On the southeast coast, in the Land of Waves and other places, there are countless legends similar to Umibozu, mermaids, sea monsters, etc.
Except for a few that are true, most of them are false rumors.
Every year, Konoha Village receives similar commissions.
The mountain spirit and sea monster that was regarded as the target of the mission was most likely misunderstood by the local villagers who had little knowledge.
Occasionally, there will be people with ulterior motives who pretend to be gods and fool the people in order to seek benefits.
At the beginning, Baiyun Yeshan did not take this mission very seriously, and only regarded it as a test of the comprehensive ability of his subordinates.
After arriving in the Country of Waves and contacting the mission client, the Konoha ninjas and others started an investigation based on the clues.
In fact, things did develop according to the situation of leading the Jonin team, until the four of them met an old man who called himself Urashima Taro, and their style changed.
"You said that you were a person from hundreds of years ago and saved a turtle. The other party repaid the favor by inviting you to the Dragon Palace to enjoy the blessings. Because you were homesick, you went ashore to visit relatives and found that a few days under the sea, hundreds of years have passed in this world, and you still opened it. A treasure chest that must never be opened, and the white smoke coming out of it, turned it into what it is now?"
Hundreds of years ago?
No one in the ninja world knows what it was like at that time.
Things that happened decades ago, let alone hundreds of years ago, are no longer very clear.
Before the establishment of the order of one village and one country, there were few reliable history books handed down in the turbulent ninja world.
Perhaps only in the private collections of the Fire Nation daimyo and the Furugi family, there are still fragments of records.
There is very little information on this in Konoha Village.
The relatively honest Yayoi asked sympathetically about the customs and customs of hundreds of years ago, but Xiaoxi didn't believe it at all.
"Bai, do you think he is bragging? How dare you brag hundreds of years ago! If you say a few decades ago, you might be able to find some evidence. It's not up to you to say what happened hundreds of years ago. ?」
"Maybe!"
Ever since he arrived in the Country of Waves, Shiro's heart seemed to have been cast by a shadow, and he always felt like he was being plotted.
"It's boring if you don't do it or don't do it! Mr. Hayama, you won't believe it, right?"
"Hard to say!"
From the perspective of a senior Jonin, the old man in front of him who called himself Urashima Taro, both in terms of facial expressions and emotions, were too normal, with no trace of forgery at all.
Although he does not have the mind-reading skills of the Yamanaka clan, Baiyun Yeshan, who has studied torture, can still roughly judge some clues.
Especially weaklings like Taro Urashima who have no power at all, cannot hide their true thoughts at all.
"We are here to investigate the legend of mermaids that can bring disaster to people. I wonder if this person... has anything to disclose?"
"Mermaid?"
Taro Urashima raised his head, opened his cloudy eyes, and made a reminiscence gesture.
"They are just a group of poor people. In Ryugu City, the goddess and the local residents don't like them very much. If they want to ask for help from humans on the mainland, they will only be killed as monsters. There are also some bad sailors with weird quirks. People think that eating mermaid flesh will make them immortal. In fact, this is all false, but many mermaids have unfortunately died because of this.”
"Do mermaids really exist? I thought those were just weird stories..."
Bai asked naturally,
"Have you seen them? Where are they?"
"When a mermaid and a human meet, either the former will be eaten, or the latter will be killed. Everyone... is too ignorant. They can live in harmony, but they keep killing each other. Now, it's hard to find! The surviving mermaids will hardly appear. Even if Dragon Palace City appears occasionally, it is either hidden in the market, no different from other people, or it is far away."
"Just tell us the place."
Baiyun Yeshan said,
"We are not unskilled fishermen, but specially trained ninjas. We have seen everything and will not harm them."
"In the past, there were some guys like you who talked shamelessly and wanted to go to the Dragon Palace.
The city searched for the mermaid, and the result..."
"How's it going?"
"Not a single one has come back! Mermaids are difficult to deal with in the first place, and the Dragon Palace never returns..."
"Are the people there dangerous, strong, and bad?"
"I can't say! It's also possible that after I went there, I stayed for a few days, and then came back hundreds of years later. Like me, I was thought to be dead, and when I reappeared, I became a crazy old man, or maybe It simply turned into dust."
Next, the four Konoha ninjas chatted with Urashima Taro for a long time, obtained a lot of information, and finally obtained the key address.
"Take a rest and go to that place tomorrow."
"Wait a minute, Mr. Hayama, I always feel something is wrong. If Ryugu Castle is real, why have I never heard anyone talk about it before? I have been in the Fusagi family for many years, and I have heard some similar stories, but never It has never been confirmed."
"Is it possible that you arrived late and don't know much about it? Maybe Xianglin knows..."
"No, no, no, Hayama-sensei, even Xiang Rin doesn't know!"
Yayoi, who joined two years before Shiro, added,
"I've never heard her talk about anything like this!"
If even the Gushan family didn't know about something that happened on the southeast coast, it would be very troublesome.
"Is it possible that it is related to the Gushan family?"
Baiyun Yeshan guessed casually, but after thinking about it for a moment, he couldn't help but reject the idea.
[An app that has been running stably for many years, comparable to the old book-chasing tool, used by all old bookworms.
Come on, who is coming! As for the location, as I just said, this is Zuodu Island, and the foot of it can be called Zuodu Town. I don’t even remember the last time I had an uninvited guest. "
"We were not here before, but in the blink of an eye, we suddenly appeared in your place. I wonder what the mayor has in mind?"
Baiyun Yeshan asked while politely telling the whole story.
"Urashima Taro? I don't know him! But, the mermaid and Ryugu Castle..."
"You know? Please feel free to enlighten me!"
"Then you asked the right person. Other villagers don't know much about it, but I still know a little bit about it."
Shiranui smiled mysteriously at the sight,
"Actually, the local villagers are said to be the descendants of the residents of Ryugu City, and some of them have inherited the mermaid bloodline. There are rumors that eating mermaid meat will make you immortal, which are all rumors. Mermaids themselves have longer life spans than normal people. How can it be possible for a short race that their flesh and blood can have the function of making people live forever?”
"Have you ever seen a mermaid?"
"I was lucky enough to see it when I was a kid! It was an unforgettable festival, and the dense mermaids on the sea were so spectacular."
Several people continued talking for a long time, and Shiranui revealed a lot of necessary information when he saw half-truths and half-false words.
"It seems that the mayor knows a lot about the outside world!"
"Of course! There are quite a lot of things that the mayor has access to. There are not just one or two outsiders who accidentally get here."
"Where are those people now?"
"Some of them are tired of the intrigues in the outside world and have settled here for the rest of their lives. Some of them are looking for Dragon Palace City and the mermaids. The rest are thinking about how to go back all day long..."
"Can you go back?"
"Of course. Since you can come, you can naturally go back! The Urashima Taro you saw most likely entered here by mistake. No, he didn't enter by mistake, but was brought in by someone. He has never been to Zuodu Island, went directly to Ryugu Castle, so I don’t know him!”
"Then...he claims to be from five hundred years ago. What do you think?"
"A day in the Dragon Palace and a thousand years on earth do not actually exist. But..."
Showing a weird smile, Shiranui replied,
"When you came here, you were activated by a similar time-space transformation array, which was accidentally touched, and you arrived here. In fact, I can't say whether you are lucky or unlucky, because when you go back, it may cause turbulence in time and space. , causing the way back to diverge into parallel time and space, and without anyone to guide you, you may go the wrong way."
"What's the meaning?"
Such carefully prepared remarks were still too advanced for Konoha ninjas.
"To put it simply, Urashima Taro is most likely a person from five hundred years ago. After staying in Ryugu Castle for a few days, on his way back, due to some changes, he crossed a long time and arrived five hundred years in the future... "
"Across time? How... is this possible?"
Shiro, who had been listening silently, suddenly asked, and Shiranui shrugged as expected:
"Since you know the time and space ninjutsu, you should understand that this is a composite ninjutsu of time and space. In essence, time does not exist, it is just a derivative of the changes in space. Since it can allow you to cross space, how can you cross time? Is it so unacceptable?"
The four Konoha ninjas looked at each other in shock. After a long time, Baiyun Yeshan recovered from his shock.
"Excuse me, what kind of accident will cause time to change on the way back?"
"For example, changes in the dragon's veins, gods reprogramming destiny, the influence of powerful prophecy secrets, etc., may lead to going astray when going back and breaking into a timeline that does not belong to you. But..."
Shiranui tilted his head and thought about it for a while.
"Five hundred years is indeed an exaggeration. I am afraid that only a true god-level power can achieve this level. As for the treasure box that the goddess gave to Urashima Taro, it was actually to protect him. For mortals, it is too long a span. time, the pressure on the body and soul is extremely great, if not
Protected by the white mist in the treasure chest, Urashima Taro will soon die and turn into a puff of dust. Now, he has just become an old man. He is lucky, at least he can still survive. "
"So, the guy who broke into Ryugu City is either dead, or was left outside the timeline, or simply hid it?"
Shiranui smiled but didn't answer.
"Then...what should we do?"
Xiao Xi, who encountered this kind of thing for the first time, was already frightened and could not help but show sadness on his face.
"What if I go back and my parents and family are gone?"
The scene suddenly became a little difficult to deal with. Shiranui added:
"You don't have to worry, time disturbances don't happen frequently. You have caught up with the good times. If it takes another year and a half, you will probably have to wait for a long time to find your way home. Now, don't mess around. , we should be able to return smoothly."
Next, the two parties talked a lot.
"Mr. Mayor, you don't seem to be at all curious about people from the outside world."
"Once raw, twice mature!"
"is it a lot?"
"It's not that many times, but..."
When Shiranui saw it, he spread his hands.
"Four of them come at once. This is a rare occurrence since records have been recorded! The last time I saw so many people, they were wearing the same forehead protectors as you. They are probably your companions."
"Huh? Then why haven't we in the Leaf Village heard of it?"
"Maybe you are ignorant, or..."
Before Shiranui finished what he said, Bai suddenly answered,
"Are they "lost"? "
"No, it's possible that we took the right path and returned safely!"
"this……"
Looking at Shiranui's half-smiling eyes, Shiro suddenly had a bold idea.
"I would like to ask, the last time you saw the Konoha ninjas, what were they like and what era did they come from?"
"If I remember correctly, it should be the sixty-fifth year of Konoha!"
