From Naruto’s explanation, Tenten could almost imagine the brutality of the war that happened in the Land of Whirlpools decades ago.

Two superpowers had joined forces to launch an attack.

The Land of Water deployed wave after wave of Kaguya Clan’s members, whose only goal was slaughter. They laughed amidst screams and blood, mercilessly killing the Uzumaki Clan’s members.

The Land of Lightning, known for its martial prowess, landed on the Land of Whirlpools’ coastline with the help of the Land of Water, practically flattening the small island nation in an instant.

"We're here." Naruto said, looking up at the stone wall.

The door was embedded in the stone wall and could be seen as soon as they looked up. It was about twenty meters above them, and they would need to climb to reach it.

"Are we going up?" Tenten asked.

"Of course." Naruto replied, taking a deep breath. He then turned to face the darkness, "But first, we need to deal with the large group of trouble following us."

When Tenten heard Naruto say ‘large group’, she nearly jumped out of her skin. Her body stiffened instantly, like a piece of wood.

She couldn’t help but want to look back, and the next second, she did. Behind them was a sea of pitch-black darkness. After Naruto’s words, there was a moment of silence.

Then, a creaking sound began to echo, growing louder and louder like a rising tide.

"Ah! Naruto!" Tenten was on the verge of tears, clutching Naruto’s hand tightly and shrinking behind him in panic, "They…"

Even though Tenten had been on many dangerous missions, she was still an eighteen-year-old girl at heart. Facing unknown dangers, it was natural for her to be scared.

Naruto, on the other hand, was much calmer, which was why Tenten instinctively relied on him. From the beginning, Naruto didn’t seem afraid at all.

"They're coming." Naruto said with unusual calmness, waving the flashlight around.

In the beam of light, Tenten caught a glimpse of a scene that would haunt her for the rest of her life.

A horde of broken, mangled corpses was surging toward them from the valley floor like a tidal wave.

Some were crawling, others dragging half their bodies, their faces twisted in grotesque expressions. The rustling sounds grew louder and louder.

"Waaah!!" Tenten was so scared that she burst into tears. Her legs nearly gave out as she almost collapsed to the ground. This was her worst nightmare.

"Tenten." Naruto suddenly called her.

"Huh? W-what is it?" Tenten asked, tears streaming down her face. She looked up at Naruto, afraid he might say something terrifying again.

"You’re stepping on my foot." He said.

Tenten froze for a moment, then looked down. Sure enough, in her panic, she had stepped on Naruto’s foot. But at a time like this, who cared about that?!

Hearing his words, she cried even harder.

Naruto sighed, trying to pull Tenten away, but the more he tried, the tighter she clung to him. The physical contact was intense, but Naruto’s foot was going numb.

Unable to do anything else, he gritted his teeth and summoned the system panel without even snapping his fingers.

[Impure World Reincarnation!]

With a loud rumble, an even sharper roar erupted from the depths of the valley. Countless coffins rose from the ground, forming a wall of wooden caskets in front of Naruto.

Naruto’s expression changed. The vast Chakra Reserve within him were being rapidly drained by the Impure World Reincarnation, as if it were about to suck him dry in the next second.

‘Holy crap!’

The coffins continued to rise, like giant dominoes. But unlike dominoes, the coffins stood upright, instantly splitting the tide of corpses into scattered fragments.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

One by one, the coffins opened, and figures in various complex outfits emerged. There were members of the Kaguya Clan, as well as Shinobi from Kirigakure and Kumogakure.

They opened their eyes one after another, and their faces showed confusion at first, and then bloodthirstiness.

Naruto hadn’t expected the dark valley to contain so many corpses. If this continued, he’d be drained dry, so he immediately ended the Impure World Reincarnation.

Fortunately, enough bodies had been summoned with the Impure World Reincarnation, so they can at least suppress the mysterious corpses emerging from the shadows.

The two groups clashed, turning the valley into a battlefield.

Tenten finally calmed down, apologizing to Naruto with a look of guilt. She wasn’t afraid of much, but this thing really terrified her.

Luckily, the enemies were just controlled corpses, so she wasn’t as scared anymore.

"Naruto, what should we do?" She asked softly.

"Don't worry about it. Let’s climb up first," Naruto said, glancing back at the stone wall, "Let them fight for a while. At least we’re safe now." ᴛhis chapter is ᴜpdated by ɴo(v)elFɪre.ɴet

"Okay." Tenten replied, now fully obedient to Naruto.

After all, this was the kind of situation she was least equipped to handle. If she were alone, she probably would have fainted from fear by now.

The two of them began climbing the rock wall, reaching the door in no time.

Since there were no protruding ledges to stand on, they had to rely on Chakra to cling to the wall at a height of twenty meters.

The battle below continued, though it was too dark to see clearly. The sounds of combat, grating and unsettling, echoed through the valley like a relentless tide.

"There’s writing on the door!" Tenten suddenly pointed out.

"Do you recognize it?" Naruto turned to her, handing over the flashlight, "I can’t read it. You try."

"Okay." Tenten said without hesitation. She took the flashlight, using one hand to cling to the wall while the other held the light, carefully examining the text.

"This is the language of the Uzumaki Clan. They taught us some basics at the Academy." She said, "I found it interesting, so I paid to learn more."

"Buying books?" Naruto asked.

"No, buying some stone tablets scattered around the Land of Fire." Tenten said, "The texts recorded on them are more complete, more comprehensive than the books in Konoha."

"Ah, the power of money," Naruto muttered, impressed.

Tenten ignored him, focusing on the text. She read aloud as she deciphered it.

[Senju Hashirama passed away, and the ally, Konoha, became weak. In order to obtain the Sealing Technique, Kirigakure and Kumogakure raided the Land of Whirlpools. The Uzumaki Clan, with its dwindling population and small territory, was... slaughtered.]

[The Kaguya Clan is crazy, sparing neither women nor children. Wherever they passed, no survivors remained. The nation was destroyed, but to ensure the clan’s survival, the remaining members retreated to the Valley of the Gods.]

"The Valley of the Gods must be referring to this place, the pit before we came down." Naruto said, then asked, "Is there more?"

"Yes, and it seems like a lot," Tenten replied, her expression grim, "The surviving clan members who retreated to the Valley of the Gods seem to have recorded their history on this door."