Konoha, reported by the Fourth Hokage at the start.

Chapter 326 Time Reset

"Then why don't we go with that child? Wouldn't that allow us to complete the mission faster?" Choji Akimichi asked, puzzled.

Their mission is to stop Centipede from continuing to use the power of the Dragon Vein to create a puppet army that could threaten Konoha.

Since that child could find the centipede, why not go with him and kill it? That way, the mission could be completed quickly.

"Killing the centipede is easy, but in order to avoid causing spacetime distortion and drastic changes in the future, we cannot do it ourselves."

Minato's eyes flashed with a sharp light as he said, "We'll just assist from the sidelines this time; the rest is up to that kid."

The past and the future: the past cannot be changed, but the future can be changed through the present.

Centipedes are people of the future; they are people of the past.

When people from the past kill people from the future, it will cause violent upheavals in that time and space, and large-scale changes will occur in the future.

Minato didn't want to change the future because he had already guessed who the child with the same hair color and blue eyes as him was.

If nothing unexpected happens, that child should be named Naruto, his future son.

In order to prevent major changes in the future from causing unexpected events in the birth of his son, Minato and the others from the past cannot kill Centipede.

Only if Naruto, who belongs to the future just like Centipede, kills Centipede without having too much impact on the future.

"Understood!"

Although he still didn't understand Minato's spacetime theory, Akimichi Choza nodded in agreement out of trust in Minato.

The three then searched for Centipede's figure in Loulan, while keeping an eye on the movements around them, but without paying special attention to Naruto.

The less interaction we have with Naruto now, the less impact it will have on the future.

In the blink of an eye.

It was evening.

Li Yao, who was at the bottom of the Dragon Vein Pit, suddenly frowned. The Dragon Vein Chakra fluctuated again. This fluctuation was not as strong as when Naruto appeared, but it was still much stronger than usual.

As expected, the one that suddenly appeared outside Loulan should be Yamato.

"It seems that the intensity of the spacetime fluctuations in the Dragon Vein Chakra depends on the amount of chakra possessed by the person traversing spacetime."

Naruto's own chakra is astonishing, and he also has the Nine-Tails' chakra, so the spacetime fluctuations he causes are even stronger.

Yamato has less chakra, so the spacetime fluctuations he causes are weaker.

Under normal circumstances, the spacetime fluctuations caused by Yamato's appearance would not be so fatal.

However, now, as the Dragon Vein Chakra is about to enter a period of periodic disappearance, Yamato's appearance undoubtedly accelerates the instability of the Dragon Vein Chakra.

Looking at the seemingly calm dragon vein chakra, Li Yao felt that the dragon vein would disappear due to instability in less than a month.

In such a short time, it would be very difficult for him to replicate the Dragon Vein Chakra.

"No, I need to find a way to continue sensing the dragon vein's chakra."

Li Yao's gaze shifted, and he immediately thought that since the dragon vein power of this world was about to disappear, he should go to a world where the dragon vein power still existed.

In Naruto's future Hokage world, the power of the Dragon Vein still exists, but it is sealed. Perhaps by traveling back in time and breaking Minato's seal, the power of the Dragon Vein can be rekindled.

Thinking of this, Li Yao flew out from the bottom of the dragon vein pit, his body turning into water and seeping into the wall, flying towards the top of the tower.

Centipede truly deserves to be called a puppet genius; a ruthless person who dared to successfully absorb the spacetime sealing technique into his own body.

Over the past six years, his research into Dragon Vein Chakra has developed several properties, which he has transformed into a fixed chakra that can be applied to him.

At the top of the tower where the dragon vein is located, there is a device similar to an antenna receiver that can convert the absorbed dragon vein chakra into a plasma-like chakra.

This plasma-enhanced chakra is also Dragon Vein Chakra, but it is not the complete Dragon Vein Chakra; it only possesses the time reset property of the Dragon Vein Chakra's spacetime attribute.

This time reset feature is somewhat similar to the time-limited chakra granting Edo Tensei ninjas unlimited chakra.

No matter how much damage a centipede puppet suffers or how much chakra it consumes, it will immediately reset to its original form as long as plasma-infused dragon vein chakra is injected into it.

What are puppeteers most afraid of?

What I fear most is that my puppet will be destroyed.

The more powerful a puppet is, the more intricate its internal structure. It is also the less susceptible to damage it can withstand, otherwise its abilities will be rendered useless.

However, with the time reset effect of the Dragon Vein Chakra, the puppet is no longer afraid of being destroyed and can be restored to its original state at any time by resetting time.

The reason why Centipede has the ambition to rule the world by himself is that the Dragon Vein Chakra gives him the ability to infinitely reset and remain indestructible puppets.

In addition, he himself was transformed into a puppet.

As long as he has the Dragon Vein Chakra, he is invincible, just like a reanimated ninja with unlimited chakra and an infinitely resetting lifespan, making him virtually unkillable.

With his puppet army, it's understandable that Centipede didn't take the five great nations seriously.

Unfortunately, Centipede was ultimately a puppeteer genius, not a ninja genius.

He could research and develop plasma-based time-resetting dragon vein chakra, but he couldn't condense dragon vein chakra with time-resetting properties on his own.

The dragon vein was to him what Naruto and the Nine-Tails' chakra within him were.

Centipede can only use time to reset the dragon vein chakra; it cannot condense time-reset dragon vein chakra on its own.

Li Yao is different; he can do what Baizu cannot.

Standing atop the tower, Li Yao gazed at the antenna device that converted the dragon vein chakra into plasma-like time-reset dragon vein chakra.

The conversion hasn't started yet, but it'll be soon.

Through their shared senses, Naruto and Queen Sara of Loulan entered the Centipede Puppet Factory via ventilation ducts.

Centipede was in a secret room inside the puppet factory.

Ten minutes later.

A loud rumble came from the tower where the puppet factory was located. The tower collapsed, and a huge scorpion-like puppet crawled out from the ground. It was a centipede that had been puppetized.

Sara led the rescued Loulan civilians to the central square, the place where Naruto first appeared, which is also the location of the Dragon Vein.

Centipede chased after Sarah.

Naruto and the others didn't understand why Centipede was chasing Sara.

Li Yao knew very well that only Sara, who could seal the power of the dragon vein, could threaten Centipede.

Once the power of the dragon vein is sealed, Centipede will no longer have the support of resetting chakra over time. Even if he is completely transformed into a puppet, he will still be killed.

Only by killing Sarah can no one stop him.

They chased while simultaneously trying to stop him.

Soon, the centipede was defeated by Akimichi Choza and a ninja from the Aburame clan.

Stab it!

On the tower, the antenna conversion device suddenly released plasma-enhanced dragon vein chakra, which struck the body of the giant centipede scorpion puppet.

In an instant, the chakra absorbed by the Aburame clan insects was restored to its peak under the time reset, and the damaged body parts were also restored to their original state.

(End of this chapter)