Once she relaxed, Yui felt a lingering fear. She wondered, If my Split Body, Youxue, hadn't told me about this, then... what would have happened?
As that thought arose, she shook her head sharply, stopping it from taking root. Thinking that way was far too wicked. Youxue was her too, and would never do such a thing.
"Yui, it's almost time." Nai Hyuga's voice came from beneath the tree.
Coming back to her senses, Yui shook her head, cleared those thoughts from her mind, and leaped down from the tree to join Nai Hyuga.
She glanced at the blazing sun already high overhead, then met Nai Hyuga's gaze and nodded gently. "Yes! It's almost time. Let's go!"
As soon as she finished speaking, the two formed hand seals together. A fierce hurricane suddenly swept up, scattering the steam from the hot springs as their figures gradually vanished into the distance.
After a long while, a small village gradually appeared within Nai Hyuga's Byakugan field of vision.
"Yui, that should be the village. It's the only one around here." Nai Hyuga pointed at the buildings not far away, a trace of confusion flashing in her eyes. "Have we been here before?"
Yui looked over, and an unforgettable memory surfaced. "I remember now. This was the village we visited last time we came to the Land of Hot Water for the hot springs. And if I remember correctly, the prices at that hot spring establishment were absurdly high."
Hearing Yui say that, Nai Hyuga remembered something. A fierce glint instantly flashed through her eyes as she muttered, "I almost forgot."
In her mind, the hot spring owner bore some responsibility for Yui being marked by the Evil God. If he hadn't set his prices so high, why would Jiraiya have chased them?