Land of Hot Water.
Gisei Shiraishi checked into a hot spring inn.
Now was not a good time to go to the Land of Lightning; he had to wait for the situation to develop further.
Gisei was not in a hurry, so he decided to rest for a while. He would set off for the Land of Lightning when news of the war between the Hidden Stone and the Hidden Cloud arrived.
Soaking in the hot spring, Gisei comfortably closed his eyes, enjoying the leisure time.
After soaking for a full four hours, Gisei returned to his room.
Standing in front of the window, Gisei opened a map and studied it carefully.
His purpose for coming to the Land of Hot Water was naturally not that simple. This time, his target was the Chinoike clan living in Hell Valley.
In the original story, only two members of the Chinoike clan were left in the end, but according to his intelligence, the Chinoike clan had not yet been wiped out by En Oyashiro.
He was preparing to go to Hell Valley to observe this kekkei genkai clan whose dōjutsu was said to be comparable to the Uchiha's Sharingan.
He wanted to see if there were any suitable experts among them; of course, En Oyashiro was his main target.
This arms dealer from the original story was not as simple as he appeared on the surface.
To be able to kill the entire Chinoike clan, En Oyashiro undoubtedly had at least the strength of an elite jōnin.
He just didn't know what the current En Oyashiro looked like.
The timeline in the original story was very confusing, and he couldn't figure out the current situation of the Chinoike clan.
After resting for a day, Gisei headed for Hell Valley.
At the entrance, he discovered ninjas from the Uchiha clan.
Gisei frowned, somewhat puzzled.
In the original story, the Chinoike clan had been exiled here by the Land of Lightning back in the Warring States Period, and the Uchiha clan was in charge of guarding them.
But so many years had passed—why was the Uchiha clan still guarding the Chinoike clan?
The Uchiha now belonged to Konoha, so there was no reason to continue being employed by the Land of Lightning.
Could it be that the Land of Lightning has always been in contact with the Uchiha?
Unable to figure it out, Gisei quietly observed the Uchiha ninjas in charge of guarding.
There were not many of them, only two squads.
Gisei did not intend to alert these people, using the Ninja Art: Butterfly Wings (Ninpo: Chō no Tsubasa) to enter Hell Valley from the sky.
As soon as he landed, a strong smell of sulfur hit his nostrils.
A small village appeared in Gisei's eyes.
Gisei frowned as he observed the environment of Hell Valley.
Brown rocks covered the valley floor, and several pools of water were still bubbling violently.
There were also some bird feathers by the edge of the pools, with scattered bird bones nearby.
Gisei sighed softly. This place looked like something straight out of the apocalypse.
The Chinoike clan had been living in this hellhole for decades?
Perhaps he could pack up the entire Chinoike clan and take them away...
Thinking of this, Gisei quickly shook his head. Pity was not something he could afford, not to mention that the suffering of others had nothing to do with him. What he needed were experts, not a group of burdens.
One by one, butterflies flew out from his body, spreading to every corner of Hell Valley, secretly monitoring the Chinoike clan.
After doing all this, Gisei infiltrated underground to start gathering intelligence.
A day later, Gisei's expression became strange. He could feel that the summoning butterflies he had released were constantly disappearing.
Through the shared vision of the multi-eyed butterfly, he discovered that the members of the Chinoike clan were catching his butterflies everywhere.
I've been discovered?
When Gisei saw those people catch the butterflies and put them directly into their mouths, his stomach immediately churned.
Eating butterflies...
I know you guys are miserable, but surely you aren't so miserable that you won't even spare a butterfly, right?
Are you fucking serious?
Just as he recalled the summoning butterflies that had not yet been eaten, Gisei suddenly felt a prickling sensation on his back.
This feeling...
It seems I've been exposed.
Only then did Gisei remember how abnormal it was for butterflies to appear in Hell Valley.
Five minutes later, two figures appeared where Gisei was hiding.
One of them, with blood-red eyes, looked around and then fixed his gaze on the ground.
"Come out."
Gisei emerged from the ground and began to size up the two scrawny Chinoike clansmen before him.
Standing in front was an old man with graying hair, while the person behind him looked very familiar.
It was the future En Oyashiro, the man who would slaughter the entire Chinoike clan.
So young... he looks at most a year or two older than me.
Not only was Gisei observing them, but the old man and En Oyashiro were also sizing him up.
After half a minute, the old man spoke: "Are you from the Butterfly User clan?"
Did he figure out my identity through the butterflies?
This old man is very knowledgeable.
Gisei nodded. "That's right. Gisei Shiraishi, the current head of the Butterfly User clan."
Clan head?
The old man was surprised. "To be the clan head at such a young age... that's remarkable."
"There are various reasons for that. By the way, aren't you going to make a move?"
No matter how you looked at it, he was a suspicious person. It was very strange that these two had no intention of attacking.
"Idiot, they already made a move. Didn't you notice?"
Shiro said in exasperation inside his mind, "I've already released you from the genjutsu. By the way, try to use a clone for this kind of thing in the future, okay!"
Already caught in a genjutsu?
Gisei, who hadn't noticed at all, awkwardly touched his nose. "You guys should stop using genjutsu on me. It's basically useless."
This was the truth. Although Gisei was not very proficient in casting genjutsu, trying to control him with it was a fool's dream.
Not only could Shiro inside his body help him break genjutsu, but ever since the incident with Meitaku Uchiha, he had added as many as a hundred layers of genjutsu defense barriers in his mind.
The reason he hadn't noticed was probably because the defense barriers had taken effect automatically.
The old man looked at him quietly for a while, then suddenly extended his hand. "The current head of the Chinoike clan, Ryoki Oyashiro. A pleasure to meet you."
After shaking hands with Ryoki, Gisei looked at En.
En also extended his hand. "En Oyashiro. A pleasure to meet you."
After shaking hands with him as well, Gisei began to talk with them.
After the conversation, Gisei fell into deep thought.
The Chinoike clan had no idea what had happened in the outside world until now; they thought it was still the Warring States Period.
When Gisei told them about the current structure of the ninja world, the expressions on their faces were quite something to behold.
"The Uchiha and Senju joined forces to establish Konoha? And other countries also have their own hidden villages?"
Gisei nodded. "That's right, I'm a Konoha ninja."
Hearing Gisei say he was a Konoha ninja, a dangerous gleam flashed in En's eyes. "That is to say, you and the Uchiha belong to the same village. So how did you appear here?"
"I flew in from the sky."
"I'm asking why you came here."
This guy is not easy to fool!
Speaking of which, since I've already been discovered, the idea of observing them quietly is ruined anyway.
I might as well just state my intentions and see how they react.