Soren didn't even need to touch her.
Fresh from her bath, Koyo, High Priestess of Oni Village, stepped into the room as if carved from moonlight.
Her ink-black hair spilled freely down her back, soft and glossy like a starry river.
Her amber eyes glimmered beneath long lashes; her skin glowed milk-white under the lantern light.
The thin inner robe barely hid the fullness beneath it, and the slight rise and fall of her breath made the fabric tremble.
She walked straight into Soren's arms.
"Lord Soren… I entrust the future of the Priestess line and Oni Village to you."
The night fell like rain on banana leaves.
By morning, Soren stretched lazily, split off two shadow clones—
one returning to Konoha for paperwork,
the other teleporting directly to the distant fleet.
His real body carried the soft, flushed Koyo to Loulan, descending deep into the sealed chamber where even the new Queen of Loulan was forbidden to enter.
Here lay the Dragon Vein.
"Koyo, sense it for me."
Soren held her from behind.
"If I open the Dragon Vein and trigger a temporal burst, do you foresee any death?"
Her cheek brushed his shoulder.
"None, my lord. But—my foresight triggers only when danger is imminent.
Sometimes days ahead… sometimes mere hours."
Soren's eye twitched.
"…So I could die outside the prediction window?"
"Yes, my lord."
Soren slapped her generous backside.
Koyo's gasp was soft—more startled than angry—before she vanished in a teleportation glow, sent safely back to Oni Village.
Soren cracked his knuckles.
Time to bring in an "expert."
He slammed both palms to the ground.
"Summoning!"
A puff of smoke—
and the ancient Great Toad Sage appeared, wearing his scholarly hat, blinking sluggishly.
"Mm? Hokage-dono summoned this old toad… for what matter?"
The sage scanned the chamber—
a sealed underground vault with no visible entrance, covered wall-to-wall with sealing formulae and a central ritual dais.
Soren pointed down.
"You've heard of it—the Dragon Vein. We're standing right above it."
The sage's throat wobbled.
"…Hokage-dono wishes to travel… through time?"
"Not the past," Soren said. "I want to see the future."
Future beauties.
Future techniques.
Future Uchiha secrets.
Future treasure.
He had his priorities.
He also wanted:
Obito's dual Kamui
Shisui's Kotoamatsukami
Shin-era Uchiha DNA
Rinnegan templates
and maybe meet the "other" Uchiha Hikari—just out of curiosity.
The Great Toad blinked slowly.
"A question first, Hokage-dono:
Do you believe the timeline beyond the Dragon Vein is the same world as ours… or an alternate one?"
Soren folded his arms.
"Explain."
The sage nodded.
"For a thousand years, on rare occasions someone returned from the Dragon Vein… yet my prophecies never changed.
Therefore—
the worlds they visited were alternate timelines.
Nothing that happens there affects our world.
And we cannot know what exists there… nor if we ourselves exist there."
Soren grinned.
"Good. Uncertainty makes life interesting. If everything were predictable, I'd die of boredom."
The old sage's eyelid twitched.
This damn Uchiha…
"Very well," Soren said. "How do we travel forward?"
The Great Toad replied:
"If the Dragon Vein's energy is spun clockwise, you are sent to a future alternate timeline.
If spun counter-clockwise, you go to a past alternate timeline."
He continued:
"A full Nine-Tails' worth of chakra is enough to begin travel.
Each additional 'Nine-Tails' worth pushes the jump roughly ten years.
But—overusing the Dragon Vein will damage the land itself."
Soren nodded.
He knew the risks all too well.
Even his attempt at multiversal travel nearly liquefied his brain.
He didn't want to die like an idiot.
"Then prepare yourself, Great Toad Sage."
"…Ha? Old me too?"
The sage recoiled, horrified.
Soren rested a hand on his shoulder.
"You are my summon.
Facing the unknown—how could I not bring my strongest ally?"
The sage looked ready to vomit.
"Hokage-dono… please reconsider!
Wouldn't Deep Sage and Lady Shima be better?
Or Gamabunta?
They are majestic! Useful! Good-looking!
Look at me—my skin is cracked! I'll slow you down! I'll embarrass you!"
Soren stared flatly.
This old frog was absolutely lying.
Its power wasn't "old"—it was ancient and terrifying.
If even a Six Paths-tier amphibian refused to go, Soren had no business leaping recklessly into temporal chaos.
He almost backed out.
Almost.
But then—
The Dragon Vein pulsed beneath them like a giant heartbeat.
And an idea struck him.
"Why travel ourselves…
when we can make them come to us?"
The sage froze.
Soren smirked.
"You'll need to give me your best prophecy.
If visitors from alternate timelines arrive… we'll handle them then."
The sage croaked sharply.
"Hokage-dono—aren't you afraid of powerful unknown enemies?"
Soren shrugged.
"If the sky falls, taller people will hold it up.
Isn't the Six Paths Sage still watching from the Pure Land?"
The sage's cloudy eyes sharpened instantly.
He knows.
He KNOWS far too much.
Soren waved dismissively.
"I await your prophecy, Great Toad Sage."
Before the old amphibian could protest again, Soren clapped his hands—
a teleport flash burst—
and the sage vanished back to Mount Myōboku.
Moments later, Soren's foot touched down once more on the soil of Konoha, returning to the village that followed him with absolute loyalty.
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