From the night of genocide, marching towards the strongest.

"Hehe." Jingyin chuckled and said, "I'm taking her to the hospital now, do you want to come with me?"

"Ok!"

An hour later, Sarada, who had just returned from the hospital, was cleaning up the ruins of her house. After searching for a while, a look of surprise appeared on her face.

"found it!"

In Sarada's hand was a family photo, showing herself as an infant, a child, her mother as a young adult, and her father, who looked far too young and had a cold expression.

Touching the picture frame in her hand, Sarada suddenly felt something was wrong. She pulled out the section with her father's picture separately and realized that it was not a group photo at all.

It is actually a composite of two photos.

Upon seeing this, Sarada's eyes narrowed, and she was startled. Looking at the red-haired, bespectacled girl next to her father, who was dressed in a black robe with red clouds, she murmured in disbelief.

"Who is this woman...?"

Chapter 249, Chapter Ninety-Six: Uchiha Sasuke and the Scarlet Flower Moon (Part 2)

One day later.

After a day and a night of trekking, Sasuke arrived at the ruins of Loulan following Queen Sara's instructions.

However, what lay before him was still a desolate desert, with no ruins or relics whatsoever.

Sasuke showed no impatience whatsoever, turning his head to look at Queen Sara with a questioning gaze.

Sensing Sasuke's gaze, Queen Sara remained silent for a moment before explaining, "Back when I left Loulan, to prevent those with ulterior motives from using the power of the dragon vein here, I left a magic array here to hide the Loulan ruins."

"Unless I die, the magic circle will continue indefinitely, preventing anyone from discovering the ruins here."

Upon hearing this, Sasuke nodded, finally understanding why no one had found the ruins of Loulan all these years.

It turns out that the Loulan Queen had hidden it using a sealing magic array.

Queen Sarah, having returned to her old haunts, surveyed her surroundings with a look of sadness and melancholy on her face.

Sasuke stood quietly to the side, and only spoke after the melancholy Queen of Loulan had regained her senses: "Your Majesty, please trouble you to dispel the magic array here."

Queen Sara glanced at Sasuke and said calmly, "I hope that, as you said, you will choose to give up after seeing that the power of the Dragon Vein is out of control."

"Of course, I'm a rather timid person who values ​​my life, and I rarely do dangerous things."

Sasuke nodded casually.

Queen Sara didn't bother to verify the truthfulness of Sasuke's words. She closed her eyes, formed a hand seal, and softly uttered:

"Hear my command, reveal your true form!"

Rumble!

As Queen Sara completed her hand seals, a mysterious energy surged forth, and soon after, a sandstorm swept across the land, causing the earth to tremble.

As if the sky had fallen and the earth had split open, stone houses suddenly appeared in the barren desert before them, but these buildings were already broken and dilapidated.

It wouldn't be an exaggeration to call it a ruin.

The Loulan ruins, which had mysteriously disappeared for fifteen years, have finally reappeared today!

"The ancient kingdom of Loulan!"

After scanning the surrounding ruins, Sasuke let out a sigh that was hard to decipher, and then focused his gaze on a towering tower that reached into the clouds at the center of the Loulan ruins.

The Lost Tower!

"Your Majesty, let's go."

Sasuke called out to the somewhat dazed Queen Sara, and the two of them walked together toward the central tower.

"Your Majesty, what secrets does the Lost Tower built by Loulan hold? How could it possibly gather the energy of the earth?"

As they walked, Sasuke pointed to the central platform in the distance and asked a question.

For some reason, Queen Sara is now unexpectedly honest and compliant, and she is almost completely open and honest about Sasuke's questions.

Upon hearing this, Queen Sara pondered for two seconds, pointed to the base of the Lost Tower, and said, "Because on the base of the central tower, there is a special stone called the Thousand-Attracting Stone!"

"A thousand-stone guide?!"

Upon hearing the name, Sasuke's eyes lit up with interest, and a thought struck him.

In mythology, the Thousand-Attracting Stone is a divine stone that embodies the spirit of the earth, possessing characteristics such as weight, solidity, and gravity.

Legend has it that even a fist-sized stone like the Thousand-Pulse Stone would require the combined strength of a thousand strongmen to move.

Hence the name Thousand-Attracting Stone!

In mythology, the Thousand-Piercing Stone was used by Izanagi to block the entrance to Yomi Hirasaka.

"Yes, the Thousand-Tiger Stone."

Queen Sarah nodded and explained, "Legend has it that when my ancestors made a pact with the earth, they were given this mythical stone, formed from the essence of the earth."

"Besides possessing the immense power of the earth, the Thousand-Pulse Stone also has the function of guiding and condensing the earth's energy. Hundreds of years ago, after my ancestor brought her people to this barren land, she used the Thousand-Pulse Stone as the foundation to build the central tower. After the tower was completed, she inscribed a magic circle on it to absorb the earth's energy and guide the earth's energy of the ninja world to this place."

"The desolate and deadly desert of Loulan has been transformed into a vibrant and precious oasis. Nourished by the earth's energy, the people of Loulan have been able to live and thrive here for hundreds of years. After absorbing the earth's spiritual energy for hundreds of years, this land has also condensed a powerful energy aggregate, which is the Dragon Vein!"

At this point, Queen Sara gave a wry smile and continued, "However, everything has its advantages and disadvantages. How could there be no price to pay for forcibly changing Loulan by gathering the power of the earth? Even though our lineage has signed a pact with the earth, this is still the case."

"The once-prosperous Loulan, under the backlash of the earth's power, also met its end with the destruction of the country and the city. If I hadn't woken up in time and led the people of Loulan away from here, it would not have been just a simple matter of the country being destroyed, but the extinction of the race."

"My current physical condition is also partly due to this factor; it's just the backlash of karma."

Upon hearing this, Sasuke suddenly understood.

Just as absorbing too much natural energy can lead to one's body being petrified.

The ancient Loulan Kingdom absorbed the energy of the earth for hundreds of years, forcibly maintaining its prosperity and flourishing in this desert for several hundred years.

Even if there is the Thousand-Attracting Stone, a divine artifact of the earth, and even if the Loulan Queen's lineage has signed strange contracts with the earth.

However, this relentless exploitation eventually provoked the wrath of the land, causing Loulan, which was at its peak, to be destroyed overnight and become history.

'This world has so many strange and wonderful things besides ninjas...'

Sasuke thought to himself, "The three holy lands are like this, the priestess lineage is like this, and now the Loulan lineage is the same."

There's even something called the Yellow Springs Pure Land, which is also a strange and bizarre concept.

However, in this way, he has finally found his earth-遁神器 (earth-遁神器 - a magical artifact for earth-遁ing, a technique ...

And it's already ready-made!

As the two talked, they arrived at the place in the tower where the Fourth Hokage had sealed the Dragon Vein.

"The seal there was cast by the Fourth Hokage."

Queen Sara pointed to the sealing array in the distance, a hint of melancholy appearing in her eyes once again.

Although the Fourth Hokage of Konoha sealed Sara's memories more than a decade ago, Sara has still remembered many things over the years.

For example, the Fourth Hokage sealed the dragon vein here.

And there's that boy from another time and space.

Sasuke glanced at the sealing array in the distance and immediately recognized traces of vortex sealing techniques such as the Four Symbols Sealing Technique and the Eight Trigrams Sealing Technique, as well as the space-time sealing technique of the Flying Thunder God Technique, all densely intertwined.

After a moment's hesitation, Sasuke spoke up: "Your Majesty, are you aware that the Dragon Veins have the ability to travel through time?"

"You even know about this?"

Upon hearing this, Queen Sarah looked at the boy with surprise, then shook her head and said, "Dragon veins are the product of the earth's spiritual energy condensing, blossoming, and bearing fruit. They are miracles created by human intervention and nature. Normally, dragon veins do not have any ability to travel through time and space, but..."

"More than ten years ago, Loulan did indeed welcome several visitors from other dimensions who came through the dragon vein, but I don't know the specific reasons."

"I see."

Sasuke nodded, asked no more questions, and walked to the very center of the Dragon Vein Seal to ponder it.

"This is a seal set up by the Fourth Hokage. No one in the entire ninja world can remove it except for him personally."

Seeing the young man pondering the sealing formation, Queen Sara said, "You already know the secret of how the central tower gathers the earth's energy. I can give you the formation here, and I can also give you the Thousand-Attracting Stone. But since you have achieved your necessary purpose for coming here, I think you should leave. The dragon vein is an uncontrollable and extremely dangerous thing, something you cannot control."

This is also an important reason why she felt at ease bringing Sasuke here. The seal on the Dragon Vein was personally set up by the Fourth Hokage. It is covered with all kinds of dense and extremely complex sealing arrays. Even she couldn't understand them very well. She could only barely make out that it was a systematic and extremely rigorous sealing technique.

She did find out the origin of these sealing techniques; they were from the Uzumaki Sealing Technique, once the best sealing technique family in the ninja world!

After all, the fact that the Fourth Hokage had a wife from the Uzumaki clan was not a big secret in the ninja world.

The only secret was Kushina Uzumaki's identity as the Nine-Tails' Jinchuriki.

"Wait a moment." Sasuke smiled slightly and continued to examine the sealing formation above.

Seeing that the boy ignored her words, Queen Sarah sighed, shook her head, and said no more.

Besides the sealing techniques of the Uzumaki clan, there is also a specially made kunai belonging to the Fourth Hokage on the dragon vein, which contains the power of space and time.

In other words, to break the sealing formation of the dragon vein, one must not only be proficient in the vortex sealing technique, but also understand the art of space and time.

But after the Fourth Hokage passed away, where in the ninja world can such a person still exist?

Sealing techniques are already the most difficult subject in ninjutsu, and the vortex sealing technique is even more difficult. As for space-time techniques?

Since the founding of the Five Great Ninja Villages, there have always only been two people who have mastered the technique of space-time.

Suddenly, Queen Sara saw the boy move. He quickly formed several hand seals and softly shouted, "Four Symbols Seal—Release! Eight Trigrams Seal—Release!"

Upon seeing this, Queen Sara was startled, her eyes widening as she exclaimed, "You know the sealing techniques of the Uzumaki clan!?"

He knows more than just the Four Symbols Sealing Technique and the Eight Trigrams Sealing Technique. Sasuke, who inherited Orochimaru's memories, also consults with Honoka, a master of sealing techniques, from time to time.

It can be said that apart from the four techniques of Adamantine Sealing Technique, Reaper Death Seal, Tail Locking Seal, and Yin Seal, he can master all the Whirlpool Sealing Techniques that are only available in the Konoha Scroll of Sealing Techniques!

Seeing that the boy remained silent and stopped after releasing a large number of vortex seals, Queen Sara felt a little relieved and secretly rejoiced.

You know the sealing techniques of the Uzumaki clan, fine, but you can't possibly know the space-time techniques of the Fourth Hokage, right?

However, Queen Sara's relief was short-lived. She immediately became anxious as the boy formed another hand seal and pulled out the Flying Thunder God Kunai stuck in the ground.

"You even know the Fourth Hokage's space-time jutsu!?"

"I wouldn't say I'm very good at it. I'd say I've barely gotten the hang of it. I'm still a long way from reaching the level of the Fourth Hokage."

Sasuke smiled and said casually.

Even if the Fourth Hokage were here, he wouldn't be able to break the Fourth Hokage's Flying Thunder God seal with his half-baked Flying Thunder God Technique.