Absolute Poison Valley

Swish, swish, swish—

Under the bright moon, several figures darted swiftly through the forest. The woods were deathly silent, save for the rustling of clothes brushing past the trees.

Along the way, Yan Hong learned the full story from Takuya.

To refine medicine, the people of Medicine Hidden Village usually ventured outside to gather medicinal herbs. The rarer the herbs, the more effective the medicine they produced.

An ancient book in Medicine Hidden Village recorded a place called Absolute Poison Valley, not far from the village. At the center of the valley floor grew a strange fruit containing an exceptionally rich life force. Used as a medicinal ingredient, it could be refined into a miraculous drug that prolonged one's life!

Of course, the fruit was not so easy to pick. Not only was the entire valley floor filled with a mysterious force that prevented outsiders from taking the strange fruit, but a powerful monster also guarded it nearby.

Yet the one thing this world never lacked was people courting death. The more dangerous a place was, the more people wanted to go there. Tian Lao had been one of them in his youth, though he had been lucky enough to return alive.

A week ago, Tian Lao's son, Tian Yuan, refused to believe it. He led a group of like-minded young villagers on an expedition to pick the strange fruit. Before they even saw what it looked like, the group met with disaster. Everyone was corrupted by the mysterious force at the valley floor and suddenly became violent and irritable. At the critical moment, Takuya endured the rage in his heart and risked his life to flee Absolute Poison Valley. That was how he ended up returning to the village for reinforcements.

Yan Hong had not chosen to help out of mere goodwill either. Since he could not persuade Tian Lao, he might as well earn some goodwill here and establish friendly relations with Medicine Hidden Village. He could also purchase large quantities of medicine from them in the future.

Yan Hong followed Takuya at high speed for roughly two hours, and it was already late at night. Yan Hong and his group were fine, but the people of Medicine Hidden Village were not skilled in combat. Takuya had also rushed back for help without resting. By now, they were drenched in sweat and gasping for breath, yet they continued swallowing medicine to replenish their chakra and gritted their teeth as they pressed onward.

Another half hour finally passed before Fukuizumi Takuya stopped. He pointed ahead and whispered, "Yan Hong, Absolute Poison Valley is up ahead. Everyone, be careful!"

Yan Hong raised his head and looked into the distance. At the edge of his vision stood two towering mountains, utterly barren. A crack lay between them, like a natural narrow passage leading deep into the gorge.

Swish, swish, swish—

Soon, everyone arrived at the entrance to the gorge. A chilly, sinister aura drifted out from within, making their skin crawl.

Takuya's expression was solemn, his eyes hiding deep apprehension. He said in a low voice, "Everyone, be careful. The air in the valley makes people lose their minds and become violent, and none of the medicines we've tried can cure it."

"Hm? Why does that sound so familiar?" Yan Hong glanced at the Taketori Clan behind him, then activated his Sharingan.

The Sharingan could see the colors of chakra. In the world of Naruto, chakra was the source of all power, so anything capable of disrupting someone's mind ultimately relied on chakra. Yet when Yan Hong looked at the air above the gorge, he could not help but frown.

"What is that?"

Normally, chakra was blue, while the chakra of Tailed Beasts was red. Yet when Yan Hong looked into the gorge, grayish-white chakra filled the air above the entire valley!

Chikuma asked doubtfully from behind him, "Boss, what's going on? Aren't we going in?"

"Something's wrong." After a moment's thought, Yan Hong said gravely, "All of you stay here. I'll go in alone and take a look first."

"How can we do that?" Takuya cried anxiously. "I'm going in too. I have to save my companions."

"Yeah, Boss, why won't you let me join in?"

Yan Hong said coldly, "Enough. Even I can't see through what's going on in there. If you go in, you'll probably lose your minds like your companions did, and you'll only distract me. If I run into trouble alone, I can still retreat."

Takuya shouted, "No! I can't abandon my companions!"

"Chikuma, keep an eye on him. Don't let him come in. If I'm not out in twenty minutes, leave this place first."

"Fine." Chikuma was still very obedient to Yan Hong's orders. He immediately had two clan members restrain Takuya and waited quietly where they were.

Ignoring Takuya's shouts behind him, Yan Hong flashed into the gorge.

The gorge was dark as night, and the air carried a faint chill. Yan Hong sped forward, while a strange chakra seeped slowly into his body through his skin.

As the chakra seeped in, Yan Hong could clearly feel the unfamiliar chakra gradually blending with his own. At first, there was too little of it, and his own chakra quickly dispersed it. But as more and more entered his body, the balance gradually began to shift. An indescribable violent emotion rose from the depths of his heart!

"Not good!" Yan Hong mobilized the chakra in his body and forcibly suppressed the foreign chakra. At the same time, he accelerated and soon spotted several figures lying ahead.

Yan Hong hurried over to inspect them and found that their clothing clearly marked them as people from Medicine Hidden Village. None of them were dead; they had all fallen unconscious. Clearly, after going berserk, they had attacked one another. But because they were weak, even in their frenzy they had only exchanged pathetic blows. Rather than killing each other, they had exhausted themselves and collapsed.

After figuring out the situation, Yan Hong was just about to grab two of them and leave when the grayish-white chakra he had been suppressing suddenly erupted. In an instant, a large amount fused into his own chakra. Yan Hong's eyes immediately filled with blood, and an urge to tear everything apart began wildly battering his mind!

Clang—

The next instant, the Sharingan in his eyes automatically transformed into the Mangekyo Sharingan. Massive chakra even surged around his body, faintly showing signs of activating Susanoo!

"Damn!" Yan Hong's entire body trembled. He immediately pulled out the medicinal wine Tian Lao had given him, opened it, and took a gulp. The moment it entered his mouth, the two rampaging chakras in his body actually began to calm down. His muddled mind also felt as though cold water had been poured over his head, becoming much clearer at once.

"Hah." Yan Hong panted heavily, but his heart churned with shock. What exactly is this chakra? It can fuse with my own chakra, but the fusion is extremely unstable. Once the balance is disrupted, it causes irritable, violent emotions.

"Wait... fusion... balance..."

Something suddenly flashed through Yan Hong's mind. It felt as though he had heard those words somewhere while reading the original work in his previous life.

"I remember now!"

The next moment, Yan Hong suddenly understood. He looked at the omnipresent gray chakra in the air. If he remembered correctly, this chakra was very likely...

Sage Chakra!