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"We need to head down from here and walk quite a distance." Gerotora said, "But once we reach the underground river, there’s no path left. I can swim across, but how are you guys getting through?"

"I have a boat," Naruto replied bluntly.

"You even have that?!" Gerotora was stunned, "Then I also..."

The members of Team 3 were not surprised by this. They had long known that Naruto had a special sealing scroll that stored all sorts of bizarre items.

Last time, when eating roasted bird became too hot, the guy just pulled out a generator and an electric fan, which was utterly extravagant.

"Let's go." Naruto glanced at everyone without saying much more.

With Jiraiya’s life or death uncertain, he wasn’t in the mood for jokes. His brows remained faintly furrowed along the way, recalling details and pondering all possibilities.

He knew Jiraiya wasn’t that easy to kill, but remembering how Jiraiya met his end in the original work still left him worried. After all, this damned world placed way too much emphasis on fate.

However, the moment he descended into the valley, Naruto caught a glimpse of Neji’s calm face, and couldn't help feeling a little relieved, ‘Well, fate wasn’t unchangeable after all.’

The cracks in the deep valley were steep, and the group carefully climbed down, looking like tiny insects inching along the cliffside in the shadow of the sun.

"It's so high!" Lee exclaimed as he glanced downward.

"Don't look down, it’ll make you dizzy." Tenten’s palms were pressed against the rock wall and beads of sweat oozing from her forehead, but she still turned around to remind Lee.

"Got it!" Lee pulled himself together and continued downward.

Neji and Naruto moved steadily, as calm as ever, but slowed their pace to match Tenten’s stamina. After all, team missions weren’t about rushing, and haste often led to failure.

Jiraiya’s disappearance was too strange. He was quite powerful, and his methods of saving his life were so numerous that it was dizzying. How could such a person just vanish?

Now that they were getting closer to the truth, Naruto could only suppress his impatience and push forward. No matter how powerful he was, going alone didn’t guarantee success. This wasn’t just about strength, it was about letting professionals do their job.

He now needs the cooperation of his teammates, so that the chances of success will be greater.

After a while, the group reached the bottom of the valley without incident, though not without effort. The light in the cave was dim, and Gerotora had difficulty identifying the direction.

"Go a little further and we’ll find the underground river." Gerotora said, its voice echoing eerily, "The road here is a little complicated, so stick close to me."

After walking for a while, the sound of rushing water reached their ears. A few more steps and they saw a massive pool with a faintly visible passage beyond it.

The air in the cave was a little humid, so Naruto unfolded a boat, and they all climbed aboard.

Navigating through the winding river was a challenge, as some parts were so narrow the boat barely squeezed through.

The entrance looked like a giant washing machine drum, forcing them to lie flat on the boat to pass through.

Lee, who was squashed at the bottom, couldn’t help but ask, "Are we going to take this route when we return?"

"Of course not, there are other exits." Tenten replied, her body pressed against the boat’s side to avoid scraping against the rock walls.

"Hold on tight, the next drop is very steep!" Gerotora shouted, and quickly hid under Naruto, clutching Lee’s clothes tightly with a look of fear on his face.

"Ah! Who’s pulling my pants?!" Lee cried out.

Darkness engulfed them, but the cold, damp air was unmistakable. The boat shot down a massive circular tunnel at high speed, like a water slide in an amusement park.

Despite the chaos, no one really screamed. The water’s surface was eerily quiet… until there was a dull plop as the boat hit calmer waters.

"Safe!" Tenten sat up, patting her chest in relief as she glanced around, "Why would Jiraiya-sama come to a place like this?"

"Yeah, how’d he even get in?" Lee scratched his head, obviously still in shock from what he had just experienced.

"He must have entered from some other place. This one was just something Gerotora found." Naruto responded, then looked at the surrounding rock walls.

After coming out of the passage, the water becomes wider.

"The rock wall is very thick, so it’s hard to gauge our current position." Neji remarked, "We’re likely deeper underground. We should move forward a little bit first."

"This place is tricky,” Naruto muttered, and asked, “Did any of you hear something strange earlier?”

"No." Tenten and Lee shook their heads in unison.

The boat drifted slowly across the water's surface as the surroundings fell into silence. Everyone's gaze settled on Neji, who furrowed his brows. Veins bulged around his eyes as he activated his Byakugan.

"It might be underwater …" Neji glanced down and his face suddenly changed.

"What's wrong?" Tenten noticed Neji’s abnormal expression and couldn’t help but ask.

"There are corpses all over the bottom." Neji replied, "I can’t see them clearly since at the bottom. There are animal remains and human skeletons. There also seems to be... a door."

"Door?"

"I'm not sure either. It could be a Genjutsu. Anyway, don't look down." Neji warned with tense tone, "Everyone, be careful. There’s something off about this place."

"Why the hell did that Pervy Sage come to this damn place?" Naruto, who had been quiet most of the way, finally snapped and started cursing under his breath.

"I've told him to stop believing in that 'Child of Prophecy’ crap... And now look… always poking around weird places. Sooner or later, it was bound to get him in trouble."

Letting out that rant eased Naruto a bit, but the boat kept moving forward. But no matter how much he cursed, he still had to find Jiraiya. He was afraid that Jiraiya might stumble into the Otsutsuki and end up in a disaster.

In addition, Shinigami and Jashin in this world seemed real enough. The Uzumaki Clan also seems to be guarding some secret they took to their graves.

There are too many gods worshipped in the Land of Whirlpools, and the abandoned Uzumaki Clan’s shrine alone housed twenty-seven gods. Even a random mask taken from it still retained power.

What irked Naruto was that he has a god’s-eye view of things, but Jiraiya didn’t. So if Jiraiya accidentally unearthed some crucial intel and died suddenly... that would be the end of it.

After all, the work as an investigator is very dangerous.

‘If you’re looking for the Child of Prophecy, just find people like you’re supposed to… why the hell come to a place like this? Are you digging tunnels for fun or something?’

Drifting along the water surface, no one continued to talk. Neji’s earlier words lingered ominously, and if the Byakugan couldn’t get a clear view, it was either incredibly deep or there was another mystery.

Curiosity kills the cat, and all of them began to feel an unsettling discomfort.

"Anyway, let’s just get out of here and find Jiraiya-sama. That’s what matters." Tenten said, wanting to avoid unnecessary trouble.

"Yeah."

The small boat drifted gently along the dark river, slipping into narrower waters again. With the help of Neji's Byakugan, the boat twisted left and right through the darkness. No one knew how long they’d been drifting.

"We’re almost there!!" Gerotora suddenly bellowed, startling the half-asleep group awake.

"Where? Where?" Lee wiped the drool from the corner of his mouth, and shot up.

"Right ahead." Gerotora pointed toward a wider section of water and said, "There's something strange about the water there, so it's best not to get close to it casually."