"Hell Valley? Elixir Mud?"
Kenji stared at the final entry on his mission scroll, frowning slightly. The description was vague at best. "It's some kind of mud that wells up from underground volcanic vents. Treats bruises, cuts, sprains, inflammation... What is this, a miracle cure-all?"
He rolled the scroll back up and tucked it away. "Whatever. I'll gather everything else first and check it out last."
His hands blurred through seals. "Summoning Technique! Mind Clone Switch!"
White smoke erupted in multiple bursts. Six puppets materialized one after another, the Transparent Release, Swift Release, Magnet Release, Wood Release, Uzumaki, and Sharingan variants. Each stood motionless, awaiting commands.
"Split up. Stay alert for threats," Kenji ordered through their mental link.
The puppets scattered immediately, moving in different directions across the island. Kenji himself grabbed a gathering basket and headed toward the dense forest that covered the island's interior.
---
The next several hours passed in a blur.
He moved through the vegetation, identifying herbs from their leaves and root structures, harvesting them at the proper growth stage to maximize medicinal potency. Each time his basket filled, he summoned his transport puppet. The construct would appear, collect the herbs into its internal storage compartment, then use the Flying Thunder God mark he'd placed on the ship to teleport back and sort everything properly.
"The vines should be enough," he muttered, bending down to place the last Giant Mato specimen into his basket.
A thought, and the transport puppet materialized beside him. It took the basket and vanished. Through the puppet's synchronized senses, he could monitor his overall progress. Most of the list was complete now. He was only missing Crimson Newts and the mysterious Elixir Mud.
According to the scroll, Crimson Newts frequented the streams and waterways in the island's central canyon. He made his way there, moving through increasingly rocky terrain as the forest gave way to exposed stone.
The canyon was deeper than he'd expected, maybe thirty meters from rim to floor. A clear stream ran through the bottom, fed by rainfall and underground springs. He channeled chakra to the soles of his feet and stepped out onto the water's surface. The technique held him stable as he walked across the stream, scanning the depths for movement.
There. A flash of red in the shadows under an overhanging rock.
"Found you," he said quietly.
Iron sand materialized in his palm, responding to his Magnet Release chakra. The metal particles moved, flowing down into the water in a thin stream. They wrapped around the newt before it could react, binding its legs and pulling it upward.
The creature emerged thrashing and hissing, nearly a meter long with brilliant crimson scales. He deposited it into an iron sand container he'd formed specifically for this purpose. The lid sealed tight, tiny holes allowing air but preventing escape.
He repeated the process several more times, catching newts from different sections of the stream until he had the required quantity. The transport puppet collected them and vanished.
"Alright. Just the mud left."
He dispelled all his active puppets, then summoned his External Armor. The puppet's back split open, and he stepped inside. The armor sealed around him instantly, the familiar sensation of the puppet's systems synchronizing with his movements.
Pulling out his map, he studied the route ahead.
The location marked as Hell Valley was deeper into the island, in a region of volcanic rock and steam vents.
---
"This place looks cheerful," Kenji said dryly, standing at the valley entrance.
The opening descended into darkness, a natural shaft that dropped straight down into the earth. The surrounding rock was black volcanic glass. Even from up here, he could smell sulfur.
He started climbing down, the External Armor's enhanced grip allowing him to cling to the slick rock face. The deeper he descended, the darker it became and the hotter the air grew. Sunlight faded to a soft glow, then disappeared entirely. A small lamp mounted above the helmet flipped on, casting a steady beam over the rock face as he kept descending.
The walls were mostly bare stone, too hostile for plant life. Only scattered patches of heat-resistant moss managed to survive. The sulfur stench grew stronger with every meter, mixing with other chemical smells he couldn't identify.
After maybe fifty meters of descent, his feet touched bottom.
The valley floor was a hell of a sight.
A massive pit dominated the center, easily twenty meters across. Inside, several pools of thick mud bubbled and churned like boiling water. White steam rose in constant plumes, the heat distorting the air. Even through the armor's protective layers, he could feel the temperature rising. The mud itself was gray-brown, viscous and bubbling with trapped gases.
"That must be the Elixir Mud."
HISSSSS!
High-pressure gas suddenly burst from cracks in the rocks surrounding the pit. The jets of superheated vapor shot out at random intervals. Some of the gas jets angled directly across the path to the mud pools.
"Random bursts of high-temperature poisonous gas," he muttered. "Right on schedule."
The External Armor's sealed environmental systems would protect him from the toxic fumes, and the reinforced frame could handle the heat. That was the whole point of using it. For most ninjas, this would require careful timing, dodging between gas bursts while collecting samples.
For him, it was just a matter of walking through.
He moved forward. A gas jet erupted directly in his path, superheated vapor washing over the armor's surface. The temperature spiked inside the armor, but remained tolerable.
He reached the edge of the largest mud pool and crouched down. Iron sand flowed from the armor's hands, shaping itself into three big and sturdy containers. He filled them quickly with the scalding mud. The transport puppet appeared, collected them, and vanished.
He made two more containers and was filling the second when the ground beneath him shook violently.
BOOM!
Stone exploded upward as a massive lizard burst from the underground tunnels, easily five meters long with armored scales. Its eyes locked onto Kenji, and then it lunged with surprising speed, jaws opening wide.
"Of course there's a guardian. Rare resources always have guardians."
The lizard's teeth clamped down on the armor's shoulder. The bite force was tremendous, enough to crush bone, but the puppet construction held.
Kenji shifted his weight, using the armor's enhanced strength to twist its head aside and break its leverage.
With his right hand, he slammed a chakra-boosted punch into the creature's jaw.
The blow sent the lizard stumbling sideways. It roared, shaking its head in disorientation. He pressed forward, delivering two more precise strikes to the snout and side of the jaw.
The guardian froze. Predator instincts overrode aggression; it hissed, backed away, and retreated down the tunnel it came from, disappearing into the darkness.
"Smart choice."
Kenji checked the armor's shoulder. Everything seemed fine. He grabbed both mud containers and his transport puppet retrieved them. With all samples collected, he started climbing back up the shaft.
When he emerged back into sunlight, he dismissed the armor and immediately went to find the ship's captain.
"We're done here. Set course for Konoha."
---
The return voyage did not go smoothly.
On the very first night after leaving the Nanakusa Island, dark clouds rolled in from the east. The wind picked up to a howl, and within an hour, they were caught in a full storm.
Rain hammered the deck in sheets. Waves swelled to monstrous heights, crashing over the railings and threatening to swamp the vessel. The sailors worked frantically to secure loose cargo and keep the ship pointed into the waves.
Kenji stayed out of their way, letting them do their job.
The storm lasted through the night and into the next day. By the time it passed, they'd been blown significantly off course and one of the support masts had cracked from the strain.
Three days of careful navigation later, a sailor came running to find him.
"Land ahead! We need to make port for repairs!"
"Prepare to dock. But stay alert."
Kenji went to the ship's bow. In the distance, he could see an island emerging from the horizon. It was significantly larger than Nanakusa Island, with dense vegetation covering most of its surface. At the center, a dormant volcano rose.
Something about the island felt off. He couldn't quite identify what, but his instincts were warning him.
He summoned his Magnet Release puppet and sent it to patrol around the ships. Then he prepared to investigate the island personally. The moment he stepped into the forest at the island's edge, his frown deepened.
Too many chakra signatures.
His sensory technique picked up dozens of concentrated chakra sources scattered throughout the island. Not human chakra, beast chakra. And not just a few wild animals. The density was far higher than any normal ecosystem, and several of the signatures registered as significantly powerful.
Curious now, he moved toward the nearest chakra source.
He pushed through dense undergrowth and emerged into a clearing. What he found there made him stop.
A spider crouched in the center of the space. Not a normal spider, a giant fucking spider nearly five meters tall. Purple fur covered its body, and its eight legs were thick as tree trunks. Dirt and dead leaves clung to its limbs. Its cluster of eyes fixed on him immediately.
"That's a big spider," he said aloud. "It could work as a summon, I guess. Shame I really don't like spiders."
Summoning beasts weren't exactly rare in the shinobi world, but quality contracts were hard to come by. The Three Great Sage Regions had legendary summons, but those contracts were nearly impossible for ordinary ninjas to obtain. This spider wasn't top-tier, but it could probably fetch a decent price from the right buyer.
He was about to turn and leave when the spider attacked.
It moved fast. Its abdomen lifted and fired a massive web, easily three meters wide, at him like a net.
He flickered to the side. The web sailed past and hit a tree, immediately sticking and hardening into a substance tough as steel cable.
The spider charged, legs pounding the ground as it covered the distance between them in seconds. He channeled Magnet Release chakra, and iron sand erupted from his body.
The particles swirled and compressed, forming a solid pillar maybe two meters long and half a meter thick. He launched it with magnetic force.
CRACK!
The iron sand projectile hit the spider's head. The creature's skull shattered, purple ichor spraying out as its body went limp and collapsed. The iron sand pillar pinned it to the ground, twitching once before going completely still.
He shook his head helplessly at the corpse.
Then his sensory technique picked up a chakra signature far stronger than anything else on the island. It came from the direction of the volcano at the island's center.
"That chakra..."
He turned toward the volcano, and without hesitation, activated his Swift Release chakra. His body blurred into motion, covering ground at incredible speed as he headed straight for the source of that power.
He had a pretty good idea what this place was now.