"Longevity Village."
Naruto and the other two stood at the entrance of the village, staring at a massive boulder placed there.
The village's name had been carved into it, but the three characters for "Longevity Village" had clearly been newly engraved.
The original inscription had been ground away before the new one was carved.
This village must not have originally been called that.
As Sasuke looked at the three words on the stone, his intuition told him that the village's renamed status was closely tied to their mission.
"Let's go."
Before it got dark, they needed to enter the village as soon as possible and investigate the situation.
Otherwise, accidents would be more likely at night.
"Sasuke."
"Yeah, I understand."
As soon as they entered the village, they encountered its residents.
When the villagers saw three unfamiliar people arrive, they merely glanced at them as if they had spotted something novel, then turned back to their own business.
From time to time, they saw children obediently doing chores within their abilities. Smoke rose from every household's cooking fires; it was noon, time for lunch.
Everything looked like an ordinary village.
Yet the information they had received stated that someone had died in this village just a few days ago.
Only a few days had passed, but the village now looked as though nothing had happened.
This village only had a dozen or twenty households. Over the years, they were all bound by some degree of kinship.
Someone had died, yet they saw no trace of grief on anyone's face.
Could the people of this village simply be cold-hearted?
That was probably not the reason.
Although stopping a villager to ask about the situation would have been the best approach, it was better not to do so before they understood the