Naruto: Passerby and Returnee

Chapter 368 Farewell

Regardless of whether Naruto's attack would be effective, Minato still managed to fly away with Naruto in the moment of crisis. The two landed, panting, and looked down to see the Centipede shattered into pieces. That guy who had been so arrogant because of his immortality had actually been killed!

"Really...it really works?" Ding Zuo was already out of breath, but he still peered down at the situation below, immediately falling into a state of stunned disbelief. He even looked up at the sky, but after a long while, he still couldn't see the purple lightning that could bring the centipede back to life.

"Great, you really did it, Naruto!" Minato breathed a huge sigh of relief, but then turned around and took his breath back.

What did he see? Why hadn't that dark, indistinct thing disappeared? And under Naruto's control, it had reformed into a sphere! What was that? It couldn't be a Tailed Beast Ball, could it? Judging by Naruto's cautious attitude, could it explode too?!

Only now did Naruto finally breathe a sigh of relief, taking out the scroll to reseal the few Truth-Seeking Balls that hadn't been modified.

The plan was quite risky, but it wasn't without a backup plan. If he couldn't control the Truth-Seeking Jade due to his distracted attention, he would immediately throw it to the edge of Loulan to prevent it from actually exploding inside. Fortunately, the Truth-Seeking Jade was obedient enough, and the power of the dragon vein was sufficient to touch the soul dimension; he won his gamble.

"What is that?" Naruto turned around and met Minato's inquisitive yet slightly frightened gaze. His worst fears had come true; the Truth-Seeking Ball and the Tailed Beast Ball had too many similarities, which could easily arouse Minato's suspicions.

"That's a Truth-Seeking Ball, which can be understood as a special kind of bloodline limit." Naruto stood up straight as if nothing had happened, smiling and ignoring the slight pain in his chest.

Minato's brow remained furrowed, and the doubt in his eyes deepened, though his fear had quietly faded.

"That was created by combining all the chakra attributes. Since I have so little Yin chakra, I had to create it in advance and take it out when I needed it," Naruto explained, trying to find a topic to gloat over the matter.

However, the three curious children were quite powerful. Zhiwei, who had been keeping quiet, asked an even more crucial question, "How exactly did you kill the centipede? Why did the previous attacks fail, but yours succeeded?"

Naruto blinked and said, "Because I attacked his soul."

Ninjutsu that strikes the soul is almost extinct in the ninja world, and most of them are sealing techniques, with very few direct attacks. Even if they could attack, they would rarely be able to kill in one hit. A soul attack like Naruto's, which takes a life in an instant... just thinking about it gives me goosebumps!

Minato was the only one who had observed it up close, and he immediately thought of the dissipating pale purple sphere of light. The texture of that thing was very elusive; it didn't seem like chakra, nor did it have a physical form. Yet Naruto was able to grasp it and destroy it! Was there also a pale purple light in Naruto's hand at that time? So the Dragon Vein can be used in this kind of way!

"Hmm? The dragon vein seems to be calming down. It looks like Sara succeeded. Let's go over there." Sweating profusely, Naruto finally found a good excuse. He wouldn't know how to answer if asked any further. Moreover, as the dragon vein subsided, the space around him seemed unstable. It looked like it was time to go back.

With everything settled, reuniting was the top priority. Without delay, the four of them immediately took Naruto's Flying Thunder God Technique and landed near Sara. This was actually the place where the future Centipede had finally escaped to, the place where everything began.

"Naruto! I did it! What about you guys?" Sara could sense that the dragon vein was calming down, and her tense nerves finally relaxed a bit. As soon as she saw Naruto, she couldn't wait to take credit. She was still a child at heart.

Naruto smiled, habitually reaching out to pat the girl's head, and said, "Sara did a great job, severing the dragon vein's connection in time, which allowed us to succeed as well."

Sara was quite pleased with the compliments, unaware of the complicated expressions on the faces of the three ninjas behind Naruto.

Kakashi, with a sour face, moved closer to Minato and said, "Master, the road to here is too long, which caused a slight delay." He actually wanted to say that the Queen was too slow, but for a pampered young girl, she had already run as fast as she could. It was his small frame that couldn't help the Queen move, which delayed the time.

Minato chuckled and patted his disciple on the head. "It's alright. Didn't Naruto say your actions were timely?"

Although Kakashi had a stern face, he didn't dodge the head pat. This was definitely not because he was happy that the teacher praised him.

"Then, just to be on the safe side, I'll place another seal on the dragon vein." After exchanging pleasantries with his disciple for only a few seconds, Minato got to work. "Naruto, where's the kunai I gave you?"

Naruto paused for a moment, then took out a kunai from his bag and handed it to Naruto. His smile remained unchanged, but the light in his eyes dimmed slightly.

If he's not mistaken, his last trip to Loulan must have been just as spectacular, but he's forgotten everything, remembering nothing at all. Was it because the sealing technique was too strong, or were the rules of spacetime preventing him from retaining that memory?

In Minato's eyes, his future was bright. He was talented, had his parents by his side, and had no need to leave behind kunai as proof of his journey. Moreover, his father was always so rational and calm; he should have decided to erase this memory as soon as they met to avoid affecting his future. Otherwise, why would he have said, "I wish I could go back and brag about this"?

Why would a father risk losing a happy family and a bright future for his children?

The sealed light enveloped the dragon vein's pale purple hue, and the surging purple energy finally ceased its circling of the solitary central pillar, rapidly retreating into the ground. When everything here returned to its future appearance, a powerful fluctuation arose around Naruto—a power that could be detected even without super-sensory perception.

Seeing Naruto glowing white, Sara asked nervously, "What's going on?"

“The centipede is dead, the dragon vein has been sealed, and time has returned to its normal course.” The one who answered was Minato, who had a deep understanding of space-time techniques. He slowly walked towards the group and said with a smile, “It seems that you are about to return to your own era. It’s a pity that I have to say goodbye to you.”