Ninja World: I, Kisame Hoshigaki, am no longer human!

And the corpses of a group of Sand Village ninja.

call out.

Kisame spread its wings and flew straight up along the tunnel previously blasted out by the dragon vein, returning to the ground a few seconds later.

He did not linger at the ruins, but soared into the sky, quickly flying tens of kilometers into the air, passing through thick clouds, and arriving above the sea of ​​clouds.

There, a colossal Kun stretched across the sky, floating silently. The dragon vein had already been swallowed by it.

For Kisame, this trip to Loulan was the most rewarding of all his treasure hunts.

First of all, the value of the Dragon Vein is far superior to that of meteorites or Hero's Water, and the chakra it contains is almost infinite, probably only comparable to the Nine-Tails.

Secondly, Kisame rescued a widow named Karura, and incidentally took Temari, Kankuro, and the unborn Gaara into his fold.

These kids are all geniuses, especially Gaara, who became Kazekage at a very young age in the original timeline.

In addition, Kisame obtained the teapot that sealed the One-Tailed Shukaku and collected another tailed beast.

I almost forgot, there's also Queen Sara of Loulan. While her own strength isn't particularly high, she possesses unique expertise in sealing techniques, making her quite a capable individual.

So, Kisame's only remaining target is the last Grell Stone mine.

Thinking of this, he looked towards the southeast horizon.

As far as he knows.

In a forest in the southeastern part of the Land of Wind, bordering the Land of Rivers, lies the ruins of an ancient empire.

Hundreds of years ago, a once incredibly glorious nation forged a magnificent and splendid civilization in the long river of history. The secret to the empire's prosperity lay in a stone called Grell.

Grell Stone is a magical mineral vein hidden underground. It contains a vast amount of life energy, which can not only accelerate the ripening of crops, but also make the person who possesses it live a long life, and even cure diseases and bring the dead back to life.

It was the cornerstone of the empire.

However, while the Grell Stone could be used for construction, it could also cause immense destruction. Its misuse led to an unprecedented catastrophe that swept through the entire empire, wiping out this once-glorious civilization overnight.

In Kisame's view, the so-called Grell Stone was clearly an underground mineral vein formed after absorbing natural energy.

Its essence is the same as meteorite and hero's water, only the quantity is larger, after all, it is an entire vein.

After devouring the dragon vein, Kisame finally discovered that the energy storage space inside Kun's body was only about a quarter away from being filled.

That is to say-

"If we can find this vein, we should have enough energy for Kun to evolve into a six-level creature."

He murmured, his eyes gleaming.

So Kisame decided to search the border forest of the Land of Rivers and try his luck.

One day later.

Kun traversed most of the Wind Kingdom, and the ground below finally transformed from an endless desert into a range of undulating mountains.

Whoosh.

Kisame's clones were deployed once more, flying among the mountains while expanding their senses to the limit to search for traces of the Grell Stone mine.

Unfortunately, he searched for three whole days, turning almost the entire mountain forest upside down, but found no clues whatsoever.

That's true.

The Grell Stone is priceless. If it were so easy to find, it would probably have been snapped up by someone else long ago, and Kisame wouldn't have had a chance.

Kisame shook his head in disappointment.

He decided not to waste any more time and prepared to return to Wuyin.

But at that moment, Kisame accidentally discovered a large caravan entering the mountains from the Land of Wind, which caught his attention.

The caravan was large, with members of all ages, including many elderly people, children, and women—it was practically a large family with their children and grandchildren.

Their mounts were unusual; they weren't the horses used by ordinary caravans, but rather a heavy, armored rhinoceros, along with camels and pink-feathered flamingos.

It appears to be a caravan that wanders year-round, without a fixed abode. They have no home and travel between countries throughout the year, leading a life of constant travel.

Kisame looked down at the caravan from mid-air, and suddenly a thought struck him: he remembered a group connected to the Grell Stone.

Back then, after that glorious empire collapsed overnight, the survivors split into two groups. One group sailed across the sea south of the Land of Wind in search of a new world, while the other group stayed behind as merchants, wandering the ninja world to this day.

They travel throughout the ninja world year-round, changing with the seasons, and are known as the Wanderers.

Could this caravan be the legendary "wandering people"?

Kisame was initially unsure, but soon, while monitoring the caravan, he unexpectedly spotted two familiar figures.

In the evening, as the caravan rested in a clearing in the woods, an old man approached a horse-drawn carriage.

The old man was short and had a conspicuous big red nose, which made him look somewhat comical.

But appearances can be deceiving. His true identity is the leader of this caravan, named He Yan, an old man with rich experience and wisdom.

However, at this moment, He Yan, as the leader of the caravan, said respectfully to the people in the carriage, "My lords, if you don't mind, please join us for dinner."

"Senior He Yan, you're too kind."

A cool, clear female voice came from inside the carriage. Immediately afterward, an arm lifted the curtain, and a man and a woman stepped out of the carriage.

Both of them were wearing Akatsuki-style black robes with red cloud patterns. The man had short orange hair, and the woman had short blue hair. They looked like a handsome man and a beautiful woman, and they were a perfect match.

They were Yahiko and Konan.

These two people were supposed to be dead long ago, and were even killed by Nagato himself. I never expected them to be alive and well here.

"Impure World Reincarnation, huh...?"

Kisame, hiding in the distant woods, used his Byakugan to observe and quickly noticed that something was wrong with the two's chakra.

It seems that Nagato resurrected them using the Impure World Reincarnation technique.

What are Yahiko and Konan doing here, and why are they mixed in with this caravan? Could it be... that they are also here for the Grell Stone?

Kisame couldn't help but speculate.

In order to obtain more information, he concealed his presence and stealthily made his way towards the caravan's camp.

If Nagato were here, Kisame would definitely not have been able to escape his senses, but Yahiko and Konan were still far behind, completely unaware of Kisame's approach.

Night falls, and the stars twinkle.

After dinner, the caravan members sang and danced around the lit campfire in the woods, creating a lively scene.

He Yan followed Mi Yan and Ko Nan into the carriage to secretly discuss something.

Kisame overheard every word of their conversation.

209. Nilugu and He Yan

Kisame finally understood why Yahiko and Konan were in this caravan.

First of all, he was right; this caravan was indeed the "Wandering People," descendants of the remnants of that once glorious empire. For hundreds of years, they had been wandering the ninja world, living a peaceful and tranquil life despite their lack of a fixed abode.

But recently, this peace has been broken.

It turns out that among the remnants of the former empire, another group chose to cross the ocean and establish a new country on another continent, developing a civilization completely different from that of the ninja world.

However, those people did not forget the rich continent of the ninja world, and continued to accumulate power with ambition, until not long ago, when they finally returned across the sea in powerful ships and cannons.

After returning to the ninja world, their first target was their former comrades. They sent a force to find He Yan and his caravan, demanding that these wandering people serve them.

As the leader of the caravan, He Yan refused the other party's unreasonable demands on the spot, which resulted in a violent conflict that caused heavy losses to the caravan members.

After leading the caravan members to escape by sheer luck, He Yan immediately thought of seeking help from Amegakure and trying to get protection from Nagato, the "Child of Prophecy".

At Nagato's suggestion, Yahiko and Konan accepted the caravan's distress call and arrived in the mountains with He Yan and the others.

According to He Yan, those people's headquarters were hidden deep in these rolling mountains.

"My lords, I don't doubt your strength, but the enemy numbers at least several hundred, and they are numerous and powerful. If a battle really breaks out..."

Inside the carriage, He Yan spoke cautiously, not finishing his sentence, but his deep concern was evident.

"Senior He Yan, don't worry. Even if the enemy's numbers increase tenfold, they are still no match for us."

Xiao Nan spoke in a cool, clear voice. Her resurrection was successful, but upon closer inspection, one could still see faint cracks on her body, like broken porcelain—

Those are traces of reincarnation in the Pure Land.

Konan was so confident because the reanimated form possessed unlimited chakra and super regenerative abilities, making it impossible for her to be killed again.

Almost invincible.

"Xiao Nan is right, Xiao fears no enemy."

Yahiko, who was standing nearby, said the same thing and added, "Although this place is far away from Amegakure, even if something unexpected happens, we can summon reinforcements from Amegakure immediately."

Oh?

Outside the carriage, Kisame, who was hiding in the shadows, frowned slightly upon hearing this.

From Yahiko's confident tone, he could basically deduce that the reinforcements the other party was talking about... were probably Nagato himself.

Yahiko and Konan likely possess a technique similar to "reverse summoning," allowing them to instantly summon Nagato, who is thousands of miles away, to their location.

In that case, Kisame needs to be careful.

He didn't want to reveal the existence of Kun right now, because if he relied solely on this clone, he would most likely be no match for Nagato. So he needed to find a way to seize the Grell Stone mine from the Akatsuki.

The good news is.

From the conversation between the three people in the carriage, Kisame discovered that He Yan had not revealed any information about the Grell Stone to Ya Yan and the other person.

He speculated that the enemies from the west had likely targeted the caravan for the Grell Stone—perhaps the caravan possessed crucial clues.

In other words, He Yan deliberately deceived Ya Yan and Konan in this matter, not wanting them to know about the existence of the Grell Stone.

So the question is, what exactly is the key clue that He Yan possesses?

Just as Kisame was deep in thought, the carriage door was pushed open, and He Yan stepped off the carriage.

"Whoo~"

He wiped the sweat from his forehead and breathed a sigh of relief, seemingly indicating that he had indeed been hiding something from Yahiko and the other person.