Drip! Drip!
The hallway was deathly silent, with only breathing audible.
Tsunade and Jiraiya-sensei stood in a stairwell surrounded by walls. Other than walls and stairs, there were only more walls and stairs.
The howling wind and crackling flames had been left far behind. The silence separated them from the clamor outside as though they were in two different worlds.
Along the way, they saw only the corpses of numerous Kirigakure Ninja. Beyond that, they could vaguely make out traces of something being dragged.
"So it's true. Someone really did take away the bodies of the Uzumaki Clan."
This discovery darkened both Tsunade and Jiraiya-sensei's expressions. The farther upward they went, the more uneasy they became, as if something unknown and terrifying awaited them above.
"I can hear your heartbeat." Tsunade glanced at Jiraiya-sensei behind her.
"Cough, cough!" Jiraiya-sensei immediately choked, scratched his head, and laughed awkwardly. "The atmosphere here is too creepy. I keep feeling like some monster is going to jump out. How about we retreat for now?"
Tsunade ignored the genuine thought hidden beneath his joke.
Because they had already reached the place where the smell of blood was strongest.
When Tsunade stepped onto the third floor and looked up, her entire body froze.
On the wall before her was a pitch-black humanoid creature.
The reason she called it a humanoid "creature" was because, for a moment, Tsunade could not tell whether it was human or a "plant."
"What... is that?"
Jiraiya-sensei, who had followed her up, stared at the scene in stunned silence as well.
The three walls were covered in withered, colorless thorns. Only a gaunt face remained hidden amid the gray, decaying brambles.
"That guy is..."
Jiraiya-sensei's eyes were filled with shock as he murmured in disbelief, "Suikazan Fuguki? He... he actually died here?!"