The desert wind howled as Neji stood atop the ancient city of Loulan, his Byakugan sweeping across the entire city.
To avoid exposing his identity to this point in history, he had to act cautiously.
He took several pieces of metal from his storage space. With a kneading motion of both hands, the metal was shaped like soft clay into a white human-face mask.
Then he took out the Dragon Crystal. A faint glow of chakra lit his fingertips as he swiftly formed hand seals according to the forging technique taught by the Sage of Six Paths.
"Condense!"
The Dragon Crystal's energy was precisely dispersed, transforming into fine runes that flowed across the mask's surface.
A yin-yang twin fish pattern emerged at the center of the mask, its eyes positioned directly over the wearer's own. Bagua runes encircled the edges, while the Qian trigram was branded upon the forehead.
Neji put on the mask, and the Sealing Jutsu activated instantly. His appearance and aura were completely concealed; even the Byakugan and Sharingan could not see through it.
"This way, I won't interfere with history..." he murmured. Then, with a flicker, he vanished into the sandstorm.
He had done this because he had spotted Minato Namikaze's three-man squad moving through Loulan. Minato Namikaze was an exceptionally intelligent ninja, and Neji did not want to cross paths with him in case Minato figured out his identity and left contingencies behind in Konoha.
If he truly could not avoid them, the disguise provided by the mask and ninjutsu would be necessary. Fortunately, Neji had not been idle since crossing into this parallel world. He had learned nearly every ninjutsu he could get his hands on.
Neji passed through a building and opened a hidden door. Beyond it lay a deep, shadowy passage.
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