Rōran's Fall, Journey to the Future, and Nohara Nao's Jealousy Dilemma

"Twenty years later?" Nohara Nao sat up, her square shoulders shimmering with a warm honey color under the soft light, her long black hair cascading down her shoulders in strands.

"What's wrong?" he asked.

"Are you serious?" Her eyes widened as she blinked at Naruto. "You mean you're going to take me twenty years into the future, to travel... travel through time?"

"Um."

"Why?" Nohara Nao considered some possibilities, but was still somewhat confused. "Isn't it good here? Find a safe place to stay and grow old slowly."

Naruto felt a little guilty. If they could share a snowy day together, they could grow old together in this life. The problem was, he couldn't not go back; the Dragon Vein was in grave danger.

He originally came from twenty years in the future, only to obtain a document, and was prepared to return once he got it. Now, all he wants is to take Nohara Nao back to twenty years in the future.

His base of operations isn't here, and there's no point in lingering in this war-torn era. For Naruto, this is ultimately just a dream; only by returning home can he truly be grounded.

But for Nohara Nao, traveling to the future twenty years in advance was nothing more than a dream. Nohara Nao dared not think about what would happen twenty years from now.

Friends, family, partners, even enemies—everything you perceive can change. Twenty years have passed in a flash, and she's even more afraid of something else.

"Are you from twenty years in the future?" she asked.

"Um."

"What will you be like in twenty years?" Nohara Nao asked nervously. "Will you be married? How many wives/husbands will you have?"

Naruto: "."

This question made him extremely guilty; he was definitely not married. But there are a few questions like this where, well, answering honestly would definitely get him rejected.

It would be hard to believe if someone said no.

"Well... I'll naturally remain the same as I am now, and as for marriage, that's definitely not going to happen," Naruto explained. "Well, there are a few, though."

Nohara Nao's smile vanished, her lower lip pursed as she seemed lost in thought. She gave Naruto a deep look, making Naruto feel uneasy.

"Ahem." He opened his mouth as if to add something, but suddenly heard Nohara Nao burst out laughing.

Why are you panicking?

"If I panicked like that, I actually think it's pretty scumbag-like." Naruto scratched his head. "I've been having a lot of bad luck lately, so I'm afraid I won't feel at ease lying."

"Hehe, I'm not angry." Nohara Nao leaned in and hugged him, whispering, "Meeting you at a time like this is lucky enough."

"If I were any other girl, I would fall for you too. It's just that I'm worried that if I go into the future with you, I'll become an old auntie."

"When you're surrounded by young women, I really won't know what to do."

"No, you'll be the same way you are now, and the same way you'll be in the future." Naruto's brow relaxed a little as he reassured him, "Your body won't change, you can rest assured about that."

"Do you just want to come back with me? Your family and friends are all here. If you come back with me..."

Naruto paused halfway through his sentence. He hadn't used the Ido Prophecy from the system rewards yet. Based on its effects, it allowed him to rewrite reality and break through limitations by borrowing the power of the great demon Ido.

In principle, it's possible to travel to the future with someone. But the rest depends on Nohara Nao's own ideas, since time doesn't turn back.

"I'm really going to miss you. Tell me what it will be like in twenty years?" she said, holding Naruto's hand with a bright smile on her face.

"What it will be like twenty years from now, huh?" Naruto leaned against the edge of the bed, pondered for a moment, and said, "The Third Hokage is dead."

Nohara Nao: "..."

She was somewhat speechless, wondering if this person had some kind of grudge against the Third Hokage. Of all the things to discuss in the future, why pick this one? After a moment's consideration, she continued to ask.

"Anything else?"

"Oh, and... the Fifth Hokage was Lord Tsunade, and then Kakashi."

"Kakashi?" Nohara Nao finally reacted, looking at Naruto with a surprised expression.

"What? You know him?" he asked, but didn't seem to care.

"Hmm... Kakashi, everyone knows he's a genius, but he doesn't know me, he knows one of my sisters."

"Sister? Is she my biological sister?" Naruto keenly sensed something was off. Nohara Nao and Rin Nohara looked so alike, except that no one had camouflage on their faces.

"No, it's the youngest sister in the family, Rin Nohara." Nohara Nao finished speaking, then noticed Naruto's strange expression and asked, pausing for a moment.

"What's wrong?"

"It's nothing." Naruto remained silent, realizing that the point in time he had retraced was very close to the Battle of Kannabi Bridge.

Since Nohara Nao spoke of Rin Nohara with a natural expression, it means that Minato's Team is still alive and well. Now that Danzo and his Root are involved in an internal investigation in Konohagakure, yet they remain unscathed in later generations, there must be some kind of opportunity that has brought a new turning point to Danzo's predicament.

A turning point?... War!

Naruto's heart skipped a beat. Was it the Sand's attack on the Land of Fire, or the Battle of Kannabi Bridge? If war broke out in Konohagakure, the higher-ups would have to suspend the investigation into Danzo. Root remained a sharp spearhead active on the battlefield; the village needed Danzo.

If that's the case, then everything makes perfect sense.

Nohara Nao noticed that Naruto didn't seem completely unaffected, but since Naruto didn't say anything, she wasn't curious. She simply nestled in Naruto's arms, a strange feeling stirring within her.

But my body couldn't take it anymore, so after thinking about it, I had to give up the idea of stopping the car.

Naruto didn't think for long before pulling her over, thus ending the conversation. Later that night, as their energy recovered, the two had a more in-depth discussion about the current situation in Konohagakure.

After working late into the night, a conclusion was finally reached.

"Slap slap slap!!"

Naruto vigorously chopped the cucumber strips into several pieces, smashed them, and mixed them with various sauces. He simply cracked an egg, fried a piece of meat, and breakfast was ready.

With a clatter, the plate was pushed in front of Nohara Nao.

She slumped listlessly on the table, glanced at the breakfast on the table, and sighed softly.

"Why are you doing all this so early in the morning? Let me sleep a little longer."

"Let's eat breakfast first. Um... are you going to work today?" Naruto suddenly remembered that today was probably a workday and glanced at the clock.

It's not time for work yet. If she hurrys to finish her breakfast and leaves, she'll still have time to spare when she gets to Konoha Hospital.

"We're going to travel to the future, why bother going to work?" Nohara Nao was quite philosophical about it, propping herself up with her battered body as she sat up and started picking at the breakfast on her plate.

"We haven't finished talking about that topic from yesterday yet. What does the future look like?" she asked.

"You'll see for yourself when the time comes," Naruto said, sitting down and casually stuffing the fried egg into his mouth, swallowing it completely.

"There's no war, but it's not necessarily completely safe. There are always some people who want to destroy the world."

"Huh?" Nohara Nao became more and more confused as she listened. What did it mean that there was no war but people were thinking about destroying the world? What was going on? What would the future be like?

Dangerous? Or not dangerous?

"I'm quite willing to go, and I'm not so opposed to the future," she said after a moment's consideration. "As long as I don't become a little aunt, I can accept it."

"Actually, there's something else I want to know."

"What is it?"

"Who are those girls around you in the future?" Nohara Nao asked, amused by her own words. "I'm not jealous, I just want to know whose daughter you've ruined."

"Huh?" Naruto felt even more ashamed and tentatively uttered a name.

"Inoichi Yamanaka?" she stared in disbelief. "His daughter? Ah...his daughter. It's hard to imagine what Inoichi Yamanaka's future daughters will look like."

" From the Hyuga Clan, huh?"

"Haruno. Oh, I've never heard of that."

"Anything else?" Nohara Nao was complicated. Looking at Naruto's innocent face, she didn't know whether to be jealous or not. This was just ridiculous.

I knew this guy was a scoundrel, but I didn't expect him to have such a wide reach.

"That's all." Naruto naturally wouldn't say anything more. It wasn't that there was no need to say anything else, but rather that the fewer people who knew, the better.

Ideally, neither side would know, since they're too far apart to run into each other anyway. I'm not going to be like Wei Xiaobao, creating a run-down island and moving all the women I'm involved with there.

Harmonious coexistence is only possible if those women are completely out of their minds. What era are we living in? Still indulging in such unrealistic fantasies? Three women make a drama, seven or eight would be like a modern-day Shinobi World: Empresses in the Palace.

It's pointless to really get to that point. A lot of trouble could be eliminated simply by not seeing each other. It's just that they insist on playing together in groups of three or five because they want to.

It's said that forced love is never sweet, let alone a love between multiple people. In principle, everyone should just be at peace with each other. They can't possibly give up everything for Naruto and become a soulless cannon fodder.

Kazahana Koyuki will remain in her Land of Snow; she is Kazahana Koyuki. Ino will always be proud; she is Ino. If one day Ino abandons her principles for him and accepts many sisters, that would be a tragedy.

Just as he pretended not to know Hinata, Ino also pretended not to know that Naruto and Hinata were in contact, so they wouldn't easily run into each other anyway. Even with Ino and Hinata, he didn't know what to do, but he couldn't let them find out that there were other people besides them.

After resting for another day, Naruto took Nohara Nao out of Konohagakure.

The two traveled all the way from the Forest of the Land of Fire to the deserts of the Land of Wind. Just before they approached Rōran, Nohara Nao suddenly grabbed Naruto amidst the swirling sandstorm.

"What's wrong?"

"Will all the people I know become history?" Nohara Nao asked sadly, opening her mouth to continue, "Will they all die in the war?"

"Probably." Naruto didn't lie to her and told the truth. "Your family, friends, and clan—everything you have during this period will be buried in the river of time, as if you never existed."

"It's not too late for you to regret it now, so do you still want to continue?"

Nohara Nao fell silent and stood there for a while.

"Um."

Having received a positive answer, Naruto didn't waste any more words. He continued his journey towards Rōran with Nohara Nao, but despite their haste, they were still a step too late.

Rōran had been reduced to nothing under the iron heel of war; its once magnificent High Tower had all crumbled and collapsed. Even Naruto stood there, stunned, unable to recover for a long time.

Two months later, a small country was destroyed?

"It looks like there was just a war here?" Nohara Nao was also horrified. The scene of war trampling through the ground was truly chilling.

Buildings were destroyed, and abandoned corpses were scattered along the roadsides. The air was thick with a stench, and sandstorms relentlessly swept through.

"It seems like going there means war." Naruto exhaled and pulled Nohara Nao's hand, leading her in another direction. "Don't talk, just follow me."

"Uh-huh."

"We're going to find the Rōran royal family now. Only they know where the other entrance to the Dragon Vein is," Naruto explained as they walked.

"Okay." Nohara Nao didn't understand anything, so she just nodded.

The situation was far more dire than Naruto had imagined. The people of Rōran were either dead or wounded, and the Queen of Roran had died in the war while protecting her people.

Princess Sara was taken away to flee, and her whereabouts are currently unknown.

"Missing" is a lie, Naruto refuses to believe it. Knowing Sara's personality, she would never leave Rōran; she can't bear to leave her homeland. Sara must be hiding somewhere.

"What do we do now?" Nohara Nao, wearing a white robe to protect herself from the sand, looked at Naruto with a somewhat anxious expression and chapped lips.

"Finding Princess Sara is the key to finding the Dragon Vein." Naruto insisted, knowing that finding Sara was the only solution at present.

It took another three days to find Princess Sara, who looked utterly dejected, among the refugees in Rōran. Her eyes were vacant, her face haggard, and her hair was matted.

Two months ago she was a princess, and now she's a homeless beggar; you wouldn't recognize her at all if you didn't look closely.

The iron hooves of war were so fierce and devastating that a small country like Rōran could not withstand them. Sand pacified Rōran in half a day and pushed the battlefield to the border of the Land of Grass.

In their eyes, Rōran was probably not even worth mentioning, not even considered an enemy.

Sara was practically a walking corpse, dragged to a sunny spot, looking up at the two people standing in the light. Her eyes were dull, and she showed no reaction.

"It's been a long time, Princess Sara," Naruto said.

"Hmm." Sara showed no emotion, wearing an old coat, huddled in a corner with a blank look in her eyes.

"What's wrong with her?" Nohara Nao stepped forward, feeling sorry for the dirty girl.

"She's probably been traumatized. She's always grown up under the Queen's protection and has never experienced any major upheavals," Naruto said in a low voice.

"Now, suddenly the country is destroyed, the Queen is dead, and the people are either dead or wounded. This country can no longer exist."

"Should we help her?"

How can I help?

"This..." Nohara Nao was also stumped. After thinking for a moment, she suddenly looked up at Naruto and asked, "Hey, if we're going to the future, can you bring one more person with you?"

"Um??"