In barely half a day, Yuhara led those ninjas to their destination—the foot of Nameless Mountain, the Secret Realm. After all, it was not far from Konoha, only a hundred kilometers away. For ninjas, that distance was nothing.
They certainly would not venture into the barrier. Tigo's true body was inside, and ordinary people were best kept unaware of such secrets.
After stopping at the foot of the mountain, Yuhara thought for a moment and decided to give it a new name.
"Everyone, rest for a while and get something to eat. Then we'll start working. This mountain... let's call it Shadow Leaf Mountain for now. Later, we'll establish a new stronghold on the western slope. We can temporarily call it the Shadow Leaf Stronghold."
"Shadow Leaf..." Tenzo mulled over the name, sensing that it might carry some deeper meaning.
"The Land of Fire already has 'True Leaf.' At most, we count as 'Shadow Leaf.' Don't worry about it. I just came up with it randomly," Yuhara said.
Tenzo curled his lip. Yuhara claimed he had chosen the name at random, but it clearly wasn't random. The stronghold's name sounded as if it was branding itself a counterfeit, content to play second fiddle. But in reality?
When swordsmiths forged weapons, blades from the same batch were divided into "true blades" and "shadow blades." The true blade was the best one, but it was generally offered up for worship, while the slightly inferior shadow blades were taken out as actual weapons for fighting... Tenzo could not help wondering whether Yuhara was hinting at something.
By afternoon, Yuhara transformed into a construction foreman and began assigning everyone their tasks. Using a small wooden stick, he drew a top-down plan on the ground while explaining, "First, we'll excavate the mountain and level the