Uzushio Village, the most prosperous region of the Land of Whirlpools, had also been the nation's "core."
The village lay within a vast basin at the center of the island.
Rolling hills surrounded it on all sides, while dense forests, waterfalls, and trickling streams bordered the village. Clear creek water wound down from the mountains, passed along the village's edge, and flowed into the distant sea.
Most of the buildings were wooden houses built against the hills and alongside the water, layer upon layer filling the entire basin. They blended seamlessly with nature.
For nearly a thousand years, generations of the Uzumaki Clan had lived and multiplied here.
They had created countless brilliant achievements, and the sealing arts renowned throughout the Ninja World were among them.
The sealing arts that had made countless enemies tremble in fear were created, refined, and passed down on this land by generation after generation of Uzumaki clansmen.
Yet all of that had become a thing of the past.
The Uzumaki Clan, a great clan that had ranked among the foremost in the Ninja World since the Warring States Period, had ultimately become one of the many clans erased by the age of hidden villages.
The three great nations had joined forces and wiped them off the map.
That former glory, that former history, had all been buried beneath this silent land, covered by weeds and vines, eroded bit by bit by the passage of time...
Land of Whirlpools, Uzushio Village.
Kou and Mei Terumi walked through the ruins of Uzushio Village. Broken-down houses and dense thickets surrounded them, along with scattered bricks and tiles and roads that still faintly retained some semblance of order.
The wooden walls of those houses had long rotted away, and their roofs had collapsed. Only a few load-bearing pillars