It's normal to get a kaleidoscope as a first deposit of six yuan, right?

Upon hearing the system notification, Zhixue's expression changed.

The Otsutsuki clan? Could it be that fisherman with the turtle?

Chapter 173, A New Commissioned Task

In Pain's remote illusion technique, the figures of Pain and Sasori gradually appeared on the fingers of the Gedo Mazo. In this dark area, after about two minutes, Zhixue's colorful shadow also formed.

Seeing that only Pain and Sasori were present, Zhixue asked Pain, "It seems that this mission is quite special. Uncle Juzo Biwa didn't come."

Seeing Zhixue's puzzled expression, Payne nodded before continuing, "This mission is indeed different from the past. The place we need to go is deep in the desert, which is 30 miles north of the caravan you and Scorpion dealt with last time. The commission is 1400 million taels."

"Oh? That happened a year ago, right? Was there some serious problem there?"

Zhi Xue was puzzled. There was nothing in this desert, so why did things always seem to happen there?

"According to the intelligence gathered by Jueda, that place seems to be emanating a strange energy, which has even caused some of the puppets buried deep in the desert to move, causing a lot of trouble for the caravan."

No sooner had Payne finished speaking than Scorpion raised a perplexing question.

"Shouldn't they be looking for people from Sunagakure? Or perhaps the neighboring Land of Fire would be a good option. Why would they choose us?"

Although Zhixue didn't speak, she actually shared the same doubts as Xie. If the black market caravans a year ago sought them out for cheap prices, was it for the same reason they were approaching them again this time? As merchants with keen eyes and ears, they could know about any slight movement in any place.

They should know what happened to the last caravan that sat here, yet they still came to them to complete a mission.

"I heard they seem to treasure the purple energy seeping from the sand, so they want to..."

"So, they didn't even know what this thing underground was, yet they were already thinking about how to sell it for money?" Zhi Xue was extremely shocked by Payne's description.

Are they all so reckless? Aren't they afraid of some kind of evil god or something unclean? (Hidan: Are you being polite?)

“They are the clients, and we are the mission takers. We just need to complete the mission. Xiaoxue, you are in the desert right now, which is convenient. Since Juzo Biwa is a water-style ninja, he is not suitable for missions in arid places. So this time, we will have Sasori take his place and act with you.”

In response to Payne's explanation, Zhixue nodded.

The strange old man is definitely not suited for fighting in the desert. He relies on water-based techniques and swordsmanship, and in a desert environment, he'd probably run out of water before he even finished using his water-based techniques. He's already weak, and this mission is so dangerous, he might just die.

After accepting the mission issued by Pain, Zhixue ended her Illusionary Body Technique.

Back at the academy, I specifically told Gaara about my upcoming trip.

"Is Master going to complete a mission?" Gaara asked, sitting in his chair, seeing that Shiki was in a bit of a hurry.

After spending a lot of time with Zhixue, he was able to figure out some things, but he didn't know exactly what Zhixue did for a living.

"Ah, sort of. I might be gone for a while, so remember to keep an eye on the academy for me."

“Master, I’ve been watching over her for two months now, and I’m quite skilled at it. You can rest assured.” Gaara said to Zhixue with a gentle smile.

His master was one of the only two sources of light in his life besides Yashamaru, and he would not allow the last remaining flame in his heart to go out.

Seeing Gaara's confidence, Zhixue felt relieved and rushed to the forest. She created a simple seal to allow the Wood Release chakra to continue growing for a while. After tidying up, she walked into the desert and disappeared into the sandstorm...

Two hours later…

Zhi Xue sat on a stone tablet, drinking hot milk tea, and waited for a while before she could vaguely see the figure of a scorpion in the distant yellow sand.

Seeing that Zhixue was already waiting there, he controlled Feiliuhu to come here.

"It seems you've been waiting for me for quite a while."

"It hasn't been that long, has it? Is our client here? Why is there not a soul in sight?" Zhi Xue waved her hand as she looked around at the deserted area, which was nothing but sand and dust.

"No, although this is the place we were entrusted with, those merchants are still in a safer area further north. After all, you can sense the unusual reactions here, right?"

In response to Sasori's question, Zhixue nodded and then opened her Sharingan, instantly enveloping her surroundings in a light purple light.

This is the chakra of the Dragon Vein, but according to the original storyline, it should have been sealed by the Fourth Hokage. It shouldn't be showing such signs of activity. However, according to the system's emergency mission guidance, the location of the Dragon Vein's core is about ten kilometers to the southwest. Perhaps we can see something there.

Following Sasori, Shiki headed towards the Dragon Vein. Along the way, they encountered several puppets that had been stimulated by the Dragon Vein's chakra. After the battle, Sasori collected them all into a scroll.

Some of the puppets have valuable parts that can be reused. Because Kakuzu is very strict about the organization's money, Sasori has argued with him a lot. So now, they save money whenever possible that it doesn't need to be spent.

嘀，距离目标还剩4公里，嘀，距离目标还剩2公里…距离目标还剩1公里…999米…500米…200米…

With the system's constant prompts, Zhixue and Xie finally saw the location of the mission after passing through one ruin after another. However, it seemed that someone had already arrived there and was arguing.

"Loulan has already perished, Your Majesty. The seal is also nearing its breaking point. For the sake of our people, please stop stubbornly guarding this place."

"You traitors! Although Loulan is gone, you were once residents of this country. How dare you disobey Her Majesty the Queen's wishes!"

"Even if Her Majesty wishes to seal the Dragon Vein with her own power, she must consider whether she has the ability. Even the Fourth Hokage, once known as the Yellow Flash, couldn't completely seal this thing. Continuing down this path will inevitably lead to even greater losses!"

Looking at the crowd arguing in the distance, Zhi Xue was somewhat surprised.

Is this another butterfly effect? ​​The seal of the Fourth Hokage is about to fail here. If the huge chakra aggregate that used to be able to maintain the operation of the entire Loulan breaks through the seal, it is probably not something that ordinary people can withstand.

Just as Zhixue and Xie were about to check the situation, a voice broke the noisy atmosphere.

"Are you... people invited by those merchants?" A beautiful woman in a brown dress walked out of a nearby tent and asked Shiki and Scorpion, who were wearing Akatsuki robes, with a hint of hostility.

Chapter 174, The Ancient Kingdom of Loulan

"Are you... people hired by those merchants?"

Upon hearing the sound, Zhi Xue looked towards the location of the newcomer, and then she and Xie used the Instantaneous Movement Technique to disappear from the spot.

Zhi Xue had a premonition that if she were to foolishly strike up a conversation, it would likely cause her a lot of trouble. Rather than doing that, she decided to avoid making contact and instead bypass ordinary people to get to the core. After all, she had to complete this urgent mission.

Sarah's pupils widened in shock when she saw Zhixue turn around. Then, seeing the two disappear in an instant, she rushed over but found no trace of them.

"That little girl..."

……

The Loulan ruins, beneath the underground tower, are a section isolated underground by yellow sand. However, it seems that due to an invisible protective barrier, it has not been completely buried by the sandstorms blown in from the desert.

Seeing the purple energy still seeping out from around the stone tower, Zhi Xue flew into the air, broke off a small piece of stone, and then examined it closely with wide eyes, saying—

"This chakra is really vibrant."

"I think I heard about this capital when I was a child. It was located in the desert of the Land of Wind, a capital shrouded in mist. It seemed to have been very prosperous, but it declined after the Third Shinobi World War." Sasori looked at the purple light still emanating from the center of the tower and gradually delved into the past.

"It seems Loulan was quite famous before," Zhixue murmured as she followed Scorpion to the gate.

Using a sealing technique to open the gate's restriction, Sasori was somewhat surprised to see the seal with slight cracks in the distance and the Flying Thunder God kunai stuck above it.

This amount of chakra is truly extraordinary. It's hard to imagine who could seal this place for so long. This is far superior to the lousy technique used by Sunagakure to seal the One-Tailed Jinchuriki.

*Beep* You are 20 meters from the target. Please continue to approach the dragon vein. The system will use the seal vulnerability to automatically teleport you to the past to complete the system task.

Walking on the dilapidated long bridge, Zhixue was taken aback when she heard the system's words.

Wait, if we play like this, won't we teleport the scorpion along with it?

Ding! Due to the sensitive nature of the timeline, the system needs to conduct a trial time travel for safety reasons. The destination is a short period before the dragon vein was sealed. The host needs to go there to stop the emergency mission, which requires a second jump. During the time the system prepares for the second jump, the host can also complete the theatrical version mission and obtain rewards.

Zhi Xue nodded upon hearing what the system said. However, the fact that time travel required the power of the dragon vein and needed to be tested made her wonder if she was using a second-hand system. (Sad)

Ding! Please don't overthink things. This system's strength lies in selling services, not in special functions like time or cause and effect.

After arguing with the system for a while, Zhi Xue walked to the seal and gently touched the surrounding stone wall. A fluorescent purple light slowly flowed out from the seal, and under the pull of an inexplicable force, the seal gradually broke open, and the surrounding earth seemed to tremble slightly.

"This is..." Sensing the commotion, Scorpion rushed to Zhixue's side and frowned as he watched the chakra leaking out from the Dragon Vein Seal.

"Something's not right, we need to retreat quickly." Seeing Zhi Xue still staring blankly at the seal while her hand was against the wall, Scorpion was also anxious. He stretched a rope from Fei Liu Hu, tied it around Zhi Xue's waist, and then carried her outside.

"Ouch! Wait, it's too tight, it hurts!"

"Don't complain about the pain at a time like this!" Fei Liu Hu tightly tied Zhi Xue to his back and swooped down towards the outside at high speed. But just as Xie was about to rush out of this area, something suddenly appeared in the air that blocked Xie. The light that kept erupting from behind was like a purple tornado that slowly swallowed up everything around them, including the two of them.

When Zhi Xue was sucked into the dragon vein, she felt as if she had been thrown into a washing machine, spinning back and forth. Her vision was as blurry as an old television that had lost its signal, accompanied by strange sounds that seemed to be forced into a straight line.

After traveling through the tunnel of time for an unknown amount of time, Zhixue and Xie finally fell to the ground from the sky.

Bang!

Thanks to the hardness and toughness of the Scarlet Amber, both Snow and Scorpion were unharmed.

Still feeling a little dizzy, Zhixue got up from the ground, shook her head, and then untied the rope wrapped around her waist.

"Where is this..." Zhi Xue adjusted to the light and looked at the surrounding towering buildings with some amazement.

Is this the Loulan of many years ago? It looks like it's developed quite well. It's quite remarkable that a country of this size could be established in the heart of the desert.

Scorpion's true form emerged from the Hiruko and frowned as it looked at the puppet with sparks flying from its feet.

He's a puppeteer, relatively weak in close combat, and usually relies on this large iron golem for protection. Now that its walking parts are broken, it'll probably be difficult to repair it here.

"This is really a headache." After taking out the scroll, Scorpion put away the Hiruko and then looked around at the surroundings in silence.

I have a feeling that I've been sucked into some incredible place by what's inside that seal.

"Can you still sense where we were before?" Scorpion asked, looking in the direction of Zhixue.

Faced with Scorpion's question, Zhixue shook her head regretfully.

"It seems things are more complicated than we thought." Sasori draped the Akatsuki coat over his shoulders, then took out a compass from his pocket, but the direction on it was still swinging erratically without any pattern.

"Hmm, it seems that the magnetic field is chaotic because of the chakra here, so the compass isn't very useful." Zhi Xue activated her senses and felt the constantly turning gears under the nearby tower and the large-scale armory producing puppets.

It seems this is indeed the location of the theatrical version, but we don't know what timeline it is.

Ding! There are 12 hours left until the second jump integration. During this period, the host can choose to either abandon the theatrical version mission.

Theatrical Mission: The Lost Tower.

Mission Option 1: Follow the original storyline and assist the Konoha ninja in defeating the rogue ninja, An Lushan.

Quest Rewards: Five Elements Seal, Telescope Technique (with Crystal Ball), Queen Sara and the people of Loulan's gratitude.

Mission Option 2: Directly engage the Nine-Tails, then unleash the Susanoo Armor to blast away all enemies in its path. Mission Reward: The awe-inspiring power of Sasori of the Red Sands, the terror of the people of Loulan, and Lightning Mastery LV.3.

Chapter 175, Infiltration

"Your Majesty, tonight is the time for you to meet with your beloved people. I expect the parade tonight will be quite enjoyable." In the room of the tower, Queen Sarah gently stroked the photograph of her mother in her hand and smiled slightly upon hearing the announcement from An Lushan, the minister of Loulan, outside the door.

"Thank you very much, An Lushan. Loulan's current prosperity is all thanks to your efforts over the past few years."

Upon hearing Sarah's praise, An Lushan, who was standing outside the door, also curled up a slight smile, his ugly face seemingly carrying an inescapable sense of excitement.

"Your Majesty is too kind. Since the death of the previous Queen, as a minister personally promoted by the former King, it is only natural for me to share the burdens of the royal family and even the entire Loulan."