Whoosh... whoosh whoosh...
The sound of wind was exceptionally clear in the empty, deathly silence and darkness.
The Hidden Cloud shinobi had now entered what the scroll called "the Abyss." They had initially thought the word "Abyss" was an exaggeration, but as they ventured inside, they realized the two words truly fit this place perfectly.
Its shape itself resembled a fissure, as if the earth had been torn apart directly. Looking down from the ground, they could only see an incredibly deep,漆黑色 (jet-black) darkness that even their lights couldn't penetrate. It was a darkness that seemed to swallow even light itself.
But everyone, including Yugito Nii, still stepped inside, channeling chakra to their feet to adhere to the rock wall—a skill any shinobi could master.
"How far have we gone?"
Yugito Nii led the way, her cat-like eyes gleaming in the darkness as she spoke. Behind her, over a dozen elite Hidden Cloud shinobi followed closely, their breathing heavy under their masks. The lamps in their hands were the only source of light in this boundless darkness. The dim, yellowish glow could only illuminate a few feet ahead, while the deeper darkness greedily swallowed the edges of the light.
"Lady Yugito, we're almost a thousand meters deep."
A shinobi responsible for surveying whispered, his voice echoing in the narrow space, carrying a hint of imperceptible tension. They had been descending for a long time into this seemingly endless abyss. The air grew thinner, carrying an indescribable stench—a mix of rust and dust, of decay. Above them, the impossibly high sky was lost in darkness, and on either side, the damp, rough rock walls felt like the intestines of a giant beast.
"Mm, according to the Raikage-sama's estimated depth, we should be close."
Yugito didn't turn back, merely nodding slightly.
The group cautiously pushed forward in the absolute darkness. The slippery footing made every step require extreme care. All they could see was a deathly still darkness, with only their light beams guiding their path. Thinking of how relaxed they were when they first entered, they couldn't help but break into a cold sweat. They hadn't known it was this deep before coming. At this height, even a shinobi wouldn't survive a fall.
Just then, Yugito Nii's cat-like eyes suddenly narrowed. She could feel the Two-Tails' chakra within her faintly stirring. It wasn't a warning; it was more like an instinctive fear?
"Stop." Yugito raised her hand, her voice calm and clear.
The team instantly froze, all light sources converging forward. The light beams pierced the darkness but seemed to hit a wall. They had finally reached the deepest part of the abyss.
Clatter... clatter...
Releasing their feet from the rock wall, after a brief descent, the group landed on solid ground. No longer a narrow fissure, the space before them suddenly opened up and finally became bright.
"Wha—what is that?" a young Hidden Cloud shinobi blurted out in a low gasp.
The beams from their searchlights stretched forward, outlining the suffocating silhouette of a colossal shadow before them. The end of the abyss seemed to have been artificially carved into a massive space. A vast, unimaginably huge underground palace quietly lay dormant in the darkness.
"Maintain vigilance."
Yugito's voice was low and grave, breaking the silence brought by the underground palace. "It seems this is the objective of our mission."
Saying this, she took the lead and stepped forward. The Hidden Cloud shinobi behind her followed closely, silently tightening their grips on their weapons.
The overall structure of the underground palace was hard to discern at a glance. At least the walls before them seemed boundless, extending into the darkness where light couldn't reach. As they drew closer, they could clearly see the surface of the underground palace.
The main body of this underground palace seemed to be constructed from an unrecognizable, deep-colored colossal stone. Its surface was covered with dimly glowing moss and some kind of hard, black shell resembling barnacles. The surface of the giant stone was covered with marks of corrosion from the river of time, rugged and ancient, exuding an aura of a primordial era. Their first impression was that it had been lying here for countless times longer than the history of the Five Great Nations.
Most striking was a massive doorway directly facing them.
"Is this the 'man-eating' door Raikage-sama spoke of?"
The light from their hands flickered on the huge, silent doorway, like tiny fireflies uneasily swaying in the deathly darkness. The tightly shut doorway was embedded in the center of the underground palace's front. It was over a hundred meters high, and its material was neither entirely stone nor gold, presenting a somber bronze hue. Patches of verdigris were visible on the door, carved with colossal and twisted totems whose details were hard to discern in the dim light. They could only feel an overwhelming, heart-stopping sense of oppression, making the Hidden Cloud shinobi's scalps tingle even without megalophobia.
"..."
Standing before that doorway, Yugito Nii looked at the stone tablet before her, covered in writing she couldn't understand. However, according to the scroll sent by Raikage-sama, the village should have partially deciphered it, knowing the origin and secret of this underground palace.
Yugito frowned and looked up at the dark stains on the door. She could clearly feel her Two-Tails, within her, becoming unusually active again. But it wasn't excitement; it was more like a wildcat instinctively arching its back and letting out a silent growl when facing an unknown threat.
The mission's objective was to open this door, but at this moment, she had no idea how to proceed. Her feline instincts were screaming warnings; she absolutely could not touch this door easily, and the scroll had also sternly warned...
As she pondered.
As if sensing something, Yugito's cat-like eyes flickered slightly, glancing towards the distant darkness behind her. "Let's check the surroundings for other entrances," she said.
Hearing this, the Hidden Cloud shinobi were startled for a moment, but quickly reacted, following Yugito into the darkness on the left.
Shortly after they left, a figure silently approached. It wore a Hidden Cloud rogue-nin headband, clearly a bounty hunter.
"Even the Two-Tails Jinchuriki is here, plus the reward from Iwagakure's Onoki... it seems we've found a big fish this time."
The Hidden Cloud rogue-nin's eyes showed a flicker of thought, but when he looked up at the doorway before him, the contemplation in his eyes turned into greed. Driven by extreme tension and a strange, inexplicable impulse, he took a step forward and, as if possessed, stretched out his hand.
Tap...
His fingertip, with a slight tremor, gently touched the surface of the door, which was as cold as ice. He shivered instinctively. Simultaneously, his somewhat muddled brain instantly cleared, realizing he had apparently done something foolish, and tried to pull his hand away.
But it was too late.
Hum!
An extremely faint but bone-chilling hum resonated, as if from the very material of the door. The door suddenly lit up with a mesmerizing, deep blue ghostly glow. An incredibly powerful suction force directly gripped his palm.
"Wh-what is this?! This door is absorbing my chakra?!"
The Hidden Cloud rogue-nin's chakra was violently torn from his body as if by an invisible force, beginning to gush out wildly from all his orifices and even the pores across his entire body. The deep blue ghostly glow on the door seemed to grow brighter.
However, the entire process of chakra absorption was breathtakingly fast. The chakra in his body poured out like a flood through an open gate, completely drained and sucked dry in just a few seconds.
"Damn it! Damn it! What the hell is this thing?!"
The Hidden Cloud rogue-nin screamed in agony and struggled continuously, but his chakra quickly depleted, leaving him powerless. Yet, this was only the beginning. As if sensing his chakra had run dry, the deep blue ghostly glow on the door suddenly extinguished, but new, even more terrifying changes immediately followed.
"No! No, no!!"
Under his terrified gaze, the flesh beneath his skin shriveled at a visible rate, dissolving as if corroded by strong acid!
"Ah!! Help..."
A short, almost indistinguishable, terrified, piercing scream squeezed from his twisted throat, managing only a broken syllable before abruptly cutting off.
Pfft!
Accompanied by a faint, teeth-grinding sound of tearing flesh, his body collapsed like a punctured air bladder! In less than two breaths, skin clung to withered bones, and his eyeballs dried into two grayish-white glass beads. With a faint gust of wind, the bones and skin, completely devoid of all flesh, that had been clinging to the cold doorway, turned into fine powder and scattered like dust.
"..."
In the distance, whether it was Yugito Nii and the Hidden Cloud shinobi or the several figures silently observing from the shadows, all fell into a deathly silence! Absolute silence enveloped everyone. Every person who witnessed this scene felt their blood freeze in that moment. A chilling dread, mixed with unspeakable fear, crawled up everyone's spine to their very heads.
A few seconds ago, he was a living shinobi. Now, he was just another stain on the door, looking like two horrifying, twisted frescoes. The entire process was swift, eerie, and thorough; not even a single drop of blood flowed, because even the flesh and blood were plundered completely! That massive door stood silently, exuding a wordless terror, growing clearer in the air.
"What exactly is that thing..."
The murmured words from the Hidden Cloud shinobi behind Yugito were filled with uncontrollable trembling and fear. Yugito's cat-like eyes had also narrowed to slits, staring fixedly at the giant door that had swallowed a life. The Two-Tails within her let out an unprecedentedly low growl.
Matatabi, the Two-Tails, possessed unique flames that could scorch souls, allowing Yugito to clearly sense that the human wasn't just drained of flesh and blood; even his soul after death was invisibly siphoned away.
However, amidst her terror, Yugito keenly detected some changes.
"That door..."
Her voice was hoarse and faint as she spoke, "Did it open just a little?"
I only share the most exquisite and beautiful novels. Don't forget to check out my other novels!
p@treon DaoistWujinzi