In Konoha, Naruto lies down

"Okay." Hongdou was convinced. She had been arrogant for a month and had become unconfident as a senior ninja.

None of her ninjutsu had anything to do with water. Facing the endless sea was like looking at a huge, endless blue coffin.

This new team of three ninjas, each of whom inherited the legacy of the three ninjas, was still not enough in front of the ocean. There was even a moment when Naruto regretted not signing a contract with the Myoboku Mountain toad.

At least the toads of Myōboku-san can transmit messages in both directions, but the slugs can't. Even when the clone returns to the main body, Tsunade still needs to summon the slug to get the message.

"This may be the ruins of the Whirlpool Country." Naruto suddenly said.

"The ruins of Whirlpool Country?" Anko stared at Naruto for a long time, revealing an extremely annoyed expression. "Isn't that... a country that was destroyed in the war a long time ago?"

Naruto: "Detailed."

"I heard that it's a country famous for its sealing techniques. When Konoha was founded, the First Hokage had a good personal relationship with the village chief of Whirlpool Country, and the two villages also established a cooperative relationship."

"But the Whirlpool Nation's sealing technique was too strong, and it was destroyed under siege from several factions." Hongdou said, "I don't know anything else, I just read it in books."

Naruto shook his head and said, "I can't confirm whether it is the ruins of Whirlpool Country yet. I will find a chance to go and see it in the next two days."

"Okay, I'll go with you and take a look so I can take care of you." Hongdou agreed.

"Yeah," Naruto offered, having been waiting for her to say that.

Two days later, news finally came from Konoha. Tsunade learned of the situation of the Red Bean team and immediately terminated Kakashi's mission, sending him to lead the Anbu team to provide support.

When it comes to overseas mission experience, no one can compare to Konoha's socialite Kako. Tsunade appointed him to lead the team because the rescue site is in the Land of Whirlpools.

Kakashi travels a lot, and although he has never been to the Land of Whirlpools, he knows how to deal with events between major powers.

The country of whirlpool.

It's sunny.

Naruto and Red Bean walked around the hillside for several times and found a circular pit at the location of the Whirlpool Country ruins. There were obscure words engraved around the hole.

"Do you understand?" Hongdou asked.

"I'm not from here, how can I possibly understand?" Naruto said angrily, "You can't assume I can understand just because my last name is Uzumaki. I haven't even left Konoha many times."

"Besides, you're a jonin, shouldn't you be well-informed?"

"You are prejudiced!" Hongdou's face flushed red as if she had been pricked in a painful spot. She said angrily, "Who said that a jonin must be knowledgeable? Do you think everyone is Kakashi?"

"Can Teacher Kakashi understand it?" Naruto asked curiously.

"Maybe, he's been to more places, so maybe he knows a little more," Anko said, glancing at Naruto again and muttering.

"I'm going to say something I shouldn't say. Konoha has already sent people to rescue us, and they might arrive tomorrow. Why not wait a little longer? We've finally survived, and if we take risks now, we might lose something."

"Yeah, I finally survived." Naruto drew out his knife, glanced at Red Bean, then jumped into the pit, and slowly slid down the rock wall with the knife stuck in the rock wall.

He looked up at the red bean whose defense line at the cave entrance was gradually getting smaller and said.

"There's a saying that goes, 'Once you're here,'"

Inside the ruins, images of the God of Death were everywhere, and various sacrificial activities were carved into the rock walls. Those richly colored paintings almost covered the entire half-collapsed wall.

Naruto paused at the bottom of the pit for a moment before hearing a scream from behind him. He instinctively turned around and was hit hard by the falling Red Bean.

"I'm sorry," Hongdou said with some guilt, "I lost my grip halfway down the climb and fell straight down."

"You are a Jonin, right?" Naruto's face turned dark.

"Special jounin," Anko reiterated.

"You're quite vindictive," he complained. "Damn it, get up from me first! If you don't, my bones are going to break!"

"How can I be that heavy?" Hongdou stood up.

"When we go up later, you'd better not ask me for anything!" Naruto sneered, "You half-baked Jonin, I told you not to come down, but you still came down."

"If you die, I, the leading jonin, will also be responsible." Hongdou said nonchalantly, "If I can't get up, I will use my beauty to seduce you."

"Do you think I will pay attention to you? It's not like I haven't seen it before. You have a small mole under your chest." Naruto chuckled.

"What does it matter if I've seen you?" Hongdou sneered, "I'll have to watch you no matter what you say. If you die here, Lady Tsunade will tear me apart alive."

"Trash jonin."

"Sentimental genin."

The two men mocked each other as they walked deeper into the ruins. Down below was a building similar to a sacrificial palace, most of which had collapsed and was in ruins.

"Why is the place of worship built underground? Is it to save space?" Hongdou asked in confusion after turning around. "Land is scarce above the Whirlpool Country, so the altar can only be moved underground?"

"Whirlpool Country is not big, but most of the land has no signs of cultivation, which proves that there are not many people." Naruto said, "It can't be to save space."

"These statues here are hideous and terrifying. They must be the gods worshipped by the Whirlpool Kingdom. But it's a little strange. Why would the gods be moved to this dark underground place?"

"Who knows?" Hongdou said, folding her arms. "Perhaps the gods like this dungeon-like altar. After all, who knows what the gods are thinking?"

Naruto stopped and looked at the statue with a ferocious expression, Red Bean's words echoing in his mind.

dungeon?

This place is indeed more like a dungeon than an altar.

The Whirlpool King's Sealing Technique has been suppressing various tailed beasts and various spiritual beasts that have ill intentions towards humans.

The remaining spirit beasts are basically recruited by the human side. Although there are some wild spirit beasts, they do not like to interact with humans.

Generally speaking, the people of the Whirlpool Kingdom seal whatever they see. If they dislike someone, even the barking stray dogs on the roadside will be sealed.

Logically speaking, if I possess such an incredible sealing technique, how could I possibly enshrine hundreds of gods? Shouldn't it be "the heavens are great, the earth is great, and I am the greatest"?

Is there a possibility that this is not the altar of God, but the prison of God?

Naruto's mind was in a mess. He glanced at the bottomless crack in front of him and gave up the idea of ​​going down to explore immediately.

"Let's go out first." he suggested.

The two of them took some effort to climb out of the deep pit ruins. The sunlight hit his body, but there was no warmth at all. Naruto looked back and saw Hongdou stretching in the sunlight.

She has a slender waist and a well-proportioned body. She is in the prime of her life, at the peak of her figure and appearance.

"You should eat less sweets in the future." Naruto said seriously.

"Why?" Hongdou said dissatisfiedly, "Why do you care about me? If I can't eat sweets, what's the point of living?"

"Whatever, I'm just saying it casually. It's up to you whether you listen to it or not. Anyway, I won't be the one who becomes a bucket in the future. You can do whatever you want."

"You're the one who turned into a bucket!" Hongdou felt a little guilty.

Over the next few days, Naruto had already explored half of the Whirlpool Island. Except for some inaccessible areas, he had explored every surface area, but found almost nothing.

About eight days later, Kakashi finally arrived, exhausted from the journey.

When he saw his two disciples standing there with their limbs intact, he breathed a sigh of relief. Then Kakashi asked lazily, one hand half-raised, his eyes drooping.

"Hey, are you guys okay?"

"It's okay." Naruto scratched his face and said, "They are fine too."

"Teacher Kakashi." Sakura also waved.

"I'm glad you're alright." Kakashi smiled with narrowed eyes, "But it's not easy for you to drift from the Snow Country route to the west of the Whirlpool Country."

Anko stood there feeling slightly embarrassed. For a jonin like her to encounter such an unexpected incident was truly unfortunate. Although she had managed to survive with her target and her subordinates, she still felt a little embarrassed.

Kakashi didn't bring the topic to Hongdou. He simply handed over the matters to Hongdou and used his own authority to change the nature of the mission.

"After weighing the pros and cons of the Godaime, the Jonin Hatake Kakashi announced the termination of the Snow Country mission, and the Red Bean team returned to Konoha with their target to protect."

"The order is now effective."

Kakashi stamped the Godaime's seal and his own personal seal on the new mission letter. Anko confirmed that the order was effective and signed and stamped it.

At this point, the Snow Country mission was temporarily suspended.

Team Anko and Kazehana Koyuki returned safely to Konoha under the escort of Kakashi and others, and were all admitted to the Konoha Hospital for observation.

Chapter 186 Don’t Go Alone

The three women were injured to varying degrees and almost all had to be hospitalized for a period of time. However, Naruto was fine and was discharged from the hospital on the same day.

Tsunade didn't look for him, so he was happy to be free and went straight home.

After a month without going home, the place was still the same. Jiuwei lay on the sofa, the balcony was piled with boxes of empty bottles, the windows were wide open, and the wind chimes were ringing softly.

After washing up, Naruto was blowing his hair when the Nine-Tails suddenly woke up.

"Oh, you're back?"

"I'm back." Naruto dried his hair and casually put on his clothes. "You've been home alone for the past month?"

"That's about right. I'll go out for a walk occasionally." Nine Tails slumped on the sofa with a sweet smile on his face. "Humans are really stupid. No one would notice me when I walked on the street."

"It's just a dog, there's nothing to pay attention to." Naruto said mercilessly.

"Haha, what do you know?" Nine Tails took out a pair of small glasses with his paws and put them on his nose, looking like a wise dog. "Humans have let down their guard against me. This is because I am good at disguising myself."

"Really? That's amazing." Naruto said perfunctorily.

"That's what the woman said when I paid for the takoyaki." Kyuubi said, nodding his head.

"What woman?" he asked, turning around.

"That...blonde woman." Kyuubi turned over and pulled out a bottle of wine from under him and said, "That woman came here once when you were away."

"What are you doing here?" Naruto went into the kitchen, poured a glass of water, leaned against the kitchen and asked while drinking.

"Haha, you are all my slaves." Jiuwei skillfully bit off the bottle cap with his teeth and spit it into the trash can. "It's the same as what you do every day, cleaning everywhere."

"Hmm..." He didn't say anything, put down the water cup and lazily lay down on the sofa.

"Why do you seem so exhausted?" Kyuubi asked, taking another sip of his wine. "You've been talking less since you came back."

"Fox, don't meddle in the affairs of adults." Naruto glanced at it and took out the key to the floor heating generator he got from Fenghua Xiaoxue from his pocket.

The key was in the shape of a purple crystal, more like a long necklace. He lay on the sofa, holding it in the air with one hand, staring at it intently.

The reward for option two is to upgrade Flying Thunder God, but the mission is now aborted.

Although the client has died in the sea, the target of protection, Fenghua Xiaoxue, is still alive. As long as she is willing to restart the Snow Country mission... the terminated mission can still be restarted instead of ending directly.

Konoha has already received the remuneration, and it is unreasonable for them to refuse Fenghua Xiaoxue.

The question is, how can we convince Fenghua Xiaoxue, who survived the disaster, to embark on the journey to the Snow Country again? Will she be willing?

After thinking for a long time, Naruto sighed and grasped the key in his palm.

Let’s take one step at a time.

Now that something like this has happened, whether it was an accident or some other reason, Fenghua Xiaoxue's spirit has been fragile enough after drifting on the sea, so it's better not to easily provoke her.

Some things cannot be rushed, there is still a lot of time.

After temporarily putting aside the matter of Fenghua Xiaoxue, he thought about the mysterious murals and strange statues in the Whirlpool Country, and suddenly remembered that there seemed to be a shrine of the Whirlpool clan outside the village.

After careful recollection, it seems that there are twenty-seven statues in the ruins.

"Hey, Kyuubi."

He turned around on the sofa and looked at Kyuubi, "Have you seen the Sage of Six Paths?"

"I have seen him." Kyuubi paused in his drinking and looked up at Naruto, "Why?"

"Is the Sage of Six Paths a god?" Naruto suddenly asked.

"I don't know, I think so." Kyuubi paused for a moment and then changed his words, "......No."

"What on earth is a sage?" Naruto sat up from the sofa and looked at the Nine-Tails with a complicated look. "A sage who is subject to birth, old age, sickness and death doesn't look like a god at all."

"If you ask like this...I'm not too sure." Kyuubi thought for a moment and said, "I haven't seen the Sage of Six Paths many times, but whenever he appears, I can feel his presence."

"now what?"

"Now?" Kyuubi asked in a rising tone, "What do you think?"

"That means the Sage of Six Paths has disappeared." Naruto stood up and paced around the living room. "But I often hear people talking about the Evil God Festival outside."

"Some villages in the Land of Rivers also believe in the god of death, and the Shiki Fuujin and Impure World Reincarnation are real."

"I don't know." Hearing the name of the God of Death, Kyuubi's head drooped and he said vaguely, "Why are you asking those questions?"

"Nothing, just asking." Naruto said.