Longyue Town

"Is this the Land of Waterfalls?" Hyuga Gen asked curiously, looking at the mist-shrouded landscape ahead, which seemed to be nothing but swampland.

"From here on, follow my lead. I know this area pretty well. There are swamps everywhere, so be careful not to sink into one," Bu Qianfan hurriedly warned them.

With Bu Qianfan leading the way, they headed deeper into the swamp. They encountered no serious trouble along the way, and before long, the five of them had made it through.

Beyond lay rolling hills, with mountains rising in the distance. They walked on for another half day, and when they spotted a waterfall far ahead, Hyuga Gen knew they were close to Takigakure.

Takigakure was still quite mysterious. It barely appeared in Shippuden; all they knew was that Kakuzu came from this village hidden in the Land of Waterfalls.

The waterfall before them was a truly magnificent sight, plunging from on high like the Milky Way cascading down from the heavens. Everyone was captivated by the view.

"Follow me this way," Bu Qianfan called out. The group snapped out of their reverie and hurried after him.

"Careful. Don't fall—the pool below is pretty deep." Bu Qianfan stopped when they reached a point one-third of the way down the waterfall and spoke.

Then he took a large step forward and passed straight through the curtain of water. He disappeared from view.

"Don't be scared. Come on over. Just take a slightly bigger step," Bu Qianfan's voice called from behind the waterfall.

Uchiha Izumi hesitated. She couldn't see clearly, and she was afraid she might accidentally fall. She seemed unsure where to step.

"I'll go over first and check. You can come in after me." Hyuga Gen activated his Byakugan and stepped across in one smooth stride.

Inside was a stone cave. Hyuga Gen didn't look around; he turned and reached out a hand, helping Izumi and the others across one by one.

"Let's go. Stay close and don't fall behind." Bu Qianfan took the lead again. Hyuga Gen quickly caught up to him; they were almost there, and he didn't want to stumble at the last hurdle.

"Don't tell me we have to swim through this pool too," Hyuga Gen asked weakly, watching Bu Qianfan stop in front of a small pool.

"Yeah. How'd you know? We'll be there soon after we swim across," Bu Qianfan said, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.

How did I know? It's just like in TV shows. If there's nowhere else to go and there's a small pool, the way forward has to be beneath it.

Hyuga Gen was almost ready to complain. Getting into this village was like exploring a hidden realm—the entrance was ridiculously well concealed. Who had first found a place like this? They had to be a genius.

"Follow me. The other two pools lead to different places, so we need to go through this one." With that, Bu Qianfan plunged into the pool, leaving Hyuga Gen no choice but to follow.

Uchiha Izumi, Tōyama, and Might Guy followed close behind.

Swimming was an essential skill for every ninja, so the three of them had no trouble with it. Luckily, it wasn't far—only around twenty meters—and they soon surfaced.

They were still inside the cave. One by one, they climbed out of the pool, their clothes completely soaked. Hyuga Gen found the feeling very uncomfortable.

He glanced at Uchiha Izumi beside him. It didn't look like he was in for any sort of treat. Damn, ninja uniforms really were something.

Bu Qianfan led them to a cave set aside for resting, apparently prepared especially for people who often came and went. There was even a separate room for women. Once they had dried their clothes by the fire, they continued on.

Meanwhile, Water Snake and his group had been lying in wait near the cave's exit for quite some time. There were several branching passages inside, but in the end, the group would have to come out along the path in front of them.

"Boss, what if that kid doesn't come back? It's been ages," one of Water Snake's men asked.

"Wait a little longer. He should be here soon. We got word that he left Konoha a week ago and was on his way back. The timing should be about right," Water Snake replied confidently. There were four of them.

"Quick, get back to your positions. Don't let your guard down. Stick to the plan," Water Snake said hastily. He was taking this mission seriously.

He'd heard that the kid had a set of ship blueprints. If they could get their hands on it, they might be able to sell it for a good price.

Then there was the reward his dear uncle had promised. Water Snake could barely contain his excitement. They might risk making an enemy of Konoha, but he thought the reward was well worth it.

And look at the terrain—it was a battlefield made just for him. There were pools on either side, and the path down the middle was the only way out.

As a Water Release ninja, he couldn't ask for a better setting. What enemy couldn't he take out with a Water Release Ninjutsu? And if one wasn't enough, he'd just use another.

The escort team was a squad of Genin, reportedly on their first C-rank escort mission. The Jonin might be a bit of a problem.

Anyone who became a Konoha Jonin was no pushover. He was a Jonin himself—didn't he know that? If his opponent were a Water Release ninja, he might have given it some serious thought. But clearly, that wasn't the case, so he had nothing to worry about.

Besides, he had three Chunin under him. By all accounts, this was a guaranteed victory. He couldn't imagine how he might lose.

"Is that Longyue Town?" Hyuga Gen asked, looking at the small town not far below. From here, he could see the ocean in the distance.

The town didn't look very big. There seemed to be several ships on the distant water, though the view was quite beautiful.

"Yeah, this is Longyue Town," Bu Qianfan said, sounding a little wistful.

"Let's go down." He headed into a cave on the right, and the others quickly followed.

The passage inside the cave was strange too, with branches everywhere and paths that went up and down. Hyuga Gen was curious how Bu Qianfan managed to remember them all.

The Land of Waterfalls lay between four countries and had never been invaded by any of them. After traveling this far, Hyuga Gen could more or less guess why.

First came the swamps at the border, then the entrance beneath the waterfall, the pool inside the stone cave, and the maze of passages. Getting in was no easy feat.

If war ever broke out, a single person guarding a key position could hold off a thousand. It would be incredibly difficult to invade.

Besides, there didn't seem to be much of interest here. With travel so inconvenient, even contacting the outside world was difficult. There wasn't much to gain from attacking and occupying a place like this.

Still, he'd heard that Takigakure had the Hero Water, which could quickly restore and increase one's chakra. He didn't know if that was true, but even if it was, the stuff had to be extremely rare. Otherwise, Takigakure wouldn't have stayed tucked away in its corner of the world.

Takigakure's unique secret technique, Earth Grudge Fear, was pretty overpowered, though. Its most famous user was Kakuzu, who seemed to be the only one who knew it now, since he'd killed all the other high-ranking ninja who could use it.

The technique could stitch other people's hearts into his body, making him practically immortal. He could even take their hearts' chakra natures, letting him use Ninjutsu from all five basic elements. It was certainly impressive.

Unfortunately for him, he ran into the protagonist, Naruto, and one Rasenshuriken killed all his remaining hearts. That just went to show the protagonist was invincible.

As Hyuga Gen thought this, he had no idea that danger was about to arrive.