Your Majesty, you wouldn't want anything to happen to your people, would you?

Douyang chuckled and said quietly, "Your Majesty, you still remember the Ryūmyaku, don't you?"

"The Ryūmyaku?"

The Queen of Roran was startled. Realizing why Douyang had come, she blurted out, "So it's the Ryūmyaku you want!"

Douyang nodded with a smile. "The Ryūmyaku is invaluable to shinobi, but it's utterly useless to the surviving people of Rōran now. Why not sell it to me?"

The Queen of Roran considered this for a moment, then said slowly, "The Ryūmyaku's power is too great. I'm afraid you would have trouble controlling it."

Douyang had come sneaking around late at night, and the Queen of Roran did not trust him.

"Whether I can control it isn't something you need to consider. All you need to do is tell me where the Ryūmyaku is, then help me collect it."

Douyang spoke in a hoarse voice, his tone hostile.

The Queen of Roran studied Douyang closely and asked tentatively, "If you use the Ryūmyaku's power for evil, I would be a sinner against the Rōran Clan."

"What counts as evil? What counts as good?"

Douyang walked up to the Queen of Roran, his cold gaze sweeping over her.

"The Ancient City of Rōran was destroyed because it protected the Ryūmyaku. Tell me, what did the people of Rōran get in return?"

"Open your eyes and look at those people outside. They wander the desert without enough food to fill their stomachs or enough clothing to cover themselves."

"If you refuse, heh..."

"Your Majesty, you wouldn't want anything to happen to your people, would you?"

Hearing Douyang's icy voice, the Queen of Roran turned as pale as paper.

If I refuse, would he really...

The Queen of Roran remembered how the Ancient City of Rōran had been destroyed to seal the Ryūmyaku, leaving her people to follow her into a displaced life in the oasis. In the end, she yielded.

"The Ryūmyaku was sealed by a shinobi from Konoha named Minato Namikaze. If you want to obtain it, you must undo the seal he placed on it."

Seeing the Queen of Roran yield, Douyang let out a long sigh of relief. "You don't need to worry about that. When the time comes, just do everything you can to help me suppress the Ryūmyaku."

The Queen of Roran glanced at Douyang in surprise. The seal Minato Namikaze had left behind was exceptionally intricate.

Not only was she, the Queen of Roran, unable to break it, even Sunagakure in the Land of Wind had failed to find a way after years of studying the Ryūmyaku.

This unremarkable young man could actually accomplish something even Sunagakure could not.

Gathering her thoughts, the Queen of Roran continued, "After I give you the Ryūmyaku, I want a large sum of money to improve my people's lives."

Douyang nodded. "Of course."

The surviving people of Rōran were all ordinary people. What the Ryūmyaku was used for had little to do with them.

What they needed now was money, and a large sum at that.

The Queen of Roran had never had a choice.

Now, she only hoped Douyang would keep his promise after taking the Ryūmyaku.

They set out the next day. The Queen of Roran led Douyang away from the oasis, heading straight for the ruins of the Ancient City of Rōran.

The ruins of the Ancient City of Rōran lay within the endless deserts of the Land of Wind.

Anyone who was not thoroughly familiar with the desert terrain would never find them.

With the Queen of Roran guiding him, Douyang finally found the ruins of the Ancient City of Rōran amid the boundless sea of sand three days later.

Looking at the ancient city reduced to ruins before her, the Queen of Roran silently shed tears.

The Ancient City of Rōran had once been far more prosperous than Sunagakure.

Sadly, it had later been reduced to rubble to seal the Ryūmyaku.

Douyang glanced at the Queen of Roran without a word.

An innocent man became guilty simply by possessing a treasure.

Rōran possessed the Ryūmyaku but lacked the strength to protect it. Its decline had only been a matter of time.

Douyang drew a light breath and silently sensed the chakra around him.

Logically, with his sensory abilities, he should have easily detected the Ryūmyaku underground.

Yet he sensed no chakra fluctuations whatsoever.

That alone showed just how formidable the seal Minato Namikaze had placed on the Ryūmyaku was.

No wonder Sunagakure had been unable to take the Ryūmyaku even after all this time.

After grieving for a while, the Queen of Roran wiped away her tears and led Douyang into the ruins.

The moment he entered the ruins, Douyang sensed a terrifying pressure.

It was not pressure on the level of chakra, but on a mental level.

It was like a little rabbit straying into a pack of wolves.

"Kokugan, activate."

Douyang muttered, activating his Kokugan as he followed the Queen of Roran toward the central tower, silently examining their surroundings.

To Douyang's surprise, there were no traces of any living creatures having moved through the entire expanse of ruins.

Though the Ancient City of Rōran was in ruins, it was still far better than the harsh desert environment.

It was truly baffling that no creatures had made their nests here.

Before long, the two reached the altar where Minato Namikaze had sealed the Ryūmyaku.

Douyang walked to the edge of the altar and glanced at the sealing formula, narrowing his eyes slightly.

Minato Namikaze had placed a total of two sealing formulas here.

The core sealing formula was the Uzumaki Clan's Four Symbols Seal.

Douyang could not identify the origin of the other Sealing Jutsu.

However, considering that Minato Namikaze was Jiraiya's student, Douyang ventured a guess that the second Sealing Jutsu came from Mount Myōboku.

The Queen of Roran glanced at the Sword of Shinobi Love on the ground and said, "Minato Namikaze placed powerful Sealing Jutsu on the Ryūmyaku. If you want to take it, you must first undo the sealing formulas."

"I can only undo one of these Sealing Jutsu."

Douyang reached that conclusion after a moment's consideration.

The Queen of Roran glanced at Douyang without betraying any reaction.

Being able to undo even one already put him at the level of a Sealing Jutsu master.

"Then it seems you won't be able to take the Ryūmyaku."

The Queen of Roran sighed, not even noticing her own slight disappointment.

Before making up her mind, she had not wanted the Ryūmyaku to fall into an outsider's hands.

Yet now, she found herself wavering over what she might gain or lose.

"Who says I can't take the Ryūmyaku after undoing just one seal?"

A confident smile appeared on Douyang's lips.

Then he formed hand seals with both hands and shouted in a low voice, "Four Symbols Seal, release!"

As the unsealing formula Douyang cast landed on the Sword of Benevolent Love, the sealing formulas Minato Namikaze had left behind instantly weakened by roughly sixty percent.

The Queen of Roran exclaimed in surprise, "I can feel the Ryūmyaku's power."

The Rōran Clan had guarded the Ryūmyaku for generations. There might have been some indescribable connection between the two.

That was why the Queen of Roran, an ordinary person, could clearly sense the Ryūmyaku's power.

Douyang let out a soft breath and asked calmly, "Is the Ryūmyaku still healthy?"

The Queen of Roran closed her eyes and sensed it for a moment. "The Ryūmyaku has gone berserk. It's battering the sealing formulas."

Boom!

As her words fell, Douyang distinctly felt the altar tremble slightly.

Whoosh!

A cold wind suddenly swept through the ruins. Looking at the cracks in the altar, Douyang smiled.

Minato Namikaze had left two layers of seals. He only needed to break one.

Because the Ryūmyaku would inevitably batter the sealing formulas to break free.

The Queen of Roran was sweating with anxiety as she urged him, "The Ryūmyaku's power is too great. You should give up now. Once it breaks free, disaster will strike."

"As far as I'm concerned, the stronger the Ryūmyaku, the better."

Douyang chuckled, then took out the Amber Purifying Pot.