The Strange Little Mountain Village

On the way back, Sosuke kept pondering solutions to the drawbacks.

Different Space-time Ninjutsu actually manifest in quite different forms.

In terms of offensive power, Kamui, which can easily distort space, ranks first.

In terms of convenience, Yomotsu Hirasaka can freely travel between different spaces.

In terms of creativity, Amenominaka can create space out of thin air, transferring everything within a certain range as a whole.

Compared to the above, the only standout advantage of the Flying Thunder God Technique is speed.

The moment a thought stirs, one can teleport to a designated spatial coordinate.

But a fast process doesn't mean the user's strike is equally fast.

Using the Flying Thunder God Technique normally, there's roughly a set attack sequence.

Sense the spatial coordinate, transfer, lock onto the enemy's posture, decide the attack method, swing the blade to kill.

This series of operations ultimately constitutes a complete spatial assassination.

Though the appearance is fast, Sosuke has a mental delay in locking onto the enemy, transmitting his intent, and then launching the attack.

No matter how fast his movement speed, he can't avoid this process; he can only compress the reaction time as much as possible.

"The transfer of the Flying Thunder God is supposed to be without any delay."

"It's me who slows down the attack rhythm."

Beside him, Mito couldn't understand the Youth's struggle at all.

Having created such a powerful jutsu, why did he still look somewhat gloomy?

Suddenly, Uzumaki Mito jumped onto a large tree ahead, pointing forward eagerly: "Look, there's actually a small village hidden over there."

For hundreds of miles around, there was no sign of human habitation, and the forest was full of large beasts; normally, building a village here really didn't make sense.

Such a strange scene could only mean the village itself likely had problems.

But what did that have to do with him?

Just as he was about to call Mito down, Sosuke suddenly paused slightly, as if sensing something that greatly caught his attention.

This time he didn't object; instead, he also leaped onto the treetop and looked toward the village.

"Interesting, didn't expect an unexpected gain."

Beside him, Mito frowned, looking at this infuriating riddle-speaker beside her.

Either don't speak, or if you do, don't stop halfway—didn't he know how annoying that was?

The Ponytail Princess wanted to bite someone again.

Sosuke decided to enter the village and investigate; naturally, she had no reason to refuse.

To be honest, Mito didn't really want to return to the Land of Fire too quickly, didn't want to reclaim her identity as the Princess of the Land of Whirlpools.

That way, she wouldn't have to think about the future conflict between the Whirlpools and the Uchiha.

"And I wouldn't have to face you on the battlefield."

Of course, the proud Mito wouldn't admit that; she had plenty of excuses to convince herself.

For example, she shouldn't defeat someone who had saved her.

Defeating the Uchiha would inadvertently boost the Fūma Clan's human trafficking, and so on.

As for how credible that was, Mito felt those questions weren't all that important.

With doubts in their hearts, the two arrived inside the small village.

Contrary to their imagination, the villagers were very warm and friendly, even preparing a hearty dinner for the two travelers.

"Our village hasn't seen outsiders in a long time." The old village chief showed a joy that came from deep within.

The other villagers were the same; everyone seemed to be secretly hoping for something, their warmth tinged with a faint, barely noticeable hint of madness.

This moved Uzumaki Mito to tears.

"Boo hoo, the villagers are all such good people."

Hearing this, a bizarre smile crept onto Sosuke's lips: "Don't, it's a bit too early to jump to conclusions."

Stopping his companion from handing out good-person cards, Sosuke went to the window, his gaze fixed on the northwest of the village.

He could sense something different over there.

But when he tried to investigate, the villagers unanimously opposed it, and the village chief even stepped forward to try to intimidate them: "I'm telling you, don't go over there no matter what; many of our children have gone missing in that area."

The village chief's face was full of fear, making Mito gulp nervously beside him, her small hand instinctively grabbing her companion's sleeve.

"Th-then, have you ever investigated it thoroughly?"

"It's useless." The village chief shook his head, revealing an even more shocking fact: "We hired ninjas at great expense, but what happened? That person never came back either."

"Even ninjas couldn't do it?!"

"Hmph, ninjas are still human. There are some things they just can't handle."

Looking at the terrified little girl, the village chief calmly uttered two words: "A ghost."

"Anyway, don't go running around the back mountain."

The village chief left satisfied, and Sosuke in the room fell into thought, feeling as though the man had deliberately been trying to scare him.

An ordinary person would have long been frightened by the village chief's story—well, alright, even the not-so-ordinary Mito hadn't escaped.

Judging by her furtive demeanor, if Sosuke hadn't been there, she probably wouldn't have dared to stay in the village tonight no matter what.

"You should rest early." Seeing no one else around, Sosuke prepared to go investigate on his own: "I'll go see what this ghost really is."

"O-okay." Mito nodded, with no intention whatsoever of following along.

Only after her companion had left did she let out a long sigh, thinking to herself that only a fool would go with him.

Staying alone in the room waiting for him to return—if worst came to worst, she might at least be able to collect his corpse.

"Hehehe." Watching the sky outside gradually darken, the Ponytail Princess had yet to realize the severity of the situation.

But as darkness slowly enveloped her surroundings and the entire village fell into utter silence, panic suddenly began spreading rapidly deep within her heart.

It was too strange.

Even if everyone was used to sleeping early, there wasn't even a single oil lamp to be seen.

Staring at the pitch-black night outside the window, Mito shivered and forcefully shut the window.

She finally realized the village's eeriness.

Forget about sleeping—the Ponytail Princess didn't even dare close her eyes now, terrified that if she let her guard down, the ghost would snatch her away.

Bam!

After who knows how long, Mito, who had been dozing off in her chair, was startled by the violently shaking door.

"So-Sosuke, you're back." She called out in a trembling voice, but received no response.

At that moment, the door, cracked open just a sliver, looked like the entrance to an abyss—a single glance at it seemed capable of sucking away one's soul.

Mito slowly stood up, mustered her courage, and walked toward the door, intending to close the gap in the wooden door.

"I'm not scared. I am Uzumaki Mito, princess of the Land of Whirlpools, a woman of both beauty and wisdom."

The moment her hand touched the door panel, the Ponytail Princess, who had been muttering to herself, suddenly sensed something strange in the darkness beyond.

Taking a closer look, every hair on her body stood on end in an instant, and a chill shot straight from her spine to the crown of her head.

In the darkness outside the door, a single eye was staring at her through the crack.