The Divine Tree Origin Fully Merges with the Shinobi World's Earth Veins-I Am the Will of This World

Naruto trudged behind me, panting, his leather shoes coated in yellow dirt.

He still clutched that dead-screen phone, veins bulging on the back of his hand.

"Bro, slow down. Sakura only just put my slipped disc back in place." Naruto wiped away his sweat.

"With Sakura's brute strength, you're lucky she didn't crush your kidneys."

"Quit whining. You ruined your body sitting in the Naruto's office all day. Whose fault is that?" I didn't look back.

"Who wants to spend every day approving paperwork? Hinata complained yesterday that I just fall asleep the second I get home and don't even talk to her."

"Don't bother me with your family crap."

The Abandoned Mining Site.

Yellow sand filled the air, and every gust drove it stinging into our faces.

The air reeked of rust mixed with machine oil, a choking stench that dried out our throats.

Heavy machinery had left tire ruts all over the ground.

A layer of foul black water pooled inside them, dead green bottle flies floating on the surface.

Naruto covered his nose and mouth and coughed twice.

"Not even a blade of grass grows in this dump. That old bastard Orochimaru said the coordinates were here?"

I spat out the grass root I'd chewed all the flavor out of.

The root landed on the dry yellow dirt beside my feet, flecked with spit.

"No grass doesn't mean there's nothing underneath."

I lifted a rubber-shod foot and stamped hard twice on the cracked yellow earth.

A cloud of dull gray dirt puffed up and coated my bare ankles.

It itched.

Unexpectedly, that stomp brought a muffled humming from deep underground.

It sounded like a lump of iron weighing thousands of tons was snoring down there.

Even the loose stones on the surface started tap-dancing.

Naruto jumped and