Chapter 137: Merlin Online, Meeting the Shadow Clone
Master Jiraiya, after a busy day, shed the day's fatigue and prepared to drift off to sleep.
En Yui, who was truly exhausted after training all afternoon, had already collapsed in sleep.
Only Naruto still had his eyes open.
He let out a sigh.
"I've really sacrificed too much for this family."
The investigators searching for the princess had already entered his sensory range.
He had originally been playing Monopoly with Kurama in the Sealing Space.
Because today, it had helped by warning him about the Exploding Bugs in advance.
Otherwise, they might have posed a tiny threat to him.
However, his luck wasn't great today, and he was about to lose.
It went something like this:
[Age 10: You are overflowing with talent, winning numerous novel awards, and are hailed as a genius.]
[Age 17: You are exposed for using a ghostwriter, and all your awards are revoked.]
[Age 24: Driven to a dead end, you start writing web novels.]
[Age 25: The novels you write are so bad that a hacker breaks into your account and modifies the plot for you.]
[Age 26: In a fit of rage, you go to work at a construction site and die in an accident.]
This made Kurama so happy it almost became the first Tailed Beast to choke to death on cola.
"Samurai, huh."
Naruto didn't have much interest in them.
They weren't simple samurai; they were more like a combination of samurai and Ninja, similar to Mifuneof the Land of Iron, driving their swordsmanship with Chakra.
Although their Chakra reserves couldn't compare to normal Ninjas, calling them Taijutsu Ninjas wouldn't be an exaggeration.
If their swordsmanship skills were high, dealing with ordinary Ninjas would be no problem.
"I'll leave it to you."
Naruto created a Shadow Clone.
He had more important things to do himself.
The Shadow Clone nodded, and without taking any weapons, vanished from before him.
In a small grove.
The Shadow Clone appeared.
The seven samurai immediately acted as if facing a great enemy, drawing their katanas one after another.
" I'm disappointed."
The Shadow Clone shook his head and sighed.
"As samurai, you actually don't wear armor or helmets?"
He thought for a moment, then used Magnet Release to draw iron from the ground, forging a black helmet for himself.
The seven samurai were completely bewildered.
What's the situation?
Making a helmet before the fight.
What, afraid we'll crack your skull with one strike?
"It's starting now."
The Shadow Clone spread his arms, looking like Master Liu Huan, almost ready to sing a line of 'You and Me.'
But in reality, he was imitating Magneto.
That big boss was a man of grand spectacles.
His appearance inevitably involved demolition.
Crack.
Cracks began to appear on the ground.
Countless dust particles were like fish out of water, jumping about wildly.
The light shifted.
In the night, trees were suspended, slowly rising into the sky.
The seven samurai watched the scene before them in a daze.
The instantaneous change was beyond their comprehension.
The Shadow Clone hesitated.
He couldn't think of any classic Magneto lines to use in this scene.
"Feel pain! Planetary Devastation!"
The Shadow Clone used his Senior Brother Nagato's ultimate move with a clear conscience.
Under the control of Magnet Release, all the trees, dust, and miscellaneous debris in the sky completely buried them.
He crooked his finger, and a katana flew out.
"I'll choose you, Excalibur."
The Shadow Clone nodded with satisfaction.
The blade of this sword was relatively wide, leaning towards a one-handed knightly sword.
The moon reached the middle of the sky.
The sleeping En Yui felt like there was something on her face.
Furry and warm, shaped like a cylinder.
"Stop it, I'm sleeping!"
En Yui was truly too tired during the day.
As everyone knows, if you don't exercise for a long time and suddenly work out once, your body will be exceptionally exhausted.
She was currently in this state.
But soon she felt this cylinder give her face a hard flick.
En Yui woke up.
A cute little white rabbit was looking at her.
And the thing she had felt earlier was actually its leg.
En Yui was a bit confused.
Am I dreaming?
Why would a little white rabbit run over to wake me up?
Could it be the vengeful spirit of that white rabbit I ate during the day?
En Yui suddenly snapped awake.
She pressed her palms together and said, "Lord Rabbit, every injustice has its perpetrator and every debt its debtor; the mastermind is next door."
"..."
The little white rabbit didn't speak, but raised a leg and pointed to the west.
En Yui scratched her head, and after thinking for a while, asked in a disbelieving tone, "You want me to follow you?"
The little white rabbit nodded, turned around, and signaled for her to come over.
En Yui looked at the sleeping Jiraiya and Naruto, feeling somewhat hesitant.
She couldn't figure out what the current situation was.
But she was worried it was some trick by her father's pursuers.
However, one thing she couldn't understand was why Jiraiya and Naruto had no reaction.
Over the past two days, she had gained some understanding of their strength.
Naruto could even sense bacteria-sized Exploding Bugs; there was no reason he wouldn't notice this rabbit and any potential pursuers.
As a princess, En Yui had read many children's books since she was young.
Among them was a story in 'Kachi-Kachi Yama' that mentioned Mustard.
Mustard was a female rabbit who became a jailer in hell after death.
The old man and woman who adopted it were killed by a tanuki, and it killed the tanuki in revenge.
Thinking of this, En Yui shuddered.
She had just eaten a cute bunny; there was no way a little white rabbit was coming to repay a favor.
So she chose to refuse.
"..."
The next day, Naruto looked at the yawning En Yuiwith a speechless expression.
"It's just a rabbit, what are you afraid of?"
Dawdling for so long and not coming out.
His 'Alice in Wonderland' plan had fallen through.
He'd try a different animal tonight.
After another day of training, the hardworking En Yui fell into a deep sleep.
Shortly after, she felt something cold and hard on her face.
She opened her eyes and saw an owl.
En Yui was a bit stunned.
What's going on?
A little white rabbit yesterday, an owl today.
The owl raised its wing and pointed to the west.
En Yui asked hesitantly, "You want me to follow you too?"
The owl nodded.
"..."
En Yui looked at Jiraiya and Naruto again; they still hadn't noticed.
Should I go take a look?
Such a thought flashed through her mind.
As a fifteen-year-old girl, she still had some fairy-tale plots in her heart.
Maybe it was her own lucky encounter?
After thinking it over, En Yui finally crawled out of her sleeping bag, intending to go see.
She followed the owl for about ten minutes and stopped at a small hill.
The owl disappeared.
She was slightly startled, looked around, and saw a cave in front of her.
I'm already here.
En Yui gritted her teeth and walked straight in.
The dim night suddenly became bright.
She stared blankly at the azure sky and the endless grassland.
She suddenly had an urge to lie down on the grass.
Only this could express her feelings: "Holy grass."
She came back to her senses and found herself in a small town.
The architectural style of the town was very strange.
It was something she had never seen before.
"Welcome, Princess."
En Yui looked towards the sound.
A young man with white hair wearing a white robe was walking toward her.
The vitality of spring appeared around him, and brilliant, competing roses spread beneath his feet.
Dreamy and incredible.
En Yui had only one thought in her mind.
I must be dreaming.
"Even though I know I'm handsome, there's no need to keep staring at me, right?"
The young man showed a warm smile, but his words had a flippant air to them.
En Yui reached out and pinched her own cheek; she gasped and said, "It's not a dream."
"Of course it's not a dream. Welcome to Avalon."
"Avalon?"
"The legendary Land of Fairies." The young man tilted his head and asked, "Have you ever seen a fairy?"
"No." En Yui shook her head.
She often heard others mention something about 'little fairies in bed' and such.
But she didn't know what it meant.
"Like this."
To En Yui's astonishment, the young man grabbed his two ears, pulled them long, and said, "Those with pointed ears are fairies."
En Yui nodded blankly.
She had certainly broadened her horizons these past two days.
She'd have something to brag about when she returned to the royal palace.
"So you are a fairy?"
En Yui came back to her senses and asked very politely.
She felt like that sentence sounded a bit like an insult.
Naruto shook his head and said, "I can only be considered half of one."
"Half? Are you a mixed-blood?"
"Correct."
"Then why did you call me here?" En Yui asked.
"Could it be because the fairy race is about to go extinct and you want me to save them?"
"The so-called Fairy Savior?"
"Well, the young man in front of me looks okay, so I could consider it."
While she was lost in thought, Naruto asked, "Do you want to rule the Land of Fire?"
"Huh?" En Yui couldn't believe her ears. "Could you say that again?"
"I mean, do you want to be the Queen?"
"You're joking, right?" En Yui shook her head. "This joke isn't funny at all. The Land of Fire has never had a female Daimyo."
To be precise, none of the Five Great Nations had such a precedent.
It might be possible in small countries.
But they had never had one.
"If an opportunity was truly placed before you, would you choose it?" Naruto asked.
En Yui fell silent.
She had never considered such an audacious thing.
If her brothers found out, she might be killed.
But here, maybe she could be a bit bolder.
It was just talk, anyway.
"If there were such an opportunity, I would naturally choose it. In that case, I could control my own destiny," En Yui said after some contemplation.
"Then do you know how to be a good Daimyo?"
"I don't know."
"I can teach you."
"...?"
En Yui felt it was somewhat absurd.
Such a dreamy setting, with fairies and handsome men and beautiful women, and then you tell me you want to teach me how to be a Daimyo.
The problem is, what's the use even if I learn?
You don't really think I can become the Daimyo, do you?
Unless we're both dreaming together.
After all, anything is possible in a dream.
"You don't believe me?" Naruto's gaze seemed to pierce through her thoughts. "I forgot to introduce myself. I am Merlin, and I possess eyes that can see through the future."
En Yui's lips twitched.
It was getting more and more bizarre.
So bizarre that she again suspected she hadn't woken up.
Naruto looked up, and the sky reflected the town on the ground.
Under his control, the town tumbled and shifted, eventually becoming a Sleepless City of skyscrapers from his past life.
En Yui's eyes widened.
What kind of miracle was this?
Naruto looked at her and asked with a smile, "What do you think of the future world?"
"It's very beautiful."
En Yui felt she was at a loss for words.
But she began to believe the young man before her.
This was already beyond what Ninjutsu could achieve.
If she hadn't seen it with her own eyes, how could such precise and varied architectural styles be transformed?
"So my future is to be the Daimyo?"
En Yui thought of the possibility.
Her whole body couldn't help but tremble, and an excited flush appeared on her face.
In her wildest dreams, she never thought that as a princess escaping an arranged marriage, she would have a chance to sit on the Daimyo's throne.
"Yes, if you do as I say, you can."
"What should I do?"
En Yui took a deep breath and asked.
"First, study."
Naruto took out a bag and began to shake it.
Book after book fell out.
More and more.
En Yui's expression changed from joy to surprise, and then to panic.
She even couldn't help but step back.
It reminded Naruto of that meme of overfeeding a cat.
Hahaha.
Very fun.
"All of these?!"
En Yui looked at the pile of books taller than herself.
Are you a devil?
Can I give up on being the Daimyo?
"Let's begin tonight's teaching."
Naruto took out a black pointer and flicked it, saying, "First lesson: making you understand what nobility means."
"Is this really necessary?"
En Yui always felt like she had boarded a pirate ship.
Fairy tales are all lies.
It turns out the princess didn't meet a prince, but a devil teacher.
"Listen first, then talk."
Naruto picked up the entry-level doctrines of the White Lotus Sect and began the lesson.
The night passed.
En Yui finally understood what Naruto meant before the class.
This was truly knowing what nobility meant.
Inexplicably, she had a feeling that she was betraying the Land of Fire, or rather, her father.
But she couldn't stop now.
Her body was already in the mold of learning.
Learn, just learn.
Even if she didn't become the Daimyo in the future, with so much knowledge learned, being a teacher would be more than enough.
En Yui began an unprecedentedly fulfilling life.
Training as a Ninja during the day and studying governance at night.
Of course, eight hours of rest were guaranteed.
To be honest, Naruto felt that her being able to persevere made her a real 'werewolf'—a bit more than just 'ruthless.'
If it were him, he would have quit and run long ago.
Is this a job for a human?
But En Yui did have a streak of refusing to admit defeat.
It was what allowed her to dare to escape her marriage alone.
Another week passed.
Fortunately.
Naruto didn't encounter any strange attacks.
Of course, there was another possible reason: they had reached Wudi City of the East Sea.
"Be careful, Naruto."
Jiraiya stood at the entrance and reminded him, "Wudi City is the territory of the White Lotus Sect, and this sect has always been mysterious. I don't know what their goal is, but fortunately, we're not here to provoke them."
Naruto nodded.
He looked at the swords and blades hanging on the city wall and asked, "Why are there so many weapons?"
"They were left behind by the Land of Fire's previous two encirclement campaigns."
It was En Yui who answered; she also knew about the White Lotus Sect from within the palace.
Mainly because her father had flown into a rage several times over it.
"The White Lotus Sect hung up all their weapons; as for the reason, I don't know."
"..."
Naruto's lips twitched.
It really was modeled after Wang Xianzhi.
Those who lose must leave their weapons behind.
The three of them entered the city smoothly.
The prosperity within the city actually surprised them; it didn't look at all like a city that had gone through two wars.
After staying at an Inn, Naruto went back to Konoha to get money.
Part was from Hana Rin, part from the cola shop, plus Kurotsuchi Raiga's Gold Company, and Danzo's one billion—he barely scraped together 1.5 billion.
He was finally going to meet his Shadow Clone.
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Eight thousand words, four chapters merged into two, and because average subscriptions increased by 100, one chapter was added. Currently, 3 chapters are owed.