Several days later, Guy appeared in the Land of Hot Water again.
This time, however, he did not go to Yugakure. Instead, he headed somewhere else.
He walked slowly onward, the earth beneath his feet gradually shifting from yellowish brown to an unnatural dark red.
It looked as though it had been soaked in blood for years, or contained some unusual mineral.
The air no longer carried the relaxing scent of hot springs so common in Yugakure.
Instead, a strange odor mingled the strong tang of rust with pungent sulfur, carrying a faint sense of scorching heat and corrosion.
"This should be the place, right?"
Guy stood atop a cliff and looked down.
Before him lay a valley shrouded in dark red mist.
The mist was impossibly thick, rolling slowly along the valley floor.
Its color resembled dried blood, or a miasma formed from rust and sulfur dust.
This was entirely different from the terrifying "Blood Mist Village" in the Land of Water.
It was not the product of political purges, but "hell's breath" born naturally from the land's unique geology and harsh environment.
The Land of Hot Water was renowned for its abundant underground hot springs and volcanic heat, which had fostered a thriving tourism industry.
Those gentle springs, whose waters were ideal for bathing, had given Yugakure its gleaming prosperity.
Yet not all geothermal resources were so "friendly."
In the valley before him, scorching steam rose from underground, and the water was rich in metal ions and sulfides.
Over years of evaporation, oxidation, and deposition, they reacted with the air and soil.
The result was this natural deathtrap, suffused with corrosive red mist.
It was like an enormous, brutal cage fashioned by nature itself.
This place stood in glaring contrast to Yugakure's prosperity and peace.
Its name was