It's normal to get a kaleidoscope as a first deposit of six yuan, right?

Ding! Is a 8.5% discount possible?

Stop Snow: Turn left after you go out, thank you.

……

While the three of them, Zhixue and his companions, were in trouble, the reconnaissance team arranged by Hiruzen Sarutobi and Danzo Shimura also used ropes to go down into the cave to check the situation. However, when they reached the bottom, they could only find a mixture of rubble and iron pieces, and did not find any trace of the three of them.

"Reporting to Hokage, we have thoroughly searched the bottom. Apart from a few traces of chakra, there is nothing else," a Hyuga clansman with a Konoha beard reported to Hiruzen Sarutobi.

"Is that so? Your investigation team has completed its mission. You can go and rest now."

"Yes."

After the reconnaissance team left, Hiruzen Sarutobi turned his attention to Danzo Shimura.

Danzo Shimura:…

Do you really believe that I did it?

"Sarutobi, it's no use watching. The most important thing now is to find the person, not to keep looking at me with strange eyes." Shimura Danzo said, seemingly with a hint of anger.

"So it really wasn't you. You never panic when someone is missing from the village. It seems that the missing Root member is very important to you." Hiruzen Sarutobi raised an eyebrow and said.

You weren't this anxious back when the Nine-Tails attacked. Perhaps you're hiding some secret from Konoha?

"Hmph, my roots were cultivated with countless efforts, so of course they are very important," Shimura Danzo said, turning around without batting an eye.

That's Wood Release! That's a Wood Release ninja! The only Wood Release ninja in the world is in his hands, he can't just disappear in this damn mission.

"Konoha cannot tolerate concealment, Danzo. You had better say what you're saying now." Hiruzen Sarutobi withdrew his gaze and fell into deep thought.

It's not a big deal that Uchiha Shiyu died, but Kakashi shouldn't just disappear from Konoha's history. In Konoha's current state of transition, Kakashi is still considered one of the best among the young people. If he were to perish here, Konoha's future would be bleak.

"Sigh..." Hiruzen Sarutobi took two puffs from his pipe, his expression filled with worry for the future of Konoha.

Could Konoha, which has been so powerful for so long, really have fallen into his hands like this?

……

Mt. Myoki…

At this moment, Gamamaru, who was fast asleep on the stone chair, gradually woke up. After lazily stretching, a little toad brought him a cup of water.

"So many days have passed again? I'm getting old, and I'm getting more and more sleepy. But it seems there's been a new change in the ninja world. The flames burning in the eyes of that extraterrestrial are terrifying and make one feel despair."

"But it has nothing to do with Mount Myōboku. Let that old snake worry about it for now. We should continue living peacefully." After taking a couple of sips of water, the Great Toad Sage yawned and lay down on the stone chair.

Meanwhile, the little toad relayed the prophecy spoken by the great toad sage to the other two sages of Mount Myōboku—Fukasaku and Shima.

"An extraterrestrial? Old man, what does that mean?" Shima asked Fukasaku beside him.

"I don't know, it might just mean what it says, and it's not from our world. But the Great Toad Sage's prophecies are usually very accurate, so let's go tell Jiraiya and have him keep an eye out."

"He's probably still chasing that guy from Konoha named Ootengu, right? Let's wait until he returns to Mount Myōboku. If we notify him every time we have any news, what kind of prestige will Mount Myōboku have left?"

Fukasaku seemed to suddenly understand when he heard Shima's words.

That's true. They are immortals from three great immortal lands. It's not really appropriate for them to rush to tell others as soon as they receive the news. Let's wait until Jiraiya returns to Mount Myōboku before making a decision.

Chapter 42, Escape

In the Land of Fire, at an unnamed waterfall, a fisherman sat comfortably in a folding chair, sipping juice and quietly waiting for a fish to bite. However, instead of a fish, a huge dark shadow emerged from the water.

"Huh? What is that?" Looking at the thing that was rising from the bottom of the water, the fisherman put his sun hat on his head and curiously stretched his head to see what it was. But as the shadow grew larger and larger, his curiosity gradually turned into fear.

"My God! A monster!"

The fisherman, his face pale with fright, quickly gathered his belongings and hurriedly ran out.

Shortly after the fisherman ran off, two plumes of steam rose from the bottom of the water like fountains, and then a large mechanical snake emerged from the surface, though it seemed to make no movement.

Low battery... Unable to locate owner, activating backup plan... Self-destruct countdown begins in 180 seconds, 179, 178...

At this moment, Zhi Xue and the others, who were trapped inside the mechanical snake and unable to escape, faintly heard the system's countdown.

"Did you hear anything?" Zhixue asked, pressing her ear against the wall.

Kakashi, Sky Burial: ?!!

"It doesn't seem like anything good. We need to get out of here quickly," Tianzang said seriously.

"Why don't we go out and fight them?" Kakashi said, pulling out a kunai.

boom!

After Kakashi took out his kunai, a loud bang came from the opposite side of the Earth Flow Wall. The little snake's movements seemed to have disappeared, but this only added to the eeriness of the current scene.

"What happened?"

Sizzle sizzle sizzle…

A hissing sound came from the earthen wall as green slime corroded the soil. A hideous snake head emerged from outside and was chopped off by Zhixue with her Grass Pheasant Sword. The green gas emanating from the severed head made all three of them frown.

Boom! The earthen wall was completely blasted into fragments, and then more than a dozen shurikens flew out from the smoke and dust, cutting several ferocious white snakes in half.

Damn it, we've come this far, let's go for it!

Zhi Xue conjured a ball in her hand and pressed it towards the swarm of snakes in front of her.

boom!

The immense power converged, and the raging chakra, like a volcano, carried a large mass of snake corpses and crashed into the wall, producing a sound like muffled thunder.

"Wood Release: Thorn Killing Technique!" After forming the hand seals, Tenzang gathered chakra in his hands, and instantly more than a dozen vines, like sharp needles, densely covered the entire passage, eliminating nearly half of the snakes.

"Wood Release!?" Kakashi's pupils dilated in shock. This was yet another unbelievable thing, even more outrageous than the Uchiha clan knowing the Rasengan! Had he gone mad, or had the world gone mad?!

"Alright, let's retreat quickly. If we can't find an exit soon, we'll really be doomed," Zhixue said, cutting the vines blocking the way with her Kusanagi sword.

"okay."

Zhi Xue led Tian Zang and Kakashi through the thorns and brambles, and then followed the corridor step by step back to the direction of the laboratory. Fortunately, the iron door here could still be opened, and no snakes came out from the cracks. However, the overall red light and the clear countdown sound made people feel a little uneasy.

82, 81, 80, 79…

boom!

After reinforcing the iron gate with Wood Release, Kakashi and Tenzang were so exhausted they could barely lift their legs. Zhixue, on the other hand, felt quite good, thanks to the chakra boost she received from the previous mission.

"Let's quickly look around for a chance to get out," Zhi Xue said, taking off her blood-stained mask to get some fresh air.

"it is good!"

"Okay... Huh? Huh!? It's you?" Tianzang exclaimed in surprise as he looked at the familiar and cute little girl in front of him. So the 'underdog' Anbu member Uchiha Shiyuki he mentioned earlier was the little girl who had run away with him before. But was her strength really that of an underdog?

Tianzang still vaguely remembers how, in the Yibuli clan, Zhixue almost overturned the wooden ingot wall with a single burst of fire.

"Hey, are you surprised to see me? Okay, let's not think about how to escape now."

"Okay, alright." Tianzang scratched his head. Sometimes, the connections between people are quite mysterious.

The three of them groped around the walls and in hidden places, trying to find something useful, but after exploring for a while they still found nothing.

59, 58, 57, 56…

Whether it was psychological or not, Zhixue felt the countdown was getting more and more rapid, as if her heart was beating along with the countdown.

Thump, thump, thump... thump, thump, thump...

Each heartbeat felt like the passing of life.

30, 29, 28, 27…

"Hurry up and find something useful, hurry up..." Zhi Xue even used the Kusanagi Sword to cut the bookshelf that was in the way in the way in half, but she still couldn't find any mechanism or exit to escape.

10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5...

Hearing the sound getting closer and closer, Zhixue finally loosened her grip on the Kusanagi sword.

Sigh, looks like I'll have to use the trial card after all?

Zhi Xue glanced at the price tag of the Shadow-level experience card in her mind, feeling a pang of regret as she wanted to click on it. The system, seeing Zhi Xue's actions, breathed a sigh of relief.

She was genuinely afraid that this host would be stubborn and refuse to buy, thus getting blown up. Being blown up wasn't the issue; the important thing was that she still had to be bound to Uchiha Zhixue. Because in this world there were things called Impure World Reincarnation and Samsara Rebirth, dying didn't necessarily mean truly dying. She might still have to be bound to Zhixue and wait seven or eight years for reincarnation. If she was unlucky and didn't reincarnate, then she would truly be dead.

Just as Zhixue was about to click on the trial card with extreme regret, something grabbed her hand and pulled her over.

"Oh my god!"

A deafening explosion echoed through the forest, and a dazzling mushroom cloud, hundreds of meters high, rose from the ground, its dark smoke clearly visible from over twenty kilometers away.

Zhi Xue felt a dizzying sensation before she was enveloped in a ball filled with an intoxicating aura of chakra, causing her to faint.

……

"Report: A huge plume of smoke from an explosion has been detected in the western part of the Land of Fire."

"Report the situation here to the Hokage immediately!"

"Yes!"

The ninja defense unit stationed in western Konoha relayed the news to Konoha Village via ninja pigeons and dispatched reconnaissance ninjas to search for two unconscious ninjas near the explosion site.

By the time Hiruzen Sarutobi received the message, it was already evening, and the sky had darkened.

When the Konoha ninja arrived at the explosion site, the waterfall was in ruins. The water was murky, like wastewater, and burning fragments and ruins were piled up on the water's edge, resembling a living hell.

Chapter 43, Longdi Cave

"White Snake Sage, why should we go and save that brat? Don't we Ryuchi Cave usually stay out of everything in the ninja world?"

A beautiful young girl in a long-sleeved kimono spoke to the large white snake lying on the stone chair.

"This is all a choice of destiny. She will be the most outstanding descendant of our Ryūchi-dō. Although she herself could have escaped that disaster, she would have inevitably lost something. Although we do not know, avoiding such a loss is a good start."

High emotional intelligence: Uchiha Shiyuki is a promising talent, we need her.

Low emotional intelligence: This brat will cause trouble in Ryūji-dong sooner or later. Taking advantage of her predicament to lend a hand can make her behave.

Princess Ichikishima, standing below, was completely bewildered by what the White Snake Sage said. Wasn't it just an adorable human child? Why was the White Snake Sage so concerned about it?

"Alright, that's enough. She should be awake by now. Go and greet her, but remember not to treat her the way we treat other humans."

"Yes, White Snake Sage." Princess Ichikishima nodded gently and left the palace.