Naruto, my father's name is Uchiha Madara.

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Hearing the faint sobbing coming from below, he clenched his fists, his nails digging deep into his palms.

He knew that he had shattered Sarah's world with his own hands.

But he also knew that the real darkness was only just beginning to show its fangs.

He must act quickly and find irrefutable evidence before Orochimaru notices.

Or... confront the mastermind behind everything directly!

The night grew colder.

Chapter 317 Orochimaru's Plot

After Naruto left, the palace was deathly silent, with only Sara's suppressed, soft sobs echoing in the empty room.

She curled up on the carpet, tears streaming down her face like broken pearls, soaking the expensive fabric.

The anger receded like the tide, leaving behind only a chilling panic and a growing sense of unease.

Naruto's pained yet resolute eyes, and his terrifying words, echoed repeatedly in her mind like a curse.

"The body of the dead...reincarnated...manipulated...murdered three years ago..."

Every word was like an icicle, piercing her heart.

She shook her head vigorously, trying to dispel these terrible thoughts.

"Impossible... Absolutely impossible! Mother is clearly... clearly the same as before..."

But are they really exactly the same?

Some details that had been deliberately ignored now surfaced in my mind like ghosts:

Occasionally, my mother would reveal a fleeting, vacant look in her eyes, as if her soul had left her body.

She seems to have lost interest in handmade desserts, which used to be her favorite.

Her body temperature always seemed a little colder when we were close than I remembered;

For the past three years, she has almost never left the deepest part of the palace, and her dependence on and trust in Minister An Lushan has reached an almost blind level...

These subtle anomalies had previously been comforted by Sarah with reasons such as "her mother's hard work in national affairs" and "the changes brought about by technological progress."

But now, after the huge rock Naruto threw caused a huge wave, these inconspicuous ripples seem so glaring and suspicious.

Fear, like cold vines, slowly coiled around her spine, tightening more and more.

"No... I'm going to find Mother! Right now!"

Sarah suddenly raised her head, her face still streaked with tears, but her eyes were filled with an almost obsessive urgency.

She needed to see her mother immediately.

I need to see for myself to confirm that she is alright.

We need to use a mother's warmth and truth to completely shatter Naruto's absurd and vicious lies!

She didn't even bother to change out of her pajamas, and went barefoot.

Like a ghost, she stumbled out of her palace and ran towards the main hall where her mother was.

The palace corridors were empty and silent at night, with only the sound of her hurried footsteps and her rapid heartbeat echoing.

She arrived at the Queen's bedchamber without any hindrance. The maids at the door seemed somewhat surprised by her late-night arrival, but did not stop her.

Sarah took a deep breath and suddenly pushed open the ornate door.

The lights in the palace were dim, and the Queen was not asleep.

Instead, he stood with his back to the door, in front of the huge floor-to-ceiling window, gazing at the puppet lights outside the window that dotted the city like stars.

Upon hearing Sarah's voice, the figure slowly and somewhat stiffly turned around.

"What's wrong, Sarah?" The Queen's voice was as gentle as ever, carrying the unique concern of a mother.

However, when her face was fully revealed to Sarah, Sarah felt as if she were instantly frozen, her blood seemingly congealed!

In the dim light, she could clearly see her mother's originally loving and bright eyes.

At this moment, however, it was a pure, pitch-black expanse, with no distinction between the whites of the eyes and the pupils!

Like two bottomless black holes!

On her once smooth and beautiful cheeks and neck, fine but clearly visible gray-white cracks, like parched earth, appeared!

That's not how a living person should look!

Sarah's breathing stopped abruptly; immense fear gripped her throat like a giant hand, rendering her unable to utter a sound.

She felt cold all over and instinctively took a step back.

"Mother...you...your eyes...your face..." Her voice trembled uncontrollably.

The Queen seemed to realize her own abnormality only then.

She (it) raised her hand, as if to touch her face, but the movement was tinged with an inhuman stiffness.

Just then, a sinister, mocking, and hoarse male voice came from the shadows in the corner of the room:

"Oh my, Your Highness, what time is it? You're still awake? And you've come all the way here?"

Sarah turned her head in horror and saw the “Minister An Lushan”, whom she had always regarded as Loulan’s benefactor and father of technology, slowly walking out of the shadows.

He was still wearing those glasses.

But the eyes behind the glasses were filled with a chilling coldness and fervor, completely different from his usual refined appearance!

"An...An Lushan?"

Sarah, as if grasping at a straw, pointed tremblingly at the Queen despite her fear: "Mother...what's wrong with her? Look! Her face! Her eyes!"

An Lushan—or rather, Orochimaru—

He didn't look at the Queen, but instead looked at Sarah with a playful gaze, as if admiring a precious experimental subject that was about to be obtained.

He continued speaking to himself, his tone as flat as if he were stating an experimental phenomenon: "There's nothing we can do about it."

"After all, my improved Impure World Reincarnation, although it can restore the appearance of the deceased as much as possible and even simulate most of their physiological functions, is ultimately unstable in terms of energy."

“Whenever night falls and the energy tide of the dragon vein weakens, the 'death' nature of this body will inevitably be revealed.”

"Edo Tensei?"

Sara was struck dumb; Naruto's words echoed in her mind once again.

Looking at Orochimaru's nonchalant expression, a chill ran from her feet to the top of her head: "An Lushan... what... what are you talking about?! What is Impure World Reincarnation?!"

Orochimaru seemed to enjoy her bewildered and distraught state, his golden snake eyes gleaming with pleasure: "Three years... Time flies."

"Although the power of the dragon vein is inexhaustible, it has reached its limit in terms of the technology available in this era."

"The deeper power is beyond my current ability to control."

His words were disjointed and bizarre, which Sarah could not understand at all, and she only felt increasingly frightened instinctively.

She retreated step by step, moving away from the "minister" who exuded a dangerous aura.

"An Lushan! What are you talking about?! Answer me! What happened to my mother?!" she almost screamed, her voice filled with desperate sobs.

Orochimaru finally focused his gaze entirely on her, his eyes filled with aggression and a sense of certainty: "That kid from the future, Naruto Uzumaki, haven't you already met him?"

"His arrival will inevitably uncover some things, so I don't plan to continue this boring game of disguise."

He spread his hands, revealing an extremely twisted and smug smile: "It's been a pleasure knowing you for three years, innocent and lovely Princess Sarah."

Next, Orochimaru, in his distinctive, magnetic yet chilling voice, triumphantly and thoroughly confessed everything:

How the real Loulan Queen was murdered;

How to manipulate her corpse using a modified Impure World Reincarnation technique, turning it into a perfect puppet and decoy;

How to use the power of the dragon vein and the life energy of half of the Loulan residents to carry out his crazy experiments on ultimate life forms and weapons of war.

Loulan's apparent prosperity was merely a carefully crafted facade to conceal its underground arsenal and resource acquisition...

Every word was like a red-hot branding iron, searing deeply into Sarah's heart.

It burned all her knowledge, beliefs, and beautiful fantasies about the future from the past three years to ashes.

She collapsed to the ground, her face pale, her mind blank, filled only with endless fear and devastating despair.

Finally, Orochimaru's gaze greedily locked onto Sara, his tongue licking his lips like a snake's tongue: "And now, the final key is finally in our hands."

"You, who possess the purest bloodline of the Loulan Queen, are the true core 'sacrifice' capable of guiding and controlling the deep power of the dragon vein."

"The reason you've been kept alive until now is precisely because this body, reborn from the dead, is simply incapable of truly resonating with the core of the dragon vein."

"Now... it's time to make the most of it."

As he spoke, several figures emerged from the shadows like ghosts—

Those were modified, even more ferocious combat puppets, their scarlet electronic eyes fixed on Sarah, who lay paralyzed on the ground, utterly powerless to resist.

A cold, mechanical arm reached out and grabbed her.

At this moment, hell opened its gates to her.

Chapter 318 The Loulan Collapse Plan

Just as that cold, hard mechanical arm was about to touch Sarah's trembling shoulder, dragging her into an endless nightmare—

The magnificent stained-glass windows of the palace shattered with a crash!

Like a golden meteor tearing through the night sky, a figure burst in at a speed that was impossible for the naked eye to catch!

The newcomer didn't even pause for a moment; his figure was still spinning in mid-air, and a dazzling blue chakra sphere instantly condensed and expanded in his palm!

"Da Jade Rasengan!!"

With a low growl that suppressed his overwhelming rage, he slammed the massive, high-speed spinning energy sphere into the ground.

The target wasn't Orochimaru, but the fighting puppets surrounding Sara!

Buzz - boom! ! !