The Second Nine-Tails

Several days later, the wind and sand at the border of the Land of Wind blew grit into everyone's mouths.

Obito spat out the yellow sand in his mouth and stared at the towering structure ahead, utterly speechless.

The legendary Ancient Kingdom of Roran was actually like this.

They had rushed all the way here without seeing a single person to receive them. The minister who had issued the mission had most likely run into trouble.

Minato stopped behind a sand dune, his gaze settling on the edge of the silent city.

The surroundings were unnaturally quiet. Even the sound of wind passing through the dunes felt wrong.

"Something isn't right."

There was not a trace of human voices within the city. A normal town should not have been this quiet.

The minister who had issued the emergency mission had not even left behind anyone to receive them. Minato rested his hand on the hilt of his kunai.

Ye crouched nearby and helplessly curled his lips.

He could roughly guess what had gone wrong in Rōran. Mukade was probably causing trouble inside.

Sara's mother had likely noticed something was amiss before she died and had ordered a loyal minister to send out a call for help.

The information had been sent out, but that minister had most likely already been dealt with by Mukade.

After all, Mukade wanted to monopolize the entire Ley Line. He would not generously allow Konoha's ninja to come in and ruin things.

Ye suppressed those guesses. The timeline had already been altered beyond recognition; before the clues were confirmed, no one could say anything for certain.

Today's Rōran was most likely going to be a tough one.

Minato pulled several standard ANBU animal masks from his Ninja Tools pouch and handed them out one by