This was a small town near Kyoto.
As soon as Sarutobi Hiruzen and his group entered, countless eyes in the town turned toward them.
In an age of war, apart from prosperous cities that had escaped the fighting, most small towns lacked adequate defenses and had suffered at the hands of soldiers and bandits.
More often than not, they were filled with starving corpses and bones stretching for miles.
Yet Sarutobi Hiruzen and his companions all looked healthy and well-fed, and they carried swords. They clearly seemed like wealthy people who wanted for nothing.
They stood out all the more in this dilapidated little town.
Sarutobi Hiruzen casually glanced at the refugees huddled beside the road, and they instinctively looked away.
They didn't even need to see the swords the group carried. Just the fact that they were sturdier than ordinary people was enough to extinguish any thoughts the refugees had of swarming them and robbing them.
Sarutobi Hiruzen ignored the refugees. Such scenes could be found in any age of war.
Though he had the ability, Sarutobi Hiruzen had no intention of playing the saint.
Even from the perspective of Space-Time Source Energy, only the fluctuations produced by extraordinary power could generate large amounts of Source Energy.
Simply changing ordinary history would be nothing but thankless work for Sarutobi Hiruzen.
Even uniting the islands of the Land of Days might not be as valuable as spreading more Chakra Seeds and Ninjutsu.
Seeing the destitute refugees, the kindhearted Tsugikuni Yoriichi couldn't bear it. He shared some of the food he carried with them.
Of course, Tsugikuni Yoriichi had no intention of changing this era either. That was his belief.
The group had not gone far down the road when a plainly dressed man approached them.
"Lord Sarutobi."
"And Lord Tsugikuni, I presume?"
The man respectfully bowed to the group.
"My name is Zheyi."
"I'm from the Ubuyashiki clan..."
"I was sent to meet you."
The Ubuyashiki clan's enterprises clearly covered Kyoto and the surrounding areas, and they naturally had their own network of influence and intelligence.
Sarutobi Hiruzen nodded.
"Let's go. Take us somewhere we can settle in."
Zheyi respectfully led the way. Before long, he brought the group to a base.
It was a tavern, which also seemed to be an Ubuyashiki enterprise.
In one of the tavern's spacious rooms,
the group finally settled in,
and found a fairly generous spread of food and drink waiting for them.
Of course, supplies in the small town were limited, so the meal was rather plain.
"I'm sorry, my lords."
Zheyi knelt on the floor and bowed slightly.
"Conditions here are limited,"
"so I can't offer you a proper welcome."
Sarutobi Hiruzen didn't care about that and asked directly,
"How are things?"
"I heard three groups of Demon Slayer Corps swordsmen have already gone missing here..."
After the Demon Slayer Corps swordsmen learned the Breathing Style, the Ubuyashiki clan head had sent them out to clear the demons from the Kyoto region.
Ordinary demons were naturally no match for swordsmen who had learned the Breathing Style.
But some demons were exceptional and powerful. Even swordsmen who had learned the Breathing Style couldn't defeat them.
"The demon here is in Mist Island Mountain,"
Zheyi explained.
"It's the range of hills southeast of town."
"It was originally famous for the white mist that covered it all year round,"
"but later a demon took over the mountain and began preying on the humans who went up there..."
"Many people started calling Mist Island Mountain Blood Mist Mountain instead."
"As for the Demon Slayer Corps swordsmen who went in..."
A trace of sorrow crossed Zheyi's face. He grieved deeply for those comrades.
He, too, was a pitiable man whose family had been killed by demons. But he had no talent for swordsmanship or martial arts, so he couldn't join the Demon Slayer Corps as a swordsman.
He could only serve as an intelligence operative on the periphery.
"None of them ever came back."
"And no one has been able to bring back any information about the demon."
Sarutobi Hiruzen nodded at that.
The Demon Slayer Corps swordsmen sent there had naturally been stronger with each successive group. Among them were even prodigies who had mastered the Breathing Style with remarkable speed.
The demon in Blood Mist Mountain had clearly killed them all. It must have been at least as strong as a Moon from a later era.
I wonder if it's an Upper Rank or a Lower Rank.
Sarutobi Hiruzen considered this, then said,
"Then we'll have to act without delay."
"We'll head there now."
"What do you think, Yoriichi?"
Tsugikuni Yoriichi nodded.
"Of course. The sooner we deal with the demon, the fewer people will die..."
Though they had spent many days traveling, Sarutobi Hiruzen and his companions were no ordinary people. They weren't particularly tired, even after reaching their destination.
Masahiro couldn't really weigh in, so he had no objections.
They left town again and walked for a while before reaching the foot of Mist Island Mountain.
Zheyi's task was naturally complete once they reached the mountain. Ordinary people couldn't take part in a fight against demons.
Mist Island Mountain truly lived up to its reputation.
From halfway up the mountain, a thin veil of mist shrouded it, thanks to the moisture in the air and the terrain.
Together with the mountain's enchanting natural scenery, it had a hazy beauty to it.
But beneath that beauty lay more than the danger posed by demons. Even the rugged mountain paths were enough to leave an ordinary person lost among them.
In such an environment, even many Ninjutsu techniques used for scouting were ineffective.
Fortunately, the Demon Slayer Corps swordsmen who had gone into the mountain had left behind the Corps' distinctive marks.
The Demon Slayer Corps of this era had no magical crows to relay information. Instead, they usually used marks and coded messages to pass along information about demons.
Following the information left behind by the Demon Slayer Corps swordsmen, the group made their way to an area near the summit.
Sarutobi Hiruzen suddenly furrowed his brow.
As they climbed higher, the mist grew thicker. What's more, in a sight beyond ordinary people's perception,
a very faint layer of red mist was lurking within the white fog before them.
A strong smell of blood began to spread without their noticing.
"So this is why they call it Blood Mist Mountain..."
"The name fits."
Sarutobi Hiruzen gave it a casual glance and didn't think much of it.
No matter how bizarre the demon on Mist Island Mountain was, with Tsugikuni Yoriichi and Sarutobi Hiruzen together, even the Demon King would have to kneel, kowtow, and beg them to let him go.
For Sarutobi Hiruzen, this mission was no different from sightseeing.
"Chak-chak-chak-chak."
Suddenly, the faint sound of rhythmic chopping reached them and caught everyone's attention.
"Over there, sir!"
Masahiro's ears twitched. With Chakra enhancing him, his senses were sharper than an ordinary person's, and he immediately pinpointed the source of the sound.
The group hurried over.
Through the dense fog, they saw a middle-aged man dressed like a woodcutter chopping firewood in a clearing. A wooden hut stood behind him.
He looked like someone who lived in the mountains.
But the man wielded a huge axe and split a tree trunk that would have taken a person to hug cleanly in two with ease. He clearly had strength beyond that of an ordinary person.
Considering the stories about Blood Mist Mountain, the man's identity was obvious.
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