CHAPTER 140 - The Change in the Dragon Vein

Roran

"Is this Roran? It looks like the erosion from the desert sands hasn't reached this place yet, but it won't take long," Hyuga Mirai said, observing the slightly green Roran with a hint of contemplation. "At this rate of erosion, in less than ten years, this area will probably turn into desert. By then, if Roran doesn't relocate, it will have no choice but to be absorbed into the Land of the Wind."

Ordinary people wouldn't survive in the desert. While Sunagakure could ensure a steady supply of resources with the help of their ninjas, a large village would never manage to settle in such an arid place without help. If Roran's green spaces were overtaken by the sands, they would not even be able to secure their food supply. At that point, their only option would be to relocate the entire nation.

Hyuga Mirai followed the merchant convoy into the city and then split off from the group. From here, he had his own matters to attend to. 

Climbing up onto a rooftop, he activated his Byakugan, expanding his vision to the maximum. 

"Puppets?" he muttered, spotting something unusual. "These must be techniques left behind by Anrokuzan from a few years ago. Looks like Roran has made good use of them." 

He noticed the lack of chakra signatures. "Have they been sealed?"

Mirai scanned the area, intrigued by some of the findings, but he still couldn't locate the Dragon Vein. However, it was clear that the people of Roran had some knowledge of puppetry. Their puppets were powered by liquid batteries, a level of automation far superior to Sunagakure's. "Now this is something to consider," he thought. "I could promote the use of liquid batteries and fusion power plants. Things like liquid batteries and thermal power plants should be a thing of the past."

At his experimental base, more advanced power-generation devices were used, though when the Uzumaki Trade Association's computers were sold to the shinobi world, they came with outdated power systems. The five major countries, including other ninja villages, only built power plants when absolutely necessary, paying little attention to energy resources unless they were in immediate need.

For Mirai, this was an opportunity to fill that gap. Once the shinobi world realized the importance of energy like electricity, the energy market would likely fall into his hands. He could then dominate the market, replacing older power systems like liquid batteries and thermal plants, thus gaining control over a vital aspect of daily life for all shinobi.

After sending an email to 18, informing her of his findings, Mirai set out to locate the Dragon Vein. He recalled that the Dragon Vein was sealed in a tower, which seemed to have been built by Roran's ancestors. Whether they had discovered the Dragon Vein but lacked the means to harness it, or simply chose not to, was unknown.

Roran's towers were few in number. Despite being guarded, these defenses posed no real threat to Hyuga Mirai.

"Shadow Clone Jutsu." 

After creating four shadow clones, Mirai sent them to explore Roran's center and locate the Dragon Vein. Since there were no sensory-type ninjas around, it didn't take long before he used the memories from the shadow clones to pinpoint the Dragon Vein's location.

With a few quick Body Flicker Jutsus, he reached the tower where the Dragon Vein was sealed. After using a bit of genjutsu, he quickly hypnotized the guards stationed outside.

While Mirai rarely used genjutsu, his mastery of Yin Release chakra, learned through his training with Kurenai Yuhi, allowed him to easily use simple hypnosis techniques. "This seal is tricky. Looks like it's a variation of the Four Symbols Seal, mixed with several other techniques," Mirai thought, frowning slightly as he studied the seal.

"Let's seal the area first. We can study it without disturbing anyone outside."

Mirai set up a genjutsu barrier around the area. Anyone who entered would be put under the spell and turned around, unaware of what had happened. As long as no ninja entered, he could study the seal in peace.

"If I try to absorb and refine the energy on my own, who knows how long it'll take... 18, do you have any ideas for the Dragon Vein?" Mirai asked, using his wristwatch to contact her.

"Sir, raising the energy limits won't be of much help to me, but I can extract the energy from the Dragon Vein for you to use later," 18's voice replied. "Besides your Star Stone Energy Furnace, it seems there are no other devices capable of storing such a large amount of energy."

Mirai thought for a moment. "Alright, I'll leave it to you. Please go ahead and create the necessary energy transmission devices. I'll continue working on breaking the seal." 

After the conversation, Mirai briefly pondered. If he were to wait a little longer, he could have the Keikou Trade Association take over Roran, slowly changing the way the people lived, and eventually taking control of the political power in Roran. However, as long as Queen Sara couldn't provide a better life for her people, they would eventually turn to someone who could offer them a brighter future.

However, this method takes too long. Hyuga Mirai decided to first extract the energy from the dragon vein and then gradually think of a way to harness its power.

Hyuga Mirai's sealing techniques were not to be underestimated. During his time at Konoha Hospital, he had learned all the basic sealing techniques in the village. He also spent some time studying higher-level sealing techniques under Tsunade's guidance. Later, Ayaka Uzumaki brought back some sealing techniques from the ruins of the Uzumaki Clan, greatly enhancing Hyuga Mirai's expertise.

After half a day of study, he had nearly figured out the sealing techniques on the dragon vein. In addition to the seal that bound the dragon vein, there were some techniques related to sealing soul memories.

"As long as I avoid this area, I should be able to alter the seals here," Hyuga Mirai thought for a moment and then decided to break the seal.

"Sealing technique... Release!"

As the chakra was channeled, the seal's runes on the ground immediately changed. The square seal array transformed into a circle. Though the symbols had shifted, there were still some runes that Hyuga Mirai hadn't touched.

But then something unexpected happened. Several sealing runes began to spread from the Flying Thunder God kunai at the center of the dragon vein, directly disrupting all of Hyuga Mirai's plans.

"What, more seals here!?"

Hyuga Mirai was startled. He had already noticed the Flying Thunder God kunai and thought there were no other special markings on it, aside from the Flying Thunder God mark. Since he wasn't very skilled in the Flying Thunder God technique, he hadn't paid much attention to the marks on the kunai.

Did Namikaze Minato hide a backup seal on the Flying Thunder God kunai to seal the dragon vein?

Hyuga Mirai had altered Minato's sealing technique, but he had triggered the hidden backup seal on the kunai, causing the seal to activate suddenly, disrupting his plans.

"Not good."

The collision of the two seals caused a small rupture in the dragon vein's seal. The energy spilling out from this crack quickly filled the space inside the tower and immediately broke through the barrier Hyuga Mirai had set up. A blinding purple light shot through the tower and soared into the sky.

The dragon vein's energy released at an alarming speed. As Hyuga Mirai was still maintaining the sealing technique, just as he was about to withdraw, he was suddenly enveloped by the dragon vein's energy.

"What is that?"

"Mom, come quickly! The central tower is glowing!"

The sudden disturbance of the dragon vein caught the attention of many Roran citizens. It wasn't just the common people—Queen Sara, who was resting, was also called to the palace balcony by her maid. From there, they saw the strange phenomenon happening in the tower.

"The dragon vein is acting up!"

Queen Sara immediately thought of the possibility and quickly gathered soldiers, hurrying to the tower that sealed the dragon vein.

"Your Majesty."

The guards at the entrance saluted when they saw Sara and immediately greeted her.

Without wasting time, Sara asked, "Why is there purple light coming from inside? Has anyone entered the tower?"

"No one has entered, Your Majesty," the guard replied hurriedly. "We've been watching here all along; no one has approached. As for the purple light in the tower, we have no idea." They were just guards and had no knowledge of what was happening inside.

"I need to go inside and check."

Sara immediately said, but she was stopped by her bodyguards. They couldn't risk letting the queen enter without knowing what was going on inside—if the situation was dangerous, she might be in harm's way.

After much persuasion, they finally managed to convince her to wait outside. The purple light gradually faded after some time. As soon as it vanished, Sara and her guards pushed open the door and went inside.

The inside of the tower was eerily quiet. Aside from the sounds of Sara and her group, there was no noise at all. They searched around but found no one. Eventually, they reached the place where the dragon vein was sealed.

"Your Majesty, it seems like no one is here. Everything seems normal."

The dragon vein was regularly checked, as it had caused issues a few years ago. Sara had always paid close attention to it. She didn't want anyone using the dragon vein's power for ill intentions. However, it seemed like nothing had changed with the seals, and no one was in the tower. Everything appeared as it should, with no signs of anything unusual.

"This is strange. Why did a purple light suddenly appear here?"

Sara wasn't a ninja, so she couldn't fully understand the situation. After another search with her guards and finding no one, she decided to leave.

"Sir, sir?"

18 called out several times but received no answer. Just now, 18 had lost contact with all of Hyuga Mirai's equipment.

The next moment, 18 immediately began calculating all the data related to the dragon vein, dedicating 95% of her processing power to the task.

(End of Chapter)