As the sandstorm gradually subsided, the merchant caravan resumed its journey, with Tatsuya accompanying them.
After traveling for a little over two hours, guided by Zuo Jin, Tatsuya finally laid eyes upon the long-sought ruins of Roran.
After roughly a decade of exposure to the harsh elements, most of the structures belonging to the ancient kingdom had been swallowed by shifting sand dunes. Only a small number of tower-like buildings remained visible. Even these remnants were heavily coated in windblown sand; from a distance, one might easily mistake them for a natural formation of stone pillars if not paying close attention.
Having led Tatsuya to the ruins, Zuo Jin and his companions didn't linger. They bid farewell to Tatsuya and continued on their way, needing to reach the next resting point before sunset. Before parting, Tatsuya offered Zuo Jin a small sum of money as thanks for guiding him.
Once the caravan departed, Tatsuya immediately began exploring the Roran ruins.
Judging by the overall scale of the site, the ancient kingdom of Roran had once covered a vast area, perhaps half the size of Konoha. It was staggering to imagine such a large area once dominated entirely by towering, pagoda-style architecture! One could easily picture the former glory and wealth of Roran's ancestors; otherwise, they wouldn't have had the resources to construct such magnificent buildings.
In this regard, Tatsuya felt the fallen kingdom of Roran bore some resemblance to the Land of Rain.
But now, all that grandeur was merely dust in the wind. The only legacy left for the world was this sprawling field of ruins. And given the rate of erosion, perhaps in just a few more years, all physical traces of Roran's existence would vanish completely from the shinobi world.
Tatsuya spent two days combing through the ruins before finally locating the dilapidated tower he remembered from his fragmented knowledge. Much of the tower's structure had decayed, and a large hole marred its exterior.
Leaping down through the opening, Tatsuya immediately spotted the circular stone platform directly below.
This is it! The place where the Dragon Vein is sealed!
Gazing at the stone platform, Tatsuya's eyes burned with intense fervor. This was the altar Roran had once used to seal the Dragon Vein. In the original storyline, the Sand Village missing-nin Mukade had unsealed the Dragon Vein here, causing its chakra to spiral out of control and trigger a temporal disturbance that sent Naruto and his team into the past.
Approaching closer, Tatsuya could clearly see the intricate inscriptions carved across the altar's surface. These were sealing formulas. As he examined them carefully, his brow furrowed tightly.
The sealing technique used for the Dragon Vein was exceedingly complex – a composite seal constructed from multiple different types of sealing jutsu. Tatsuya cross-referenced the formulas with the sealing knowledge stored in his bio-chip but could only identify a small fraction, which notably included the extremely difficult and powerful Eight Trigrams Seal.
He had suspicions about the remaining, unfamiliar formulas. They were likely unique sealing techniques belonging to the lineage of Roran's queens, specifically created by their ancestors to contain the Dragon Vein.
Tatsuya dedicated another full day, using the bio-chip to meticulously analyze and deconstruct the formulas, but made no real headway. He was forced to expend considerable effort simply imprinting the visible, outer layer of the Dragon Vein seal into his memory. He couldn't decipher the deeper layers of the compound seal for the time being.
Before arriving at the ruins, Tatsuya hadn't anticipated spending so much time here, and his supplies of water and food were now critically low. He had no choice but to leave the Roran ruins for now. In any case, this initial trip was primarily intended for reconnaissance.
He still had much preparation to do before he could attempt to claim the Dragon Vein.
The Dragon Vein was a lifeblood of the earth itself, containing an immense quantity of chakra – mishandling it could potentially destroy the entire world. The fall of Roran served as a stark warning.
In the original story, Mukade was only able to utilize the Dragon Vein's power because he had transformed himself into a puppet. Even then, the puppet-Mukade couldn't take the Dragon Vein with him; he could only hope to use its power on-site to create an army of puppets sufficient to conquer the world.
Tatsuya had no intention of following such a path.
If Tatsuya wanted to wield the Dragon Vein's power, there was only one viable method: find a suitable container, seal the Dragon Vein within it, and carry it with him, drawing upon its power via sealing techniques as needed.
The first major hurdle was the container itself. The Dragon Vein's power was immense; any vessel capable of containing it would need to meet extremely high requirements.
The first thought that sprang to Tatsuya's mind was one of his clone bodies. Judging by the existence of Jinchuriki in various hidden villages, sealing the Dragon Vein's chakra within a human body using fuinjutsu was entirely feasible. Furthermore, as the "Dragon Vein Jinchuriki's" physical condition and strength improved, achieving perfect control and utilization might eventually be possible.
However, this approach carried significant risks. If the seal were ever compromised, Tatsuya could easily be torn to shreds by the rampaging Dragon Vein. He certainly didn't believe he possessed the same kind of plot armor or protagonist halo that seemed to protect Naruto. Moreover, cultivating clone bodies was difficult, and he still hadn't perfected a truly autonomous clone capable of independent action. This idea had to be shelved for now.
Therefore, before attempting to unseal the Dragon Vein, Tatsuya needed to be thoroughly prepared.
The second challenge was the seal itself. After a day of analysis, Tatsuya realized that Konoha's existing sealing knowledge alone was insufficient to fully decipher or replicate the complete Dragon Vein seal. The reason Minato Namikaze had been able to seal it successfully was that he had merely reinforced the existing seal structure.
If Tatsuya simply wanted to tap into the Dragon Vein's power locally, he would only need to undo Minato's Eight Trigrams Seal reinforcement. But if he wanted to extract the Dragon Vein's power and seal it within himself (or a container), he needed to fully comprehend the entire sealing mechanism.
To learn the complete Dragon Vein seal, Tatsuya's only option was to somehow find the surviving Queen of Roran, Sara. Perhaps he could leverage bounty hunters or even the Konoha Military Police Force for this task. Relying solely on his current personal resources, finding the vanished Queen Sara would be extremely difficult.
Having settled on this course of action, Tatsuya wasted no more time after leaving the Roran ruins. He began his journey back towards the Hidden Leaf Village.
His "sullen" departure from the village had already lasted quite a while. Furthermore, Orochimaru's recent defection and the growing unrest within the Uchiha clan had created a tense atmosphere in Konoha. Tatsuya felt a growing concern for the Uchiha clan and Shisui's situation.
This wasn't because Tatsuya enjoyed meddling, but because he was already involved. The Uchiha situation, if it escalated, could potentially affect Kyoko and the Akimichi clan. Moreover, on a personal level, Tatsuya didn't want to see people like Shisui die needlessly. If major turmoil erupted in the village, he feared he wouldn't be able to return in time to intervene.
Driven by these concerns, Tatsuya traveled back at top speed, covering the distance back to the central region of the Land of Fire in just under five days.