Dropped into Naruto, Breaking the World Apart

A small white snake quietly slithered through Konoha, its eyes shining with a strangely human-like gleam. At the same time, in Kumogakure, another small white snake gazed distantly at a paradise shrouded in a blood-red mist.

In the northern base, Orochimaru was spying through his snake clones.

"Konoha and Kumogakure have both fallen... but Kumogakure is sealed off, so few know about its abnormality yet."

This sneaky way of gathering intel had a major problem: the strange rules contaminating Konoha would pass through the clones' memories back to the original body, which would then be summoned uncontrollably and become a "visitor" for some unknown reason.

The good news was that the "Orochimaru" in this world was completely dead. Jiraiya's mouth was tighter, so few knew Orochimaru was still alive. He sealed his memories promptly to avoid drawing "its" attention.

"What 'it' is," Orochimaru couldn't explain — maybe some overwhelmingly powerful being.

Its thoughts seemed chaotic, something Orochimaru could never fully grasp. Every time, he could only randomly guess a fragment of "its" nature.

Its mind was immature, like a child, constantly changing the rules at will.

In short, a whimsical, super-powerful entity was watching the ninja world. Whether it was strange rule rumors or the blood-mist paradise, they were all tricks to please "it."

—This was Orochimaru's conclusion based on the intel he had.

Curiosity aside, Orochimaru's greatest desire now was to run away. Immortality was his ultimate goal; he didn't want to die in this bizarre ninja world.

The original Orochimaru had died in the Land of Hot Water. The Hot Spring Village there appeared abnormal earlier than Konoha, and this abnormality wasn't as obvious as the rule rumors or blood-mist paradise. It silently infiltrated and contaminated people until they vanished.

Whenever he thought of the Hot Spring Village in the Land of Hot Water, Orochimaru froze, sensing a strong sense of unease, as if he had been ignoring something. He had felt this before with that handsome man, Ōnoki.

"My perception is off," Orochimaru muttered.

Perhaps it was a bug caused by reviving through the Heavenly Curse Seal, or maybe he had absorbed a bit of chakra from a Sage's child. Whatever it was, Orochimaru could faintly sense something wrong with his cognition.

For example, when thinking of the Land of Hot Water, his first instinct was that there was no danger there — it was the safest country in the ninja world.

Even though Orochimaru was an extremely cautious man who valued his life, whenever the Land of Hot Water was mentioned, he relaxed completely, instinctively believing it was absolutely safe.

He had to constantly remind himself, "Be careful of the Land of Hot Water," or else his vigilance would vanish within moments.

That strange feeling was something some people would never understand, no matter how much Orochimaru warned them.

Ignoring the issue avoided the discomfort but left him completely unguarded toward the Land of Hot Water. When going out, people would instinctively choose the "safe" route.

…

At this moment, the Hot Spring Village in the Land of Hot Water — a place that Orochimaru's name alone made others shudder — welcomed several unfamiliar faces.

Omoi and Karui, two disciples of the Raikage from Kumogakure, along with their captain Samui, were returning from a mission that happened to take them through the Hot Spring Village.

Originally, the Raikage himself was supposed to sneak out with them, but Samui had mercilessly refused.

"Don't joke around. The village's jinchūriki can't leave without permission. Our team can't take responsibility for that! The Raikage is a good friend of the jinchūriki and a perfect jinchūriki himself — he'd be let off lightly, but those who helped him sneak out would be punished."

Omoi's pitiful attempts were useless — Samui would never budge on this!

"I remember the hot spring business in the village used to be booming. Why is it so desolate now?" Omoi looked around but couldn't spot a single living thing.

Since entering the Land of Hot Water, they had traveled all day without encountering any towns. Finally reaching the Hot Spring Village, the scene was still this bleak.

It should have raised their guard, but they felt only mild surprise. How did the Hot Spring Village come to this?

"If no inns are open, let's just find a place to rest. I see quite a few empty houses," Karui suggested.

Samui said nothing but pointed ahead, "That hot spring inn looks like it has people coming and going."

"Hmm?" Karui looked over. "That's great."

They didn't carry much food, so if they couldn't resupply soon, they'd have to rely on ration pills — which tasted awful and had side effects if taken in excess.

Not a single living animal was around, so hunting was out of the question.

"Let's hurry up then." Karui strode ahead lightly, Samui close behind, and Omoi bringing up the rear. Despite being in foreign territory, the three appeared quite relaxed.

The inn wasn't far. Karui quickened his pace, and before long, they arrived outside the hot spring inn.

The place was silent, the door slightly ajar.

Peeking through the crack, Karui scanned inside.

"No one?"

"There is." Samui said firmly — she was sure she had seen someone enter or leave. She knocked on the door and called out,

"Is the owner here?"

Meow~

A long, drawn-out cat meow responded. Several kittens suddenly appeared from somewhere, gathering at the door and staring at Samui with wide eyes.

Samui wanted to pet them but the cute little cats dodged her hands.

At that moment, someone inside heard the noise and came out. They waved the cats away and eyed Samui's group with suspicion.

"May I ask who you are?"

Samui flashed her forehead protector. As a ninja from one of the Five Great Shinobi Villages, this was a very useful pass — especially from Kumogakure. Small villages dared not ignore or offend Kumogakure's ninjas, since they were notoriously unreasonable and hard to mess with.

"We're here to stay." Samui answered simply.

No sooner had she finished than the person's face lit up.

"Oh! Ninjas from Kumogakure! Welcome, welcome! Are you the ones assigned to the Hot Spring Village mission?"

"Ah???" Samui was confused.

The innkeeper opened the door wide and warmly welcomed them inside.

Samui's eyes flickered, her thoughts racing.

Had the Hot Spring Village sent for help from Kumogakure?

What exactly was happening in this village?

As the team leader, Samui kept silent, and Omoi and Karui did too — not wanting to interrupt her thoughts or hinder negotiations.

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Pls Drop some Power Stones

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