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

Sarah was somewhat impressed by An Lushan's extremely "modest" words.

Her mother died too young from illness. She was not even 14 years old when she first came to power. Fortunately, An Lushan was a busy minister who served her. Otherwise, how could Loulan be so prosperous now?

Sarah placed photos of herself and her mother on the table, greeted An Lushan, and then went to change her clothes.

Emerging from the tower where the Queen resided, An Lushan's face still held an unquenchable excitement, and his entire body trembled slightly.

"Today... today has finally arrived. I now have complete control over the dragon vein. As long as Sara, the one who can seal the dragon vein's core, dies, the entire Loulan will be my paradise! Hehehe..."

Just as An Lushan was imagining the good days to come, a small puppet flew over from nearby and whispered something in his ear, causing his expression to change drastically.

“Loulan has actually been invaded by outsiders. It’s like they’re trying to trip me up at a crucial moment. I hope those two outsiders will know what’s good for them and submit. Otherwise, I wouldn’t recommend using them as a starting point for a successful campaign…” A cold glint flashed in An Lushan’s eyes.

He had painstakingly built up the country over six years, and was finally about to have complete control over it. He wouldn't allow any more mistakes to happen at this point.

An Lushan waved his hand, instructing the humans to treat them well, and then went to prepare the "welcome parade" for Sara that evening.

On the west side of Loulan... Zhixue and Xie wandered around this area, which seemed like a no-man's land. They looked around but did not find the area they had been in before. It was as if it were two different places. Xie was very puzzled by this.

"Could this be a space-time ninjutsu?" Sasori recalled how he had been rummaging around in that unknown passage and said with some doubt.

Judging from the surrounding environment, it does resemble the Land of Wind or the Land of Earth, but he doesn't remember such a place. As for the Kingdom of Loulan, it has long since perished and could not possibly be preserved so completely.

Just as Scorpion and Zhixue were wandering around the area, two people dressed in luxurious formal attire emerged from a distant tower. Upon seeing Zhixue and Scorpion, they rushed up to them with great enthusiasm.

"Oh my, it's rare to see someone from out of town."

"Yes, what brings you two to Loulan? We are the city management officers here, and we hope we can help you with something." Two middle-aged men ran up to Scorpion and Zhixue and said enthusiastically.

After all, An Lushan's orders to them were to keep a close eye on these two and make sure nothing went wrong at this crucial moment. They were determined to do their best, otherwise they would probably have to do unpaid hard labor underground like the other Loulan people the next day.

"Is this Loulan?" Scorpion's tone was full of doubt and confusion. According to historical records, Loulan was affected by the war during the Third Shinobi World War and had long been reduced to ruins and mostly buried by the yellow sand in the desert. How could it possibly have the appearance of a towering tower with steam billowing out?

The two middle-aged men were taken aback by Scorpion's question before they realized what he meant.

Could these two have gotten lost in the desert and accidentally wandered in? If that's the case, things will be much easier; we can just give them a quick bluff.

"This is indeed the legendary Loulan Kingdom, nestled in the desert. It seems you two have gotten lost in the desert. Why don't you come to my house and have a couple of drinks to cool off?"

Upon hearing what the two were saying, Scorpion pulled a thermometer out of his pocket, and the temperature of 38 degrees Celsius displayed on it surprised him greatly.

Something's not right. Although this is a desert, it's winter. At this time of year, the temperature should be dropping below 0 degrees Celsius. So, he didn't realize it immediately after turning himself into a puppet?

Looking at the two grinning faces, Zhixue also had some thoughts.

It seems they have been discovered by An Lushan, but there's no rush. Judging from the current situation, they shouldn't act so quickly. Taking the complete Susanoo and Nine-Tails to flatten this place is really not in line with her style.

After all, the people of Loulan hadn't done anything to her, and with such dense and towering towers, Susanoo would be hampered in its movements.

“Since the people of Loulan are so enthusiastic, we can’t refuse, can we?” Zhi Xue tugged at Xie’s sleeve, blinked her eyes, and said in a cute way.

scorpion:……

As dusk approached and darkness fell, there were still few people in the city of Loulan, but many puppets were flying around in the air.

Zhixue and Xie stood atop a tall tower, looking down at a group of humanoid puppets connected by chakra threads and the Queen emerging from a large machine in the distance, waving to the puppets. They felt a pang of sadness.

Your own people have been tricked into doing hard labor underground, and you were completely unaware of it. You, as queen, must be feeling incredibly frustrated.

Watching the Queen being pushed down, falling, and then being saved by a dark figure, Zhi Xue sighed.

Has Naruto grown up so much in the blink of an eye? I wonder how Sasuke and Shisui are doing in the future. Without the crisis of the night of the massacre, they should be doing quite well, right?

Scorpion glanced at the two people behind him who were controlled by illusions, walked to Zhixue's side, and chuckled as he watched another puppet queen emerge from the top of the mechanical parade.

"The leader here seems to be a puppet master as well."

"What, do you want to have some fun with him?" Seeing that Scorpion looked eager to try, Zhixue asked with great interest.

The battle between Sasori of the Red Sand and Centipede of the Dragon Vein, two top-tier puppeteers, seems quite interesting. When cleaning up the battlefield, I'll capture a few puppets to refer to and upgrade the academy's puppet equipment.

Chapter 176, Young Minato

"I'll go check out the terrain nearby. Remember to fire a signal flare if anything happens."

"Do not worry."

Scorpion put on a cloak and then used the Body Flicker Technique to disappear from the spot.

Whether the information extracted from those two people through illusionary torture was true or not, Scorpion planned to wander around and capture a few puppets to use as spare parts.

"Sigh, with such nice weather, why don't we go find something to have fun?"

Seeing the message "Still under testing" on the system, Zhi Xue took out a white fox mask, put it on her face, jumped off the building, and disappeared into the darkness.

……

30 minutes ago…

Queen Sarah, who was walking out of the high platform, looked at the crowd of people welcoming her below and happily waved to them. But just as she was feeling very relieved and happy, a hand suddenly reached out from behind and pushed her down.

"Ha... Ahhh!" Feeling the force pushing her from behind, Sarah fell from the platform. Her mind was blank, and before she could react, an orange figure caught her in mid-air.

Swish!

Naruto landed gently on the ground and gave Sara a tender smile.

"It's all alright now..."

"Aaaah! You rude bastard! Get out of my way!"

Bang bang bang!

Thirty seconds later, Naruto touched his flushed cheeks and his still aching abdomen, and looked resentfully at Queen Sara's location.

"Hey, what's wrong with you, woman? I'm practically your savior and friend..."

"I'm sorry, I wasn't thinking straight at the time. I apologize. Is your face alright?" Sara said somewhat awkwardly, looking at Naruto who still had a red mark on his cheek.

Naruto rubbed his cheeks before turning to Sara, who was sitting next to him, and asked, "You must be the queen here. May I ask what exactly this place is?"

“This is Loulan, and I am its queen—Sarah.”

"Ah, my name is Naruto Uzumaki, and I'm a ninja from Konoha Village. By the way, the ruins I went to before were also called Roran, haha."

"Loulan, ruins? What are you talking about? Loulan was a very prosperous country, how could there be ruins there?" Sara stood up from the ground and said with great doubt.

"Huh?" Naruto scratched his head in annoyance after hearing Sara's explanation. Could there really be two Loulan?

"Although you said some strange things, I still want to thank you for saving me from the sky. As the Queen of Loulan, I will do my best to repay you."

Seeing Sara about to leave, Naruto quickly ran over.

"Hey, wait, you can't go out now."

Seeing Naruto stop her, Sara asked, "Is there anything else? Don't worry, as the Queen of Loulan, I will not let you down."

Seeing that Sara seemed to have misunderstood, Naruto quickly shook his head and said, "Hey, you need to think this through. You've already been pushed off a great height. If you go back the way you came, wouldn't you be walking right into a trap?"

"Looks like you're quite clever sometimes, kid." After Naruto stopped Sara, three ninjas wearing masks and brown ninja outfits appeared.

Seeing three suspiciously dressed strangers suddenly appear, Sara ran over and shielded Naruto behind her.

"Wait, you're from out of town, aren't you? What are you doing here?"

Seeing the extremely hostile Sara, the blond ninja who was the leader of the three sighed and said, looking at the puppets flying around in the sky, "This is not the place to talk. Let's wait until later."

The blond ninja nodded to the other two, then used the Body Flicker Technique to appear behind Sara and grab her.

"Hey, wait a minute, you guys are Konoha ninjas too, right? What are you trying to do!?" Seeing the ninjas attack Sara, Naruto rushed forward excitedly, but he was captured by the blond ninja in less than two rounds.

"Sorry, this is just a quick teleportation method. We'll let you go soon." The blond ninja nodded to the other two, then they gathered together and disappeared in a flash of yellow light.

Not long after the group disappeared, several puppet weapons flew over from the surrounding roads. Seeing the chakra traces left behind, they relayed the information to An Lushan through nearby chakra lines.

Sitting on the throne in the palace, An Lushan's expression turned cold upon hearing the news that Sara had been rescued by an unknown person.

"She actually escaped death! Damn it! Could it have been those two outsiders who did it?" An Lushan immediately thought of Scorpion and Zhixue, who had come to Loulan earlier, and then his face turned ferocious.

"No one can stop my grand plan to control the entire Loulan!" An Lushan stretched out his hand, and strands of blue chakra appeared on his fingers. In this bustling city shrouded in darkness, hundreds of puppets waiting in the underground factory opened their dark purple eyes along with the dragon vein chakra transmitted through the puppet strings.

……

Boom boom boom boom…

Looking out the window at the mechanical puppets moving among the buildings, Sarah could hardly believe it.

"How could so many puppets appear within Loulan? What's going on?"

Seeing Sarah's furrowed brows, the blond ninja removed his mask and said, "Your Majesty, this place is probably no longer under your control. It's safer here."

Naruto was also taken aback when he saw the young and handsome face hidden under the blond ninja mask.

"This person looks so familiar, I feel like I've seen them somewhere before..."

"Big brother, who exactly are you guys?" He scratched his head and asked, looking at Minato Namikaze's face.

"We are also ninjas from Konoha Village, but we are ANBU who carry out missions underground. We are here to hunt down a rogue ninja who escaped here six years ago."

"Anbu?" Naruto was speechless. He lived in that village, so of course he knew a little about it. Moreover, it seemed that Kakashi-sensei and Shizuka-nee, who were at the top of the ninja world, had also been there.

"I don't care which village's ninjas you are, I absolutely will not believe your words. I want to see this beautiful country with my own eyes and believe that the people living happily here will not deceive me!" Sara rushed out, seemingly very excited.

"Hey, can't you calm down a bit, you woman?!" Naruto followed Sara, puzzled, as she walked away. Minato Namikaze sighed as he watched the two of them leave.

"Captain, it seems the situation is very complicated."

"Ah, aren't all the missions of the Dark Division like this? Although they are troublesome, as long as you do them seriously, you will eventually find clues to complete them. After all, it's all for the sake of the village."

"Well, that's true..."

Minato Namikaze watched Naruto leave, smiled slightly, and then, together with the other two, used the Body Flicker Technique to disappear from the spot.

Chapter 177, The Queen Who Discovered the Truth

"I don't believe your nonsense. There were many people welcoming me last night..." Sarah said angrily as she walked down the tower's stairs and looked at the crowd that had once welcomed her.

"Huh? I've already fallen down, why are they still waving?" Sarah looked at the cheering crowd from a distance with a question mark on her head, but as she got closer, she realized that something was quite wrong.

"This is…"

Sarah ran over and squeezed into the crowd, feeling a strange sensation rising in her heart as she looked at the stiff and cold bodies of the "people".

"Grandpa, what are you doing here..." Sarah tugged at an old man's sleeve, but when the "grandpa" Sarah was talking about looked down at the puppet face that was glowing with a dark purple light in the darkness, Sarah's pupils contracted sharply.