After about twenty minutes, Naori walked out of the compound. She had changed into a pure white gauze dress. Torifu had never seen Naori wear this dress before. It made him a little stunned.
Naori walked up to Torifu and waved her hand. "What? Does it not look good?"
Torifu shook his head. "No, how could that be? I can only say it looks incredibly beautiful. Why haven't I seen you wear it before?"
Naori linked her arm with Torifu's. "You like to wear white, don't you? I bought this specifically to match you."
"Let's go. Where are you taking me?"
Torifu looked at Naori's expectant expression and intentionally said, "We're going to leave the village to carry out a mission outside."
This sentence made Naori a little confused. After all that, they were going on a mission? Why were they dressed like this?
"You should have said so earlier! I'll go back and change into my ninja outfit!" Naori turned to go back, but Torifu held her back. "Don't bother changing. It's too much trouble. We'll be quick. I'll take you to a big feast later."
Naori was initially a little angry, but when she heard "big feast," her anger subsided a bit. "Alright then, let's hurry up and go."
Torifu immediately summoned Aokumo and Ryūfū at the Uchiha Clan Compound gate. The two of them sat steadily on the backs of the cranes. Then, Torifu nodded at Aokumo. Aokumo naturally knew what Torifu meant and immediately took flight. Ryūfū followed closely and flew into the sky.
"Torifu, where are we going? Why did you even ask Aokumo and Ryūfū to help?" Naori was very confused. She hadn't thought about it much at the compound gate, but now she realized that something was off everywhere. What kind of mission required Torifu to personally go out? He hadn't been on a mission for a long time. Furthermore, there were many ninjas in the village, and quite a few had good strength. There was no need for him to go personally.
But Torifu spoke to her with a serious expression, "The ninjas who went out on the mission reported that an illusory barrier appeared next to Konoha Village, and several ninjas have gone missing inside."
"I suspect that Hanzō might be up to something again." Seeing Torifu's grave expression, Naori also started to believe him. "Alright, let's go check it out together."
Torifu didn't show any pleasant expression during the entire journey, which made Naori increasingly believe that this matter might be true.
"Torifu, do you have a plan? I've never seen an illusory barrier before. What should we do if we accidentally wander into it?"
Torifu pondered for a while. "Actually, this is the first time I've heard of it too. At first, I thought it was a prank by some ninjas, but as more ninjas reported it, I had to take it seriously."
"I don't have any idea until I see the illusory barrier. We'll take it one step at a time."
Naori thought it made sense. This "illusory barrier" was unprecedented in Konoha's history, and it involved so many ninjas. It was better to be cautious. It was just that the clothes she was wearing today were completely unsuitable for the occasion. She should have worn her ninja uniform for a mission. Torifu really should have been clearer.
Torifu, on Aokumo's back, looked at the expression on Naori's face and knew that she was completely convinced. Torifu silently nodded to himself.
Aokumo and Ryūfū were fast. In about an hour, they carried Torifu and Naori to the so-called "illusory barrier." Looking at the dense fog in front of her, a hint of relaxation appeared on Naori's face. "Is this it? It looks like it's fog. That makes things easier. It's an area you're good at." Torifu's Cloud Release could control all mist and fog, allowing him to easily perceive the situation inside the fog.
"It doesn't look much different from ordinary fog. Perhaps the area has experienced unusual weather conditions, which made the fog here so dense." Torifu observed the illusory barrier in front of him, then instructed Naori to stand behind him and be careful.
Naori cooperated well, standing one step behind Torifu. If danger occurred, this position would allow her to pull Torifu back in time.
Then, Torifu took a step forward and stretched out his hand at the edge of the dense fog. Just as he was about to release his Cloud Release, the originally still dense fog suddenly spread rapidly, instantly engulfing Torifu!
Naori didn't even have time to react before Torifu was swallowed! She tried to look for Torifu, but found that she, too, was enveloped in the mist. Everything around her was a grayish-white, and she couldn't see anything.
"Torifu, where are you!"
No one responded. In this dense fog, there wasn't even an echo. The world was a grayish-white, and only Naori was there. But she didn't panic. She activated her Mangekyō Sharingan, but still couldn't see anything around her.
"The Sharingan can't see through it, and even Torifu was swallowed by this dense fog. Could this be the work of Kirigakure? But Konoha and they don't have any conflict and often cooperate. Why would they do this?"
Naori couldn't figure out the situation here. Looking behind her, there was only boundless grayish-white, nothing else. Thinking that Torifu seemed to have been swallowed inside as well, Naori began to move. Finding a way to break it was better than staying put and doing nothing.
Immediately, she began to walk slowly forward, taking every step with caution. But as she walked, Naori bumped into something like a wall. It was cold, but there was no pain. Naori pushed it, but found that she couldn't move it. "It seems this way is blocked. I can only look for other directions."
Then, she moved slowly toward the diagonal front. This time, it was quite smooth, and she didn't bump into anything. She walked for about a hundred steps. Naori once again bumped into something like a wall.
But this time, Naori didn't choose to walk in another direction. Instead, she directly activated the Susano'o, and a massive skeletal claw rose from the ground and smashed heavily into the "wall" in front of her. But it was like smashing into a sponge. There was no feeling at all. Naori didn't even know if she had hit it.
"Damn it, what is this thing? Why can't even Susano'o break through it!"
Despite her anger, after confirming that this thing could not be broken, Naori adjusted her direction again. This time, Naori chose to return the way she came. But as soon as she turned her head, she bumped into a wall again.
"This thing is guiding me! Where does it want me to go?" Naori immediately realized the purpose of this "illusory barrier." Although she didn't know what was waiting for her at the destination, at this point, she could only choose to follow it to the end.
Naori adjusted her breathing and walked toward the front-left direction. This path was clear and unobstructed, without any "walls."