The desert wind carried fine grains of sand as it howled past Loulan's towering buildings.
Neji stood atop an ornate clock tower, his Byakugan sweeping over the densely packed puppet soldiers patrolling the streets below.
They moved in mechanical patrols, unnatural purple chakra light flickering at their joints. Clearly, they had been completely controlled by Mukade—or rather, the current "An Lushan."
"They just keep coming..."
Neji muttered to himself. A thread of chakra gathered at his fingertip, and with a light flick, the head of a distant puppet exploded. Its body swayed twice before crashing to the ground.
However, even more puppets immediately turned toward him, their hollow eye sockets locking onto his position.
"Tch, annoying."
Neji frowned slightly, his hands rapidly forming seals as chakra began to surge around him.
Since these puppets refused to know their place, he might as well clear them all out at once—
Just as he was about to unleash a wide-range ninjutsu, a familiar voice suddenly called from behind him.
"Neji! Don't act rashly!"
He spun around sharply and saw Tsunade leap from the shadows, her long golden hair flying in the sandstorm, a trace of joy on her face.
"Master?!" Neji's eyes widened in surprise, but Tsunade gave him no time to react. She grabbed his wrist and said in a low voice, "Come with me!"
The next second, the two vanished from where they stood, leaving the puppets that had missed their target to look around blankly.
Tsunade led Neji through several hidden passageways before they finally entered a spacious, ancient council chamber.
Its dome-like ceiling soared overhead, and the walls were carved with intricate ancient Loulan patterns. Several scrolls and maps lay scattered across the long table in the center, making it clear that someone had been plotting here for