliness.

Above the sky, after the Kun peeked out from the clouds, it did not fully reveal itself, but slowly opened its abyss-like maw.

A figure emerged from its mouth; it was Kisame creating another shadow clone.

The next second, his clone flew towards the Loulan ruins below, while his main body, Kun, returned to the sea of ​​clouds.

Kisame's plan was simple: use his clone to enter the Loulan ruins, find the dragon vein and break its seal, and finally let Kun descend to absorb the power of the dragon vein on the spot.

Thirty kilometers, twenty kilometers, ten kilometers...

Kisame drew closer and closer to the ground. During this process, he activated his Byakugan, which revealed an incredibly massive energy flow a hundred meters deep beneath Loulan. Like a dazzling sun, it emitted a blinding light that made it difficult for him to look at it for long.

That is the Dragon Vein, which contains almost infinite chakra, and its power is so great that it can distort space and time.

However, Kisame soon discovered that he wasn't the only one interested in the dragon vein.

Outside the ruins of Loulan, a ninja squad of several dozen people set up tents and camped out.

Kisame was secretly monitoring them.

Although none of these people were wearing ninja uniforms or headbands, Kisame could still tell that they were ninjas from Sunagakure.

Because he saw a woman with short, sandy-yellow hair in the crowd, who was heavily pregnant and holding the hands of a little girl and a little boy.

That woman was Karura, the wife of the deceased Fourth Kazekage, Rasa.

The two-year-old girl and one-year-old boy beside her are her eldest daughter Temari and son Kankuro, respectively. As for the baby in her belly, it is naturally her youngest son Gaara.

It seems that when Nagato razed Sunagakure and slaughtered its villagers, a small number of survivors managed to escape, preserving the last embers of Sunagakure.

Inside the camp, apart from Garura, the other Sand Village ninjas were mostly very busy. They kept going in and out of the Loulan ruins, seemingly searching for something.

"Lord Garuru."

At that moment, a young ninja with his head wrapped in bandages and a red mark on his right cheek emerged from the ruins and bowed to Karura.

"Oh, it's Machi. How's it going inside?" Gallo asked with a kind smile and concern.

Although Maki is only eighteen years old, he has already been promoted to Jonin due to his outstanding performance on the battlefield. Most importantly, he is extremely loyal to the Fourth Kazekage.

Therefore, when Nagato invaded Sunagakure, Maki received the mission to protect the Kazekage's widow and child.

Over the course of six months, the group wandered through the Land of Wind, dodging countless pursuits and assassinations along the way. They eventually managed to escape into the depths of the desert and find the ruins of Loulan.

Maki and his companions came here partly to find a safe haven, but more importantly, to find the legendary dragon vein.

Then, with its power, we will take revenge on Nagato and Amegakure!

When asked by Gallo, Maki's face darkened, and he replied with some self-reproach, "My lord, I'm sorry, we still have nothing to show for it today."

"It's alright, Maki."

Upon hearing this, Galuro patiently comforted his subordinates, "Actually, even if you find the dragon vein, I'm afraid you won't be able to open it. I've heard that only the Queen of Loulan can break the seal on the dragon vein and release its power, but where are we going to find the Queen now?"

Her unspoken message was to persuade Maki to give up.

After all, the idea of ​​finding the dragon vein was Maki and the others from the very beginning. As a woman who had lost her husband and a mother of three, Galura's only wish was to give birth to her youngest son safely and not to cause any further trouble.

To Galluro's surprise...

"My lord, according to the latest intelligence we have obtained, the last queen of Loulan was named Sara. Not only did she not die in the war, but she may very well have been hiding in these ruins all along. Our people have already searched most of the ruins and we believe we will be able to find her soon."

Machi spoke with a burning gaze, revealing a firm resolve.

Oh?

Kisame, who was hiding in the shadows, overheard these words and raised an eyebrow.

Without making a sound, he quietly bypassed the Sand Village camp and secretly infiltrated the Loulan ruins.

Half an hour later, deep within the ruins.

Kisame arrived alone, his leather shoes clicking on the ground, the crisp sound of his footsteps echoing in the empty street.

Although the buildings lining the streets are dilapidated, one can still vaguely discern their former splendor. At its peak, Loulan was no less prosperous than Konoha Village.

Kisame seemed to be walking forward aimlessly, but in reality, he had already sensed an unfamiliar chakra lingering nearby.

The owner of that chakra seemed to have noticed Kisame's arrival and had been hiding in the shadows, watching him and playing a game of hide-and-seek with him.

Click.

Suddenly, a crisp sound came from the corner of the street, sounding like someone had stepped on a fallen tree branch.

She was a girl with long, deep red hair, who looked about sixteen or seventeen years old, youthful and beautiful.

Oops.

The girl glanced at the withered branch at her feet, then looked ahead and saw Kisame looking in the direction of the sound, smiling at her.

Without a second thought, she turned and ran, quickly disappearing into the depths of the ruins.

Ten minutes later.

"hu~hu~"

The girl hid behind a statue in the park, panting with lingering fear, and occasionally looked back to make sure the enemy wasn't following her.

She was the mother of Sara, the last queen of Loulan, and the previous queen. She was killed by the minister Baizu after discovering his plot. After that, the army of the Wind Kingdom arrived and destroyed Loulan in a devastating attack. Only Sara survived thanks to the desperate protection of her subordinates.

The once-powerful Loulan Kingdom is now reduced to a single woman.

Although she was queen, she had no subjects. Nevertheless, Sarah has, over the past few years, upheld the duties of the previous Loulan queens—

She lives alone in these ruins, guarding the dragon vein.

Barring unforeseen circumstances, this lonely and long life would continue until Sarah died, and decades later she too would pass away and leave this world.

But recently, a group of uninvited guests have arrived from outside.

Sarah deduced that those people were after the dragon vein, so she carefully hid in the shadows, monitoring them for more than two months, and using various means to try her best to interfere with and prevent them from getting close to the dragon vein.

She grew up here and was familiar with every corner of the street, which allowed her to use the terrain to narrowly escape the Sand Village ninja's search several times.

Just like this time.

Thinking of this, Sarah's lips curled into a smug smile.

She was, after all, a teenage girl, and spending years alone in these ruins must have been incredibly boring. Now, these guys searching for the dragon vein have certainly added some fun to Sarah's otherwise dull life.

However, it turned out that Sarah was too happy too soon.

"Hello."

Just when Sarah thought she had shaken off her pursuers, a voice suddenly came from the side.

Sarah was startled and looked ahead in astonishment, only to find—

Kisame appeared silently in the park at some point, sitting on a bench a few meters away from Sara, crossing his legs, and waving to her.

Without a word, Sarah turned and ran in another direction, but she had only run a few steps when she tripped over the chakra threads under her feet and fell on the grass.

Kisame walked up to Sara, extended a hand to the girl, and spoke again:

"Don't be nervous. I'm not with those Sand Village ninjas. I'm here to help you."

"Help me?"

Sara stared at Kisame warily, not shaking his hand, but frowning and saying coldly, "I don't care who you are, you're not welcome here, and I don't need anyone's help."

No, you need to.

Kisame immediately corrected Sara's thinking and explained to her, "I know you are the Queen of Loulan, guarding the Dragon Vein here. But you don't know that the energy of the Dragon Vein is very unstable and could very well cause spacetime distortions, thereby summoning people from the future or from other worlds. Once that happens, it will trigger a series of chain reactions, bringing disaster to this world. Have you thought about these things?"

"Who...who are you, and why are you spouting nonsense here?"

Sarah was shocked, not only because the other party had revealed her identity in a single sentence, but also because of Kisame's sensational remarks.

"I am a peace-loving person and I am committed to maintaining the balance of energy in this world."

Kisame smiled slightly and said inscrutably, "As for whether I'm talking nonsense or not, I'll prove it to you when you take me to the Dragon Vein, little girl."

“Don’t even think about it!” Sarah refused without hesitation.

Taking advantage of Kisame's inattention, she suddenly scrambled up from the grass and fled into the distance.

Kisame watched Sara's beautiful figure disappear into the distance, then calmly followed her with his hands in his pockets.

Sarah's good luck seems to have run out today.

She had just escaped from the park and hadn't even had a chance to catch her breath when she ran into a group of Sand Village ninjas.

"Catch her!"

Several Sand Village ninjas were overjoyed and immediately formed an encirclement. After a relatively mild battle, they quickly captured Sara.

The Loulan Queen was thus bound by chains and taken back by the Sand Village ninja.

Kisame witnessed the whole thing, but he didn't intervene. Instead, he watched as Sara was taken away by the Sand Village ninja.

Since someone is playing the villain, he can save himself some trouble. He only needs to wait in the wings and easily reap the rewards at the last moment.

Sara was brought before Karura by the Sand Village ninja.