Naruto and Sasuke slipped quietly into the Elven Forest. Signs of battle were everywhere, as were patrolling Dark Elves. They had been in this world for some time now and were no longer the clueless rookies they had been when they first arrived.
The Elves were peaceful and kind by nature and rarely made enemies, while the Dark Elves were their exact opposites: cunning, bloodthirsty, and aggressive. Yet the Dark Elves and Elves were actually kin, both born from the Tree of Life. This world simply had two sides, good and evil.
Although the Dark Elves and Elves shared the same origins in the Tree of Life, they were hostile toward one another. Their temperaments made peaceful coexistence impossible, so each rejected the other, leading to many wars between them.
Yet throughout the hundreds of millions of years since their birth, the Dark Elves and Elves had maintained a delicate balance. That balance had been shattered over the past two weeks. For some unknown reason, the Dark Elves, whose strength had once been roughly equal to the Elves', had suddenly grown far stronger. Even Late Divine Realm experts had appeared among them, upsetting the balance that had existed between the two peoples throughout their history.
A few days earlier, on the very day Ao Ling and the others escorted the Elf Princess to the Elven Forest, the Dark Elves had invaded Elf territory, shattering the peace. Ao Ling and his companions had been innocently dragged into the war.
Naruto said to Sasuke, "Based on the information we've gathered, Ao Ling and the others most likely came under attack by Dark Elves stronger than him. But judging from the traces left by the battle, they probably escaped. How did your investigation go?"
Sasuke replied, "I infiltrated the Dark Elves near the