Chapter 260: Tobirama's Legacy, Entering Rōran
"Think of something, quick!"
In that instant, Li Yao's mind spun at lightning speed, time seeming to slow by a factor of ten thousand.
He racked his brain for a way—any way—to link himself to the Dragon Vein's power.
The Dragon Vein…
Time-space power…
Time… Wait—yes.
"Edo Tensei!"
With a thought, the formula for the Impure World Reincarnation appeared, and the faint trace of time-space chakra inherent in the technique dispersed into the air.
In that moment, the Dragon Vein—separated from Li Yao by an entire world—resonated with his body through a mysterious time-space connection.
Taking advantage of the Dragon Vein's surge, Li Yao's body broke through the dimensional barrier, and in a flash, he was consumed by its energy and vanished.
"Uncle!!!"
Little Yuzu's expression changed drastically as she screamed out.
But Li Yao had already disappeared into the Dragon Vein's power—while she remained behind.
Soon after, the Dragon Vein's energy faded completely, and the illusion of the Rōran ruins vanished along with Li Yao's figure.
Above the desert, only Yuzu and Li Yao's shadow clone remained.
"Uncle…" Little Yuzu's chakra flared as she punched the sand, trying to dig out the buried ruins.
"Don't worry. The real me is fine."
At that moment, Li Yao's shadow clone flew over and stopped her frantic digging.
"Uncle!"
"Are you really okay?"
Hearing his voice, Yuzu snapped out of it and clutched the clone's hands tightly, anxious.
"The real body has entered another world. He's fine," the clone said calmly.
"Will you be able to come back?" she asked urgently.
The clone sensed something, then replied, "Yes, but it might take a few years."
"As long as you can come back…"
Yuzu let go, visibly relieved. A few years she could wait—so long as it wasn't forever.
…
"Urgh… ugh…"
Kneeling on a grassy field, Li Yao suddenly appeared and began vomiting violently, his stomach churning and head spinning.
So, what did time-space travel feel like?
Now he knew.
It was like being thrown into a high-speed washing machine spinning randomly at five times the speed of sound—for what felt like thousands of cycles.
His body was fine…
But his spirit was utterly wrecked.
In truth, he could've passed out. But he forced himself to remain conscious in order to feel what time-space travel was really like.
And… he had badly underestimated how unbearable it was.
He'd been utterly ravaged by the sensation—unable to grasp any deeper truths about it.
Zzzzzzz… Several puppets flew toward him in the distance.
Ignoring the dizziness and nausea, Li Yao activated his Black Hole Body Phase ability and melted into the ground, hiding in an underground ruin sealed by a barrier.
Moments later, the puppets arrived, scanned the area, and left after finding nothing.
"Did those Konoha brats follow me in?"
Elsewhere, in a secret chamber filled with flesh-colored tubes, the man once known as Hyssop—now called An Lushan—sat calmly on a throne, whispering to himself. His face betrayed no fear; he had already obtained the Dragon Vein's power and no longer feared any enemy.
…
In an underground ruin, Li Yao rested for an hour until his spirit fully recovered.
"I finally made it!"
"Ha! Tobirama Senju—you really were the man whose leftovers could feed Orochimaru for a lifetime!"
He scanned the surroundings with chakra perception and burst out laughing. The chakra flow here told him everything—he had arrived in the Lost Tower timeline, within the Rōran of the Naruto world. Towering above was the highest structure, and beneath it surged the unfiltered, pure power of the Dragon Vein—completely different from the faint traces he had sensed before.
He had indeed crossed time and space and entered a version of the Naruto world where Rōran still existed.
All thanks to Tobirama's invention: Edo Tensei.
Originally, there was no way Li Yao could've been dragged into this world by the Dragon Vein's power—it was blocked by the dimensional wall.
But in a sudden flash of inspiration, he thought of Tobirama's Edo Tensei and its connection to infinite chakra and time-based properties.
By activating the technique, he utilized its temporal chakra signature to resonate with the Dragon Vein's time-space characteristics—like emitting a beacon in the sea of time-space, drawing the Dragon Vein's attention across worlds.
That resonance allowed the Dragon Vein to latch onto him and pull him through.
Yuzu hadn't used Edo Tensei and thus hadn't been marked by the Dragon Vein—so she remained behind.
Li Yao couldn't help but marvel: Tobirama's talent for jutsu development was terrifying.
"Maybe when I return… I should…"
A thought sparked in his mind—Tobirama's brain was too valuable to waste on just his original creations.
But that would have to wait until he got back.
Poof!
Li Yao created a shadow clone on the spot.
"Flying Thunder God Jutsu!"
The clone channeled chakra and attempted to teleport back to the original Naruto world.
Li Yao could still sense the presence of his clone in the original world.
His chakra—or more precisely, his consciousness—was unique.
Even across dimensions, his connection with his clones remained clear and unimpeded—just as if his body were still in the original world.
He could still sense the Flying Thunder God seal he had placed back there.
Poof!
The shadow clone exploded and vanished.
But the Flying Thunder God teleportation had failed.
"Just as I thought—it's not that simple."
Li Yao shook his head. The jutsu had failed, but he wasn't worried about being stranded.
The reason for the failure? Purely a matter of chakra insufficiency.
Flying Thunder God's chakra cost was based on the mass of what was being transported, not the distance—at least within the same world.
It was like Summoning Jutsu: the stronger the summoned creature, the more chakra it required—regardless of distance.
If you tried to teleport with the Nine-Tails, the chakra cost would be immense.
But traveling across worlds was far beyond any normal "distance." The chakra required was simply astronomical.
The clone had disintegrated because it had burned through all its chakra during the attempt.
Now, Li Yao had two options to return:
Seal the Dragon Vein. Without its influence stabilizing his presence in this world, he would be rejected and ejected back to his original timeline.Gather enough chakra—either by slowly building it through his internal Devouring Seal Array, or by directly consuming a massive amount of Dragon Vein chakra—and then use Flying Thunder God to teleport back.
Both options were fully within his reach.
His sealing skills, combined with his knowledge of Flying Thunder God, meant that after observing Minato's kunai-based time-space sealing formula, he could replicate the same kind of seal.
And absorbing Dragon Vein chakra? Child's play for him.
But returning wasn't the goal.
He had come here to study the time-space properties of the Dragon Vein.
Activating his Black Hole Phase ability, Li Yao emerged from underground, used invisibility to cloak himself, and took flight toward the towers of Rōran.
The city resembled the vertical, tower-filled architecture of Amegakure—but built of stone rather than metal.
From the air, black pipes linked the towers, sending chakra threads down to what looked like people—but upon closer inspection, they were all puppets.
From above, Rōran appeared lively and bustling.
But in truth—it was full of puppets.
Li Yao's spiritual perception told him the number of living people here was fewer than five hundred.
A grand city—with only hundreds of humans left.
Where had the others gone?
Sensing faint remnants of souls within some of the humanoid puppets, Li Yao understood immediately.
That man hiding beneath the city… Hyssop, or now known as An Lushan.
His Human Puppet technique had surpassed even Sasori.
Those puppets below had once been living people.
An Lushan had clearly used the citizens of Rōran to test his full-body human puppet transformation technique—turning himself into a puppet that still housed a soul.
(END CHAPTER)
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