Deep within the Land of Fire, in the heart of a forest.
The year-round, sunless fog was violently torn open by a brutal wave of chakra.
The mist carried the stench of soil, along with a slime reek so foul it sent shivers down one's spine.
That was Shikkotsu Forest's specialty. After accumulating for thousands of years, it had fermented into a rotten, dead-fish stench throughout these woods.
Uchiha Yoru strode along a forest path paved with gravel. Every step of his leather shoes kicked up black mud mixed with bits of moss.
He had just dealt with Obito's mess in the Land of Lightning, and the scorched smell of gunpowder still clung to him, mixed with the lingering heat of battle.
Orochimaru followed behind him, holding a massive sealing crystal sphere used for containing biological specimens.
Bloodstains and fingerprints still marked the crystal's surface—the glorious traces left behind from extracting Obito's chakra.
"Lord Yoru, the one in Shikkotsu Forest... is far more troublesome than the toads of Mount Myōboku or the snakes of Ryūchi Cave."
Orochimaru lowered his voice, his hoarse tone sounding like two venomous snakes grinding their teeth together.
His golden serpent eyes stared at the distant swamp filled with enormous flesh-colored mushrooms, and a flicker of apprehension passed through them.
"That old thing has countless clones. As long as her true body does not reveal itself, if you want to uproot her completely, you may have to fill in half the Land of Fire."
Yoru said nothing. He merely spat an unlit cigarette butt from his mouth onto the ground.
The cigarette butt fell into a patch of Shikkotsu Forest's sticky spore mud and was instantly corroded away without leaving even a trace.
"Troublesome? I like troublesome things."
Yoru tugged at the collar of his black