[As soon as he thought about starving and waiting on this ghostly place, Boruto felt his future was utterly bleak.]
[He irritably kicked a loose stone on the ground, his gaze wandering aimlessly around.]
[Suddenly, his movement paused. He narrowed his eyes and looked toward the other side of the rock pile where, amid the hazy, dust-filled yellow light, an unnatural silhouette seemed to lurk.]
["Hey, Shikadai, look over there. Is there a house?"]
[Shikadai looked in the direction of Boruto's finger. Behind the screen of scattered rocks and sand dunes, a square, non-natural shadow indeed vaguely revealed itself, resembling a low, small hut.]
["It might be a temporary shelter left behind by desert travelers, or an abandoned waystation," Shikadai speculated. "It wouldn't hurt to check it out; it's still better than being completely exposed to the wind and sand."]
[The two of them stepped heavily through the soft sand, drawing closer to the building.]
[Yet, the closer they got, the more puzzled they felt.]
[The material of this house was extremely peculiar—neither wood nor ordinary rock, but a kind of dark, deep stone radiating a cold metallic sheen, its surface covered with vaguely discernible patterns, most of which had been eroded by the wind and sand.]
[It had no door, only a pitch-black entrance tilting inward, like a wide-open mouth.]
[Boruto's curiosity was piqued, and he scurried inside first. The space inside was larger than expected, but also completely empty, save for thick layers of accumulated sand.]
[However, when his foot stepped onto the sand, a hollow echo reverberated.]
["The bottom is empty!" Boruto exclaimed.]
[Shikadai walked in as well, squatting down to brush away the floating sand in the center of the ground with his hand.]
[Soon, a huge stone slab—sharply distinct from the surrounding stone quality and