Thus, one month later, Tian Yin and Kimimaro arrived at the location marked with a circle on the map given by Orochimaru.
"Nice scenery."
Standing atop the mountain peak and looking down, there was a dense forest and a clear, bottom-visible river cutting through it, converging to form a lake. Some figures were going about their daily activities there, and in the slightly distant farmland, one could see wisps of cooking smoke.
If one looked further into the distance, they could see a vast expanse of white-stained land in the eastern sea, which was the direction of the Land of Iron.
And looking westward, among the continuous mountain ranges, a volcano stood out like a crane among chickens, venting its own fury—this was the Flame Mountain of the Land of Stone.
"So, which direction is your home?"
Haku, resting its head on Tian Yin's shoulder, looked left and right before finally pointing in a direction, indicating it was over there.
Taking out the map to compare, Tian Yin immediately felt a wave of discouragement.
Unless it's a particularly high-precision map, terrain and landforms are usually not depicted together.
The map given by Orochimaru only shows a river, then a location near the coast, with surrounding mountains marked.
From here, to reach that spot, they'd have to cross at least two mountains, and these two are cliffs facing their side.
[Completely removed from human settlements—that makes sense.]
The dwelling place of a sage, nothing wrong with that.
Tian Yin glanced back at Kimimaro, who nodded to signal no problem, indicating they should proceed according to the plan discussed that day.
[This Uncle Snake is really something, his mischievous nature is off the charts.]
Although Haku is not a snake that lives in Ryūchi Cave, its possession of extremely high intelligence alone is enough to determine it must use Natural Energy.
Is it really risk-free to go to the home of such a being?
If Kimimaro could think of this, he would surely understand Orochimaru's true meaning.
It was to prevent Tian Yin from proposing a split-up midway—such a high-risk action plan.
But it must be said that Orochimaru truly understands Tian Yin. If Kimimaro hadn't revealed that move that very day, Tian Yin might have tried to fool him with a Wood Clone midway.
After all, a Wood Clone won't show flaws unless it's damaged to a certain extent, and Kimimaro isn't a Sensing Ninja, so he couldn't possibly see through it.
So it really matches what that famous villain said.
"Admiration is the emotion furthest from understanding."
Kimimaro, who was climbing the cliff, paused and couldn't help but look up at Tian Yin, who had spoken these words.
At that moment, she was using her Wood Release to create countless footholds on the cliff. She had just been standing on a tree she had created, looking down at him as she spoke.
"What do you mean?" Kimimaro continued climbing, never even considering using Tian Yin's footholds, even though it would have been much easier and more convenient.
"You see Uncle Snake not as a person, but as..."
[An object of worship, a god.]
The latter half of the sentence was swallowed, unspoken, because Kimimaro's Bone Spikes had already arrived.
He was always like this. Once he encountered someone who denied Orochimaru or Orochimaru's enemies, his emotions would become somewhat uncontrollable.
He even forgot why he refused to use the footholds Tian Yin had created.
Haku poked its head out from Tian Yin's embrace, its green vertical pupils blinking in confusion.
In its perception, Tian Yin's aura wasn't much stronger than Kimimaro's, so why did Kimimaro instantly lose?
Looking at Kimimaro, who was already entangled by trees, with golden chains looming menacingly on the outside.
For the first time, Haku understood that the outcome of a battle cannot be judged by aura alone.
"Now you've lost. You can't even complete the task Orochimaru entrusted to you."
Tian Yin said with an amused expression while simultaneously releasing Kimimaro.
Haku retreated back into Tian Yin's embrace, thinking to itself that humans are truly puzzling. Shouldn't she have killed Kimimaro just then? It better not lead to another fight later.
Either of them could easily slice it to pieces.
"What is your real goal?"
Kimimaro had regained his composure. In truth, if Tian Yin had spoken her mind openly or changed the order of her words, he wouldn't have reacted so aggressively.
What Tian Yin said wasn't wrong. That was indeed how he saw Orochimaru.
To someone who had found no meaning, the one who gave him purpose was not a god, then what was?
Kimimaro's feelings toward Orochimaru were no longer simple gratitude; they had become his very reason for living.
Kimimaro didn't see any problem with this. So why did his emotions fluctuate so violently?
However, after this little incident, Kimimaro also felt a sense of resignation.
As Tian Yin said, this means you've effectively failed.
Orochimaru's specific instructions and the task he was supposed to complete—neither was done. All because of a momentary emotional outburst, he'd failed.
How could Kimimaro not feel a shame so profound it made him want to disembowel himself?
So Kimimaro chose to ask directly.
[Got him]
"First, let's escort this child home. Our primary profession is being Ninjas. Ninjas live by completing missions. After that, I'll tell you."
"Of course, you can follow the entire way. I won't lay a hand on you. Just return to the state we were in when we used to work on missions together."
After saying this, Tian Yin pointed to the trees growing on the cliff and began ascending with focused speed.
Kimimaro saw this and sighed, then obediently followed.
"That person's aura has weakened, as if he's lost the will to fight. Tian Yin, you're really amazing. You have no idea, when I saw him in the lab, he gave off such a cold, ruthless vibe."
Haku, looking back at Kimimaro who was following at a distance, whispered into Tian Yin's ear.
As it spoke, it stealthily flicked its tongue against Tian Yin's ear.
It seemed to still be craving it.
Over the past month, Tian Yin would occasionally let it have a taste of blood to satisfy the urge, but she never let it actually bite her.
What surprised Tian Yin was that Haku was quite well-behaved. It never even thought about trying to sneak a bite.
"He was never a cold person to begin with. It's just that he devoted himself entirely to serving that man, which made him appear that way."
Tian Yin's words made Haku tilt its head, clearly still not understanding.
But soon, Haku began looking around more and more frequently. It seemed its home was very close now.
Tian Yin deliberately slowed her pace, giving Haku more time to orient itself.
In such a remote place, unless there were natural disasters like landslides, the surroundings shouldn't have changed much.
Why would it take so long to find its own home? Even if it hadn't been back in a while.
So Tian Yin also started looking around, checking if there were any signs of major natural disasters.
But clearly, Tian Yin lacked experience in this area. She stared for a while but couldn't spot anything unusual.
"Haku, are the others in your clan like you, possessing Chakra?"
Tian Yin intended to use Kagura Minds Eye. After receiving a nod from Haku, who had temporarily lost its bearings, her vision transformed into a dark expanse.
Within the perception range of several dozen kilometers, she immediately detected an anomaly.
With a few Body Flickers, Tian Yin arrived at a scene of chaos.
"That is!"
Her pupils involuntarily contracted. She silently vowed that if she ever took on another dangerous mission, she would definitely hide it from Momohime.
This time, the risk of death was real.
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