Inside the room stood one man and two women, casting a slightly awkward tension into the air.
"Pakura, you've got it wrong. I'm not dating Heiyan," Tsunade said, turning her head away, her face flushing red as she avoided meeting Heiyan's gaze.
"Cough, cough," Heiyan covered his face with his hand, pretending to cough twice to ease the tension.
"Oh! Sorry."
Pakura realized only then that she had jumped to conclusions. She had assumed that Heiyan and Tsunade were already together.
"Um, if there's only one guest room left, I can sleep with Pakura," Tsunade offered, flipping her hair as she spoke.
"Sure."
Pakura happily agreed to Tsunade's suggestion, then glanced at Heiyan and winked at him. "And you, Heiyan—don't stay up too late, okay?"
Heiyan gave a silent nod, watching the two women link arms and disappear into the room.
The night passed.
During breakfast, Heiyan was surprised to find that Tsunade and Pakura had become much closer—they now seemed like best friends who shared everything.
Who knew what they had talked about all night in the same room?
At the table, whenever Tsunade occasionally met Heiyan's gaze by accident, both quickly looked away, eyes darting.
When Tsunade wasn't around, Pakura quietly said to Heiyan, "That's all I can do for now—you need to put in the effort and really win Tsunade over. Don't make me regret helping you."
"In that case, thank you very much," Heiyan helplessly smiled, shaking his head.
So a few days passed.
After spending some time in Sunagakure, Heiyan felt the timing was right and brought up to Pakura his desire to explore the ancient Kingdom of Loulan with her help.
"Loulan?"
Upon hearing the name, Pakura paused briefly, then wore an expression of great surprise.
She'd heard of Loulan before—it lay deep within the western desert of the Land of Wind. It was a small, impoverished nation with a tiny population, hardly registering on the world stage.
With Wind Country's military power, conquering such a weak little country would be easy enough, but there simply wasn't any reason to do so.
From the Daimyo's point of view in the Land of Wind, Loulan had scarce resources and its people lived in poverty. Annexing such a place wouldn't bring any benefit; rather, it would burden them.
Better off letting such a tiny country survive—or vanish—on its own out there in the sand.
So Pakura was quite surprised that Heiyan would show interest in Loulan.
After learning of Loulan's current state from her, Heiyan wasn't at all surprised. At this time period, Loulan hadn't yet begun harnessing the power of the Dragon Vein and naturally couldn't possibly be flourishing.
Therefore, Heiyan explained to Pakura that he wanted to go to Loulan to find something and hoped to hire Pakura as a guide since she understood the desert environment best.
"Fine."
Pakura readily agreed to Heiyan's request, after all, since the two of them were good friends.
Early the next morning,
Heiyan, Tsunade, and Pakura set out together, equipped with maps, food, and water. Once again riding atop [Heavenly Release Thunderclouds], they flew westward into the heart of the desert.
The desert rolled on forever, like a yellow sea stretching all the way to the horizon where it kissed the sky. Jagged dunes rose and fell in an undulating rhythm.
A sudden gust tore through. Waves of sand surged forward, as if some invisible giant were peeling off layer after layer of the desert's skin.
Such an endless sea of sand could fill any traveler caught within it with despair. Humanity was so small before nature's might.
Above the desert, thick clouds drifted slowly across the sky, casting enormous shadows over the rolling landscape below.
But one cloud stood out.
It was a blood-red thundercloud, rushing across the heavens at incredible speed. Even more surprising was that standing atop it were three figures—one man and two women—constantly peering downward as if searching for something.
"It should be around here," said Pakura, clutching a map and compass tightly while double-checking her bearings. She pointed toward the southwest. "This way."
"Got it." Heiyan gave a brief nod and maneuvered the thundercloud to change course, accelerating in the direction she indicated.
Before long,
a cluster of structures emerged beneath the distant skyline into the vision of Heiyan and the others.
Those buildings were distinctive—tall and slender—like towers rising from the desert sands.
Loulan — the ancient kingdom — lay before them.
Whoosh!
The thundercloud descended from the sky and landed gently on a nearby sand dune. Yeah, it sounded impressive — Ancient Kingdom of Loulan and all — but really, it was barely bigger than a small town. Population? Maybe a thousand folks tops.
Heiyan activated his Symbiotic Byakugan to inspect the area. What he saw nearly blinded him — deep beneath the city, almost a hundred meters underground, a massive current of energy flowed endlessly, shining brighter than the sun itself.
That was the Dragon Vein — an endless wellspring of chakra so powerful it could warp space and time, a treasure unlike any other.
Still being careful, Heiyan pushed his Byakugan's sight even farther, scanning Loulan's streets silently before they actually entered.
The city's defenses were extremely lax, riddled with holes everywhere — practically open territory.
Clearly, the people of Loulan knew full well nobody would be foolish enough to journey so far into the desert depths to attack them unless they were completely out of their mind.
If you're poor enough, no one even bothers to rob you.
While scouting with his Byakugan, Heiyan recalled the original timeline and story events.
In that original timeline, Naruto Uzumaki had traveled back twenty years when he was fifteen — around Konoha Year 43 — and met Minato Namikaze, who had been twenty years old at the time. According to Minato's recollection, the Rogue Ninja Pazu came from the future six years earlier, during the final days of the Second Great Ninja War in Konoha Year 37. Assuming the name An Lushan, he became an advisor in the Kingdom of Loulan.
Now it was Konoha Year 32.
At this point in time, the people of Loulan still lived peacefully, untouched by outside turmoil.
After confirming this information, Heiyan decided to cut straight to the chase — he would go directly to the Queen of Loulan and offer her a deal to buy the Dragon Vein.
Thus, the trio entered the ruins of Loulan, walking straight toward the center of the towering structures — the direction of the Queen's palace.
Throughout the journey, Heiyan and his companions were treated like precious treasures—as rare outsiders, they drew the attention of nearly every citizen in Loulan.
In people's eyes was curiosity, but also caution.
Upon arriving at the palace gates, Pakura revealed her status as a Jonin from Sunagakure. The guards dared not show any negligence and quickly ushered the three inside to meet the queen.
The heavy palace doors creaked open with a loud boom.
Pushing them wide, they stepped into a marble-lined hall and immediately saw the Queen of Loulan seated on her throne, her hair a striking shade of crimson red.
Her daughter, with equally deep red locks, was about three or four years old—currently snuggling playfully on the queen's lap.
This heartwarming scene between mother and daughter seemed like a moment too precious to interrupt.
Just then—
The Queen lifted her head and noticed Heiyan and the others. She smiled slightly, rose gracefully from her seat, and walked forward to greet them personally.
She first nodded respectfully toward Pakura, then even bent down formally to welcome Heiyan and Tsunade-sama.
This unexpected courtesy surprised both of them greatly.
"You know us?" Tsunade-sama looked at the queen curiously.
"Lord Heiyan's reputation echoes throughout the world of shinobi—he is known far and wide. Though our Kingdom of Loulan is remote, we are certainly not isolated nor cut off from news.
As for Lady Tsunade, you truly deserve your title as the Medicine Sage. Particularly my daughter Sāra here, who greatly looks up to you."
The queen explained with a warm smile, showing great hospitality.
As she spoke, Sāra peeked from behind her mother's dress, tugging gently at the queen's robe. She extended her little head out shyly and gazed wide-eyed with curiosity at Heiyan and his party.
Hearing this, Heiyan and Tsunade exchanged glances—an expression of genuine surprise. They had never expected their fame to reach as far as Loulan.
"Might I ask why you have come here to Loulan?"
After a bit of polite conversation, the queen asked cautiously while keeping the same pleasant smile on her beautiful face.
"I came for the Dragon Vein of Loulan."
Heiyan didn't beat around the bush. Instead, he stated directly with sincerity, "I hope Your Majesty could name a price and sell it to me."
Dragon Vein?
Tsunade and Pakura were hearing this term for the first time; confusion flickered across their faces.
So...was this so-called Dragon Vein the actual purpose of Heiyan's visit to the ancient kingdom of Loulan? Although neither knew what exactly the Dragon Vein was, both sensed that it must be something extremely special—or else Heiyan wouldn't have traveled such a long distance specifically for it.
Back on the throne, the moment the word 'Dragon Vein' reached the queen's ears, her smile froze instantly, replaced instead by overwhelming panic.
As ruler of this land, she alone possessed the ability to sense the underground flow of the Dragon Vein—and had quietly guarded this secret without revealing it to anyone.
Because she knew very well—if the fact that Loulan possessed the Dragon Vein ever got out, disaster would soon follow.
Yuhiko had never been here before, so how could he possibly know about the dragon veins?
The queen snapped back to reality, realizing she had momentarily lost composure. Yet under these circumstances, pretending ignorance was no longer an option.
So, she could only coldly reject Heiyan in a tone that left no room for negotiation.
"The Dragon Vein is an invaluable treasure protected by the people of Loulan across generations. I'm sorry, but no amount of money can buy it."
The moment she finished speaking, the Queen of Loulan motioned to the guards and had them escort Heiyan out.
However, what surprised her was—
Heiyan remained rooted to the spot, unmoved. A powerful aura emanated from him, forming visible gusts of wind that directly sent the guards staggering backward.
Then, fixing his gaze on the Queen of Loulan, he said solemnly,
"Listen carefully. If you don't hand over the Dragon Vein to me, it will eventually bring catastrophic disaster upon this nation, countless lives will be lost—and among them… will be you too."
What he said was true.
Once Bazu arrived later, the Queen of Loulan would, under his manipulation, attempt to harness the power of the Dragon Vein, resulting in many citizens becoming Bazu's puppets—and herself murdered by him.
"What did you say? Don't stand there making baseless terrifying claims!"
Mustering her courage, the Queen of Loulan shouted fiercely. She didn't believe a word of what he said, convinced he was making it all up.
"The Dragon Vein isn't as simple as you think. It's a massive concentration of energy capable of creating space-time ruptures—bringing people from future eras or other worlds straight into this one. If such a scenario truly occurs and isn't handled properly, the consequences will be endless—and even threaten global safety."
Heiyan spoke with heartfelt sincerity once again, explaining to the queen why he needed to take the Dragon Vein.
"How do you know all of this?"
The Queen couldn't help asking, puzzled beyond comprehension.
"Because I received visions of the future in my dreams."
Heiyan replied mysteriously, mimicking Gamamaru's manner and adopting a mystical tone, leaving the queen stunned into silence.
Seeing her hesitation, he pressed his case urgently, "After saying all that, please—take me to see the Dragon Vein. Perhaps I can prove to you that everything I just said is absolutely true. Besides, you should realize—if I really wanted the Dragon Vein, nobody could possibly stop me."
At those words, the Queen of Loulan's expression instantly filled with bitterness.
Indeed, since Heiyan already knew the Dragon Vein lay beneath Loulan's ground, he could simply seize it directly using his immense strength—he wouldn't need to ask for her permission at all.
After a short pause, the Queen finally gave in.
"Please, follow me."
Finally yielding, the queen commanded the guards to watch over her daughter Sara carefully. Then, glancing deeply at Heiyan, she turned and strode toward the depths of the palace.
"Heiyan, beware—there may be a trap." Looking at the retreating figure of the queen, Tsunade frowned slightly and warned him.
"Don't worry, nothing will happen."
Smiling faintly, Heiyan walked ahead first, while Tsunade and Pakura had no choice but to follow closely behind.
Inside one of the deeper rooms within the palace.
Clunk!
The Queen lifted up a hidden floor panel, revealing a dark and deep tunnel, which immediately appeared before the four of them.
One after another, they entered the tunnel, walking further downward along its sloped descent.
As they gradually moved deeper underground, the passage became increasingly spacious. The corridors were fitted with lighting fixtures and crisscrossed with numerous ventilation pipes.
After descending about a hundred meters and passing through several sturdy gates, Pakura, Heiyan, and Tsunade, along with one more person, finally arrived at a vast chamber deep beneath the earth, led by the Queen of Loulan.
The chamber's floor was engraved with intricate characters and twisting patterns that sprawled across its surface. These markings not only symbolized Loulan's once-great civilization, but also miraculously formed a massive Sealing Formula.
At the center of this seal—right in the middle of the hall—stood a towering purple crystal taller than a man, wrapped in thick chains.
Inside this translucent crystal surged a violent, vast energy, churning and roaring as if a colossal dragon were trapped within.
This was the Dragon Vein.
"You guys wait here."
Heiyan turned back and said to Tsunade and Pakura, then looked toward the Queen of Loulan, silently seeking her approval. The queen merely let out a soft snort and coldly turned her face away, expressing her reluctant acceptance and dissatisfaction through this gesture.
Tat-tat-tat echoed with each step as Heiyan strode toward the center of the hall until he stood before the crystal.
Pausing briefly in thought, Heiyan slowly performed Hand Seals to be safe and activated his strongest Yin-Yang Release. He summoned a chunk of earthen-toned Xirang.
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