Late one night, Asuka finished making all the necessary arrangements and quietly slipped out of the Hidden Mist encampment under the cover of darkness.
After reaching a secluded corner, Asuka extended his senses. Once he confirmed that no one was nearby, a pair of angelic wings sprouted from his back.
With a powerful flap that stirred the surrounding air, Asuka shot upward into the sky.
His wings beat steadily as he climbed higher and higher, quickly breaking through the clouds.
Asuka paused above the cloud layer, bathed in bright moonlight.
After briefly confirming his direction, he turned toward the Land of Wind and sped away.
Asuka's destination for this journey was clear: Roran.
As a transmigrator, Asuka had never forgotten the Dragon Veins sealed beneath Roran. There was no way he would pass up such a massive source of chakra.
The reason he had waited until now was simple—he previously lacked a way to absorb the Dragon Veins. But the awakening of the Black King ability finally gave him a method to conquer them.
Moreover, the Clone Human ability allowed Asuka to separate himself from the Hidden Mist without raising suspicion. To avoid any unexpected problems, he set out for Roran immediately after becoming proficient with the clone's capabilities.
In the original movie timeline, the events took place before the Third Great Ninja War, when Kakashi Hatake had not yet become a jonin. However, the timeline in that movie was notoriously inconsistent.
At that time, Minato Namikaze had already mastered the Rasengan, which meant the Third Great Ninja War had already begun. Yet the Third Hokage still sent Minato to Roran in the Land of Wind for a mission.
It was known that the Battle of Mount Kikyo between Sunagakure and Konoha erupted in the second year of the Third Great Ninja War. Meanwhile, Minato only created the Rasengan after witnessing two Iwagakure jinchūriki combine their Tailed Beast Bomb at the very beginning of the war.
But the timeline in Naruto had always been messy, and Asuka was far more familiar with the main storyline.
Now, because of Asuka's actions, the Hidden Mist had launched its attack on Konoha earlier than expected, and Iwagakure had also declared war on Konoha ahead of schedule.
As a result, Asuka couldn't be certain whether the Dragon Veins had already been sealed by Minato.
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After several days of continuous travel, Asuka finally reached the Land of Wind.
To avoid detection, he maintained an extremely high flight altitude throughout the journey, landing only occasionally to eat and rest.
This constant flying made Asuka grumble to himself.
"When will I awaken a space-type ability? Nightcrawler, Red Devil, Blink… I really miss you guys."
While complaining, he used Fire Release to ignite some dry wood he had gathered and heat up his food.
Under the flickering firelight, Asuka pulled out a prepared map to confirm his current location. After comparing it carefully, he realized that Roran was already very close—only a few more hours of flying tomorrow.
After planning the route, Asuka quickly finished eating and climbed into his sleeping bag to rest.
The next morning, he set out again.
Near noon, he finally arrived above Roran.
Looking down from the sky, Asuka noticed that the city already appeared somewhat dilapidated. Many ragged civilians wandered through the streets with dull, lifeless expressions.
"It seems the war between Kumogakure and Sunagakure has already affected Roran."
Asuka remembered that Roran was destroyed during the Third Great Ninja War. Judging from the current situation, its decline had clearly begun.
He found an empty area outside the city to land, brushed the dust from his clothes, and calmly walked into the streets.
Asuka had completely altered his usual appearance.
He wore a black robe that covered his entire body. The style was similar to the black cloak the Akatsuki would later wear, though without the red cloud patterns. A white bone mask covered his face, hiding his identity completely.
To enhance his disguise, Asuka had even changed his hair color to black.
This was one of the mutant abilities he had unlocked long ago—an ability that allowed him to freely change his hair color. It was rather useless, so he had never bothered using it before.
However, with the mindset of making use of everything available, Asuka activated the ability earlier that morning. To his surprise, not only did his hair change color, but its quality also improved noticeably.
His unusual attire made him stand out in the somewhat run-down city. As he walked down the street, many people couldn't help but stare at him.
Suddenly, a rubber ball rolled to his feet.
Asuka bent down to pick it up.
A little girl ran toward him and timidly said,
"H-hello… c-can I have my ball back?"
Looking down, Asuka saw the girl lowering her head nervously. Her hair was tied into two small buns, and her clothes were dirty and full of holes.
Seeing this, Asuka crouched down, gently patted the girl on the head, and handed the ball back to her.
Then he opened his palm.
Several candies lay inside.
The girl's eyes immediately lit up, but she still didn't dare to reach for them. She simply hugged the ball tightly and stood there.
Asuka gently took her small hand and placed the candies in it.
"Go ahead and take them," he said softly. "And try not to run around the streets alone next time."
The girl nodded vigorously, bowed in thanks, and happily ran off.
The brief encounter didn't affect Asuka's plan.
He continued walking toward the place his senses were guiding him.
In his perception, an enormous source of chakra flickered faintly in that direction.
Following the sensation, Asuka soon arrived near a set of structures that looked very familiar.
Comparing them with his memories, he knew he had found the right place.
However, the Kingdom of Roran had not yet been destroyed, and guards were still patrolling around the Dragon Veins.
Asuka didn't want to alert anyone. After circling the area several times, he eventually found an opening and quietly slipped inside.
Guided by his sensing ability, Asuka soon arrived before a massive door.
The seal on the door was extremely strong.
Asuka pushed several times, but the door wouldn't move at all.
He stepped back a few paces and fired laser beams from his eyes.
Carefully controlling the intensity, he melted a large hole in the door. After waving away the rising white smoke, Asuka stepped inside.
What greeted him was a familiar sight.
A special kunai was embedded in the center of the Dragon Veins' seal.
"As expected… the timeline has already passed."
In truth, Asuka had already suspected this when he first saw the condition of Roran. Seeing Minato Namikaze's distinctive kunai confirmed it.
He walked to the center of the seal and carefully examined the sealing runes.
After studying them for a long time, he finally reached a conclusion.
He couldn't understand them.
Well… not completely.
With his current level of Sealing Jutsu, he simply couldn't undo the seal immediately.
After half a day of studying it, Asuka realized that fully removing the seal would take quite a long time.
Although he wasn't in a hurry, he still felt somewhat helpless.
So he sat down on the spot and began carefully studying the sealing technique left behind by Minato.
Minato had learned his sealing techniques from Uzumaki Kushina, making them authentic Uzumaki Clan sealing jutsu.
Coincidentally, Asuka had also studied Uzumaki sealing techniques before. That was the only reason he could understand some of the runes.
It was also why he chose not to destroy the seal by force, but instead attempted to carefully release it.
He believed that if he could successfully undo this seal, his mastery of Sealing Jutsu would improve tremendously.