The dampness along the southeastern coast of the Land of Fire was like a towel during the plum rains south of the Yangtze-no amount of wringing could ever dry it out.
When Hatake Sakumo's squad followed a team of exhausted transport ninja through the final natural barrier of enormous trees and tangled vines, the so-called Forest Barrier finally came into view.
Rather than a military base, it was more like an immense tree fortress built against steep cliffs and dense, primeval forest.
Thick, ancient trees, clearly grown and reinforced with chakra, twisted together to form the base's main structure and its defensive outer walls, which stood over ten meters high.
Wooden watchtowers rose from the canopy like the masts of pirate ships, overlooking the distant, mist-shrouded coastline.
The tree fortress had a rustic, age-old architectural style, with faint traces of the Senju Clan that had founded Konoha.
This fortress was even older than Konoha itself!
It had first been built toward the end of the Warring States period, before Konoha's founding, by the First Hokage, Hashirama Senju-though there had been no such thing as a Hokage back then. It had once been regarded as a manifestation of the Wood Release Sage Hashirama Senju's immense power.
After Hashirama, the Senju of the Forest had produced no more powerful Wood Release ninja, but quite a few could still use simple Yang Release to stimulate the growth of the fortress's wooden structure, allowing them to keep it functioning, if only with difficulty.
"So this is the Forest Barrier..." Shinji gazed up at the magnificent fortifications, which almost blended into their natural surroundings, and felt a swell of emotion.
Unlike the temporary camps and forward outposts where they had rested before, this place exuded a solidity tempered by time, perhaps tinged with a faint