Golden short hair, sharp features, and a habitual gentle smile; a Konoha forehead protector was tied around his forehead, and he wore a green vest symbolizing his status as a Konoha jonin.
The young man who suddenly appeared beside the Lou Lan Dragon Vein was none other than the grown-up Minato Namikaze.
"Fate always surprises us when we least expect it!"
Upon hearing Minato's call, Orochimaru smiled and nodded.
The moment he saw Minato, Orochimaru understood many things.
The future was truly completely different from what he remembered.
"Three questions..."
"Minato, I ask, you answer."
"You are not to say anything I haven't asked about, understand?"
Looking at the slightly different Orochimaru and Kurama from his memories, Minato Namikaze gradually understood something.
"Yes!"
Minato smiled, nodded, and silently waited for the questions from his teacher of twenty years ago.
"Very good!"
Seeing that Minato immediately understood his meaning, Orochimaru also praised him with a smile.
"Are there still Daimyo and Hokage?"
A hint of regret appeared in Minato's eyes, and he slowly shook his head.
"The systems of Daimyo and Hokage have been abolished..."
Orochimaru thought, as expected.
"Is there still war in the ninja world?"
"After clearing out the last batch of pests who wanted to cause chaos in the ninja world, there are no more!"
Minato's answer satisfied Orochimaru.
"Are they all alive?"
Minato smiled brightly and nodded vigorously.
"They are all alive!"
Orochimaru closed his eyes and took a deep breath.
"That's good..."
After a moment of silence, Orochimaru waved his hand at Minato.
"Knowing this is enough..."
"Minato, the power of time is not something humans can easily peer into. Take Mukade back!"
Minato Namikaze opened his mouth, wanting to say more, but then he thought that the teacher in front of him and the teacher twenty years later were the same person, and there was really no need for catching up.
"Yes!"
Minato called the two guards beside him forward and bound Mukade, who was suppressed by Six Paths Sage Mode and unable to move.
"Teacher, the power sealing the Dragon Vein has automatically repaired itself to its original state. With my current mastery of space-time Ninjutsu, I'm afraid..."
"We'll have to trouble you to send us back!"
Standing before the seal of the Dragon Vein with two guards and Mukade, whose chakra was sealed, Minato fumbled around, unsure how to reactivate the Dragon Vein's time-traveling power, and awkwardly asked Orochimaru for help.
"There's no need for such trouble..."
Orochimaru chuckled and casually released the seal on the Dragon Vein with Six Paths Sage Mode.
"The Dragon Vein is the source of the ninja world's initial power, possessing high wisdom innately."
"Immerse your spirit and try to communicate with her."
"As long as you don't intend to use her power to harm the ninja world, she will fulfill all your requests."
"Perhaps... you might gain some unexpected rewards."
Minato saw the encouraging smile on his teacher's face, felt a surge of joy, and immediately began to try.
The Dragon Vein's power, which had become violent after being unsealed by Orochimaru, suddenly became gentle as Minato's spiritual power penetrated it.
Dense purple light overflowed from the gap in the ground, gently enveloping Minato's body like water.
The next moment, memories of scenes from the ninja world's future were projected into the air by the Dragon Vein Spirit, appearing in Minato's mind.
The snow-covered northern lands revealed fertile soil under the warm sunlight; the skies above the Land of Earth and the Land of Lightning no longer saw falling rocks and lightning; the Land of Rain, perpetually shrouded in rain, now had distinct seasons; and...
A small country covered in spires, which looked incredibly familiar to Saya, was actually covered in lush green vegetation.
The desert of the Land of Wind was no longer plagued by swirling yellow sand.
Flowers and grass covered the ground, birds sang and orioles danced, and streams gurgled.
Even more astonishing to Saya was that the barren land in the west of the ninja world now saw the busy figures of ninjas.
Carving paths through mountains, turning rocks into soil.
The various Ninjutsu, originally used for combat, finally resembled the future the ninja world's future envisioned by Hagoromo Otsutsuki, the founder of Ninjutsu, when he established the ninja path.
...
Orochimaru did not deliberately prevent these scenes, which might affect the course of the future, from appearing. He simply watched quietly until Minato and his group, with the help of the Dragon Vein's power, returned to their original timeline as a beam of white light.
"Kurama, did you see?"
A smile that was hard to conceal spread across Orochimaru's lips.
"That is the future that all humans look forward to. That day..."
"Is not far off!"
Kurama stared blankly at the mid-air until the Dragon Vein Spirit reluctantly dissipated those images before sadly withdrawing its gaze.
"Yes..."
"Orochimaru, it's just as you said..."
"There's no such thing as a 'Child of Prophecy' as the old man said; it's all about human effort."
"I truly look forward to that day arriving soon..."
Kurama sighed with longing in its eyes.
"To see the ninja world that the old man guarded for a thousand years transform into that future, I would be willing to die even if I only saw it once!"
Orochimaru glanced at him and sneered dismissively.
"You say that as if it's true."
"You, you must be worried that when I release Kaguya Otsutsuki later, I'll use you as a sacrifice for the Gedo Mazo..."
"Don't worry, that day will never come!"
Kurama let out a guilty chuckle and shifted its gaze aside. Just as it was about to argue, Kurama suddenly noticed a strange change in the Dragon Vein's chakra.
"Huh?"
"Orochimaru, look!"
Orochimaru also sensed the abnormality in the surrounding power fluctuations. He turned to look and saw that after the Dragon Vein's power churned, it had condensed into a divine dragon similar to his own transformed state above the seal.
"Roar..."
With a high-pitched dragon's roar, a majestic yet loving voice suddenly echoed in Orochimaru's soul.
"Child, come to me."
Orochimaru glanced at the stunned Kurama and Saya, and immediately understood that this voice seemed to be audible only to him.
Responding to the call of the Land Spirit of the ninja world, Orochimaru, without hesitation, stepped towards the divine dragon.
"Child, thank you for all you have done for this world."
The Dragon Vein Spirit's loving voice carried deep gratitude, along with a trace of imperceptible shame.
"No need for thanks."
Orochimaru shook his head with a light smile.
"Everything I have done has always been to break free from the dictates of fate."
"Moreover, ninjas receive power from the ninja world and then give back to the ninja world with that power. This is also a fair exchange, isn't it?"
The Dragon Vein Spirit was stunned for a moment, then smiled gently.
"That is merely your personal belief."
"As a mother, why would I need any reward for giving something to my child?"
"However..."
The Dragon Vein Spirit's voice carried a hint of apology.
"Because I have seen certain things, what I was originally going to give you this time can only be postponed."
"I will place what you deserve in a place you will surely go in the future."
"As for the remaining short distance, you can walk it according to your own will!"
After speaking, the Dragon Vein Spirit gently pressed its draconic head against Orochimaru's head, then transformed into a torrent of chakra and burrowed underground.
The next moment, the earth trembled.
Amidst the high-pitched dragon's roar, the Dragon Vein's power surged, forming a torrent that forcefully broke through the millennia-old shackles of its severed body and rolled eastward.
"East..."
Orochimaru muttered, sensing the direction the Dragon Vein Spirit had left.
"Is it a place I am destined to go?"
A flash of inspiration suddenly struck Orochimaru's mind.
"Kurama, we should go!"