According to Kei's original plan, normally, the plot should have gone —first, he would arrive in Rōran, then take control of the current queen, who had the power to influence and manipulate the Ryūmyaku. After that, he would capture Mukade disguised as Anrokuzan. Once its true identity was exposed, he would read its memories to understand the development of future events. Finally, with a wave of his hand, he would send it on its way.
But now… Sēramu was still here.
This elegant… ahem… lady was still holding the position of queen.
Mukade hadn't appeared at all.
Instead, a character named Saya appeared, who was supposed to be a Suna ninja in the original story, looking at him with the expression of someone seeing their idol.
Her eyes were blinking so much that it looked like she was having a spasm, she just couldn't stop!
Following Queen Sēramu, Kei stepped into the luxurious tower in front of him. Behind them, Saya struggled to contain her excitement as she firmly shut the heavy door.
After taking the elevator to the top of the tower… Two figures suddenly rushed in from the balcony outside.
The moment they saw Kei, their expressions became just as excited.
Wait… Tenten? Hinata?!
"Quick, quick, quick! Captain Tenten, the mission scroll!" Saya dashed forward like an eager bear, twisting her waist impatiently.
"Greetings, Kei-sama! This is our mission scroll. Please sign it! Oh, and the Sage seal—it requires your senjutsu chakra to activate and unlock!" Tenten's voice carried an uncontrollable excitement.
Hurriedly, she pulled out the mission scroll, which was wrapped in several layers of oil-treated paper for preservation, and handed it to Kei. She quickly lifted her bangs, revealing the seal beneath them.
"I have one too! I have one too!" Saya also pushed aside her thick bangs with one hand while pointing at the broad bean-sized seal on her forehead with the other.
"A-And… me too." Hinata's delicate face turned a shade of pink as she also revealed the seal on her forehead.
"Uh…" Kei swiftly scanned the mission scroll in his hand.
Raising his right hand, he channeled senjutsu chakra and tapped the seals on the three girls' foreheads in turn.
In the next moment, the sealing runes lit up. A flood of memory images, carried by illusions, surged into his mind—From the reason why these three arrived here, to how the underground Source of the Ryūmyaku operated and was utilized, to the future plans for Rōran, their assignments, and the mission rewards.
"Finally! Three years, no—six years! We've been carrying out this mission for six years! It's finally done~" Tenten grabbed Sēramu's hand and jumped up and down in excitement in the hall of the tower, her whole body radiating joy.
"My fried chicken, my cola, my burgers, my games—I'm back~" Saya was so overwhelmed with emotion that even her twin ponytails seemed ready to start spinning.
Hinata clasped her hands in front of her chest. Though she didn't jump around like them, the shimmer in her eyes revealed her feelings.
Six years… she truly, truly missed Hanabi, her father, and her mother…
"Woohoo~ Mission complete! Power up! Climbing to the peak! Perfect ending!"
"Perfect, perfect! Absolutely perfect! Hahaha~"
"By the way… which time period are we returning to?"
"The mission scroll said we should…" Tenten and Saya stared at each other for three seconds before pulling Hinata over to stand in front of Kei, who had just finished absorbing the illusionary memories.
They exchanged a look with Hinata, who's face flushed even redder, but under their expectant gazes, she hesitated for a moment before nodding slightly.
"Three, two, one!" As Tenten finished the countdown, the three of them put on their most pitiful and adorable expressions and sweetly called out, "Between six days and six years, you can choose."
Kei instinctively took a step back.
After rubbing his nose and confirming that nothing unusual was happening, he finally let out a small sigh of relief.
"Love you!" Tenten formed a big heart shape with her hands above her head, then turned to discuss with the others which day in the future would be best to return to.
"Six days later. Six years is too long. Our parents would probably be really worried."
"I-If it were our family, they… they would probably want to see us sooner, no matter what we look like."
"But we really lived through six years! From twelve years old to suddenly eighteen…"
"Isn't that a good thing? We'll shock Lee for an entire year! Wait, does this mean Neji will have to call Hinata 'nee-san' now?"
"Ah?! T-That, that, that…"
"You're right! Then six days it is! I want Ino, Shikamaru, and Kankuro to call me 'nee-san' too!"
"Saya, this… this isn't really appropriate…"
After whispering among themselves for a long time, the three finally decided to return to their original timeline—six days later. After all, they had already been separated from their families and friends for six long years.
The constant longing that had filled their hearts—once was more than enough to endure. Why should they make their loved ones grieve all over again?
"Kei-sama, thank you for bringing them to Rōran." Sēramu looked at the three girls, who were jumping with joy, with a face full of affection and tenderness.
When they had first arrived in Rōran, they were only twelve or thirteen years old—pure, innocent, and free of scheming. Their hearts and minds were solely focused on building up Rōran, which at the time was nothing more than a settlement of low, mud-brick houses.
Over six years, she had watched Rōran grow bit by bit into its current grandeur. How could she not be grateful?
"There's no need to thank me. It was a mutually beneficial arrangement. If you want to thank someone, thank them—it was their choice to stay in Rōran."
Kei waved his hand dismissively, not accepting her gratitude.
After reading through the illusion memories stored in the seals, he could more or less understand just how difficult these six years had been for Tenten, Hinata, and Saya.
After all, when he first crossed into the Naruto world, he had struggled to adapt as well.
Coming from the highly advanced ninja village of over a decade into the future, he had arrived in a barren, desolate Rōran—where he spent six years eating sand.
Because of the restriction that bound his body to the Ryūmyaku, he was both protected by its power and unable to leave Rōran for long. His only choice was to stay and complete his mission.
Unless one had enormous ambition, persevering through those six years was undoubtedly a tremendous test of willpower and determination for the three of them.
"Mm." Sēramu's lips curved into a gentle smile.
In six years, she had already come to see Tenten, Hinata, and Saya as her own daughters. They were already family.
"We've made our decision! We will return to six days after our original time!"
Tenten, pulling her the two along, stood in front of Kei and confidently announced their choice.
"Alright. Then let's begin distributing your mission rewards."
Kei nodded with a smile.
After preparing himself for a moment, he followed the techniques described in the illusion memories and duplicated the training experiences that had been infused into him by the system—his mastery of the Flying Thunder God Technique, his later comprehension of space-time ninjutsu, and the swordsmanship knowledge granted by [Guaranteed Decapitation Slash].
Using the energy of Sage Art Yin Release, he condensed all of this information into a transferable form at his fingertip.
Raising his hand, he gently touched Tenten's forehead, right where the still-active seal remained.
Perhaps due to the influence of the Ryūmyaku's energy, her spatial awareness far surpassed what had been depicted in the original story.
By utilizing the power of this Sage Art Seal, she would gradually assimilate and absorb all of the training experiences he had just transferred. Her strength would undergo a complete transformation!
Having gained experience from the first transfer, Kei quickly sealed all of his clan's secret arts into Saya's forehead.
In the future, the five major ninja villages would merge into one. By that time, most of the ninja clans' secret techniques would have been made public, exchangeable for mission contributions.
In comparison, the truly valuable reward of this six-year-long mission wasn't these secret techniques—but rather, Kei's personal training experiences!
Right now, he was a bonafide Six Paths-level powerhouse.
With his god-tier perspective, many of the limitations of various jutsu had been completely shattered!
If Saya could fully absorb everything he had transferred, she might one day become one of the most powerful kunoichi in the entire shinobi world!
As for Hinata, Kei, seeing her shy and flustered expression, gently tapped her seal three times with senjutsu chakra.
A small wisp of chakra smoke dispersed.
He then grasped the small glass bottle that had emerged from the seal. Within the glass bottle, a pair of blue-green Rinnegan-like eyes glowed faintly.
Seeing her confused expression, he opened the bottle and channeled senjutsu chakra while quickly forming over fifty hand seals according to the illusion memory's instructions.
A soft white glow emanated from Hinata's Byakugan, her body enveloped in senjutsu chakra.
Her pure Hyūga bloodline had been fully activated. A tremendous amount of ocular power poured out of the glass bottle in Kei's hands.
Within moments, the glass bottle crumbled into dust, its contents completely absorbed into Hinata. Her Byakugan emitted a faint luminescence before returning to normal.
"Mm, your eyes and bloodline will take about half a month to fully evolve. Be careful in the meantime, or you might accidentally hurt someone."
Kei gave a simple warning.
According to the illusion memories, this pair of Rinnegan was also cultivated by Orochimaru.
That guy… in the future, he would be casually collecting Rinnegan and Mangekyō Sharingan. His storage rooms would be overflowing with them!
However… The memories indicated that his original self had suggested pairing up Jiraiya and Orochimaru earlier…