Chapter 64

"It's been a while Hokage-sama." an elegant woman with long black hair, green eyes, and fair skin exclaimed as we sat down around a table in a beautifully decorated room

"Please, you do not need to be so formal with me, you are a Queen after all." I politely retorted as I was sitting in front of her while Konan stood behind me

As for Hizashi well... He was currently hanging with the princess who had long red hair, which was because her father was an Uzumaki who unfortunately died of illness before I came here for the first time, with violet eyes and the same fair skin as her mother.

That's right, the woman in front of me was Sēramu, the current Queen of Rōran who was supposed to be killed by Mukade after he successfully suggested her to create gigantic towers for the sake of the people.

However, she realized what evil plan he had in mind, and the moment she was going to be assassinated by him, I left it to happen, for Mukade that is because I actually saved her with one of my clones.

"My apologies, I cannot help myself since you not only saved me but my kingdom as well." Sēramu declared with all her heart as she was showing me a kind smile

She was truly grateful for that since she couldn't imagine what would've happened to her daughter if she was to be used by Mukade, but she still wondered why was I here of all time, considering that I was already Hokage and supposedly busy.

One explanation for my presence was that I had someone who seeks Uzumaki Clan members around the world, Shuzo, and he was the one who told me about Sāra's lineage which prompted me to get acquainted with Rōran since Shuzo did not contact her as she was a princess and there was no reason for us to bring them to Konoha.

As for the timing, since I already knew Miroku, the high priestess of the Land of Demons who have the power to predict someone's death, I told Sēramu that she foresaw her death and with my relationship with the Uzumaki Clan, I couldn't let the young Sāra become an orphan because of assassination.

And thanks to this half-bullshit half-truth I claimed, I convinced her before suggesting a great plan to keep Rōran standing in the foreseeable future, as well as starting a friendly relationship between us.

And the plan was to use both Mukade and the Ryūmyaku which at that time was still open and free to be used by anyone.

I could have killed him back then but I would have missed the opportunity to meet the shinobi who came from the future and I really wanted to see whoever was sent back here.

"Since you came today, it means that we will finally be able to use the underground again and acquire the defensive tools that crazy man built over the years, am I correct?" Sēramu asked to which I simply nodded before adding "Exactly, although I won't be the one taking care of him, instead, I left three Shinobi from Konoha to find and get rid of him but do not worry as I will watch over them."

"I've been trusting you since the day you saved me, and I know full well of your prowess, the 'One-Winged Demon' to your foes and the 'One-Winged Angel' to your allies, isn't that how they name you?" she declared which made my eyebrow twitch when I heard how the other villages called me

'Heretics' I thought but was glad that my people still called me an angel... Though this contrast was fitting my way of acting differently between the two parties

And only a few know that I can grow a second wing when I use Senjutsu.

"...You're correct, Mukade wouldn't stand a chance against me, even if he uses the Ryūmyaku." I replied as I knew that an 'infinite' supply of chakra like that source below wouldn't be enough for the puppeteer to face me

And as I said this, I sensed the three shinobi enter the giant sealed area underground without any difficulty since I gave them a kind of 'free pass' with my chakra before.

It was made impossible for civilians or even shinobi to enter the underground as I made a special barrier to prevent any entry, the only exception was when Naruto came from the future and teleported directly inside which was not something I could prevent.

"Then I will pray for their success." Sēramu declared as she was more praying for Mukade not needing to face me

"Thank you." I first replied before looking at Hizashi who was flirting with the princess "Hizashi will stay with you until it is over, I will come back and tell you how to control the puppets later." which made her nod with a smile as she saw her daughter's happiness

====================

Going through one of the mirror-like entries along with Konan, we entered the underground which looked far from being one.

What was before us amazed Konan since she didn't know that it was even possible, but my feats in Fūinjutsu became greater since I awakened the Rinnegan, which allowed me to create this 'dimension'.

That's right, the underground we currently were in looked exactly like the city would have in the canon, with towers all around and a beautiful sky from where we came from, with wind, clouds, and even different weather conditions depending on the days.

"Yuichi-sama, you developed an entire place like this for a single man?" Konan asked with surprise as she would believe to be in the outside world if she didn't know what was going on

"Yes I did, I called it the 'Truman Jutsu', and it seems like Mukade did not realize where he is after all those years... Until today." I said with proudness since I loved making new complex Fūinjutsu before feeling some conflict in the distance and one of the chakra signatures was my future son's

Konan tilted her head to the side when I said the name of my Jutsu as she didn't understand the word I said since it was in English and didn't exist in Japanese, which was the only language spoken here.

"Ah- 'Truman' is a word used to precisely explain the case of Mukade, it's a forgotten word from millennia ago, don't worry about it too much." I lied since I couldn't tell her that it was another language when it was not a thing in this world and neither could I say that it was a word I invented, that's too embarrassing

Thankfully, Konan just firmly nodded, ending the conversation which allowed us to go and observe how the three shinobi were doing.

After all, they were down here for quite some time already.

And it seemed like I was ready to see the final battle as the three of them were in front of Mukade in his human-like appearance with a couple of puppets around him which he madly operated.

Each puppet was twice my size, their bulk as imposing as you would expect while their bodies were seemingly made of some kind of metal more on the darker side of colors be it naturally or from painting, the Ryūmyaku's chakra was overflowing from their bodies, giving them a menacing aura while chakra threads seemed invisible... For people without Dōjutsu.

"What the hell are those puppets?! Any Kunai doesn't leave a scratch and even my Rasengan was useless!" a certain spiky blond-haired boy shouted as he fell back from his assault on a puppet, but it didn't leave him the time to rest as one of its arms transformed into a scythe and launched itself towards him

*CLANG*

"Be more careful Naruto, they aren't the training dummies you used to fight against in mock battles." Yushiro warned as he unsheathed one of his katana and prevented the scythe from harming Naruto by parrying the blow easily with a single hand, all while repelling another puppet by unleashing a Lightning Release Ninjutsu I did not know from his mouth while doing hand signs with a single hand

"Hahaha! Look at you weaklings getting overpowered by what you called 'useless junks'!" Mukade yelled while he was hiding behind the puppets which prevented the three Konoha's shinobi from nearing him as he saw a worried Hinata getting overwhelmed by three puppets at once and falling back with injuries all over her body

But his joy didn't last long as something seemed to have clicked in her mind when she saw Yushiro's lightning attack, and as her complexion became more confident she covered her first with lightning chakra before launching a quick counterattack by aiming at specific joints present on two of the three puppets.

She did not take care of the third one as Naruto and two clones he made incapacitated it by sending three Kunai on the ground around the puppet, which formed a barrier that cut off the strings allowing Mukade's control over it.

'So Naruto is proficient with Fūinjutsu and actually use them in a fight' I thought with a subtle smile since it surely meant that Kushina taught him what she knew

Furthermore, they just demonstrated a great teamwork ability and quick understanding of the puppets' weaknesses.

Using a space-time barrier Fūinjutsu to prevent the link between the puppet and the puppeteer was a smart idea since they were too complicated to cut with normal mean because of their chakra source being the Ryūmyaku, allowing the threads to be instantly repaired if severed.

Next was the utilization of Lightning Release which was caught by Yushiro and Hinata because the material that made those puppets was created by me using Crystal Release, which gave them an innate weakness towards this element and subsequent Kekkei Genkai, but were nearly immune to any other kind of damage.

When Mukade realized that his puppets could be disabled since Naruto started to make more clones and kept on using his three-bladed Kunai to banish the puppets preemptively stunned by either Yushiro or Hinata, he decided to put an end to their success as his body started to break down as if it was inhuman while he yelled "If you think that stopping my puppets is enough you are wr-"

But his speech was interrupted by Yushiro who launched the same lightning projectile he used before towards Mukade, strong enough to blow his head and a part of his upper body.

Naruto looked dumbfounded towards Yushiro who simply declared "What? Father told me to not let the foe power up himself if I could unless I want to challenge myself, but I'm not as stupid as he is."

His words were sharp and hurt me right in the heart, but I ended up smirking as I thought 'He forgot rule number two: always double tap'

And I was right since Mukade's body was no longer human and instead made of a material that could repair itself as he suddenly got up and grew in size while his resonating voice declared "You will pay for this you maggots!"

"Is he even human?" Naruto asked as in front of them Mukade was becoming a giant centipede-like creature with the same black material used on the puppets as his exoskeleton, with many long and sharp scythe-like legs, and a human-like face with a giant canon inside his maw

"Not anymore." Yushiro said as he closed his eyes for a moment before opening them again, revealing his three-tomoe Sharingan, and added while being as silent as possible "Naruto, go and look for the source of his chakra, from what we learned and according to those puppets from before he's immortal unless we can cut his link with the Ryūmyaku."

"Find the source and use the barrier mom gave me, got it." Naruto replied as he switched with one of his clones just outside the room before leaving to find the source without letting Mukade notice anything

"Hinata, once you finished healing yourself you will help me in destroying his body as much as we can to buy time for Naruto." Yushiro finished explaining to which Hinata replied "I can fight right now." as her injuries that weren't superficial were healed

Yushiro smirked before dashing towards Mukade, not leaving him the chance to act once his body was complete as he already imbued his sword with lightning and aimed right at the joints between the head and the extremely long body, slicing the monster in two.

Sadly, not even a few seconds later, Hinata noticed that the head was shaking and levitating, surely to get back with its main body which coiled around Yushiro and imprisoned him inside an indestructible body with deadly scythes slowly approaching him.

Surprisingly enough, Hinata did not panic and, instead of going for the main body to help Yushiro, she darted towards the head which was weirdly laughing as it was looking towards its main body and, with her fists covered in lightning chakra, started performing the 'Eight Trigrams Two Hundred Fifty-Six Palms' which was only known by Hizashi in my era, all while aiming at different specific spots around the head.

*BOOM*

What was impressive too was how the head only got launched away after the last hit which proved that she had the necessary speed to perform such a difficult Taijutsu technique.

Unfortunately, getting rid of the head did not stop the body from constricting itself on Yushiro and instead made it quicker as Mukade couldn't enjoy the unhurried killing he was performing.

Using my Dōjutsu, I peered inside to see what Yushiro was going to do to get out of this situation since he couldn't find any joints as the coiling was perfectly done, with Mukade's body going underground to prevent any escape from below.

I wasn't joking when I said that his body was giant, and it kept growing even more as it consumed more chakra from the Ryūmyaku, reaching an enormous size that made me glad to deliberately transform the city's underground into something even larger than it originally was.

You could easily compare his size with a tailed beast, minus the Ten-Tails who was truly monstrous.

Nevertheless, Yushiro stayed calm and even sighed as he mumbled "Aaah~ I don't like using this blade, but I have no choice." before unsheathing his second katana which released a powerful wave of energy until it was fully taken out

The look that the sword had was leaving me dumbfounded as it was seemingly bursting with life, a trait that was too unusual to be true for inanimate objects, while not being made of a tangible material.

No, I was sure that it was neither something solid, liquid, or gaseous which could only mean one thing.

'This sword is made of plasma!' I thought as I was getting excited over the beauty of this weapon which kept on 'moving' with different colors from blue, purple, to red

But what followed was even more surprising as I heard Yushiro declare 'Plasma Release: Melting Thunderclap' which generated a plasma bond between his two swords before instantly slashing around himself, creating a twirling tornado of pure plasma energy that completely melted Mukade's tough puppet body

'There is no way he learned such a Kekkei thanks to my genetics which can only mean one thing' I thought as I saw how powerful the technique he unleashed was

He already unlocked his Mangekyō Sharingan and therefore inherited my 'Suijin' ability or something similar, allowing him to get this Release from someone he killed.

Alas, such power seemed to come with a huge backlash as he sheathed back both of his swords, the plasma sword's sheath being capable of sealing its power while his more 'normal' sword was bright red from the heat, making it extremely fragile until it could cool down to a more ambient temperature.

But this Kekkei also dealt a huge blow on Yushiro himself as both of his arms were heavily burned and made him unable to use them the moment he sheathed his swords, demonstrating his willpower to move them until now.

"Ha... Ha... At least it will buy a lot of time..." Yushiro mumbled as a diamond-shaped symbol on his forehead shone and started to slowly heal his arms

'It seems way too strong and difficult to master to simply be a Kekkei Genkai...' I thought as I wondered which chakra nature made this release

Since it was plasma, I was certain that both Lightning Release and Fire Release were needed, as for the last one, I didn't know.

I guessed that it was either Wind Release or Yin Release, but I could be wrong.

"A-are you alright?" Hinata asked Yushiro as she started to support his own healing to speed it up

"I would be better if I could naturally heal as quickly as my sister." Yushiro replied while keeping an eye around in case Mukade tried to ambush them, mostly from where his head was sent flying to by Hinata

'I've seen enough' I thought, glad to see how the future seemed to be doing before leaving the spot I was observing them from along with the silent Konan to appear not too far from them

"Are you winning, son?" I asked as they both were surprised and took a stance to defend themselves only to sigh when they saw who it was

"Don't scare us like that, it's the last thing we needed." Yushiro said while keeping his guard up

"You can relax, your test is over as Naruto just sealed the Ryūmyaku away from Mukade." I explained while Konan appeared on my side with Mukade's core body wrapped in paper

"And I need him alive to keep my promise of strengthening Rōran." I added as I pointed towards the now sealed puppeteer

"...Seems like you were already doing unnecessarily difficult plans in the past." Yushiro said as he looked around and knew that this underground and fake city was made just for Mukade

"I can't deny that, but it's enjoyable for me to formulate new techniques along this line." I replied while shrugging it off

I have yet to tell Mukade where he lived for all those years and how not only the place was fake, but all civilians or humans he interacted with and used were simply more realistic clones of mine because of a combination of different releases, mainly making them bleed thanks to Blood Release and not 'poof' away.

My answer seemed to not be acknowledged by my son as he declared "Before going back from our 'test' I have a lot of things to talk about with you, father."

I slightly frowned when I heard some disappointment directed at me in his words but still replied "Sure, we still have time anyway."