This puppeteer is a bit... well...

Chapter 49 Epilogue

Let's rewind a little.

While the puppet army was searching for Minato Namikaze's whereabouts, Ryuji went to Centipede's workshop.

It was a tall tower.

It displays a variety of quirky puppet artworks, as well as some of the failed and successful works by Centipede.

Ryuji glanced at them casually and then decided to rework them all.

These things are not only disgusting in appearance, but also extremely impractical, a complete waste of materials.

……

The workshop for producing puppets is underground, in a terrain similar to that of the dragon vein, requiring a long spiral staircase to reach the underground.

It's very large down there, with a spiral-shaped furnace in the center. Dragon vein chakra descends from the top of the tower and enters the furnace as energy.

Tracks connect to the furnace to transport materials and output finished parts. These parts are then conveyed to other chambers via the tracks and automatically assembled with parts produced by other machines.

It's more like a factory than a studio.

"These machines can forge the materials and parts for the mechanical city."

The machinery and equipment here range from steelmaking to the production of various parts, which can meet a wide range of needs.

However, these machines have all stopped working.

The young and strong men of Loulan, who were working there, were all lying down, looking exhausted. When they saw Long Er come in, they only glanced at him before closing their eyes again to rest.

They were exhausted.

Since the death of the previous queen, An Lushan had secretly replaced the people of Loulan with puppets. As for the real people of Loulan... all the able-bodied men were enslaved to work in underground factories, while the elderly, women and children were all driven to live in the underground areas on the periphery.

They were not allowed to go home, and worked day and night with almost no rest, their bodies constantly on the verge of collapse.

Long Er knew all this, so he didn't say anything.

These people will be villagers of Sunagakure from now on, so he naturally won't continue to make them do hard labor.

Moreover, he doesn't need to do manual labor.

Ryuji went straight up the middle steps to a room inside, where Gin and Sara were.

In addition, there was another man who was both unexpected and yet perfectly reasonable.

——Yamato.

It may be called sky burial, or neither.

This man, wearing a green vest and a Konoha headband, with large, bull-like eyes, once served as an Anbu member of Konoha and had many other titles.

Silver pointed at the man bound to the ground and said, "After we arrived here, this guy suddenly attacked us, trying to take Sarah away."

"I understand." Ryuji nodded, then looked at the Konoha ninja. "It seems you were already watching from a distance when we were fighting in the street earlier."

Yamato glanced at him, then lowered his head and remained silent.

"Afraid I'll trick you into revealing information?"

Seeing Yamato's reaction, Ryuji couldn't help but chuckle. "I bet you wouldn't believe me if I said something like, 'Don't worry, I won't try to trick you.' But it's the truth, your very existence is more useful to me than any information."

Long Er removed the "armor" and handed it to Yin, saying, "Extract the bloodstains from the mask; they are very valuable."

"Yes, Master."

After receiving the order, Yin took "Jia" to the side to collect blood.

Ryuji then took out a syringe and began drawing blood from Yamato. "You're a Wood Release ninja, your life force is stronger than the average person's, you don't mind if I draw a little more, do you?"

Do I mind if it's useful?

Yamato remained silent, simply watching quietly. After mentally complaining, he kept thinking about how to escape.

But he racked his brains and still couldn't come up with a solution.

Ryuji had drawn five large tubes of blood in a row, and just as he was about to draw the sixth tube, Yamato's figure began to fade.

"Are we going back to the future?"

Long Er paused for a moment, then stopped what he was doing and took out an instrument to take measurements.

This world has space-time ninjutsu, so Ryuji is not completely ignorant about space-time.

He wanted to know the spatial frequency caused by time travel, to see if there was any chance to develop something like a time machine.

Although the chances are slim, even if it doesn't work out, other byproducts can still be developed.

For example, space equipment like a scroll (but the possibility of that is extremely low).

While conducting the tests, Long Er asked, "Speaking of which, how did you manage to travel here?"

Even after Centipede died, they still traveled through time, which means that the previous spacetime correction changed the reason for their travel from Centipede devouring Minato's seal to other reasons... This is also the reason why Naruto and Minato suddenly appeared.

Spacetime correction only changes the starting point of everything... that is, making minimal changes to maintain the original historical process.

Understanding the reasons would greatly help his research.

Unfortunately, when asked, Yamato only glanced at him before lowering his head and remaining silent.

Long Er did not press further, nor did he subject Long Er to any torture.

After all, as a secret service unit, they must have received a lot of training in preventing the leakage of intelligence.

If you have enough time, you can give it a try.

But for now, let's forget about it.

but……

"puff!"

Crimson blood splattered everywhere. Yamato stared at the enemy holding his arm, his pupils contracted, and then pain struck him. He collapsed to the ground groaning, cold sweat pouring down his forehead.

"Since you're unwilling to say anything, then leave behind your most valuable possessions." Long Er said calmly, gripping his blood-soaked arm. His indifferent expression, splattered with crimson, looked utterly eerie.

Sarah, standing to the side, couldn't help but show a look of fear, and involuntarily took two steps back.

(A miscalculation.)

Long Er shook his head inwardly.

Showing your brutal side to someone who has just surrendered... It would be fine if the other person was someone who liked this kind of thing, but Sarah is indeed a kind-hearted girl.

Letting her see this side of herself will undoubtedly increase her fear and distrust of her.

There's no time to prepare in such situations.

As he gazed at Yamato, who had completely vanished from this space-time, Ryuuji's arm showed no abnormality.

He was right; once the body is separated from Yamato, it no longer belongs to him.

This is why Ryuji didn't kill Yamato.

While a complete corpse is more valuable for research than an arm, there is no guarantee that a corpse might return to the future.

It would be better to spare his life... If we can't find any value in studying just one arm, then in the future, we can study a complete person.

Ryuji carefully preserved Yamato's arm with tools and then sealed it in a storage scroll. At that moment, news of the knight puppet arrived in his mental ocean.

"Master, we've captured Aburame Shiki and Akimichi Choza, but Namikaze Minato has escaped."

Where is Naruto Uzumaki?

"No trace of them."

I haven't seen a trace of them... they must have returned to the future!

Long Er pondered for a moment, then ordered, "Then lock them up first."

"Yes."

After dealing with the matter there, Long Er turned to look at the fearful Queen of Loulan. "Sarah, these people have been captured and forced to do hard labor in this dark and desolate place. They haven't been home for years. Take them to their families so they can reunite. Also, inform them that Loulan has been incorporated into Sunagakure."

(End of this chapter)