Abnormal

While Taiichi was "vacationing" in Rōran, Tsunade, back in Konoha, was restless and wanted to kill someone.

Looking into those 32 pairs of clear yet foolish eyes, Tsunade felt like dying.

Having mentored a genius student like Taiichi who could learn everything instantly and apply what he learned to other situations, I now find myself struggling to teach these ordinary children.

"Damn old man, there are so many ninjas in Konoha, why do you have to send that kid on the mission?"

If we're really short-staffed, you can send me!

While internally fuming and harboring resentment, one still had to maintain a good image in front of these students.

Tsunade was truly on the verge of tears.

I really miss the days when Taiichi filled in for me. I've only had a few days of leisure, and now I have to go back to those office work days.

I wonder how long it will take Taiichi to complete this mission. Given his abilities, it should be quick!

Taiichi had anticipated Tsunade's frustration; he knew this would happen the moment he received the mission.

It's fortunate that he didn't leave Shadow Clone in Konoha, otherwise Tsunade would definitely have targeted even his clones.

--

However, not seeing Tsunade's depressed expression in person still left Taiichi a little disappointed.

However, as they approached Rōran, Taiichi stopped thinking about these things. Instead, it was the surrounding environment of Rōran that attracted Taiichi attention.

"Did you feel it, Kakashi?" Taiichi asked softly.

Kakashi and Rin focused their senses, and after a long while, Kakashi nodded slightly. "There's a faint Chakra fluctuation in the air here? And, it has a... very comfortable feeling?"

"It's not just Chakra." Taiichi closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and a strange sense of comfort appeared on his face. "It's Natural Energy! The concentration of Natural Energy here is extremely high, almost—within reach."

As the distance between them closed, this feeling became increasingly intense.

The power of the Dragon Vein is indeed well-deserved; it is not only an ocean of Chakra, but also a node of Natural Energy!

Using their superb stealth skills, the three avoided the few pedestrians and silently scaled the not-so-high city wall, sneaking into the city.

Upon entering the city, the scene before them seemed to confirm the descriptions in the intelligence reports.

The streets were clean, and the houses, though peculiar in style, were arranged in an orderly fashion.

The residents, dressed simply but neatly, either hurried home in the evening or chatted quietly in the small shops along the street, their faces showing a calm and content expression.

The Third Shinobi World War did not reach this area, and its closed and self-sufficient environment made it appear to be a place of "peace and prosperity".

"It seems... there's nothing wrong?"

Lin lowered her voice, somewhat puzzled. Apart from the strange architectural style, the residents all seemed normal.

Kakashi carefully surveyed the surroundings, his brow furrowing slightly. "Most people are fine, but some people—"

Their movements had an inexplicable stiffness.

"That's not all."

Taiichi's voice was unusually solemn, and a faint, imperceptible light quietly appeared deep within his pupils.

Soul Vision Unlocked!

In his "vision," the entire city instantly shed its surface colors, revealing a chilling truth!

Inside those seemingly ordinary building walls, within the metal frames supporting the towers, lies a dense network of energy transmission pipes!

A deep blue stream of Chakra surged rapidly within it.

Even more terrifying is that Chakra Threads would silently extend from these pipes from time to time!

The other end of these Chakra Threads precisely pierced the back of the neck or spine of some "pedestrians" on the street!

According to Taiichi's Soul Vision, the "people" connected by these Chakra Threads do not have a soul inside their bodies.

These are Puppet dressed in human skin, so realistic they're indistinguishable from real people!

"Hiss----" Even with Taiichi's strong will, he couldn't help but gasp when he saw this scene with his own eyes, a chill rising from his spine.

It has already developed to this point.

The city's apparent peace and tranquility are actually a terrifying stage created by countless manipulated Puppet and unsuspecting real people!

He told Kakashi and Rin about his findings, and their expressions immediately turned extremely grim.

How could that be?

Lin's pupils suddenly contracted to their maximum size, her face turned deathly pale, and she instinctively covered her mouth to prevent herself from screaming.

She looked at the woman Taiichi was pointing to, who was smiling at her companion not far ahead. She couldn't believe that beneath that woman's beautiful exterior were cold, metallic joints.

This extreme terror of being both "human" and "inhuman" instantly strikes at the deepest fears of the human psyche— the Uncanny Valley Effect!

The overwhelming sense of terror made her hair stand on end and her heart pound wildly.

"Concentrate your Chakra in your eyes and control it carefully; you should be able to see the Chakra Threads connecting them."

Taiichi reminded the two that this was a high-level application of Chakra.

However, Kakashi is Jonin- level ninja, and Rin is Medical Ninja with high Chakra Control, so this technique shouldn't be difficult for them to master.

A faint glimmer appeared in Kakashi's eyes!

He stared intently at a "worker" repairing a pipe on a street corner. He could vaguely see a faint Chakra Threads extending from the back of the worker's neck, connecting to a pipe above.

"---- Puppet! They actually used Puppet ---- to replace living people?!"

His voice was low and hoarse, filled with disbelief, shock, and intense anger.

It seems that part of the answer to the missing persons case has been found. The cruelty and bizarreness of this practice of replacing living people with Puppet far exceeded his imagination.

"See that?" Taiichi's voice was extremely low, yet it contained a chilling killing intent.

"At least one-tenth of the city's inhabitants" are no longer alive. They are Puppet remotely controlled by some force, perfectly integrated into daily life, monitoring everything. This is what the Queen sensed was wrong; this is the truth behind the disappearances—the living were abducted or murdered, and then "replaced" by these things!

He pointed to the ubiquitous energy pipes hidden inside the building. "These pipes are the energy source and also the control channels. There must be a big shot at the top helping to cover up this project, otherwise it would have been common knowledge long ago."

Kakashi forced himself to calm down, his eyes fixed on the "merchant" Puppet pushing the cart past. "We should find the Queen as soon as possible; she's probably in great danger. Find her and tell her the truth!"

Lin struggled to calm her churning stomach and fear. As Medical Ninja, the scene before her made her feel physically uncomfortable and intensely responsible. "I must stop him!"

Taiichi's gaze quickly locked onto the tallest building, which was where the Queen resided.

"Wait until nightfall. The daytime defenses will definitely be the tightest. We'll sneak in at night."

Rōran's underground pipe system is vast and complex, Taiichi and his companions easily found their hiding place within it.

Through the narrow gap, Kakashi monitored the patrol patterns near the palace, gathering intelligence for his nighttime infiltration.

"Patrol interval 37 seconds, blind spot lasts 3 seconds."

Kakashi's voice was lower than the sound of air passing by. Taiichi and Rin simply nodded silently to indicate that they understood.

As the Gekko was sliced into fragments of silver foil by the tower, Taiichi and his companions carefully traversed the palace under the cover of shadows until they arrived at a magnificent room.

The sandalwood door, inlaid with malachite, was pushed open a crack. The bedroom was filled with the calming scent of incense, and at the far end of the room, a luxurious large bed was placed.

Perhaps the First Gate too loudly, or perhaps the Queen wasn't asleep at all.

As Taiichi and the other two approached, Queen Seraam suddenly rose from behind the velvet bed curtains. Gekko illuminated the jeweled dagger she gripped tightly in her hand, its blade gleaming with a dark, purplish light.

"Who?"

Her voice carried a forced air of authority, but the trembling at the end betrayed her fear.

However, when her gaze fell upon the Konoha Headband on Kakashi and Rin's foreheads, the dagger silently slipped from her hand and fell onto the bed.

She seemed to have suddenly lost all her strength, collapsing limply back onto the bed, tears streaming down her tired face. "Finally... finally, I've waited for you all!"

Taiichi walked at the back without uttering a word.

Kakashi and Rin exchanged bewildered glances; the Queen's reaction had clearly taken them by surprise.

At this moment, Lin, the only woman, stepped forward, her voice gentle yet firm, attempting to soothe the still-shaken queen.

"Your Majesty, we are Konoha Ninja sent to Rōran on a mission ordered by the Hokage. I am Rin Nohara, this is Hatake Kakashi, and that is our Captain Taichi Matsushita. You are safe now. Please tell us what's going on."

Queen Seraam tried to calm her breathing and wiped away her tears with the back of her hand, but the fear and worry in her eyes did not diminish in the slightest.

She leaned there weakly, her gaze sweeping over the three young yet composed faces, lingering especially on Taiichi's face for a moment.

Taichi Matsushita's reputation was known even in a small, isolated country like Rōran.

"In recent months, I've received a constant stream of reports of young and middle-aged men mysteriously disappearing. At first, it was just a few here and there, and I sent Anrokuzan to investigate. But before the reports arrived, the number of disappearances kept increasing!"

Her voice rose with excitement, then she began to cough violently.

Lin immediately stepped forward and gently patted her back, a faint wisp of Chakra probing in, trying to ease her discomfort.

However, Lin's expression suddenly hardened.

The Queen, her breathing calming slightly, grabbed Lin's wrist as if grasping at a lifeline, her eyes filled with even more despair. "What's even more terrifying is—myself. Lately, I've been feeling increasingly heavy, dizzy and weak, with a poor appetite, and sometimes—even breathing is difficult."

I suspect—no, I'm almost certain—that someone has poisoned me! In my food!

I dared not trust anyone in the palace anymore—the cooks, the maids—I even dared not sleep! I felt—I felt I could die at any moment, without knowing why—"

Her body trembled slightly with fear.

"Every time my minister Anrokuzan came to report, he would confidently say that he was investigating. I used to trust him a lot, but recently he has disappointed me time and time again."

A week has passed, and the disappearance case remains unsolved, while my health is deteriorating day by day. I'm scared—

I don't have much time left!

In desperation, I risked using the secret channel left by my mother to send a plea for help to Konoha —thankfully, thankfully you came! Please save Rōran, save my people!

The Queen's voice was full of pleading.

"Your Majesty, please allow me to examine you."

Lin's expression turned extremely serious. She gestured for the Queen to lie down, then covered her hands with a soft green medical Chakra aura and began to carefully examine the Queen's physical condition.

The bedchamber was completely silent, save for the Queen's slightly rapid breathing.

Kakashi stood vigilantly by the door, his ears catching any unusual sounds outside.

Taiichi stood a little further away, his gaze deep, his Soul Vision silently monitoring the entire palace.

He understood perfectly that everything the Queen had described was part of Anrokuzan's plan to control the power of the Dragon Vein.

However, since everything is still under control, these things cannot be said explicitly. This is both a trial for Kakashi and Rin, and it is also possible for me to explain the source of the information.

Time passed slowly, and Rin's brows furrowed more and more. She withdrew her hand, the green Chakra light faded, and she looked at the Queen with a solemn expression, then turned to Taiichi and Kakashi, saying in a deep voice, "The Queen's feeling was right. She has indeed been poisoned, by a very insidious, chronic mixed toxin."

It is cleverly mixed into daily diet in tiny doses, but over time, it gradually erodes the internal organs, destroys vitality, and eventually leads to organ failure, which looks like—dying of natural weakness.

The poisoner was extremely skilled, and the method was incredibly subtle. Had Her Majesty not been alert and sought help beforehand, perhaps—"

Lin didn't finish her sentence, but the unspoken meaning sent a chill down the spines of everyone present.

The Queen's face turned ashen, her body trembled uncontrollably, Yukiya vanished from her eyes, leaving only cold despair and rage.

"Don't give up so easily." Taiichi spoke for the first time since entering, successfully rousing the queen from her despair. "Lin, can the queen's condition be managed?"

Lin nodded immediately, her eyes firm. "Although the toxins were deeply deposited, they were discovered in time and did not truly damage the root cause."

I need some time. Using the Delicate Illness Extraction Technique the toxins with an antidote should clear most of the poison, and with proper care afterwards, I can recover. The process will just be quite painful.

"Pain doesn't matter! As long as I can survive!" the Queen said urgently, her will to live overcoming everything.

"Alright, Rin, begin the detoxification process for Her Majesty immediately. Kakashi, you stay inside and keep watch to ensure Rin's treatment is not disturbed. I'll go outside and investigate further."

Taiichi quickly issued the order. Kakashi nodded silently, focusing all his attention on the interior of the sleeping quarters and the direction of the entrance.

Lin took a deep breath, gathered green Chakra in her hands again, and precisely pressed her fingertips onto several acupoints on the Queen's body, beginning a meticulous and complex detoxification process.

The Queen clenched her teeth, large beads of sweat instantly appearing on her forehead, and her body convulsed slightly from the pain of detoxification.

But she endured the pain without uttering a sound, her eyes burning with the flames of revenge and the will to survive.

Just as Rin was focused on curing the Queen's poison and Kakashi was on high alert, Taiichi disappeared from his spot and used the Flying Thunder God to arrive in the city.

The following day, after Lin's treatment, although the Queen was exhausted, she could feel a long-lost vitality deep within her body.

However, for the sake of this crumbling country, Seraam had to force himself to meet with officials who came to see him, despite his weakened state.

As the first rays of dawn crested the cold metal towers, Queen of Roran Seraam of Loulan, accompanied by Kakashi and Rin Nohara, already sat enthroned on her throne.

Below her stood Anrokuzan, her "most trusted" minister.