When Riu returned to Shadow Village, the Land of Waterfalls had already been blessed by the heavy snow of deep winter, leaving everything blanketed in white.
At the southernmost edge of the village, beside a cascading waterfall, stood a massive castle. Its architectural style resembled the legendary keeps. It was no exaggeration to say that this was the highest-standard building in the Naruto World. Even the finest craftsmen would supposedly need years from the start of construction to its completion.
Yet Riu had used Wood Release's "Linked Pillar House" technique to build it in an instant.
Riu named it Sky Feather Pavilion and made it his residence.
Sky Feather Pavilion was surrounded by grand, classical walls, with vast grounds within...
Riu found cherry blossom seeds and planted them in the nursery, stimulating their growth with Wood Release Power. In the blink of an eye, the cherry trees bloomed in full. Pink petals drifted down like rain amid the falling snow, making it feel like a fairyland.
Yūhi Uzuki wore a kimono with her hair pinned up in a bun as she followed beside Riu, who was dressed in a white robe.
The two arrived at an expansive clearing in the rear courtyard of Sky Feather Pavilion.
Riu intended to begin construction here, building an open-air hot spring for himself and Yūhi Uzuki to bathe in.
"I heard that Takigakure has wanted to create artificial hot springs for centuries, but their geology made it impossible. Are you really going to build one here?" Yūhi Uzuki asked.
Ordinary artificial hot springs required digging six hundred to two thousand meters into the earth before reaching thermal water. But Takigakure's geology was highly unusual. Its soil contained vast amounts of hard minerals, and before one could even dig a hundred meters down, thick underground