"My grandson's name is Naoto, and he used to be an ordinary farmer in the village."
"But over a month ago, he accidentally discovered a cave in the mountains outside the village. Deep in the cave, he found fragments of iron ore."
"This place is very close to the Land of Crafts, where the demand for iron is enormous. If iron ore could be found here, the village could finally prosper. So he gathered some of the young men from the village and spent all day digging in the cave, hoping to uncover iron ore there."
"A week ago, they stumbled upon a massive cavern inside the cave and found some strange minerals there."
"Miho, where are those minerals? Show them to the ninja."
The woman beside the corpse brought over a bamboo basket, took out a piece of mineral, and handed it to Kakashi.
Kakashi examined the mineral in his hand. It was a spherical crystalline formation, clustered together with a green, semi-transparent, hard surface that resembled green crystal.
However, upon closer inspection, it was filled with numerous visible black particles, indicating that this crystal-like mineral was not particularly pure.
"Last night, an earthquake suddenly struck the village. The houses shook violently, and every building in the village collapsed."
"Thankfully, it wasn't too late at night. Most of the villagers hadn't gone to sleep yet, so they managed to escape immediately, and no one was trapped under the rubble. After checking on the villagers' injuries, we went to the small wooden hut to find Naoto."
"Ever since the discovery of the cave, Naoto had been staying in the small wooden hut at the foot of the mountain every night to prevent people from neighboring villages from finding it."
"But when we found him in the hut, he was already like this. And all the green minerals he had excavated and stored in the hut were gone!"
The village chief finished his explanation, though some details were left unclear due to his grief. Sensing this, Kakashi began to ask questions.
"You said the green minerals are all gone. Why are there still so many here?"
At that moment, a villager stepped forward and explained, "These minerals were the ones Naoto distributed to the villagers. Given the situation now, we've all turned in the ones we had at home."
"It must be that his actions angered the mountain deity, and the deity punished him!"
"These are the mountain deity's heart! He dug up the mountain deity's heart, and now the deity is furious with our village. Yesterday's earthquake was a warning!"
"What are you talking about? Naoto is already dead, and you're still saying this!"
"So what if I say it? He brought this upon the entire village, didn't he?"
"Don't forget, your son helped with the digging too. Be careful, or the mountain deity might come for your family tonight!"
"Watch your mouth!"
The scene quickly descended into chaos.
Faced with unknown dangers and natural disasters, the villagers' mental state had become fragile. A tiny spark was enough to ignite a storm of complaints and arguments.
But they couldn't be entirely blamed. They were mere ordinary people—unable to resist earthquakes, unable to defy the so-called "mountain deity," and left with only words to vent their anger and fear.
"Enough! Stop talking!"
In the crowd, the village chief's aged voice shouted, temporarily silencing everyone.
"We don't know anything for sure yet. Let's wait for the ninja to finish investigating. If it really is the mountain deity's wrath, I am willing to offer my life to appease the deity's anger."
The village chief's words silenced everyone. They could only mutter resentfully under their breath as they turned their eyes to Kakashi.
Faced with such a complex social situation, Sasuke, Naruto, and Sakura found themselves at a loss for words.
Sasuke remained as expressionless and calm as ever.
Sakura, on the other hand, took a small step behind Kakashi, seeking a sense of safety. Naruto, however, glared angrily at the indifferent villagers.
Someone had died here—why were they arguing in front of the deceased and even speaking ill of them? But he didn't yet understand: this is the world of adults.
Kakashi, aware of the tension on both sides, refrained from offering his opinion. Anything he said now would likely spark further disputes.
At that moment, Gin approached Kakashi and whispered in his ear, "Could it have been people from the neighboring village? After all, those green minerals were stolen too."
Kakashi glanced at the shriveled corpse on the ground and shook his head slightly.
In the end, he did not reveal his conclusion. However, he promised to personally investigate the cavern the next day, temporarily calming the villagers.
As for the green minerals, since no one dared to keep them or toss them aside recklessly, he and his team took responsibility for them.
---
Under the night sky, Team 7 set up camp on the outskirts of the village. Gathered around a fire, they discussed the strange events.
"Do mountain deities really exist?" Naruto asked, deep in thought as he stared at the flames.
"Idiot, of course not," Sakura replied firmly, shaking her head. She was a staunch atheist.
However, Naruto's thoughts weren't entirely focused on the so-called mountain deity. His mind drifted back to what Motoki had told him on the day of the graduation exam.
According to him, the terrifying statue Naruto longed to see was a carving of a god from the sea. If gods could dwell in the sea, then wasn't it plausible for a mountain deity to exist in the mountains?
Naruto wasn't the only one deep in thought. On the other side of the fire, Kakashi was also reflecting on the events that had unfolded.
Naturally, he didn't believe in mountain deities.
But he still couldn't piece together how the earthquake, the green spherical minerals, and the shriveled corpse were connected.
Only by uncovering the link between these three elements could he begin to unravel the truth behind this mystery.
Although he had promised to explore the cave the next day to maintain peace, he felt it wasn't the wisest decision. After all, their primary mission was to complete the escort task.
While the villagers were undoubtedly in dire straits, he believed the mission took precedence.
These villagers weren't his comrades, and he wasn't obligated to help them. More importantly, he had no right to drag Gin into a danger that wasn't his responsibility.
As Kakashi wrestled with these conflicting thoughts, Gin, who had been lying down, suddenly sat up and exclaimed,
"I've decided! I'm going to use my skills to help rebuild this village!"
"So, Kakashi, you can explore the cave tomorrow without worry."
Seeing Gin's resolute expression, a relieved smile spread across Kakashi's face.
Under the vast night sky, illuminated by the flickering campfire, Kakashi, Naruto, Sasuke, Sakura, and Gin lay on the ground, using the earth as their bed and the heavens as their blanket.
After a long day of travel and the strange events they encountered in the village, Naruto and the others quickly drifted into slumber.
Kakashi, however, lay awake, using his arms as a pillow and gazing up at the star-filled summer night sky.
His mind was still preoccupied with the corpse he had seen earlier—that of Naoto.
The cause of death? The complete drainage of bodily fluids.
He had also observed numerous wounds on the victim's arm.
These wounds were peculiar—a series of circular burns, with a pinpoint-like puncture at the center of each circle. The strange injuries seemed to be the reason why Naoto's body had been drained.
When Gin hypothesized that people from a neighboring village had committed the murder to steal treasure, Kakashi immediately dismissed the idea.
Such injuries were far beyond the capability of ordinary humans and lacked any logical motive.
But what could cause wounds like these? He had no answers.
Moreover, there was another mystery: the earthquake that the villagers mentioned from the previous night.
In his experience, an earthquake strong enough to collapse buildings should have been felt from tens of kilometers away, at least as faint tremors.
Yet, before arriving in this village, he hadn't felt anything of the sort.
Why was the earthquake's impact zone so small, despite its devastating intensity?
Forget it, Kakashi thought, Let me take a quick break, then get some rest.
He got up and walked toward a nearby thicket, stepping away from the campfire. Facing away from the glowing light, he unfastened his pants.
The sound of rushing water splashing onto the earth's soil brought a momentary relief to his body.
But just as he finished and was about to pull up his pants, he found his hands frozen in place.
In that instant, he felt as though his hands had become disconnected from his brain. He tried to move them, but only his thumbs twitched slightly.
One second passed.
Thirty seconds.
A full minute.
Trapped in this strange paralysis, time stretched infinitely in his mind. He stood by the thicket, frozen in an awkward and undignified pose.
And then, Kakashi heard a sound—a chant.
The chant was weird, dreamlike, at times resembling the pure and innocent sounds heard by a curious child, or the delicate murmurs of a mountain stream cascading over stones.
What startled him even more was the realization that the chanting wasn't coming from his immediate surroundings.
The sound was emanating from underground.
He knew he was fully awake. This was no hallucination—this chant was real. Or was it a genjuts?
No. Something was beneath the ground. Something was singing!
Kakashi's heightened senses picked up additional details. In the chanting, he heard faint rumblings.
These rumblings were the sounds of rock shifting, scraping, and shaking, as if something was tunneling beneath the earth.
Something was coming to the surface.
Although he couldn't yet identify what it was, the intensifying rumblings made it clear that whatever lay beneath was drawing closer and closer to the surface.
But what terrified him even more was the fact that his body still couldn't move.
The strange, hymn-like chanting from below carried no beauty. Instead, it emanated an indescribable aura of danger—lethal and suffocating.
Damn it! Move!
"First Gate—Gate of Opening: Open!"
Thanks to his years of sparring with Guy, he knew the Eight Gates. While he could only open the First Gate, that was enough to override his current paralysis.
The primary function of the Gate of Opening was to forcibly unlock the brain's natural limiters, enabling the body to move with its full strength and speed.
Kakashi reasoned that his paralysis was caused by some form of genjutsu or mental attack. Yet his earlier attempts to dispel genjutsu had failed—his chakra flow remained unaffected.
If it wasn't genjutsu targeting his chakra, then it had to be something directly affecting his brain.
By opening the first gate, he aimed to forcibly break whatever restrictions had been placed on his motor functions.
As the Gate of Opening activated, Kakashi felt an immediate release. The invisible chains binding his body were shattered, and he regained control of his movements.
He quickly pulled up his pants, but before he could fully process his relief, the sound of cracking earth erupted from behind him.
Not good! Kakashi thought, his instincts screaming. It's coming!
In his enhanced state, he dashed back to the campfire. But just as he reached safety, the ground behind him split open.
Something that had been lurking underground finally burst forth.
It was a massive creature, resembling a giant squid adapted for life in the soil.
Its soft, grayish-black, mucus-coated body pulsated with life, surrounded by a writhing mass of tentacle-like appendages. These appendages, slick and glistening, extended outward, probing the air with unsettling fluidity.
The creature had no discernible eyes or mouth—only those relentless, searching tendrils.
No, it did have a defining feature.
At the front of its body was a grotesque, tumor-like organ, pulsating as though it were alive.
His instincts told him this was the creature's brain—or perhaps some kind of central nervous system.
In that moment, his mind received a strange, unbidden signal, as if the creature's very presence was transmitting its name into his consciousness.
Deep Crawler.
Chthonian.
Although "Chthonian" was its official designation, the name "Deep Crawlers" felt far more fitting for this monstrous entity.
The Deep Crawler was a species that lived deep beneath the earth, their soft, worm-like bodies adapted for tunneling through rock as easily as a blade slices through butter.
Their tentacle-like appendages served as sensory organs, replacing eyes and other features unnecessary for their subterranean existence. As their name suggested, they were masters of burrowing, capable of drilling through even the hardest basalt with ease.
As this knowledge flooded into Kakashi's mind, he stared at the horrifying creature now looming before him, its upper body slightly coiled as it emerged from the ground.