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Chapter 176: The Kazekage Building
Sunagakure.
Located in the desert, it was covered in sand and dust year-round. It was the height of summer, and the heat was unbearable.
In the afternoon, after half a day of flight, Konan and Alex arrived in the skies above the Hidden Sand Village. Looking down, they saw rows of buildings that looked like earthen yellow fortresses.
There were very few people walking on the streets. At this moment, the sun was beating down directly; it was the hottest time of the day, and most people were hiding indoors. Even inside, it felt like a steamer, but at least the temperature was slightly lower.
"Alex," Konan narrowed her eyes slightly. "Why does Sunagakure insist on surviving in such a harsh environment?"
"We just flew all the way here. There are clearly plenty of habitable places in the Land of Wind. Even some of the Gobi areas are better than the depths of the desert."
"Uh..." Alex thought for a moment. "It seems to be the First Kazekage's idea. He believed that only by surviving in the harshest environment could one temper the most resilient will."
Konan found this difficult to understand.
Alex also couldn't comprehend the First Kazekage's brain circuit. Looking at Sunagakure's actions over the past few decades, they basically started wars first, only to end up surrendering and paying reparations.
Did this count as resilient will? Fighting and losing repeatedly, yet repeatedly fighting after losing?
Konan withdrew her gaze and took Alex straight toward the tall building in the center of the village—the Kazekage Building.
The written records she wanted to find should be inside.
She landed in the center of the roof. Four Sand Anbu, who were alerting and observing the outside, heard a slight movement behind them and subconsciously turned their heads.
They saw only a flash of red light, and then... there was no 'then'.
They turned back blankly and continued their previous observation duties. They were already under a Sharingan genjutsu.
Konan, with her three-tomoe Sharingan active, calmly walked down the stairs, heading toward the Kazekage's office. Along the way, whether it was the guards in the open or the Anbu hiding in the dark, all were controlled by the Sharingan. There was no resistance; it was silent, as if she were entering an unpopulated land.
After awakening the Mangekyo Sharingan, her ocular power had increased tremendously. Even her three-tomoe form had become stronger. The Elite Jonin, Jonin, and Chunin inside the Kazekage Building made no difference before absolute strength. All were instantly subdued.
Konan walked to the Kazekage's office. The door opened automatically, and she walked in expressionlessly. The door closed behind her.
The room was empty, revealing everything at a glance. Aside from the Kazekage's desk and chair, and a few bookshelves, there was nothing else. It seemed that nothing important would be left out in the open here.
But... under Konan's eyes, nothing could hide.
She deactivated the Sharingan and activated the Byakugan. Perhaps because it had evolved to the extreme, using the Byakugan was different from the Hyuga clan; it was very effortless. No hideous veins bulged around her eyes.
In an instant, a 360-degree black-and-white field of vision projected into her mind. Everything inside the Kazekage's office was revealed in minute detail.
"Is it here..."
Konan walked to the bookshelf on the left. Under the Byakugan's X-ray vision, she had already seen the hidden space behind the wall, as well as the mechanism setup.
The Kazekage used the most primitive method to trigger the mechanism, which wouldn't emit a trace of Chakra fluctuation. If forced open violently or if the mechanism was turned incorrectly, the space behind the wall would instantly self-destruct.
Unfortunately, all of this was futile under the Byakugan's gaze.
Konan placed her right hand on the top of the bookshelf. Biting cold air was visible to the naked eye as it invaded the bookshelf and the mechanism inside the wall, freezing it instantly.
Then, with a light punch, she shattered both the bookshelf and the wall. A dark opening was revealed. The hidden space behind the wall was exposed completely.
Konan walked in.
The internal space wasn't small; it was about the size of the office. It was filled with rows of wooden shelves, arranged neatly. One could clearly see the age of the place; it had been there for many years. The shelves were filled with scrolls.
Konan picked up a scroll at random, opened it, and put it back down. It was just an ordinary Wind Release ninjutsu. One she already knew. Going through so many scrolls one by one would definitely take a lot of time. She didn't know which scroll contained the records about the Dragon Vein of Roran.
"Leave it to me."
Alex floated out from Konan's chest, controlling the white paper to unroll all the scrolls. They were arranged neatly, forming a single surface.
He flew up, his paper body expanding synchronously to cover them.
Ability Activated—Copy!
In the next second, the copying was finished. All the ninjutsu, secret written records, and other information accumulated by the Sand Village over the past sixty years were copied into Alex's mind. Various Wind Release ninjutsu, Magnet Release, Puppet Secret Arts, and so on...
There was also Chiyo's resurrection forbidden jutsu—One's Own Life Reincarnation.
Naturally, there was also their most important target for this trip—the location of the Roran Dragon Vein.
As for the sealing jutsu used by Sunagakure to seal the One-Tail Shukaku, Alex took a brief look and lost interest. This sealing jutsu was too useless and crude; it couldn't compare to the Uzumaki clan's sealing jutsu at all. No wonder the One-Tail always went on a rampage in the Sand Village; it was basically a defective seal.
"Konan, found it," Alex said, returning to his normal paper size and attaching himself back to Konan.
"Good." Konan nodded. "Let's set off immediately."
She turned and walked out of the opening, leaping out from the window of the Kazekage's office. Her wings flapped, and following Alex's guidance, she flew rapidly toward the location of Roran.
A moment later, all the Sand Ninja in the Kazekage Building recovered from the genjutsu. But in their consciousness, they had just spaced out for a moment and didn't realize they had been under an illusion. They continued to maintain their pre-genjutsu actions, loyally guarding the Kazekage Building.
They had no idea their home had been raided.
It would probably take until Gaara returned from the Land of Iron for them to discover that the village's accumulation over decades had been taken away unknowingly. They might just vomit blood from anger...
On the other side, Konan flew deeper into the desert. The temperature got higher and higher, and the ground became more desolate. Aside from the sky full of yellow sand, no signs of life could be seen. Fortunately, with her current constitution, she didn't fear the heat or cold at all.
Over an hour later, Konan stopped above a ruin of broken walls. The collapsed buildings on the ground were mostly buried by yellow sand. In a few years, these ruins of Roran might be completely buried under the sand, vanishing without a trace.
Konan scanned downward. She could tell that the former Kingdom of Roran occupied quite a large area. There were still traces of canals, forests, and grasslands. Presumably, it used to be lush with water and grass, an oasis in the desert with a pleasant living environment.
Sadly, times changed, and the wind and sand were ruthless. The Kingdom of Roran had been annihilated in the depths of the desert decades ago.
Konan didn't care about the demise of Roran. She activated her Byakugan, searching for the location of the Dragon Vein.
She soon found an underground space. In her black-and-white vision, a massive flow of energy penetrated an unknown number of meters deep underground. It was extremely spectacular.
"Is this the Dragon Vein..." Konan looked surprised.
With a flap of her wings, she entered the underground space where the Dragon Vein was located alongside Alex.
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