Konoha: Superman template, the spoiled brat becomes strong.

A beam of light, intertwined with gold and red, suddenly shot out from the center of the vortex.

Naruto's pupils reflected countless shimmering fragments of images—a giant burning Tenseigan, a meteorite monument sunk to the bottom of the sea, and countless ninja corpses wearing blank headbands.

These images lingered on his retina for less than half a second before being torn into particles of light by the gravitational force of the vortex eruption.

Just as Sasuke's Susanoo skeleton was taking shape, Naruto's golden hair disappeared into the distorted air.

All he could reach out and grab was half a broken ninja headband, the edges still bearing burn marks from the residual power of the spirit orb.

After engulfing Naruto, the spatial vortex rapidly collapsed, eventually leaving a perfect circular scorch mark with a diameter of two meters on the ground.

The mysterious girl's gear-shaped seal emitted a piercing grinding sound.

She knelt on the edge of the still-scorching earth, the puppet arm's sensors scanning every grain of dust: spatial coordinate residue less than 0.3%, tracking probability...

Shut up! Sasuke's Kusanagi sword suddenly struck the rock between the two, and the lightning chakra blasted the rock into countless crystal fragments.

His Sharingan had already transformed into the three-tomoe state, yet no trace of space-time ninjutsu could be found.

Sweat dripped down his chin onto the sealing scroll on the sword hilt, spreading into a small, dark stain.

Eighty meters away, the cliff suddenly tilted and slid into the deep valley, and the dust and mist it raised covered the entire ruins in a gray veil.

The mysterious girl's puppet arm creaked as gears jammed, and her steel fingers dug deep into the ground.

Sasuke noticed that the Flying Thunder God Technique seal that appeared on the back of her neck was fading, like ink being erased by an eraser.

Chapter 387 Trusting your comrades presupposes you are alive

The light chakra of the Kusanagi sword crackled in the air, and Sasuke's breathing was as heavy as the bellows of Sunagakure.

The three-tomoe Sharingan swept across the scorched ground. The crystalline particles burned by the spatial turbulence refracted tiny rainbows in the sunlight, but no fluctuation of living chakra could be found.

Five minutes. The mysterious girl suddenly spoke, the joints of her puppet arm emitting a metallic scraping sound. This level of residual space-time ninjutsu only had a five-minute effective time limit for coordinate tracking. The Flying Thunder God Technique seal on the back of her neck had faded to almost transparent, and her steel fingers drew three concentric circles on the sand.

Sasuke's sword tip pressed against her throat, his Sharingan reflecting her pale face: "You knew all along this vortex would devour people." The sword's edge left a dent in the girl's skin, but the puppet arm's defensive mechanisms remained unactivated.

The gear-shaped seal suddenly emitted a blinding red light, and the girl's pupils contracted to vertical slits: Thirteen years ago, at the border of the Land of Rain, the same energy fluctuations swallowed up the entire caravan. She tore off the bandages on her left arm, revealing mechanical joints covered in runes. At that time, my father carried the sealing scroll of the Third Kazekage.

A faint cracking sound came from the edge of the scorched earth, and a few grains of quartz sand suddenly vaporized into purple smoke.

Sasuke's sword trembled slightly as he smelled an ozone odor similar to that of Thundercloud Cave—a sign that the spacetime rift had completely closed.

Rushing in now would only turn you into molecular fragments. The girl's puppet arm suddenly unfolded into a fan-shaped mechanism, and sixteen kunai simultaneously pointed at the dissipating purple mist. "I need forty-nine seconds to prepare the anti-phase barrier, and you..." Her gaze fell on Sasuke's bleeding left palm, where metal fragments from Naruto's headband still remained.

Sasuke let out a low growl like a trapped beast, and his Sharingan began to spin involuntarily.

Fragments of memory suddenly flooded back: the Rasengan in the torrential rain at the Valley of the End, the scarred hand that grabbed his wrist when the Tenchi Bridge broke, and the golden hair that flew up when Naruto disappeared into the vortex five minutes earlier.

Thirty seconds. He heard his own hoarse voice, the Kusanagi sword carving deep furrows in the ground. "I can cut through the spatial rift before the barrier is complete." The three-tomoe jade pendant suddenly turned into a windmill shape, and drops of blood from the corner of his eye dripped onto the scorched earth with a hissing sound.

The mysterious girl's gear-shaped incantation suddenly buzzed as she tore open the skin of her right arm, revealing a bronze compass hidden beneath the bionic tissue.

The twelve metal rings engraved with constellations began to rotate in reverse, and the sensors on the puppet arm emitted pale blue chakra smoke.

"Don't use your eye technique!" She suddenly flung out three puppet strings that wrapped around Sasuke's wrist. The spatial turbulence would backfire along with the chakra... Before she finished speaking, Sasuke's Chidori Spear had already pierced the center of the shrinking purple mist. The lightning exploded into hundreds of arcs the moment it touched the spatial rift.

The girl's puppet strings snapped, but she took the opportunity to press the bronze compass into the scorched earth.

Suddenly, a huge six-pointed star array appeared on the ground, and the star map of the Twenty-Eight Mansions was clearly visible in the sunlight.

Sasuke was thrown to the ground by the recoil, and his Sharingan saw countless golden runes rising from the star array.

Twenty seconds. Blood trickled from the corner of the girl's mouth, and the transmission shaft of the puppet arm began to crack. "Inject your chakra into the Zhen position!" She ripped open her collar, revealing the Flying Thunder God Technique seal that was bleeding below her collarbone. The originally blurry mark became clear again under the illumination of the star array.

Sasuke's Chidori Stream condensed into a sphere in his palm, but suddenly stopped just before it touched the star array.

His pupils contracted sharply—the image of Naruto being pinned to the rock wall flashed before his eyes, and that suffocating feeling of helplessness was more terrifying than any temporal turbulence.

Trusting your comrades presupposes you're alive. Suddenly, the girl grabbed his hand and pressed it onto the Zhen position rune. The star array immediately burst forth with a blinding white light. If only his father had prepared for twenty more seconds back then... The hydraulic pipes of the mechanical joint suddenly exploded, and pale green liquid splashed onto Sasuke's face, warm with the smell of rust.

The air in the center of the hexagram array began to distort, and the previously vanished ozone odor returned.

Sasuke felt the runes in his palm drawing away his chakra, but his Sharingan clearly saw the star array resonating and vibrating with the remaining spacetime coordinates.

Golden veins suddenly appeared on the back of the mysterious girl's neck, as if some ancient seal was awakening.

Hold on tight! She slapped a bronze talisman engraved with gentian flower patterns onto Sasuke's chest. The talisman ignited with blue flames the moment it touched his skin. It was a protective talisman made from the crystal of the Loulan dragon vein, capable of withstanding thirty... A violent spatial tremor suddenly overturned the entire star array, and the girl's remaining words were drowned out by a sharp spatial howl.

The ashes from the burning talisman condensed into the shape of a phoenix in the air, and Sasuke's Sharingan saw hundreds of spacetime rifts baring their fangs all around them.

The mysterious girl's puppet arm fully extended into a defensive form, the red light of the gear-shaped curse mark intertwining with the white light of the star array to form an eerie net of light.

As the last shock rune lit up, Sasuke suddenly heard a faint roar of a Rasengan—coming from the depths of the collapsing spacetime vortex.

The turbulent flow of time and space tore at Sasuke's retina, while the phantom of a phoenix formed from burning bronze talismans swirled around him.

When he regained his balance, the ground beneath his feet was no longer scorched sand, but a transparent crystalline layer shimmering with a bluish fluorescence.

The mysterious girl's puppet arm made a rattling sound as gears clicked, and the three drive shafts were twisted into a pretzel shape.

Look up! Suddenly, the girl grabbed Sasuke by the collar and leaped backward.

Countless black crystals suddenly pierced out from where they had been standing, and the surfaces of those prisms were covered with ripples in the shape of human faces, emitting a shrill cry like that of an infant.

Sasuke's Sharingan instantly locked onto the golden light cluster a hundred meters away.

Naruto, his entire body enveloped in an orange-red chakra cloak, was being attacked by six semi-transparent black shadows.

Chapter 388 The Power of the Spirit Pearl

The phantoms continuously conjured weapons of various shapes in their hands, each attack leaving ink-like corrosive marks on the crystal layer.

Multiple Shadow Clone Technique! Naruto's roar echoed in the confined space as thirty clones simultaneously pounced on the shadowy figure.

However, the phantoms suddenly merged into a giant with three heads and six arms, and its scythe instantly wiped out half of the clones.

Sasuke noticed that whenever Naruto used ninjutsu, blood-red runes would appear beneath the crystal layer.

A mysterious girl suddenly unleashed puppet strings that wrapped around Sasuke's wrist: Southeast corner!

Those runes are absorbing his chakra! Pale green liquid seeps from her mechanical joints, and two kunai engraved with sealing techniques are ejected from the front of her puppet arm.

Sasuke's Chidori spear traced a lightning-like path, and the moment the lightning struck the blood-red rune, the entire space trembled violently.

The three-headed giant statue suddenly slowed down, and Naruto seized the opportunity to leap into the air, his Rasengan glowing with an emerald light.

This is the power of the Spirit Orb! A diamond-shaped golden mark appeared on Naruto's forehead, and his Rasengan swelled into an energy ball three meters in diameter. Sasuke!

Cut them off from the ground!

Sasuke's Sharingan with its three tomoe spinning wildly finally allowed him to see the energy nodes of the rune network.

As his Kusanagi sword pierced the crystal layer, the blade was suddenly covered with a sealing talisman thrown out by the mysterious girl.

As the lightning chakra flowed down the sword blade and into the ground, the crimson runes writhed wildly like scalded snakes.

The mysterious girl's puppet arm completely disintegrated, revealing a finely meshed array of gears inside.

She slapped the last three bronze talismans on Sasuke's back: Thirty seconds!

My puppet core can only maintain the barrier for thirty seconds!

Naruto's Rasengan crashed down with a deafening roar, engulfing the three-headed giant statue in emerald light.

The phantoms made a crisp sound like shattering glass, and the ink-like corrosive substances evaporated into white smoke in the light of the spirit pearl.

Sasuke's Sharingan suddenly caught sight of a flashing red dot deep within the crystal layer—the core where all the energy networks converged.

Seven o'clock in the southwest! Sasuke threw out a kunai with an explosive tag attached, and the Chidori Stream formed an electromagnetic cage through the steel wire. Use that technique!

Naruto clasped his hands together, and emerald-colored chakra condensed into three tomoe shapes.

The moment the power of the Spirit Orb was injected into the Wind Release: Rasenshuriken, a roar like that of a dragon echoed throughout the entire space.

The mysterious girl suddenly ripped open her clothes, revealing the dragon vein crystal embedded in her chest, and poured her last bit of power into Sasuke's lightning release.

The moment the three forces converged, the crimson core emitted a crisp sound like porcelain cracking.

Countless wails, like those of wronged souls, surged from the ground, and the crystalline layers began to peel away piece by piece.

Suddenly, the diamond-shaped mark on Naruto's forehead projected a star map, illuminating the ancient altar hidden in a spatial rift—where thirteen mummified corpses dressed in the finery of daimyo were displayed.

It turns out that all the previous daimyo of the Land of Fire were sacrifices... The mysterious girl's mechanical eyes flashed with data streams; this sealing array was absorbing the nation's fortune!

The last crimson rune wrapped around Naruto's ankle, but was precisely severed by Sasuke's Chidori Spear.

The moment the power of the spirit pearl completely purified the core, the patterns of a teleportation array suddenly appeared beneath the feet of the three.

Naruto grabbed the wrists of his two companions, and a protective shield of emerald chakra enveloped them completely.

Amidst the deafening roar of collapsing space, Sasuke's Sharingan captured the final image of the altar crumbling.

The clan crests on the mummified corpses' fine clothes were clearly identical to the mysterious symbols that appeared at the scene of the Uchiha clan massacre five years ago.

As my feet touched the sand again, the setting sun was painting the desert orange-red.

The spirit orb in Naruto's palm lost its luster and turned into a simple stone sphere.

The mysterious girl collapsed to the ground, and the broken puppet arm suddenly detached itself, revealing a newly grown, fair arm underneath.

"Hey, your hand..." Naruto was about to speak when he was stunned by the tears glistening in the girl's eyes.

She quickly wrapped the new arm with bandages, and as she looked down, strands of her hair brushed against Naruto's scabbed palm.

Sasuke silently wiped the dust off the Kusanagi sword, and his Sharingan returned to normal.

He noticed the star-shaped mark that appeared on the back of Naruto's neck, which resonated subtly with the Flying Thunder God Technique seal beneath the mysterious girl's collarbone.

Several dark figures suddenly swept across the distant sand dunes; their attire suggested they were a reconnaissance unit from Sunagakure.

The mysterious girl suddenly shoved a fragment of the Dragon Vein Crystal into Naruto's hand: "This is for you." Her mechanical eyes flashed with encrypted data, and as the stars aligned into the constellation Ophiuchus... Before she could finish speaking, she turned into dust and vanished, leaving only charred puppet parts on the ground.

Naruto held the still-warm crystal and discovered that it was engraved with ancient Loulan script.

Sasuke's sword tip suddenly picked up half of the unburnt talisman paper, and the residual chakra fluctuations on it were exactly the same as those on the scroll Itachi left him at the end.

Chapter 389 Three-Day Journey

The sand rustled in the twilight as Sasuke used his Kusanagi sword to pick up the charred puppet parts.

In the distance, the headbands of the Sand Village reconnaissance troops reflected the last rays of sunlight, and twelve waves of chakra swept in from a fan shape.

Three kilometers to the southeast. Naruto subconsciously gripped the dragon vein crystal, the Loulan characters on the stone sphere digging painfully into his palm.

The star-shaped mark on the back of his neck was slightly warm, and the bandages that had been wrapped around him when the mysterious girl disappeared still had a faint herbal fragrance.

Sasuke put the talisman fragments into his ninja tool pouch, then suddenly cut his thumb and drew a bloody line in the sand: seven people were forming hand seals at the six o'clock position. His Sharingan reflected the gradually forming Wind Release formation, and the sound of the Sand Village's distinctive three-edged shuriken cutting through the air could already be faintly heard.

Naruto formed the Shadow Clone Seal with one hand, and three clones formed a triangle formation to protect his main body.

He tore off his headband and wiped the dust off the crystals, discovering that the curved ancient characters were seven parts similar to the sealing techniques on the scrolls of Mount Myōboku.

The moment his second clone was scattered by the sandstorm, he suddenly pressed the spirit orb into the scorching sand.

Pale golden chakra ripples spread out, and the quicksand within a radius of a hundred meters instantly solidified into glass-like crystals.

The Sand Village ninja screamed as they were trapped in the transparent substance, their Wind Release formation abruptly broken at the seventh hand seal.

Sasuke's Kusanagi sword traced a perfect arc, and seven kunai were precisely embedded three inches from the enemy's feet.

Twelve-Hour Solidification Technique. Naruto, wiping his nosebleed, slumped to the ground, wiping away the blood from his nose. Smoke seeped from between his fingers from the Spirit Pearl.

Those crystallized Sand Ninjas were like insects in amber, their twisted hand seals frozen in the darkening sky.

Sasuke flicked the shards from his sword, his Sharingan sweeping over Naruto's trembling legs: "Wasting chakra." He kicked aside the half-severed puppet arm, revealing the gleaming gears beneath. The Sand Village's tracking puppet would arrive by tomorrow morning at the latest.

The night wind swept across the battlefield, carrying scorching sand. Naruto's hand, which was reaching for the scroll at his waist, suddenly stopped.

All the marks made on the way here were erased by the crystallized chakra. The desert under the moonlight was like a shattered mirror, with countless crystal facets refracting a dazzling silver light.

They traversed the Northwest Canyon. Sasuke cut open the puppet's remains and extracted the energy core. Dark flames instantly engulfed the parts bearing secret runes, completing the journey in three days.

Naruto stared silently at the crystal in his palm, the Loulan characters gleaming like mother-of-pearl in the moonlight.

The image of Ophiuchus that the girl mentioned before disappearing during the day suddenly flashed through his mind, and the mark on the back of his neck began to sting without warning.

"The Spirit Orb can be used twice more." Sasuke suddenly spoke, his sword tip picking up the water bottle Naruto had dropped and blasting open a spatial passage.

"Are you crazy?" Naruto suddenly stood up, oblivious to the edge of the crystal cutting his palm. Last time in the Land of Waves...

Last time, it was you who infused the Nine-Tails' chakra without permission. Sasuke's pupils turned crimson, the three tomoe slowly rotating in the moonlight, using the dragon vein crystal as a coordinate, in conjunction with my Amaterasu...