Land of Ruins

He stood high on the cliff, before him a vast expanse of extremely desolate forest. The towering trees and vines could not conceal the traces of the ruins where the village had once stood.

The shady hillside was covered with exposed rocks, and low shrubs grew rampantly. The dead trees contrasted sharply with the surrounding green vegetation, making it resemble a Mediterranean.

The sound of waves reached his ears, and beyond that, a stagnant pool stretched out before him. Naruto nodded and turned his head, seeing white smoke rising from the other side of the island—the direction where the three girls were.

Naruto withdrew his gaze and left. When he met up with the three girls, Anko had already prepared food. Naruto went over and sat down, eating and talking at the same time.

"There are several ruins here, but no one should have lived here."

"I really admire you. You didn't feel a bit excited at all when you got ashore." Anko glanced at Naruto and sighed, "Sometimes I really wonder if I've reached the end of my Jonin as a Jonin."

"Special Jonin," he reiterated with a cheeky grin.

"What's so strange about getting ashore?" Naruto said nonchalantly. "We've been at sea for almost a month without any problems. It's impossible that we haven't encountered a single piece of land."

"Okay." Anko was convinced. She had been floating around for a month, and it had made her, a Jonin, insecure.

None of her Ninjutsu were related to water; facing the endless sea was like looking at a vast, boundless blue coffin.

This new Legendary Sannin team, each member inheriting the legacy of the Legendary Sannin, was still no match for the vast ocean. For a moment, Naruto even regretted not making a contract with the Toad of Mount Myōboku as well.

At least the Toad of Mount Myōboku can communicate two ways, but Slug cannot. Even when the clone returns to the main body, Slug Summoning Tsunade slug to receive the message.

"This might be the ruins of the Land of Whirlpools," Naruto suddenly said.

"The Land of Whirlpools Ruins?" Anko stared at Naruto for a long time, her expression one of utter disbelief. "Wasn't that a country that was destroyed in war a long time ago?"

Naruto: "Speak carefully."

"I heard that Konoha is a country famous for its Sealing Jutsu. When Konohagakure was founded, the First Hokage and the village chief of Land of Whirlpools were on good terms, and the two villages also established a cooperative relationship."

"But the Sealing Jutsu of the Land of Whirlpools were too powerful, and the country was destroyed under the siege of several forces," Anko said. "I don't know anything else; I only read about it in books."

Naruto shook his head and said, "We can't be sure yet if it's the Land of Whirlpools Ruins. We'll find out if we go and take a look in the next couple of days."

"Okay, I'll go with you to take a look, so we can keep each other company," Anko agreed.

"Hmm." Naruto brought it up, just waiting for her to say that.

Two days later, news finally arrived from Konohagakure. Tsunade learned of the predicament of Anko's team and immediately suspended Kakashi's mission, ordering him to lead Anbu team to provide support.

When it comes to experience in overseas missions, no one can compare to Konohagakure's socialite, Kakashi. Tsunade appointed him to lead the team because the rescue location was in the Land of Whirlpools.

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

The Land of Whirlpools.

The sky is clear.

Naruto and Anko wandered around the hillside several times before finding a circular pit at the site of the Ruins of the Land of Whirlpools, with obscure and difficult-to-understand characters tattooed around the entrance.

"Can you understand it?" Anko asked, peeking out.

"I'm not a local, how could I possibly understand it?" Naruto said irritably. "Just because my surname is Uzumaki doesn't mean I can understand it. I've barely even left Konohagakure a few times."

"Besides, shouldn't you be knowledgeable and experienced Jonin?"

"That's prejudice!" Anko said angrily, her face turning red as if she had been stung. "Who said that Jonin have to be knowledgeable? Do you think everyone is Kakashi?"

"Can Kakashi-sensei understand it?" Naruto asked curiously.

"Maybe so. He's been to a lot of places, so maybe he knows a bit more," Anko said, glancing at Naruto and muttering to herself.

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

"Yeah, it was a close call to survive." Naruto drew his sword, glanced at Anko, and then jumped into the pit, slowly sliding down the rock wall with his sword stuck in it.

He looked up at the Anko at the cave entrance, where the defense line was gradually shrinking, and said.

There's a saying, "Since we're already here..."

Inside the ruins, images of the Death Reaper are everywhere, and various sacrificial rituals are carved on the rock walls. Those richly colored murals almost completely cover the half-collapsed wall.

Naruto lingered at the bottom of the pit for a moment when a scream came from behind him. He instinctively turned around. With a thud, he was hit hard by Anko, who had fallen down.

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

"You're a Jonin, right?" Naruto's face darkened.

"Special Jonin," Anko reiterated.

"You're quite vengeful," he complained. "Damn it, get off me first! If you don't get off, my bones are about to break!"

"I'm not that heavy," Anko said, getting up.

"When you go up later, you better not beg me!" Naruto sneered. "You half-baked Jonin, I told you not to come down, but you still did."

"If you die, I, Leading Jonin also bear responsibility." Anko said nonchalantly, "If I can't get up there, I'll use my beauty to seduce you."

"Do you think I'd even listen to you? It's not like I haven't seen it before; you have a little mole below your chest." Naruto chuckled.

"So what if I've seen you?" Anko sneered. "I'll keep an eye on you no matter what. If you die here, Lord Tsunade will tear me apart."

"Trash Jonin".

"Sentimental Genin."

The two mocked each other as they walked deeper into the ruins. Below them lay a cluster of buildings resembling a sacrificial palace, most of which had collapsed and were in ruins.

"Why is the sacrificial altar built underground? Is it to save space?" Anko asked, looking around with some confusion. "Land above the Land of Whirlpools is scarce, so the sacrificial altar has to be moved underground?"

"The Land of Whirlpools isn't large, but most of the land shows no signs of being cultivated, which proves that there aren't many people," Naruto said. "It couldn't have been to save space."

"These statues here are ferocious and terrifying; they must be the gods worshipped in the Land of Whirlpools. But it's strange, why would the worship of gods be moved to this dark and sunless underground?"

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

Naruto stopped in his tracks, staring at the ferocious-looking statue, Anko's words echoing in his mind.

A dungeon?

It really does look more like a dungeon than an altar.

The Sealing Jutsu of the Lord of the Land of Whirlpools has been used to suppress various Tailed Beast and spirit beasts that harbor malice towards humans.

The remaining Summoning Beast are mostly from groups that have been recruited and brought under human control. Although there are some wild spirit beasts, they do not like to interact with humans.

In general, the people of the Land of Whirlpools seal away anything they see. If they don't like someone, they'll seal away even the wild dogs barking by the roadside.

Logically speaking, if he possessed such an amazing Sealing Jutsu, how could he possibly worship hundreds of gods? Shouldn't he be the supreme being, above all others?

Is it possible that this is not a divine altar, but Prison of Gods?

Naruto's mind was a complete blank. He glanced at the bottomless crevice ahead and abandoned the idea of immediately going down to explore it.

"Let's go outside first," he suggested.

It took the two some effort to climb out of the deep pit ruins. The Nikko shone on them, but offered no warmth. Naruto looked back and saw Anko stretching lazily in the Nikko.

With a slender waist and a pert bust, 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 solemnly.

"Why?" Anko, somewhat disgruntled. "What's it to you? What's the point of living if I can't eat sweets?"

"Whatever, I was just saying it offhand, take it or leave it. Anyway, I won't be the one who ends up being the one who gets the blame, so you can do whatever you want with it."

"You're the one who's become a water bucket!" Anko, feeling a little guilty.

Over the next few days, Naruto had explored almost half of Whirlpool Island. Aside from some inaccessible areas, he had visited almost everything on the surface, but found almost nothing.

About eight days later, Kakashi, weary from his journey, finally arrived.

When he saw his two disciples standing there unharmed, he secretly breathed a sigh of relief. Then, Kakashi, with one dead fish eye drooping, lazily asked, half-raising one hand.

"Hey, are you guys alright?"

"It's nothing," Naruto said, scratching his face. "They're fine too."

"Kakashi-sensei." Sakura waved back.

"It's good that you're alright." Kakashi smiled, his eyes narrowed. "But it's not easy for you to have managed to drift from the Land of Snow's shipping lanes to the west of the Land of Whirlpools."

Anko stood there slightly embarrassed. For a Special Jonin her to encounter such an unexpected event was incredibly unlucky. Although she had survived with her goal and subordinates, she was still somewhat ashamed.

Kakashi didn't steer the conversation towards Anko; he simply handed over the matters to Anko and then used his authority to change the nature of the mission.

"After deliberation by Jonin Fifth Hokage, Kakashi Hatake announced the termination of the mission to the Land of Snow, and Team Anko returned to Konohagakure with their protected targets."

"The order is now in effect."

Kakashi stamped the Fifth Hokage's seal and his own personal seal on the new mission sheet. Anko confirmed the order was in effect and signed and pressed her fingerprint.

At this point, the mission to the Land of Snow is temporarily suspended.

The Anko Squad and Kazahana Koyuki, escorted by Kakashi and others, returned safely to Konohagakure and were all admitted to Konoha Hospital for observation.

And... that's all for today.