After leaving the forgotten, long-abandoned ruins, the atmosphere among the three did not turn somber.
A grave was a final resting place. Since there was now a place to return to, it could hardly be called a sad thing. At most, it was just a small interlude on this journey.
The Temple of Fire lay in the northeastern part of the Land of Fire, near the Land of Woods and the Land of Hot Water. It was truly situated in border territory.
In other words, to reach it from the Land of Rivers—located on the Land of Fire's southwestern border—meant crossing almost the entire heartland of the Land of Fire.
Even traveling at full speed, such a distance was not something a ninja could easily cover in a short time. Not to mention that even ninja couldn't maintain a straight-line, non-stop, maximum-efficiency pace without food or rest—and Konoha was directly along the route.
What were you, a foreign ninja, planning to do by making a grand, high-speed dash through the Land of Fire?
Moreover, Hii Kōri was currently disguised as a monk, so his pace naturally had to match that of an ordinary person.
A "guard" mission, after all, required moving at the employer's pace.
But clearly, Hii Kōri was in no hurry whatsoever.
In truth, this trip had no particularly defined purpose to begin with, nor any time constraints.
The Temple of Fire visit was merely a pretext. At its core, this was an opportunity to take Pakura and Karura out for relaxation, to enjoy the beautiful autumn season that was so hard to come by in the Land of Wind.
A ninja worked to make money. And money was meant to enable a better life. If one became consumed by bloody slaughter, that was putting the cart before the horse.
Of course, of course, there was also the matter of Tsunade to address. Though he could still sense that his genjutsu remained untouched, he couldn't say whether now was the right time to act.
This journey would give him a chance to visit Konoha and gather intelligence.
And then there was the matter of adjusting his own mental state.
In the final moments of his battle against Hii Kao—his son from the future—he had forcibly expanded his domain using the barrier created by the boy's Hiruko Kage Myōjin device.
Though the barrier had collapsed instantly under the weight of his inner world, as the master of that innate domain, Hii Kōri had been able to confirm—even in that fleeting moment—that his inner world had deviated somewhat from its state in his previous life.
Perhaps this was why the jujutsu that should have come to him naturally still showed no sign of manifesting.
But this deviation was not necessarily a bad thing. In fact, it was within his expectations. After all, his current mental state, his relationships, even his goals, ideals, and ambitions were vastly different from his previous life.
New experiences gave rise to new personality traits, and naturally, the inner world would shift accordingly.
Inner world, heart… if one is swayed by such superficial things, one loses sight of the essence.
In truth, the inner world was merely a "highest-weighted" aspect—ultimately providing only a limited perspective.
What he needed now was to calm the agitation that had built up from the constant succession of research projects, and re-examine his own heart.
During this relatively peaceful journey, he was taking the opportunity to settle his spirit—which had been running at high speed for so long due to the relentless demands of war, research, and planning—and had grown somewhat restless.
If he couldn't quiet those "noises," he wouldn't be able to accurately examine his own heart.
Hii Kōri's personal cultivation system already incorporated many elements of Shugendō, so it was only natural that during this crisp autumn season, while crossing the Land of Fire, he resumed his old practices. He deliberately took detours to climb and explore several of the Land of Fire's most renowned sacred mountains.
As was not widely known, Shugendō was a hybrid, quasi-religious tradition that fused Buddhism, ancient Shintō, and primitive mountain worship.
Later, it further absorbed elements of Esoteric Buddhism, Zen Buddhism, Confucianism, Taoist yin-yang and Five Elements theory, traditional Chinese medicine, martial arts, Indian yoga, Korean shamanism, and numerous other traditions.
But despite absorbing so many influences, the foundation of Shugendō remained Buddhist doctrine and primitive mountain worship.
The latter was intimately connected to the mountain-dwelling Yamabushi's beliefs in mountain deities, while the former leaned more toward "applied theory" than "faith" itself.
Unlike conventional Buddhist traditions, Shugendō's aim was less about pursuing transcendence or enlightenment, and more about "becoming stronger."
Spiritual training involved chanting sutras in extreme environments—beneath waterfall cascades, through sleepless nights, in thick smoke mixed with wasabi, before bonfires followed by walking barefoot across the embers.
Physical training, meanwhile, was most famously characterized by continuous climbing and living on "sacred mountains" for a month, during which one would constantly blow an enormous conch horn.
It sounded like something out of a Demon Slayer Hashira Training arc, but this was the daily life of Shugendō's Yamabushi.
Even in an ordinary world, these ascetics pushed themselves to such extremes. In a world with supernatural powers, the practice was even more intense.
It was often said that in the mountains, one could experience a purity distinct from the mundane world.
In his previous life's world, this saying had been the opposite—rather than sacred peaks, the "suicide hotspots" known as cursed mountains tended to breed particularly troublesome cursed spirits.
In the world of Naruto, however, this notion did have some theoretical basis.
High mountains—especially sacred peaks associated with various legends—were environments rich in natural energy.
Even those without particular aptitude could feel a sense of healing in such places. For Hii Kōri—as a contractor of the Dragon Veins—the effect was even more pronounced.
Pakura and Karura, while not fully grasping the subtleties, were happy to accompany him.
During this time, Hii Kōri also visited Konoha using the identity of "a monk who had come from the great wind of the western land to study at the Temple of Fire."
This served two purposes: first, to file the necessary paperwork to prevent Konoha ninja from causing trouble later and disturbing their journey; second, to gather intelligence and plant sleeper agents.
"Araya Shūren… what a gloomy-sounding name."
Watching Hii Kōri—sedge hat removed, revealing the face of a middle-aged monk, escorted by two ninja—walk toward the Hokage Building, the Konoha gate guard made a rather awkward remark.
As for what made them nervous, it was naturally Pakura and Karura, who remained outside the gates under the watch of several Anbu.
The latter was unknown to them, but the former—the "Scorch Release ninja of Sunagakure"—had a fairly formidable reputation in Konoha.
For such a skilled fighter to be acting as a guard… just who was this monk?
"You shouldn't speak ill of an employer…"
Hearing the guard's comment, Pakura struggled to keep a straight face. However biased she might be, she couldn't deny that Hii Kōri in his current disguise did indeed exude an extraordinarily gloomy atmosphere.
What made it even harder for her to keep her composure, though, was the fact that Hii Kōri had so easily infiltrated Konoha's headquarters using such methods.
What the hell?! Was Konoha's security really this lax?
Actually, upon reflection, it made sense.
With his Kagura Mind's Eye sealed away, even a Byakugan or Sharingan would be hard-pressed to detect his true chakra fluctuations. As an essential technique of the Uzumaki clan, this method was not easily countered.
If it weren't so effective, how could Uzushiogakure—attacked by four ninja villages simultaneously—have produced refugees scattered across the ninja world?
Though some, like Hii Kōri's original parents, had left Uzushiogakure long before, such cases were ultimately rare.
And the official documents approved by the Land of Wind's daimyō government were the most solid proof possible—
No one could claim they were forgeries, after all, these documents had been written using blank forms that the daimyō's office had "accidentally" left unsecured, with "officially designated" ink.
And where had Hii Kōri acquired such things?
Sorry, but having money really made you the boss.
Even Pakura's presence served as further corroboration, as the gate guards' reactions demonstrated.
Moreover, his actions were entirely reasonable and proper. It was perfectly normal for a foreign monk to hire local ninja as guards—everyone knew about the Land of Wind's environment. The guards weren't necessarily for bandits; they were mainly for the weather.
And to avoid misunderstandings and conflict, he had not only come to file paperwork but also planned to hire two Konoha ninja as well.
What a considerate foreign monk.
Hii Kōri had no intention of making any moves at this time. While he did plan to capture some Konoha ninja as experimental subjects, that was a matter for the "return trip."
After confirming that Tsunade had indeed left Konoha, he performed no further unnecessary operations.
More actions, more mistakes; fewer actions, fewer mistakes.
Uzumaki Kushina was not yet grown, but Uzumaki Mito was still alive. If anyone—a figure of her caliber, practically a founder of the Uzumaki clan—might sense something when he used chakra…
Absolutely possible. Easily possible.
So he simply read a wave of "memories" from Konoha's environment in one go and saved them for later review.
Come on. With the advantage of preparation, there was no way Hii Kōri was going to behave himself and do nothing.
If you don't lose, that means I've lost. That was the philosophy.
Perhaps due to the Temple of Fire's standing in the Land of Fire, the mission request went quite smoothly. Within just over ten minutes, two chūnin—with faces that looked very much of the Land of Fire—accompanied Hii Kōri out of Konoha's gates.
After leaving Konoha's territory and traveling several more days, once he confirmed no Anbu were following, Hii Kōri waited no longer. During a rest stop, he inserted spirit-thread nerves into the backs of the two Konoha chūnin.
Their spines and brains were taken over in an instant. A vast surge of Yin Release chakra drowned their consciousness like a tidal wave. Their bodies stiffened slightly, their eyes went vacant for a moment, then "returned to normal."
"Mm… their physical strength is pretty weak…" "Good enough. They're just bodies for infiltration anyway."
But this was only "normal" from Hii Kōri's perspective.
At this moment, the consciousnesses of these two Konoha ninja had been overlaid with Hii Kōri's "divided pseudo-personalities."
Inspired by the future Rashōmon and his ability to continuously divide node consciousness, this seemed to be something Hii Kōri—with his capacity for parallel thinking—could also achieve.
But it was still a rough, unoptimized technique. Side effects and such would require further observation.
This was precisely why Hii Kōri had hired two Konoha ninja.
If it failed, he would take them back as experimental subjects. If it succeeded, he would leave them in Konoha as sleepers. Either way, the money wouldn't be wasted.
Frugality—a true Sunagakure virtue.
Time slipped away quietly during their wandering. The brilliant autumn gradually gave way to the chill of early winter. When the first light snowflakes silently fell upon Hii Kōri's sedge hat, their group finally arrived at the region where the Temple of Fire was located.
Watching the scattered snowflakes falling from the sky, Hii Kōri suddenly recalled the travel guide Rashōmon had given him.
"Come to think of it, this season is perfect for hot springs."
He turned to Pakura and Karura, his voice beneath the hat carrying a lightness that seemed somewhat incongruous with his disguised tone.
"Should we visit the Land of Hot Water afterward? Their hot springs are world-famous. I imagine they live up to the reputation."
"That sounds wonderful."
Though they had lived most of their lives in the dry, scorching desert, the months of travel had given Pakura and Karura ample exposure to customs and scenery beyond the Land of Wind. Hot springs held a great deal of appeal for them.
"Then it's settled."
Seeing his lovers readily agree, Hii Kōri nodded. "I imagine you two aren't particularly interested in the temple itself. You can rest at the inn. I'll go alone."
With the arrangements made, "Araya Shūren" strode forward with steady steps, alone, toward the grand temple.
Truth be told, from his perspective, the temple's architecture was somewhat discordant. The two massive statues flanking the entrance—whatever they were supposed to be, looking more like Fūjin and Raijin than Vajra guardians—carried a distinctly off-putting flavor.
Not that Shugendō itself wasn't off-putting; he wasn't really in a position to judge others. Besides, this was another world.
Knocking on the gate and announcing his purpose, "Araya Shūren" was led inside by a guiding monk.
Compared to the gate, the interior of the Temple of Fire was much more proper. The air was a mix of faint incense and the crisp mountain cold. The sound of sutra chanting mingled with the daily training noises of warrior monks—or rather, shinobi monks—creating an atmosphere that was both solemn and reverent, different from what he knew yet equally dignified.
"This should be worth looking forward to…"
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