"18?"
"Sir, unable to connect."
Surrounded by the towering buildings of Roran, with the Dragon Vein right before him, Hyuga Mirai found himself unable to establish contact with 18. Without her control, his T1 battle armor now relied solely on artificial intelligence, and even the data network he had built up over time was disconnected.
"Have I traveled through time?" Mirai wondered. He activated his Byakugan. In an instant, his vision expanded to cover the entire area within a ten-kilometer radius of the tower.
"It's still Roran... The only difference is that the puppet techniques left behind by Anrokuzan are gone." After scanning the surroundings, he shut off his Byakugan and turned his attention back to the Dragon Vein seal behind him.
This time, Mirai studied the seal carefully. He spent a long time with his Byakugan, examining every detail before confirming the seal's structure, including the seal on the kunai used by the Flying Thunder God technique.
"Traveling through time... The way back should also be related to the Dragon Vein. The idea that such vast energy can allow time travel is difficult to believe, but there's definitely something wrong with Roran. Otherwise, people wouldn't keep traveling through time."
Mirai thought he figured out a way to return. The Dragon Vein seal from his original timeline had probably been repaired by a secondary seal left by Namikaze Minato. If someone disrupted the Dragon Vein seal from his original time and Mirai took control of the Dragon Vein here, the energy fluctuations from two timelines would cause a spatial resonance, allowing him to leave this time.
"Then, let me change the seal here first." Mirai knew the Dragon Vein seal needed to be under his control. If 18 somehow destroyed the seal from the other side without him noticing, it would spell disaster.
Sage Mode!
Mirai's eyes displayed a faint sage face, and he placed one hand on the center of the seal formation.
"Seal Release!"
Under his control, the rectangular seal quickly transformed into a circular one. Many of the sealing symbols changed, and Mirai infused the seal with Sage chakra. This was a safeguard. He had altered 90% of Minato's original seal and left behind a spiritual seal using Sage chakra. If the Dragon Vein's energy fluctuated, the seal would break, triggering a summoning seal that would bring him back.
After setting up a fail-safe for his departure, Mirai left the tower. He was curious about the current time and era, but the people outside hadn't changed much in terms of clothing, so he guessed the time difference wasn't more than thirty years.
The problem was whether this was the past, the future, or a parallel universe. If it was on the same timeline, Mirai would just be an observer, but perhaps he could experiment with the timeline and trigger the butterfly effect.
The five major ninja villages were established around the same time, with Konoha being the first. If he inquired within any major country, he would know the current era.
He didn't know much about Roran's history, and since he couldn't contact 18, he decided to leave.
Mirai decided to leave Roran and teleported a few times to a more remote location, summoning his T1 battle armor through his wristwatch. Once fully armored, he took off, flying towards the Land of Fire.
"The energy supply here is depleted. Once I use it up, I'll have to rely on my own chakra for fuel. From now on, it'll only be useful for flight. If I need to fight, I'll stick to Taijutsu or Sage Mode."
Konoha Village
With the end of the Shinobi World War, Konoha needed to quickly regain its strength. Aside from the funding from the daimyo, mission requests were the best way to restore the village's power. Not only did it earn money, but it also allowed ninjas to gain experience.
Most missions, aside from A-rank and S-rank, were from merchants or nobles in the Land of Fire and surrounding small countries. Konoha's reputation was widespread, and after winning multiple wars, many merchants chose to send their requests to Konoha, even from distant countries, rather than nearby Sunagakure or Iwagakure.
When Mirai reached a town near Konoha, he ran into a merchant convoy on its way to the village. He used a genjutsu on the leader, subtly hinting to him, and followed the convoy to Konoha.
Along the way, he overheard some useful information.
'Konoha, year fifty-one... It's only been a few months since I was brought here by the Dragon Vein...'
This world didn't seem to have any trace of him. Neither the Uzumaki Trade Association nor the Hyakusa Trade Association had any information.
'Parallel Universe?'
"If it's a parallel universe, how could the future Naruto Uzumaki be so hostile to me? By all logic, he should never have heard of me, unless..."
Mirai wasn't like Uchiha Madara, with an overbearing personality. He was used to being low-key, preferring to operate in the shadows and strike with overwhelming power when necessary. If Naruto Uzumaki truly was his enemy, Mirai wouldn't hesitate to end his life.
But Mirai had a guess. He would find out more when he reached Konoha.
Thanks to the cells he injected, along with his exceptional metabolism and specialized diet, Mirai's growth had been perfectly optimized. At only thirteen, he had already reached near physical peak condition. His appearance made him look more like a young adult than a teenager.
With some camouflage techniques, he covered his chakra with a sealing jutsu. Even though there were two sensory ninjas guarding the gates of Konoha, they couldn't detect anything unusual about him.
After the merchant leader showed his documents, the group was allowed to enter Konoha. Once inside, Mirai casually waved to the merchant leader outside a ramen shop before leaving to join the queue.
After an hour of waiting and eating ramen, he casually wandered through the village.
"Everything's exactly the same... Even the placement of the bricks." Mirai was very familiar with the village. When he was younger, he had often slipped away from his clan and the village's ANBU to find hidden places to train. Now, it was no challenge to roam through Konoha without being noticed.
"Over there..." Mirai activated his Byakugan and strolled towards a forest at the edge of the village.
The area wasn't a great place to train. The visibility was too high, and it was near the Uchiha clan grounds. For a Hyuga, this wasn't ideal.
'Thud! Thud! Thud!'
There was a muffled sound coming from the woods, similar to fists striking a wooden post. As Mirai got closer, he saw a boy repeatedly attacking a tree with his fists.
The boy's training outfit was soaked with sweat, and the lunchbox beside him had yet to be opened. He had been training for quite a while, well past noon.
Crack!
Mirai deliberately stepped on a branch, drawing the boy's attention.
"Who's there?" The boy suddenly turned around, his vigilance clear as he spotted Mirai.
"Sorry, sorry," Mirai said, putting on a surprised expression. "I'm from the Oishi merchant convoy. I was just curious about the environment in Konoha and wandered here. Did I disturb you?"
His impeccable acting quickly convinced the boy of his identity.
(End of Chapter)