Chapter 62: Loulan Ancient Kingdom (Ch 62)

“I?”
Haruki could clearly feel the burning gaze of the Sandaime Kazekage on himself.
He subconsciously took two steps back and held the double blades he was about to put away in front of himself.
“Sir Kazekage, please stop joking. The Hokage has the final say on everything in the village. I am just a small jounin squad leader.”
Seeing Qingguang’s actions, Arashi coughed twice: “You misunderstood. To be precise, it is related to you, but it does require the consent of your Hokage.”
“Haruki, why do you think we in Sunagakure started a war against Konoha?”
Qingguang put away his two swords and said: “For land and resources, the Sand Village is short of materials. It is said that the puppet technique is a secret technique developed by the second generation Kazekage Shamon to make up for the lack of numbers of Sand Village ninjas.”
It is a recognized fact in the ninja world that Sand Village is the poorest village among the five major ninja villages.
At the first Five Kage Conference, when the Shogakage Retsuto faced the issue of Hashirama’s distribution of the tailed beasts, he even directly rejected the Seven-Tails and wanted to exchange it for more land, but was rejected by Tobirama.
After negotiations, in the end, Takigakure Village paid a huge amount of money and bought Nanabi from Sand Village.
The Sand Village is so poor that they even have to sell the tailed beasts.
“That’s right. The Shogakage Reito once asked the Ninja God of your Konoha to use the power of Wood Release to create vegetation in the Land of Wind, but he was ultimately rejected by Tobirama Senju.”
“Otherwise, the Wind Kingdom and the Fire Kingdom should now be unbreakable allies, and there would be no previous war.” Lan sighed.
At that time period, it should have been not long after Uchiha Madara escaped and rebelled against Konoha. Hashirama had been seriously injured, and after gathering the remaining tailed beasts scattered across the ninja world, his mental energy was severely overdrawn, his yin and yang were unbalanced, and his life was about to end.
Given Hashirama Senju’s personality, he would definitely not refuse Sunagakure’s request, but it is understandable that Tobirama refused.
After all, the Second Ninja World War broke out not long after Hashirama’s death.
Even if Hashirama really used his last bit of strength to plant trees for the Sand Village in the Land of Wind, it wouldn’t be able to do so on a large scale, and would instead accelerate his death.
By that time, it is highly likely that Sand Village will not join Konoha in fighting against the other countries.
“Mr. Kazekage, negotiations between villages and countries are all based on interests. Strength is the cornerstone of maintaining justice. Truth lies only within the scope of ninjutsu.”
“These are the words that Master Tobirama left for us in the textbook of the Ninja School.”
“If you have anything to ask me, just tell me.”
The Sandaime Kazekage’s words were no different from the former Hokage of the village being sarcastic in front of Harumitsu, a Konoha ninja.
Not to mention that Harumitsu’s father, Kagami, is also Tobirama’s disciple. No matter how good Harumitsu’s temper is, he will show his dissatisfaction at this time.
Lan looked apologetic, but in his heart he was already sure that the news was accurate.
Qingguang is not good at hiding his emotions. He is upright, gentle but rational.
Having confirmed this, his main purpose was achieved.
“I’m sorry, it’s not nice to talk about the Second Hokage like this in front of the Konoha ninjas. It was my oversight.”
“But I mainly want you to convey a message to the Hokage for me.”
“The Sand Village is willing to use Shukaku and the training method of Magnet Release in exchange for the Kekkei Genkai of Wood Release.”
“Whether it’s a marriage alliance or a practice scroll, it’s all fine.”
Lan looked at the shocked Qingguang, with the corners of his mouth slightly raised. This was the expression he wanted to see on Qingguang’s face.
This was not a lie, his intention to trade was real, and if Konoha was willing, he would be happy to exchange with Konoha.
Regardless of whether the deal is successful or not, he can take the opportunity to analyze and get what he wants.
From the very beginning, as long as he successfully saw the clear light, he was destined not to return empty-handed.
“I will tell the Hokage-sama the news truthfully on behalf of the Kazekage-sama, but I think the chances are slim, so please be prepared.”
Sure enough, Qingguang’s reaction was also within Lan’s expectations.
“It’s okay, this is just my personal opinion. It’s reasonable for Konoha to refuse.”
“By the way, I have another piece of news for you. If nothing unexpected happens, Iwagakure and Tsuchikage will watch the final duel with the daimyo and nobles after the third exam.”
“You’d better be careful.”
“Thank you, Lord Fengying, for the reminder.” Qingguang left and raised his hand to place the necklace on his chest.
Sure enough, it’s better to be careful.
The death necklace is no joke.
Back at the campfire, Xia had already cooked the broth. Qingguang drank it absentmindedly, thinking about what dangers he might encounter next.
If it was just Ōnoki and Sandai Kaminari, it would be fine. As long as he could lure these two people to a deserted place, Harumi was confident that he could take them both down.
As for the deal proposed by the Third Kazekage, it was most likely a test. He himself might have received invitations from Ōnoki and the Third Raikage, but simply did not agree.
By then, no matter whether he is dead or alive, he will be on the winning side.
What a good calculation.
Seeing that Haruhiko looked distracted, Kasumi asked, “What are you thinking about, Haruhiko-sama?”
“Did that Fei say anything to you just now?”
“It’s okay. I was just thinking about practicing ninjutsu.” Haruki used the spirit transformation technique to evade the question.
Then the two of them went into the tent to rest.
At four o’clock in the morning, before the sun rose, Qingguang and his friends gathered at the place where they had dispersed yesterday, and headed together to the Sand Castle on the border of the Demon Desert.
Before the sun rose, the group hurried on their journey.
The morning sun pierced the darkness above the desert, shining on the sand and refracting the light. Before long, in just less than two hours, the temperature went from below zero to over forty degrees Celsius.
Qingguang and Xia also had to cover their faces with face curtains, leaving a gap at their eyes so that they could observe the outside world.
But not long after, Qingguang suddenly sensed an unusual chakra reaction in the west and looked that way.
“Fei, is there anything over there?” Qingguang came to Fei and asked.
“It’s in the direction of the ancient kingdom of Loulan, but now only a few ordinary people still live there, and supplies are scarce. Have you found anything?”
“Nothing, I just saw some figures.”
It seems that Sand Village doesn’t know that Loulan has a dragon vein.
It was probably because his immortal body allowed him to sense natural energy that he discovered the abnormality there.
Otherwise, even a sensing ninja would have difficulty detecting it at this distance.
Two days and one night later, Qingguang and Xia finally followed Fei to the final location of the exam – the Sand Castle.
It was a castle built entirely of huge stones. It was much cooler inside, which made him feel relieved.
It had taken them nearly three days to even get here, and the candidates estimated that it would take at least four days to enter the Devil’s Desert.
Now that they are here, they just need to wait quietly. At least they can have a good rest tomorrow.
However, Qingguang does not intend to stay here obediently. Dragon vein is a good thing.
To him, this might just be a place to wash some big gift bags. If he doesn’t take advantage of it for free, he would be going against his conscience.
At night, taking advantage of the darkness, Qingguang left a wooden clone to accompany Xia and headed towards Loulan alone.
However, he completely overlooked one point.
When Xia set up a silent barrier and tried to take off Qingguang’s clothes, seeing that she was about to be exposed, Mu’s clone had to honestly tell the whereabouts of her real body.
A feeling of unwillingness welled up in Xia’s heart.
We clearly agreed that you have to take me with you next time.
It also left behind a shadow clone, chasing in the direction Qingguang left.
It was not until Qingguang was about to reach Loulan that he suddenly noticed the chakra reaction behind him.
I turned around and said, “Xia, why are you here?”
Qingguang stopped walking, Xia came up to Qingguang, looking aggrieved, with mist in her two big watery eyes: “You clearly promised me that you would take me with you in the future.”
Ah, this…
Things have come to this point, Qingguang had no choice but to use that trick.
He lowered his head, turned his head, looked to the side, and said with reluctance: “I’m sorry, I just don’t want you to be in danger.”
In a sense, the power of the dragon vein is indeed violent and dangerous, and he is not lying to Xia.
“It doesn’t matter. No matter how dangerous it is, I want to stay with Lord Qingguang.” Xia hugged Qingguang.
“Let’s go, time is limited.” Not long after, Qingguang took Xia’s hand and continued to move towards Loulan.
Until they saw a row of small houses in an oasis ahead under the night sky.
Qingguang could feel the thick natural energy in the air around him.
“This is it.”
Although the Loulan in front of him was not as magnificent as the one Minato saw when he grew up, the rebel ninja Centipede should not have arrived here at this point in time.
Loulan had not yet utilized the power of dragon veins to build a city, so it was reasonable that it was somewhat poor.
“Xia, let’s split up and gather intelligence to see if there is anything related to the altar or ritual.”
“clear.”
How to gather intelligence at night?
When facing ordinary people, just use the Sharingan’s hypnosis to ask them questions. At most, let them have a good sleep, and it won’t have any impact.
Soon, Qingguang found out the queen’s residence here.
Live in a house that looks like a large yurt.
Qingguang sneaked in successfully and saw a young girl with long dark red hair lying on the bed.
When he approached her, Qingguang was about to open her eyes with his hands, but who would have thought that this woman was so sensitive. She woke up all of a sudden, her face full of panic, and she wanted to shout for help.
Qingguang raised his hand to cover his mouth, pressed him to the bed, put the kunai against his throat, and smiled his signature smile: “I don’t want to hit you, you’d better not move or make any sound, understand?”
The girl looked at the three-magatama Sharingan in Harumitsu’s pupil and nodded with some fear.
The next second, he was hypnotized and his eyes became dull.
Qingguang finally found out the location of the dragon vein.
The girl’s name is Tina, and she should be the queen who was killed by An Lushan in the movie.
He also obtained the technique to unlock the seal of the dragon vein from Tina, then erased her memory and returned to the agreed place to meet Xia.
Soon, the two arrived at the Dragon Vein Altar.