Chapter 427: The Land of Demons
This mission was of no difficulty for Ino, so she accepted it.
"Alright, I'll watch over him."
Ino was going, and Naruto was going too. It would be too abrupt for just the two of them to go, so they needed two assistants.
Sakura and Sasuke came into the picture. It just so happened that Team 7 hadn't been on a mission together for a long time. Both Minato and Kakashi felt that their bond should be deepened. Jiraiya readily approved, letting Team 7 team up for one more mission.
The Rock Village was extremely resilient, building sturdy forts and fighting a war of attrition. After six months, they showed no signs of withdrawing to recuperate. Kakashi and Might Guy were still holding the line on the western front.
Ino thus became the temporary jonin leader of Team 7, leading two chunin and one genin on a mission to the Land of Demons.
Naruto hadn't been out of the village for a mission in a long time and was extremely excited. Before leaving, he even changed into the new clothes Jiraiya had given him.
His original orange jacket with the white collar, blue shoulders, and a pen hanging from the shoulder was officially retired.
The new outfit was still a tracksuit with orange as the main color, but this time the shoulders, collar, and cuffs were black.
No longer drinking expired milk every day, his nutrition had caught up, and Naruto's height had shot up from 1.47 meters to 1.66 meters.
If he didn't speak, he indeed looked much more mature than he had two years ago.
Sasuke's attire was similar to before, a black one-piece combat suit with white bandages wrapped around his right leg. Having fought on the western front for half a year and killed many Rock ninja, he had been tempered by blood and fire, and he appeared quite capable.
Sakura's, uh, scale had also gone up a small step. A slight curve could now be seen from the side. Her clothes somewhat imitated Karin's style, with the zipper of her top not pulled all the way up, revealing her navel and a small patch of skin around it.
When Sasuke was resting with his eyes closed, she would do very exaggerated stretches and other movements.
"You're such a flirt," Ino rolled her eyes at her.
Sakura clenched her fists in anger, but thinking that she couldn't beat her, she ultimately didn't dare to make a sound.
"Hehehehe, Chunin Haruno, you must obey orders during the mission," she said with a grin, looking at Sakura. The way she was clearly angry but couldn't show it was very satisfying for Ino.
Naruto and Sasuke said nothing. Only Sakura was fuming. The angrier she got, the more Ino wanted to tease her.
After receiving the official mission scroll, Ino looked at the new mission description. It was similar to the previous information. The priestess of the Land of Demons had discovered some strange ninja in the country who were probing for information about the seal. Worried about the safety of the sealed land, she had requested the five great ninja villages to help investigate and find the mastermind.
"The Land of Demons...?" Naruto, who feared nothing but ghosts, turned pale at the mere mention of the name, his forehead covered in cold sweat.
Sasuke muttered contemptuously, "Loser."
The priestess of the Land of Demons?
Ino thought for a moment. She seemed to have some memory of it. It should be a relatively major event in Naruto. Since it was just an investigation now, it meant that things were still in the early stages.
This country was on the far western side of the continent. Further west was a desert of civilization, a truly uninhabited ghost land. It was said that the land there was extremely barren, a one hundred percent life-forbidden zone.
Ino had no extra thoughts on this. The Land of Demons was the Land of Demons.
"What's the rank of this mission?" Sakura asked.
Ino relayed the village's decision: "This mission will definitely not be simple. The ninja world is full of undercurrents, so everyone be careful. The mission is temporarily designated as A-rank, and depending on the situation, it could be upgraded to S-rank at any time."
Hearing that it was an A-rank or S-rank mission, Naruto immediately threw his fear of ghosts to the back of his mind, seemingly believing that the more high-level missions he did, the closer he would be to the position of Hokage.
"Go back and pack your things. We'll meet at the village gate in thirty minutes," Ino gave the official order. The three members of Team 7 replied in unison.
They left the Land of Fire that night, taking the southern route into the Land of Rivers, followed by the allied nations of the Land of Wind, the Land of Birds, and the Land of Bears. Three days later, they arrived at the Land of Haze in the far west, a country said to have beautiful sunsets in the evening. Beyond this country was the Land of Demons.
Ino used the Rain Village's closed-door policy as an excuse to specifically avoid the territory of the faggot troupe, taking a bit of a detour.
Leaving the fertile lands of the Land of Fire, the farther west they went, the more remote it became. The population was sparse, the vegetation was sparse, and the living conditions were extremely harsh.
The roads were teeming with bandits and robbers. The local authorities were often in cahoots with them. Many times, it was hard to tell whether they were officials or bandits.
The Land of Haze not only had beautiful sunsets, but also endless bandits.
Ino's worldview was very mature. There was nothing to think about. If you don't mess with me, I'll pretend I don't know. If you dare to mess with me, I'll kill you.
Leaving the prosperous Land of Fire and heading west, the common people were living in hell. Seeing this cruel scene, Naruto and Sakura, who had not left the village much, were quite perplexed.
Sakura saved an old man who was almost eaten by a tiger. They rested for a night, and the next day they found that the old man had gone into the mountains again.
"Why did that old man go into the mountains again? Isn't he afraid of death? I saw there are farmlands at the foot of the mountain," Sakura really couldn't understand and couldn't help but ask.
Sasuke had no interest in this matter. Naruto, on the other hand, was listening with a face full of question marks. To round out their worldview, Ino explained a bit.
"Forehead, you only saw the danger. Yes, going into the mountains is dangerous, there are tigers in the mountains. But what about at the foot of the mountain? There are those tax-collecting officials. They believe that the officials are fiercer than the tigers, so they would rather go into the mountains."
Sakura was dumbfounded. "Then... then is there no way to help them?"
"There definitely is, it's just very troublesome. Come to my room tonight, and I'll explain it to you in detail..."
Ino and Team 7 traveled day and night, and finally, at the end of the vast Gobi Desert, they found the Land of Demons.
This was a small desert country isolated from the world.
As if they had traveled through time, the soldiers here were dressed in ancient attire, each holding a two-meter-high longbow, with a quiver on their back containing twelve feathered arrows.
The five great nations paid for the Land of Demons to guard the sealed land. On the streets here, one could see specialties from various countries, and occasionally some merchants, monks, and farmers.
Under the rule of the priestess, the living environment of the common people here was much better than in the "tyrannical government is fiercer than a tiger" Land of Haze.
Ino directly led Team 7 to see the leader of the Land of Demons, the legendary priestess with the power of prophecy.
"Her Highness the Priestess is the spiritual symbol of this country. Please maintain proper etiquette!" A young man who was a sort of attendant expressed his serious dissatisfaction with the attire of the four.
You are hired ninja, but you are all so young. Are these children from Konoha Village? Is this a ninja game?
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