Chapter 952

Because the new Sacred Tree's energy had subtly influenced her, certain techniques had become even more lethal.

"Honestly, whether I'm here or not, you could all still live perfectly well in Loulan, couldn't you."

Young Yuanzi looked at Lady Xinjianai; ever since fusing with that energy, it was as if Lady Xinjianai's time had also come to a halt.

Thinking about it, the way she handled things truly never considered others at all, and she was genuinely grateful that they had kept following her all this time.

Young Yuanzi's thoughts drifted for a moment, and a wave of guilt welled up inside her.

"What on earth are you saying! No matter which one of us it is, it's only because of you that we were able to gather here in the first place. For you to say something like that now—doesn't it mean that every choice we made before was wrong?" Lady Xinjianai was stunned for a moment, then caught the unnatural note in Young Yuanzi's tone. Honestly—so in Young Yuanzi's heart, she had always believed it was because of her that everyone had no life of their own?

"That's not what I meant…." Young Yuanzi instantly felt herself cut down a peg by the sudden pressure Lady Xinjianai was giving off. She had meant to deny it outright, but looking at the other's steady gaze, the words on her lips took a turn.

"Fine, there was indeed a moment just now when I did think that way."

"Not even for a moment!" Lady Xinjianai's tone was utterly serious.

"Every single one of us chose, by our own will, to stay by your side, Young Yuanzi. The reasons may differ. But we all share one common wish—to be of some help to you. Even if it's never noticed, that's fine, but you absolutely must not go planning things on your own like 'what if I weren't here'—not even hypothetically!"

Young Yuanzi knew that the firmness and certainty in Lady Xinjianai's words naturally didn't come from her alone.

The evasive mindset she had just had was now shrouded in a sour ache, though unlike the guilt from before.

Now her heart was overflowing with gratitude—she owed them all far too much!

"Konoha has suffered such a great upheaval, and especially Konan—wait, no—Waternai's disappearance will trigger a major purge of the leadership, so we need someone to get involved…." Having steadied her emotions, Young Yuanzi got straight to the point and laid out her next plan.

"Although I've already sent Xiaomei over, her mission is to keep a close eye on that Uchiha orphan, and this other person needs to carefully watch the movements on the Daimyo's side!"

Lady Xinjianai was unquestionably the most suitable candidate—her outward identity had always been that of the fallen princess of Whirlpool Country.

Because of distant ancestral blood ties, she had been taken in by the Queen of Loulan, and currently held a status in Loulan equal to that of a prince. Moreover, she was also the leader of the Loulan Merchant Group, controlling numerous important trade routes. Konoha, having the longest trade history with Loulan, was bound to her by interests that simply could not be severed.

To show their regard for Loulan, and given the connection through Whirlpool Country, Sarutobi Hiruzen and Shimura Danzo had both fought hard to secure quite a lot for Lady Xinjianai, and the influence she now possessed was more than enough to let her smoothly come into contact with far more things.

"Not even a single person from the Fire Daimyo's side can slip in—if he dares reach out, I'll make him feel the pain." Lady Xinjianai accepted the mission with confidence. She didn't really understand what special place Konoha held in Young Yuanzi's heart; in her mind, after all, it was the ninja village Young Yuanzi had stayed in for a long time, so naturally there'd be a bit of special feeling, right?

"Understood, rest assured, my lord. Until the Fourth Hokage returns or the Fifth takes the seat, I'll keep a close watch."

In truth, Young Yuanzi didn't feel much for the current Konoha village—in fact, in real feeling it didn't even compare to when it had just been founded, when her elder sister had just married Senju Hashirama.

In those early days of Konoha's founding, everything about it had slowly grown complete before her eyes, slowly developing its own system.

As more and more people appeared in Konoha, what had once been crude gradually moved toward perfection. Young Yuanzi carefully recalled that she had only felt that emotion twice—once when Konoha had just begun to get on track, and the other when the Dragon Vein Great Array had started turning for the first time.

Thinking of her plan to drag Kaguya down from the moon.

"Right, the record-keepers you arranged to follow the merchant group should have already gathered quite a lot of intelligence, yes?"

Lady Xinjianai nodded and took out a not-very-thick notebook. Her hand lightly brushed the cover, and several hidden runes flickered for a moment before all gathering onto a talisman paper in her palm—apparently some kind of protective measure.

"I figured that once you returned, you wouldn't know when you might need it, so I went ahead and did the screening and compilation a few days early. Everything summarized so far is all on here."

That's right—using trade to travel throughout the world was no joke. The reason Young Yuanzi had supported the Loulanshang Society back then was, on one hand, that she needed massive funds to drive the operation of the formation, and on the other, to coordinate the development of all kinds of effective medicines with very few side effects. She had even already picked out the people who could handle this demanding post.

Still completely unaware that Orochimaru had, at this point, effectively been led astray by Xiao Jue and the others, Young Yuanzi continued to preen.

Those who could enter Lady Xinjianai's merchant group were all capable people. The tasks handed to them, they naturally carried out very seriously; even if they didn't know the purpose behind what they were doing, that didn't stop them from performing brilliantly.