Zander
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Chapter 109 – What Comes After Time
🕑 Added 2025-07-11 08:39:36 +0000 UTCChapter 109 – What Comes After Time
The desert wind swept softly through the ruined city of Rōran. Its broken towers and cracked walkways lay quiet beneath the fading light of sunset. Hajime stood silently at the heart of it all, tall and still beside the faintly glowing release point. The stone slab shimmered faintly, echoing the energy it once unleashed.
Sakura stood nearby, adjusting the straps on her gloves. Her gaze lingered on Hajime’s armored back. "So you're really not coming back with us yet?"
Hajime didn’t turn to face her. His voice came through his helmet, calm and steady. "Not yet. There's more I need to understand here."
A few meters away, Yamato finished his sealing inspection, placing the last tag along a half-buried wall. He looked toward them. "We should return to Lady Tsunade and report everything."
Naruto crossed his arms, glancing between Sakura and Hajime. "You're sure it's safe to stay here alone?"
Hajime turned slightly, the faint blue light from his eye lenses glowing through the red. "It’s not dangerous. Just… strange. I need to study this place while the energy is still fresh."
Sakura exhaled softly, then stepped forward. "Then I’ll stay too. Someone needs to make sure you don’t forget to eat or sleep."
Yamato looked a bit surprised. "You sure, Sakura?"
"I brought supplies, medical kits, tools... mostly weapons, though," she said with a small shrug. "I didn’t pack snacks, but there are cactus groves nearby. I’ll find something."
Naruto opened his mouth to object, but Yamato placed a hand on his shoulder. "Let’s give them space. We’ll bring back the report."
Naruto hesitated, then gave a small grin. "Okay then. But Sakura, keep an eye on him. And you" he pointed at Hajime, "don’t go off leaving Sakura alone."
With that, Naruto, Yamato, and Sai turned and vanished into the desert, headed toward the return path.
The silence that followed was peaceful.
Sakura sat down on a nearby rock, the breeze tugging at her cloak. She glanced at Hajime, who remained beside the glowing slab. "You’re going to study that thing all night, aren’t you?"
"Probably," Hajime replied. He was already scanning the patterns of energy in the air.
She leaned back slightly, arms crossed. "The chakra here feels... different. Like it’s calmer."
"It’s because the Dragon Veins here are focused," Hajime said. "Not raw energy like most sources. This is refined. Almost like it’s been shaped deliberately."
Sakura tilted her head. "And you think you can learn something from it?"
"I think I can understand how this world shapes space and time more clearly," he said. "There’s structure in how it flows here. That’s worth studying."
She watched him for a moment longer. "You always have some long explanation... but you rarely explain things simply. You ever consider just saying 'I’m curious' instead of sounding like a textbook?"
Hajime gave a soft hum of amusement. "Maybe. Old habits."
Sakura pushed herself up from the stone. "Alright, I’ll leave you to your glowy slab. I’m going to look for food. Hopefully, something more edible than ration pills."
"Don’t wander too far," Hajime said.
She waved over her shoulder as she walked. "I’ll be fine. I’ll keep within range. Just don’t do anything dangerous without telling me."
Hajime watched her for a few seconds before returning his focus to the slab.
He knelt beside it, placing one armored hand gently atop its surface. The energy beneath it pulsed like a heartbeat, quiet and steady. He extended his psychic senses outward. Threads of refined chakra, no, Dragon veins energy, moved like slow rivers through the desert floor.
He didn’t try to control them. Not yet. Instead, he observed, memorized, and studied. There was a logic to how the Dragon Veins interacted with space and time, a balance he hadn’t found in other places. His mind worked steadily, processing patterns, calibrating the feel of this place with what he knew.
This wasn’t like the unstable forces he’d encountered elsewhere. This was natural, anchored, yet powerful. Here, there might be a way to learn something more. A principle to apply to future pathways.
His body remained still, his armor faintly glowing with blue light as his mind delved deeper into the field around him.
The desert remained quiet. The shadows of Rōran stretched longer under the setting sun.
And Hajime, ever vigilant, listened to the pulse of time itself.
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End of Chapter 109
