That bold?
Uchiha Aoba thought he'd misheard.
To be honest, so many years had passed that he'd forgotten almost everything about the Lost Tower storyline. All he remembered was the time-crossing meeting between Namikaze Minato and his son, Naruto Uzumaki.
So he was curious to see how the other side planned to stop Mukade from using the Dragon Vein to produce puppets.
Sara's gaze swept across the inside of the tower. When she spotted something, her eyes lit up, and she pointed down. "Konoha shinobi, please take me to the seal down there."
Following the direction Sara pointed, Namikaze Minato studied it. "It looks a bit like a Sealing Jutsu."
"Yes. Once I reach that spot, I can cut off the Dragon Vein's power."
Sara explained urgently, "So please, hurry."
"I understand." Namikaze Minato nodded, then turned to Uchiha Aoba and ordered, "Aoba, please take Her Majesty down there to cut off the Dragon Vein. Be careful not to let the patrolling puppets spot you."
"Got it. Your Majesty, hold on tight."
As Uchiha Aoba spoke, he scooped Sara up around the waist and reached the bottom of the tower in just a few leaps.
Keeping a careful eye on the puppets with his Sharingan, he avoided them and soon arrived beside the seal.
As soon as he set Sara down, she said, "Please move back a little. I'm about to activate the jutsu."
Uchiha Aoba nodded and backed away a few steps. Then he looked up at Namikaze Minato and the others above and made a hand signal, telling them to come help at once if anything went wrong.
Sara slowly walked to the middle of the seal and crouched in front of a raised device. She pressed her hands together in prayer and murmured, "In the name of the Queen, I command you!"
"You, cut off the Dragon Vein's flow and suppress your power! By the laws of heaven!"
???
Uchiha Aoba had always felt that when he put question marks in his thoughts, it wasn't because he was confused. It was because the other person was.
Since when did the Shinobi World have sealing incantations like that?
But what happened next left him no time to dwell on something that wasn't all that important.
As Sara spoke the incantation, a purple ring of light appeared in her hands. It flowed into the raised device below, and the entire seal glowed purple before fading away into the floor.
At almost the same moment, the Dragon Vein energy that had been coursing through the tower came to a halt.
"That's it. I've successfully cut off the Dragon Vein."
Sara stood up, smiling happily.
Uchiha Aoba wanted to give her a thumbs-up, but the appearance of the puppet army made his eyes light up. He immediately took up a fighting stance. Another chance to raise his fusion rate had arrived.
Namikaze Minato and the others above were ready to fight as well.
Just as they were about to move, a voice came from above the tower.
"Your Majesty, what are you doing in a place like this?"
Sara looked up. The moment she recognized the newcomer, she gritted her teeth and shouted, "Anrokuzan!"
"Oh? So this is Mukade?"
The Tomoe in Uchiha Aoba's Sharingan turned as he considered taking out the leader first.
He wanted to know how much fusion progress the main target of the mission was worth.
Meanwhile, Sara was still trying to exercise her authority as Queen. "Anrokuzan, I order you to stop developing puppet weapons at once and free the people you've enslaved!"
"Ah, so you already know all that."
Anrokuzan's expression darkened as he looked down at them from above. "Then I can't let you live."
"And the one beside you, too..."
Before he could finish speaking, his eyes met Uchiha Aoba's.
"Demonic Illusion: Shackling Stakes Technique!"
A flash of red passed through Uchiha Aoba's pupils as he cast the genjutsu.
Anrokuzan felt his body seize up. Two enormous iron stakes pinned him in place, leaving him unable to move.
"Tch. You dare act tough in front of me?"
"And you dare meet my eyes!?"
Taunting him, Uchiha Aoba leaped into the air. His sword was already out of its sheath, and he swung it straight at Anrokuzan's head.
At the same time,
Namikaze Minato used the Body Flicker Technique to appear behind Anrokuzan and thrust a special Kunai toward his heart.
Yet, faced with this attack from both sides,
Anrokuzan looked completely calm. Even when the Kunai struck him, he remained unperturbed.
"Something's wrong..."
Namikaze Minato frowned. The feedback from the Kunai told him it hadn't pierced flesh.
And when Uchiha Aoba sliced off Anrokuzan's head a second later,
"It was a puppet decoy!"
"Hahaha!"
Anrokuzan's severed head hit the ground as he laughed mockingly. "Namikaze Minato, the Golden Flash famed throughout the Shinobi World, and a little brat from the Uchiha Clan—you thought I didn't know you were in Rōran?"
"I've been prepared for you. My puppet army will give you a proper welcome!"
Thud!
Uchiha Aoba kicked Anrokuzan's puppet head off the platform.
"Go eat shit."
Seeing the puppets below begin to move toward Sara, Choza Akimichi and Naruto Uzumaki immediately appeared to guard her from the front and rear.
Uchiha Aoba exchanged a glance with Namikaze Minato, and they sprang into action. As they moved through the puppets, those controlled by Chakra Threads lost control one after another, collapsing in heaps across the floor.
"Looks like ordinary puppets are useless against you."
Hidden in the shadows, Anrokuzan sensed what was happening. "In that case, let me show you my true power. Don't let it scare you!"
"Hm?"
Uchiha Aoba, who'd been having a great time taking out puppets, noticed that the ones attacking him were scattering on their own.
Then, a moment later,
all the puppets reassembled into one massive puppet, about twenty meters tall.
"Damn it! He's picking on me because I haven't unlocked the Mangekyō yet."
Uchiha Aoba cursed under his breath and promptly retreated.
By contrast,
Namikaze Minato charged forward instead of backing away. He flung a special Kunai from his hand and rapidly formed Hand Seals.
"Ninja Art: Shuriken Shadow Clone Technique!"
The Kunai in midair multiplied at incredible speed. In the blink of an eye, they filled the air around the giant puppet.
A brief silence fell.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
A series of explosions rang through the tower. The Kunai pelted the giant puppet, and by the time the jutsu ended, it was riddled with holes.
Uchiha Aoba was so shocked that his eyes nearly popped out.
You're telling me that was the Shuriken Shadow Clone Technique?
Had it mutated?
Uchiha Aoba wasn't the only one stunned. Hidden in the shadows, Anrokuzan was also startled by Namikaze Minato's move.
But Anrokuzan had plenty more tricks up his sleeve.
When he came to his senses, he saw the giant puppet down and most of the puppet army destroyed.
With a roar, Anrokuzan prepared to show off his greatest talent.
Then, amid the sound of tearing, his body transformed into a puppet centipede.
He'd decided to stop being human.
Before you continue