"In an instant?"
"That's impossible."
Saï spoke calmly from the side.
"If that were really true, then by now—even the entirety of Konoha wouldn't stand a chance against that person."
Minato scratched his head helplessly.
"But that is the truth. No matter how unbelievable it sounds—it happened."
"That's exactly why we were sent to investigate this so-called All-Powerful Minister."
Tap, tap, tap.
Before Naruto or Saï could respond, Daichi walked over, picked up a tray of food, and dumped it in front of Saï.
"Eat up. If you can't work this afternoon, you'll regret it."
Saï: "..."
After a moment of silence, Saï glanced down at the food. His pale face twitched slightly.
"…The food here is this bad?"
A steel tray.
A pile of bean sprouts.
A bit of minced meat.
And rice that looked decidedly low quality.
"You should be grateful there's food at all," Daichi sneered.
"You're criminals—did you expect a feast?"
As he turned to leave, remembering Minato's earlier remarks, he added coldly:
"One more thing."
"The All-Powerful Lord is not someone ordinary ninja like you are qualified to discuss."
"He is the new god of the shinobi world."
With that, Daichi walked away.
Naruto clenched his chopsticks angrily as he ate.
"All-Powerful this, All-Powerful that—if I ever meet him, I'll show him the power of a Konoha ninja! The power of Uzumaki Naruto!"
"I agree," Saï said flatly, continuing to eat.
"Not eating now would be foolish."
Chōza elbowed Minato and whispered:
"That kid… he looks a lot like you. Don't tell me—"
Minato smiled softly and nodded.
"Most likely… my future child with Kaori."
"…That's enviable," Shiranui Genma muttered.
"I wonder if my kid will ever come back from the future to see me…"
Aburame Shibi placed both hands on the table, envy flashing behind his dark glasses.
"…Same."
Lunch in Loulan's prison ended at noon.
After a one-hour break, labor officially began at 1 p.m.
The prisoners were taken to a changing room, stripped of their original clothes, and issued Loulan-manufactured prison uniforms.
Afterward, guards selectively unlocked portions of their chakra and physical limiters.
"My chakra's back!" Saï shouted suddenly.
"Now's our chance—Naruto, let's run—"
Minato covered his face.
"…The clothes are also special equipment."
Before his words fully landed—
BANG.
Saï collapsed face-first onto the ground.
Naruto, who had just started to follow, froze mid-step.
Out of the corner of his eye, he saw a short guard pressing a remote-like device.
"Prisoner No. 89, Saï," the guard said into a communicator.
"Attempted escape."
"One day of solitary confinement."
"One additional week of labor reform."
"Copy that, Little Wood Bug," Daichi replied from the other end.
Naruto swallowed hard as Saï—completely unconscious—was dragged away.
His legs trembled.
Little Wood Bug looked at Naruto blocking the line.
"Prisoner No. 88, Uzumaki Naruto."
"You planning to escape too?"
"If so, hurry up. Don't waste my time."
"N-No, no!" Naruto waved frantically.
"I was just… startled!"
"Um—my companion… he'll be okay, right?"
Little Wood Bug casually unlocked part of Minato's limiter and motioned for him to move.
"He's fine. Just shocked unconscious."
"And the solitary cell—"
"Enough chatter. You're a labor convict."
"S-Sorry!"
Minato quickly grabbed Naruto, smiling apologetically, and hurried out of the prison.
Once outside, Minato finally exhaled.
"Fresh air at last."
"That solitary cell…?" Naruto asked again, worried.
Minato shook his head.
"Mostly psychological torture. Loulan's prison system is… surprisingly humane."
After the entire Konoha group exited, Minato led Naruto through the inner city, crossing wide roads that felt alien to him.
Eventually, they reached a massive gate.
The inner city of Loulan had been expanded—now nearly three times its former size.
"Next," Minato said,
"we're heading to the outer perimeter of the inner city."
Click.
The gates opened.
A flash of white light passed before their eyes.
Noise flooded in.
Below a long descending staircase lay streets similar to the inner city—but far more crowded.
"More labor convicts today…"
"Must be fifty or sixty already."
"Why break Loulan's laws in the first place?"
Whispers followed them everywhere.
Naruto even saw street performers and applauded instinctively.
"So cool."
A guard shoved his shoulder.
"Move. You're labor convicts, not tourists."
"Y-Yeah…"
After walking nearly five kilometers, they reached another grand gate.
Beyond it—
The Outer City of Loulan.
Massive walls.
Four major districts—East, West, South, North.
The buildings near the inner city were decent.
Further out, they grew rougher.
Merchants. Travelers. Horse caravans.
But the moment people noticed the numbered uniforms—
They backed away.
Naruto looked down at himself.
"Am I… really that scary?"
"You have no idea," Minato sighed.
He explained what had happened when the outer city was first built:
Robbery. Murder. Arson.
Wave after wave of rogue shinobi.
"And then?" Naruto asked.
"…They were all executed," Minato replied quietly.
Shibi added:
"They were paraded through the streets first. To prove Loulan's power."
"And during the riots," he continued,
"every single one was suppressed by the All-Powerful Minister."
Naruto gulped.
"…That's incredible."
Before long, the group reached the outermost gate.
After a scan through modified goggles, they were allowed out of Loulan proper.
A short man on roller-like footwear arrived, looking at the fifty-plus convicts.
"Today's job is simple. Transport stone and mud to the Land of Rivers."
"Complete your quota and you can return early."
"Yes!" ×N
Naruto hurriedly echoed the response.
Moments later, a brown-ponytailed young man wearing a horned mask approached.
"Follow me."
"Don't think about running. It's pointless."
This man—
Was Nawaki, now fully shaped by Kaito.
Around his neck rested a Perfect Sage Curse Mark, developed by Kaito himself.
The credit for this perfect Sage system came from many sources—
including Orochimaru, Nawaki, and later, Morino Yūgetsu.
Meanwhile — East City District
Haruno Sakura never imagined she'd become a labor convict.
Resistance was useless—she had just watched another woman dragged away for trying.
"You'll be assigned volunteer work," said a veiled young woman dressed like a saint.
"Adventurers' Guild, commercial buildings, streets, underground parks…"
Sakura understood immediately.
Free labor.
Watching over them—
Gaarura, disguised, wearing a cat-eared mask.
"…So I really can't go back," she murmured.
She bore the Perfect Sage Curse Mark as well.
Her compatibility surpassed even Nawaki's—
her affinity with sand and nature allowed her to reach Kage-level power.
Inner City — Tower No. 11
Elder Chiyo of Sunagakure entered with deep unease.
After countless inspections, she stood before Queen Sally.
"We wish to redeem Jōnin Gaarura," Chiyo said.
"Sunagakure will pay ten million ryō."
Sally paused—surprised.
After negotiations, excuses, half-truths—
Sally smiled.
"I'm sorry, Elder Chiyo."
"Gaarura was assassinated while teaching."
Chiyo exploded.
The room froze.
But Sally's chakra surged—
borrowed from the Dragon Vein beneath the city.
"I am not a helpless queen," she said softly.
In the end—
Sunagakure received two million Loulan gold coins as "compensation."
They left humiliated.
As the doors closed, Morino Yūgetsu removed his mask.
"Your Majesty," he said,
"you don't really need guards at this point, do you?"
Sally leaned back lazily.
"Then what use are you? Should I send you to the Adventurers' Guild?"
"N-No!"
She sighed.
Even Kaito has returned to Konoha to live as a genin.
Honestly… why leave Loulan when he could stay with me?
Kaito—
now too strong to find an equal opponent.
The more he created, the more invincible he became.
Even legends revived, gods unsealed—
He would still have to restrain himself just to feel anything.
At times, even he felt—
Like Saitama.
To read advanced Chapters, head over to p@treon:
patreon.com/nani_kaito