Chapter 929

"Stay back." Though emitting light bright enough to blind the eyes, Xixi still stared at the center of the "coordinate," and as the first breeze appeared, a faint curve finally curled at her lips.

"You've been gone too long! So long that everyone's almost forgotten you."

"Pssst!"

Black lightning arcs erupted from the very center, instantly tearing open a pitch-black rift.

Calling it black wasn't accurate—it felt more like something that could swallow everything around it, a sensation that better matched the instability of space itself.

It lasted only a few seconds; beside her, Jiraiya swore he heard something shatter, then immediately lost all sense of sight, sound, and sensation.

On Gao Ta, light condensed into a single point, its brilliance forcing everyone to lower their heads.

Pop!

"Rustle-rustle-rustle!"

The protective barrier, impervious even to the terrifying death desert storms, shattered like glass.

Fragments sliced through the air, leaving vivid trails behind them, like a grand shower of purple meteors.

Those who had long been unable to contain their curiosity the moment the light dimmed burst into exclamations of awe, and soon everyone was lost in the rare, breathtaking spectacle before them.

The underground space returned to stillness; the light reverted to its original gentle glow, but it was clear that the flow of dragon vein energy within the surrounding vines had slowed considerably.

What kind of world had Young Yuanzi gone to? Even the seemingly inexhaustible dragon veins now showed signs of fatigue from the mere act of teleportation.

Xixi stared at the dragon vein's core, where the former "coordinate" had been—a familiar yet strangely unfamiliar figure now stood there. Xixi, who had always believed herself strong, suddenly felt a surge of grievance, her eyes filling with mist as she rushed forward in three long strides.

After her return, Young Yuanzi's appearance had changed drastically; the most obvious difference was her attire—the familiar magatama pattern and blinding white instantly confirmed to Xixi that it was the same style she had seen on the moon not long ago.

Xixi wasn't sure if she was the only one here who felt this illusion, but as Young Yuanzi recounted more of her experiences in the "other world," she grew increasingly certain that Young Yuanzi's emotions were extraordinarily elevated.

"That's why I even felt she was within arm's reach!" The "she" in Young Yuanzi's words was known to everyone except Jiraiya.

The only thing Xixi never imagined was that even random teleportation could deliver Young Yuanzi there—truly, the bond between these two was endless, unbreakable in every way.

Those present all expressed wonder or surprise at this, but Xixi was preoccupied with the fact that after the teleportation activated, her contract with Young Yuanzi had nearly severed due to "the distance between worlds."

That alone wouldn't have mattered—but the bitter feeling that Young Yuanzi always ended up wherever Hinata was connected to made her numb to the emotions around her, and while everyone listened intently, she quietly slipped away.

To Young Yuanzi, who had finally reached this conclusion, the chance to teleport to Hinata's homeland was invaluable; after the initial euphoria, she calmed down, for she clearly remembered how destitute she had been when she first landed in the Naruto world...

Whether during their initial time together or the thousand years of her sealing, Young Yuanzi had encountered only one other member of Hinata's clan—and he had been hostile.

The dragon vein power inside her, nearly out of control, seemed to have taken root within her body; the sensation that every single cell was unconsciously generating self-destructive energy was truly awful. At first, Young Yuanzi hid in remote, uninhabited forests, where she discovered trees growing everywhere, nearly as large as the Divine Tree.

Yet there was a subtle difference; though she sensed vibrant life force emanating from these trees, it still differed from her memories—here, there was none of the fierce, blazing power like a bonfire in the night, leaving Young Yuanzi to wonder if she had missed some crucial detail in that memory.

Hinata's world was unquestionably a higher plane; whether fleeing or exiled, Hinata was a stranger in a foreign land, just as Young Yuanzi was.

Perhaps back then, her desperate longing to be with Hinata stemmed partly from the feeling of meeting a kindred soul in a foreign land—even though she knew they came from different worlds.

The days of hiding fearfully in the forest were short-lived; just as she had once been taken in by Hinata, she too encountered a kind person.

Though the difference in her eyes startled the stranger for a moment, the kind soul still took Young Yuanzi in; the dragon vein power tormenting her was calmed with a few adjustments, and even upon learning she was not from their world, the stranger accepted her calmly, without further comment.