Sixteen Years Old, The Fourth Generation of Mizukage

To be honest, when he stood in front of the room where Loulan Kingdom representatives temporarily rested in Akatsuki City, Uzumaki Naruto could not help but feel some emotions similar to regret.

Although the memory that emerged in my mind, or that the seal was finally lifted, showed that in the timeline that I had experienced, Queen Sarah, who was saved by me, had already been overworked in the process of reviving the Loulan Kingdom. After Chengji passed away, the chakra knife he gave her was also passed on to her daughter. The only intersection between him and Queen Sarah had completely ended as he returned to normal time...

But somehow, when he saw Queen Sara's face that was much more mature than in his memory, but equally resolute and sunny, walking past his eyes, Naruto Uzumaki still had a feeling in his heart. There was an urge to ask her what happened to Loulan Kingdom in the future.

Compared with the period of history that I experienced, which sealed the power of the dragon vein forever, it was neither possible to revive the scenery of Loulan Kingdom as a country of thousands of towers, nor to let the Loulan people escape from the slavery of Anlu Mountain and live a new life. With the history of good life, has Loulan Country on this side lived a better life?

But if he were to ask directly like this, in what capacity should he ask?

After all, he was not the Uzumaki Naruto who really saved Loulan and Queen Sara, but a specious person who had the same experience and the same name as him, but headed for a completely different future...

Just when Uzumaki Naruto was struggling, the door to the room suddenly opened from the inside out without warning.

"Wow!?"

Looking at the bionic puppet that stood in front of him with fine workmanship and facial decoration that looked very much like his own when he was fifteen or sixteen years old, Uzumaki Naruto couldn't help being frightened and instinctively wanted to step back.

But before Uzumaki Naruto could make such a move, he saw the puppet that looked very similar to himself also showing a very vivid expression of astonishment.

"Naruto...kun? Is that you Naruto-kun?"

Uzumaki Naruto showed a bewildered expression, and Queen Sarah, who originally ordered the puppet she made to open the door because she sensed someone standing and wandering outside the guest room door, also stood up. With a mixed expression of surprise and disbelief, she rushed to him in three steps and two steps at a time, held Uzumaki Naruto's bewildered face in her hands, and looked at him carefully.

"It's unmistakable...that's what it looks like. That Naruto-kun who suddenly came to Loulan from the other side of the dragon's veins and saved Loulan is like this."

Listening to Queen Sarah's very ominous speech, Uzumaki Naruto subconsciously wanted to push her away from him, but when he thought that he had not even been able to see her for a second time after leaving Loulan, , an indescribable feeling of melancholy made him give up the idea that it might hurt the other party, and just sighed and said in a low tone:

"You must have mistaken the person, Sarah."

"But you called my name right away, didn't you, Naruto-kun?" Queen Sara released her hands holding Uzumaki Naruto's cheeks, staring at the other person's much more mature face, and the rare expression on his face. With melancholy and thoughtful light blue eyes, he asked softly.

"Different."

Uzumaki Naruto shook his head, pointed with complicated emotions at the puppet next to him that looked like his younger self, and said with a subtle expression:

"I am another Uzumaki Naruto. Although I have had the same experience as the Uzumaki Naruto you know,... the Queen Sarah I know is not you."

"Another...Uzumaki Naruto?"

Queen Sara frowned her beautiful eyebrows and showed a puzzled expression:

"But you look like the Naruto-kun who went back to the past because of the rampage of dragon chakra when he grew up?"

"... It seems so? Oh, no, no, I'm not him... am I? Isn't it? Is it true or not..."

Uzumaki Naruto scratched his head as he was talking nonsense, feeling that his brain was overloading and overheating because he didn't know how to explain this matter, and was about to start red temperature.

"Oh, I see... No wonder Kaguya Rei convened the Dawn Conference without any warning, which required all the forces in the ninja world to attend. If it was because another person from the future returned to our time , it is indeed worthy for him who has already stood at the top of the ninja world to do this."

A cold male voice with a hint of curiosity came from behind Queen Sara. The Red Sand Scorpion, who was arranging his puppets in the room, walked to the entrance of the room at some point, with a very interested look in his eyes. He looked up and down at Uzumaki Naruto, whose expression suddenly froze.

"Teacher...do you already know anything?"

Queen Sara turned around and took the initiative to ask the Red Sand Scorpion.

"It's very simple. The Uzumaki Naruto you know should have returned to the era before Loulan was destroyed through the power of dragon veins, but the person in front of you is most likely the Hyuga family like Rei Kaguya and I mentioned. Just like the next head of the family, he used the treasures of the Otsutsuki clan to return to our time."

The Red Sand Scorpion stepped forward and carefully looked at Uzumaki Naruto before continuing:

"In the era before Loulan was destroyed, Kaguya Rei was still very young and had not yet had such a huge impact on the history of the entire ninja world. Therefore, the Uzumaki Naruto who returned to the past at that time should have come from us. The future of the world travels back to that era.”

"But now, with Rei Kaguya leading the ninja world to an unimagined path, the Uzumaki Naruto you know, Sarah, most likely no longer exists...

After all, the core problem why Uzumaki Naruto is called Uzumaki Naruto is that the fourth generation Hokage Namikaze Minato and his wife died together in the Nine-Tails Rebellion, and now that they have survived, then the child named Naruto , he should be named Namikaze no matter what. "

"Then, what's going on with Naruto-kun now..."

Queen Sara and Uzumaki Naruto covered their heads together, and began to fall into a dizzy, dizzy thinking dilemma.

"Didn't I tell you? He is Uzumaki Naruto from another world, but that world does not have the existence of Kaguya Rei. What your Loulan experienced after being destroyed by Anlu Mountain was also different from ours. In the end, There is obviously a huge gap in the ending... That's why he said that the Sarah he knew was not you."

The Red Sand Scorpion, who had rarely spoken so many words, stepped aside and motioned for Uzumaki Naruto to enter the room and elaborate. On the indifferent face that had been transformed into a puppet, there was also a hint of playfulness in a very humane way. The smile comes:

"I don't know why you are here, but I really want to hear you talk about the future that Rei Kaguya knows... Judging from your age, it is not long since you re-sealed Kaguya Otsutsuki as the child of prophecy. It must have been a long time, right? What happened to make you return to our time again, Uzumaki Naruto?"

"...Sorry, probably, it's not time to say it yet." Uzumaki Naruto thought for a moment, then shook his head to reject the invitation of the Red Sand Scorpion.

"Are you going to leave the suspense until Kaguya Rei's dawn meeting?"

The Crimson Sand Scorpion's tone became a lot colder at first, but soon, his tone returned to normal, and he murmured:

"But that guy Kaguya Rei has agreed on the time of the dawn meeting when he sent people to deliver the information from the very beginning. Even if he wants to leave the information until then, it can't be regarded as asking people to wait too much... Tsk, This annoying guy has already planned everything?"

"Um, teacher?"

Queen Sara looked at the Red Sand Scorpion who was talking to himself, and asked with some trepidation:

"Still, do you want to invite Naruto-kun in?"

"You and him find a place to talk by yourself, and don't make yourself annoying in front of me."

The Crimson Sand Scorpion waved his hand indifferently, and Queen Sarah's body was thrown out of the room together with her puppet. With a dull sound of closing the door, the two puppets were locked up like this. They were in the corridor of the embassy, ​​looking at each other.

"...Does that guy from the Red Sand Scorpion actually have this kind of personality?"

Looking at the closed door, Uzumaki Naruto put down Queen Sarah who was caught by him, and asked in surprise.

"Probably not if Mizukage-sama hadn't suppressed it."

After being together for so long, Queen Sarah knew very well how indifferent the Red Sand Scorpion was. She first patted her clothes and straightened out the clothes that had become a little messy due to the series of actions just now. Then she danced her fingers and wrapped the Naruto puppet next to her in a bandage. After completing this series of adjustments, she turned around and showed an embarrassed smile to Uzumaki Naruto.

"I'm sorry, you are obviously a visiting guest, but in the end, you were rejected..."

"It's okay, it's okay, the person I'm looking for is not the Red Sand Scorpion anyway..."

Uzumaki Naruto scratched his head and began to look around for a place where the two of them could talk. Seeing Uzumaki Naruto's uncomfortable look, Queen Sara shook her head helplessly and pulled him back. He took Naruto Uzumaki's bandaged right hand and led him towards the empty, towering rooftop of the embassy.

"Although you seem to have grown up a lot, your way of dealing with people doesn't seem to have changed much, Naruto-kun."

"A lot has changed."

Seeing Queen Sarah push open the door to the embassy rooftop with ease, Uzumaki Naruto followed her onto the rooftop covered by transparent glass, looked up at the huge satellite fortress in the sky, and sighed. Qi said:

"In that guy Kaguya Rei's mouth, I was criticized to the last degree..."

"That doesn't matter, right? For Mizukage-sama who is born with knowledge, it is abnormal for us mortals not to make mistakes."

Queen Sarah chuckled and leaned on the edge of the rooftop, looking back at Uzumaki Naruto with a helpless expression, "Rather, those who will be seriously criticized by Mizukage-sama are basically the successors for whom he has high hopes. A candidate, someone who has the potential to change and be worth saving, would be a terrible thing if he turns into a guy who has no value in criticism in the eyes of Mizukage-sama."

"I thought that only the ninjas from Kirigakure would talk about things related to him in such a longing and admiring tone..."

Naruto Uzumaki looked at the sincere love and gratitude on Queen Sarah's face, and couldn't help scratching his head with emotion, sighing and saying:

"It seems that he is born to lead the world and change the world."

"Naruto-kun, if you say that, do you think you haven't done enough?" Queen Sarah blinked and asked Uzumaki Naruto a question.

"Don't you already see it, Sara?" Uzumaki Naruto smiled bitterly, "Just like defeating An Lushan does not mean that Loulan can regain his life, gaining everyone's recognition and becoming Hokage does not It means that my dream has come to an end..."

Queen Sarah did not speak, but recalled how she had tried hard to rebuild Loulan's past glory before being found by the two envoys sent by Kaguya Rei, but had made no progress. On the contrary, her body began to deteriorate. He patted Uzumaki Naruto's shoulder gently with great understanding.

"It will get better... By the way, do you want to see Loulan now, Naruto-kun?"

"Eh? What do you want to see?"

"Put your hands out and just relax."

"Is that so?"

Uzumaki Naruto held out his right hand to Queen Sarah with a confused expression.

"Yes, that's good."

Queen Sarah took a deep breath, made two simple seals, then clenched her hand into a fist and pressed it against Uzumaki Naruto's outstretched fist.

As a result, Naruto Uzumaki's vision went dark, and his consciousness began to fall rapidly downwards.

But soon, his consciousness was lifted up by a cloud floating above the golden earth, and the image of Queen Sarah also appeared beside him, pointing to the tower below that once again stood on the earth. On the way up, in the city of a thousand towers that was bustling with people and busy with traffic, he said with great pride:

"Look, Naruto-kun...this is Loulan now."

Following the guidance of Queen Sarah, looking down, under the towering thousand towers, there is an endless stream of people. People wearing different styles of clothing from various countries are buying the goods they want on the streets and regaining their homes. The descendants of Loulan warmly entertained every customer who came and went, introduced their products to them, and proudly introduced the amazing towering towers to the first-time visitors.

And among the people coming and going, groups of puppets of various colors controlled by imperceptible chakra lines are cruising in the streets in order and uniformity. It is a beautiful scenery in the city of a thousand towers and the city of puppets. At the same time, he is also a reliable and ubiquitous guard in this prosperous city, demonstrating Loulan's current strength and pride.

"It seems... when we first met, it was like this, from a high place, overlooking the lively crowd below."

Naruto Uzumaki looked at the descendants of Loulan who had real smiles on their faces, and then looked at the puppets who looked almost the same as real people, performing their duties on the streets, and said with great nostalgia.

"But this time, the cheering crowd below are no longer puppets with fake smiles."

Queen Sarah also thought of the scene when she was rescued by Uzumaki Naruto, her eyes were soft and thankful, and she said:

"Thanks to you, Loulan was able to be freed from An Lushan's terrible ambition."

"But Loulan has become as prosperous as it is now, mainly thanks to the support and ideas of Mr. Mizukage, right?"

Naruto Uzumaki looked at the puppets who were obviously controlled by the chakra lines hanging down in the pipes between the Thousand Towers, but were doing things completely different from those in the An Lushan era, and had mixed feelings for a while.

"Indeed."

Queen Sarah looked at the tallest spire in Loulan City and said with emotion:

"Without Lord Mizukage's persuasion, we would not have been able to make up our mind to lift the seal of the Dragon Veins. Similarly, without the order established by Lord Mizukage and his power to maintain the order, a puppet like the teacher who can exert the power of the Dragon Veins to the extreme Master, there is no way that we can help us regain the glory of Loulan."

"Order...and enough power to maintain order?"

"Naruto-kun."

"Um?"

"Thank you for remembering me and being willing to meet me alone."

Queen Sara took a step back and bowed deeply to the grown-up Uzumaki Naruto. Uzumaki Naruto looked at Queen Sara with a sincere expression, and memories and guilt surged up uncontrollably at this time. His heart, and even his tone when he responded, became a little trembling.

"However, it was only when I saw you again that I remembered what happened in Loulan... In my world, not only was I unable to provide any help in your efforts to rebuild Loulan, I even continued to When I traveled back through time, Loulan was still a desert ruin..."

"Because when Naruto-kun returned to your era, his memory was sealed, and Naruto-kun's era is not only far different from mine, but there are more important things to deal with, right?"

Sara straightened up and looked at Uzumaki Naruto with clear eyes, without any blame or dissatisfaction, and responded in a gentle tone:

"I am satisfied to be able to see Naruto-kun who saved Loulan again, and to see Naruto-kun grow up into the prophesied son who saves the world... and Loulan's current appearance should also make Naruto-kun feel relieved. Bar?"

"Relax? But, but Loulan over there..."

"It's not too late."

Sara stretched out her hand to Uzumaki Naruto, just like when she made a promise to Uzumaki Naruto who was about to return, she said confidently and seriously:

"I believe that Naruto-kun is not the kind of person who will sit idly by and ignore the existing problems after finding a solution to the problem... As long as Naruto-kun can help Loulanzi there after returning to his own time As the people rebuild their homes, there will no longer be any regrets when we meet today."

"Both you and I are far from being powerless to change the status quo and can only sigh and wait for death to seal the coffin for us, right? Naruto-kun?"

The writing became slower and slower, and I began to feel that there was no plot that could particularly arouse the enthusiasm for creation...

well

I am still far away from becoming a mature author who can fully control my works.