Chapter 389: A Master-Disciple Meeting Across Time and Space

At night, Muzuki interrogated An Lushan alone.

“Tell me the secret technique for absorbing the Dragon Vein’s power, and I can make your death easier,” Muzuki said calmly.

An Lushan’s value to him was only that much.

“Hahaha, what is it, so you also want to obtain the power of the Dragon Vein,” An Lushan laughed.

Falling into such a situation, he had already become disheartened, believing he was doomed, but he didn’t expect to have a chance to turn things around.

Although Muzuki spoke harshly, An Lushan didn’t care; he understood people like Muzuki who pursued power too well.

“You release me, and then we’ll kill the Queen of Loulan together. Her daughter can also control the Dragon Vein’s power, and she’s easier to control. Then I can give you sixty percent of the Dragon Vein’s power, and I’ll only take forty percent,” An Lushan suggested in a tempting tone.

“Your strength is already so great; if you absorb that much more Dragon Vein power, you’ll definitely become invincible in the Ninja World. Then you’ll be the only king of the Ninja World, and it wouldn’t be an exaggeration to call you the second Six Paths Sage.”

If Muzuki agreed to his terms, An Lushan would indeed teach Muzuki the secret technique for absorbing Dragon Vein energy.

Of course, An Lushan wasn’t that kind. Only half of what he said was true. If Muzuki dared to use a normal body to absorb Dragon Vein energy with the secret technique, he would only absorb himself to death.

At that time, An Lushan wouldn’t need to do anything; he could just receive the Dragon Vein energy from Muzuki’s body once he died.

“You still want forty percent?” Muzuki looked at An Lushan with a smile.

He thought An Lushan was quite the dreamer, still daring to propose a forty-sixty split in this situation.

“Then it’s eighty for you and twenty for me, no less. That’s my bottom line,” An Lushan said in a deep voice.

Actually, he wouldn’t mind taking even half a percent, as it would all return to him after Muzuki died, but he was worried Muzuki would see through the deception.

“I don’t have time to play games with you. If you’re unwilling to speak, I’ll just have to use Ninjutsu to search your memories myself,” Muzuki said, his smile gone, looking expressionlessly at An Lushan.

Muzuki could not possibly trust An Lushan. With such a great advantage, why would he play along with An Lushan?

When grinding for rewards from the intermediate class, Muzuki had obtained a secret technique of the Yamanaka Clan, but due to his low proficiency, Muzuki wasn’t confident he could accurately find the information he wanted.

Moreover, An Lushan’s current state was a bit special; strictly speaking, the current An Lushan was no longer human, and Muzuki wasn’t sure if the secret technique would still work.

“If you can do it, then go ahead,” An Lushan didn’t back down immediately.

Directly extracting information from a Ninja’s mind was a very rare secret technique. He didn’t believe Muzuki would coincidentally know it, and whether it would even work on his current state was another question.

Muzuki didn’t waste any more words with An Lushan. He left behind some torturous arrangements and departed.

If An Lushan was willing to speak, that would be great. If An Lushan was unwilling, Muzuki would wait until his spirit weakened before using the secret technique to invade.

In the time that followed, Muzuki’s actions were similar to his activities in Konoha: either teaching or researching.

However, due to time constraints, Muzuki temporarily gave up on Sealing Technique and focused on researching Yang Release Breathing.

With the bonus from teaching and Muzuki’s full effort in development, the progress of Yang Release Breathing was very promising, and he could already see the hope of practical cultivation.

At this time, Jiraiya arrived in Loulan.

Muzuki’s Shadow Clone, along with Jiraiya’s Shadow Clone, entered Loulan and then immediately dispelled itself, leaving only a Flying Thunder God Kunai on the ground.

Of course, Muzuki’s main body couldn’t go find Jiraiya. The moment Uzumaki Naruto finished his request, Muzuki immediately sent out a Shadow Clone to find Jiraiya.

This way, it wouldn’t delay his progress in developing Yang Release Breathing, and Naruto could see Jiraiya sooner.

After receiving the memories from the Shadow Clone, Muzuki immediately used Flying Thunder God to teleport in front of Jiraiya.

“Jiraiya-sama,” Muzuki greeted Jiraiya with a warm smile.

“Muzuki, you’ve also learned the Flying Thunder God Technique,” Jiraiya looked at Muzuki in surprise.

Flying Thunder God was no ordinary Ninjutsu; its difficulty was absurdly high. In Jiraiya’s memory, since it was developed by Second Hokage Tobirama Senju, only Minato Namikaze had learned it. He didn’t expect Muzuki to become the third person so quickly.

“Yes, and I have to thank Minato for his guidance. Without him, I definitely wouldn’t have been able to master the Flying Thunder God Technique so quickly,” Muzuki said with a smile, nodding.

After a brief exchange of pleasantries, Muzuki didn’t waste too much time. He directly used Flying Thunder God to go to Uzumaki Naruto’s side and brought him before Jiraiya.

“Big Brother Muzuki, what…” Uzumaki Naruto was about to ask Muzuki why he was so sudden, but when he clearly saw the familiar yet unfamiliar figure in front of him, he was speechless.

Familiar, because the other party’s white hair, the marks around his eyes, and his aura all proved that this was his deeply missed Ero-Sennin.

But at the same time, Uzumaki Naruto felt very unfamiliar, because the Ero-Sennin in front of him wasn’t wearing his usual red overcoat; instead, he wore gray plate armor, and there wasn’t a single wrinkle on his face, which was quite different from the Ero-Sennin in his memory.

Looking at the younger version of Jiraiya, Uzumaki Naruto felt a sense of incongruity. He was a traveler who didn’t belong to this time and space.

Realizing this, Uzumaki Naruto tried hard to control his emotions, preventing his eyes from turning too red, his eyes from becoming too moist, and his voice from choking up.

The Ero-Sennin of this period didn’t know him, and if he got too emotional, it would cause trouble for the other party.

“You’re Uzumaki Naruto? How impolite. Either call me Jiraiya-sama, or Toad Sage,” Jiraiya said, scrutinizing Uzumaki Naruto.

“He does look somewhat similar to Minato, and coupled with the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki and the Uzumaki surname…” After a few glances, Jiraiya confirmed Muzuki’s conjecture in his heart.

“But aren’t you Ero-Sennin?” Uzumaki Naruto wiped his eyes and said righteously.

“Forget it, I’m too lazy to argue with a brat like you.” Uzumaki Naruto’s behavior reminded Jiraiya of someone.

“Muzuki said you wanted to see me,” Jiraiya said as he walked towards Loulan Street.

Uzumaki Naruto’s eyes flickered. He remembered something, clenched his fists, and nodded heavily.

“I’m a Ninja from the future,” Uzumaki Naruto said, catching up to Jiraiya.

“So what? What exactly do you want?” Jiraiya’s eyes widened instantly as he saw beautiful women in traditional Loulan attire on Loulan Street.

Seeing Jiraiya’s nonchalant reaction, Naruto scratched his head; his reaction was too calm.

“Don’t you want to ask me about the future? About yourself?” Uzumaki Naruto couldn’t help but ask.

Obito and the others, when they knew he was a Ninja from the future, ran to their room overnight to ask.

“No,” Jiraiya replied very simply.

“If I knew everything about my future life, then life would lack a lot of fun.”

Although Jiraiya was willing to travel extensively for the Great Toad Sage’s prophecy, that was different from knowing his own future.

“Besides, if you tell me the future directly, aren’t you worried about changing history? You might even disappear directly,” Jiraiya said, looking seriously at Uzumaki Naruto.

“As long as history moves in a good direction, what does it matter if it changes? Even if I’m not in that good future, I’ll be happy,” Uzumaki Naruto said solemnly, looking directly into Jiraiya’s eyes.

If in the future, Muzuki, the Fourth Hokage, Obito, and Jiraiya all survived, Uzumaki Naruto felt that even if he disappeared, it would be worth it.

“Who do you think you are? A minor acting so arrogant? No one needs you to sacrifice yourself, and no one needs you to save them,” Jiraiya said, raising an eyebrow.

After talking with Uzumaki Naruto, Jiraiya could probably guess that his future wouldn’t be too good, but Jiraiya still didn’t want to know his future.

What a joke, he was Jiraiya, one of the Sannin, the Toad Sage of Mount Myōboku. Did he need a Ninja from the future to sacrifice himself to save him?

“Damn it, don’t underestimate me! I’ve completed countless missions and defeated countless opponents!” Uzumaki Naruto said indignantly.

The first time he saw Jiraiya, Uzumaki Naruto felt that Jiraiya was so young that he seemed unfamiliar, but after talking, Uzumaki Naruto was sure that this was the Ero-Sennin he knew.

So annoying when he spoke, and so perverted—who else could it be but Ero-Sennin?

“Is that so? I see you don’t even have a Chunin vest. You’re not even a Chunin yet, are you?” Jiraiya teased.

A Chunin vest wasn’t mandatory; some Chunin didn’t wear one.

Uzumaki Naruto wanted to retort again, but after thinking carefully, his face stiffened. It seemed he really was still a Genin.

Uzumaki Naruto’s reaction made Jiraiya laugh heartily. It was quite rare for someone his age to still be a Genin.

Uzumaki Naruto’s face showed an indignant expression, then his eyes darted around as he thought of a good idea.

“Ninja ranks don’t matter. I have a very powerful Ninjutsu to teach you. It’s really strong, with immense power,” Uzumaki Naruto said, pulling Jiraiya to a corner.

“Rasengan!”

Uzumaki Naruto gathered a large amount of Chakra in his palm, then formed a rapidly spinning Chakra Ball.

With a loud bang, Uzumaki Naruto directly slammed the ball in his hand onto the ground, creating a pit.

After demonstrating the Rasengan, Uzumaki Naruto put his hands on his hips and looked proudly at Jiraiya, saying, “I told you it was strong.”

He didn’t believe this wouldn’t impress Jiraiya.

Uzumaki Naruto was very much looking forward to the scene where Jiraiya would learn Rasengan from him. He would do everything Jiraiya had done to him, back to Jiraiya.

“You only need to give me 150,000 ryo and treat me to ramen ten times, and I’ll teach you, okay?”

“The power is indeed good,” Jiraiya acknowledged the power of the Rasengan.

With his eyesight, it wasn’t difficult to see that this was a seemingly simple yet complex and powerful Ninjutsu without hand signs.

“But I don’t want to learn it,” Jiraiya then flatly refused Uzumaki Naruto.

“Huh, why?” Naruto’s jaw almost dropped in surprise. He asked Jiraiya, puzzled.

“Because you look too arrogant,” Jiraiya said, stroking his chin.

This was, of course, a joke. In reality, Jiraiya didn’t want to change history.

Jiraiya came to see Uzumaki Naruto not because Uzumaki Naruto was from the future, but because Uzumaki Naruto was related to Minato, and to his future self.

He was simply here to fulfill Uzumaki Naruto’s wish and didn’t want to know the future, nor did he plan to learn Ninjutsu from the future.

“Then I don’t want money. Just treat me to ramen once, that’s all,” Uzumaki Naruto thought his demands were too high and immediately panicked, drastically cutting down his conditions.

Of course, he didn’t care about Jiraiya’s money. He just hoped Jiraiya would learn Rasengan earlier and become stronger. The chance to eat ramen once was just to eat ramen with Jiraiya again.

“Ramen isn’t cheap either,” Jiraiya continued.

“Then I’ll treat you, is that okay? I’ll treat you to ramen once, and then you learn Rasengan with me,” Uzumaki Naruto was getting a little anxious.

Jiraiya’s eyes scanned Loulan Street and lit up when he saw an ice cream vendor.

“Forget the ramen, just treat me to an ice cream once,” Jiraiya said, leading Naruto to the ice cream vendor.

“One ice cream, please.”

The stall owner immediately handed two connected ice creams to Jiraiya.

Uzumaki Naruto sighed and dutifully took out coins and handed them to the owner. Since Jiraiya wasn’t willing to eat ramen, he only hoped that Jiraiya would remember his words well and learn Rasengan later.

Just then, Jiraiya broke the ice cream into two and handed one to Uzumaki Naruto.

“This is on me,” Jiraiya said with a smile.

“What do you mean ‘on me’? I bought it, didn’t I?” Uzumaki Naruto couldn’t help but retort.

Despite his complaints, Uzumaki Naruto immediately took the ice pop Jiraiya handed him and put it into his mouth.

Jiraiya didn’t eat immediately, but rather asked Naruto with a chuckle, “Is it good?”

“Mmm, delicious!” Uzumaki Naruto nodded with a happy smile.

Although it was just the simplest ice pop, at this moment, its deliciousness in Uzumaki Naruto’s heart could even rival Muzuki’s cooking.

“No matter what you encounter, face it strongly. Don’t give up, don’t run away. As long as you firmly believe in your dream, you will definitely have a chance to achieve it,” Jiraiya said suddenly after a few bites of ice pop.

He didn’t know what Uzumaki Naruto had been through, but he could tell that this child lacked affection and trusted him greatly.

“Thank you for the ice pop. As for learning Ninjutsu, let’s skip it. This Shadow Clone’s Chakra is almost depleted.”

As the foremost Shadow Clone combatant, Uzumaki Naruto naturally understood Jiraiya’s meaning. He anxiously tried to warn Jiraiya not to gather intelligence.

But Jiraiya seemed to anticipate Uzumaki Naruto’s thoughts and covered Uzumaki Naruto’s mouth with his hand.

Jiraiya didn’t use much force, but Uzumaki Naruto didn’t dare to struggle vigorously. He was afraid that hurting the Shadow Clone would make Jiraiya disappear immediately.

Jiraiya quickly finished the ice pop and placed his hand on Uzumaki Naruto’s head.

“If I ever take on disciples again, I will train him to be as excellent as you,” Jiraiya chuckled twice and then dispelled the Shadow Clone.

He hadn’t interacted much with Uzumaki Naruto, but Uzumaki Naruto’s performance satisfied him greatly.

“Ero-Sennin, don’t…” Uzumaki Naruto reached out to grab Jiraiya, but only caught the falling ice pop stick.

Uzumaki Naruto stared blankly at the ground where Jiraiya had just stood. If it weren’t for the ice pop stick in his hand, still carrying a hint of coolness, he would probably have thought it was a dream.

At this moment, Uzumaki Naruto could no longer control his emotions. His vision gradually blurred, and tears flowed uncontrollably.

He really wanted Jiraiya to live.