The next day, Kiba and Akamaru got up early and ran and jumped around in the forest, having a blast. Kiba called this morning exercise a walk.
Shino was observing the insects here to see how they differed from those near Konoha. It was said that understanding the habits of insects helped increase his strength.
Hinata wore a black, tight-fitting practice suit and performed a set of Gentle Fist outside—this was a daily routine for her, and only then did she return to help Kushina prepare breakfast.
In terms of diligence in training, Team 8 was no less diligent than Team 7.
Kakashi crawled out of the tent and yawned widely. He had accidentally stayed up half the night reading again, but fortunately, he hadn't stayed up all night and could still manage.
On the other side, Sakura was a bit depressed. She and Hinata lived in the same tent, and when Hinata blushed and put on that figure-hugging practice suit, she saw it clearly.
Sakura couldn't understand no matter what. Everyone was thirteen years old, and she was even nine months older than Hinata, so why was the gap so big? The method that Master Tsunade taught was completely ineffective...
The girl's sorrow was not understood by others. The group packed up and continued their journey, not reaching the border between the Land of Fire and the Land of Bears until evening.
Kakashi raised his hand to signal everyone to stop and said, "Ahead is Hell Valley, which is full of poisonous gas. We can't enter rashly."
Naruto looked and saw a cliff that was almost straight up and down. The valley was filled with poisonous fog, and the depth was difficult to estimate, with a width of nearly a hundred meters.
The most impatient Kiba jumped out and asked, "Then how should we get across?"
"Either we wait for the people from the Star Ninja Village to come and meet us, or..." Kakashi looked at Naruto.
Naruto cooperatively took out a Flying Thunder God Kunai. Kakuzu could throw this thing eight hundred meters with ease, so it certainly wouldn't be a problem for Naruto to throw it a hundred meters or so.
Sakura asked, "If there are such natural barriers, don't the people of the Land of Bears communicate with the outside world?"
Kakashi patiently explained, "People who need to go abroad will wear special gas masks, and merchant caravans will naturally hire ninjas from the Star Ninja Village to accompany them."
As he spoke, Naruto had already thrown the Kunai to the other side, but the visibility wasn't very good, and he wasn't sure if the Kunai was in a good position. "Hinata?"
"Byakugan!" Hinata carefully observed and nodded. "No problem, but there are people coming from a distance, it seems to be ninjas from the Star Ninja Village."
"Let's go over first." Naruto said that he had already inserted his eyes, so it would be a waste not to make a teleport.
The others didn't object, and they all put their hands on Naruto, flying to the other side of the cliff together, and then waited in place for the people from the Star Ninja Village.
Naruto thought for a while and created a clone, handing him a small bottle, and said, "Go, collect some poisonous gas."
The clone put the No. 001 tag on his chest, opened the bottle cap, looked at the Hell Valley in front of him, and shouted, "I won't go to hell, who will?"
Then he opened his arms, did a 270-degree somersault, and made a leap of faith.
In the end, Naruto never knew the depth of Hell Valley, because No. 001 was poisoned to death before landing.
Fortunately, he hadn't forgotten the main business, and before his death, he used the Flying Thunder God Technique to send the capped bottle back.
Naruto directly handed the bottle to Sakura: "Sakura Bro, try to make some antidote, just in case."
"Oh, okay." Sakura had studied detoxification courses, and as long as it wasn't too tricky, she was now confident that she could solve it.
Kushina looked at Naruto with satisfaction. As expected of my son, he knows how to plan ahead. It's always right to be cautious when going out, but this clone, what's wrong with him? Should I take him to the Yamanaka Clan to check him out later?
After Naruto's series of nonsense, the people from the Star Ninja Village finally arrived. It was a twelve or thirteen-year-old boy, who looked quite delicate, but his eyes were not very friendly.
The boy said, "You are ninjas from Konoha, right? My name is Mao, and I'm here to pick you up."
His name is Mao? 486? Naruto got excited: "Do you know Emilia? What about Ram and Rem?"
Mao said impatiently, "I don't know what you're talking about. You didn't come here for this, did you?"
Hinata became alert. Naruto-kun seemed to be mentioning girls' names just now.
"Naruto!" Kushina signaled Naruto not to speak carelessly, and said gently, "Mao-kun, right? Then please lead the way."
Mao didn't say anything more, turned around and left, and the Konoha group followed.
Kiba curled his lip behind them, "What's with that? They're the ones who asked us to come, acting all high and mighty."
But no one took it seriously. With so many missions, there were all kinds of clients. Maybe this time it was just that the young man didn't want to run errands.
The scale of the Star Ninja Village couldn't compare to Konoha at all. There weren't many people on the streets either. Naruto estimated that if he let his own fox out to roll around a few times, the village would be gone.
At the entrance of a large house in the center of the village, Mao knocked on the door, and a middle-aged man's voice came from inside, "Please come in!"
Mao pushed the door open and walked in, bowing and saying, "Red Star-sama, the Konoha ninjas have arrived."
Naruto followed in and saw a thin man kneeling in the main seat. After the Konoha group sat down opposite him, he said, "Thank you for coming from afar. I am Red Star, the acting Star Shadow of the Star Ninja Village."
Kushina asked suspiciously, "Acting?"
Red Star's expression remained unchanged as he explained, "A year ago, the Third Star Shadow died suddenly, and a new Star Shadow has not yet been chosen."
Naruto thought to himself, the Third Generation is really a high-risk profession. Third Kazekage, Third Raikage, Third Hokage, and now there's a Third 'Star Shadow'. This level of danger is almost on par with the Defense Against the Dark Arts professor at Hogwarts.
"You dare to call yourself a Shadow, even though you're not one of the Five Great Nations." Kiba's dream was to become Hokage, so he was very unhappy with people who arbitrarily called themselves Shadow.
Mao, who was on the side, stood up directly, unconvinced, "So what if we're not one of the Five Great Nations? We're no worse than you. Although we're still a small village, we'll eventually stand shoulder to shoulder with the Five Great Ninja Villages. At that time, I will become the Star Shadow!"
Kiba also jumped up, clenching his fist, "What did you say?"
"Mao, don't be rude!" Red Star scolded sternly.
"Kiba, don't make trouble." Kushina said calmly.
The two hot-blooded youths shut their mouths unhappily and sat down, glaring at each other.
Now everyone understood why the young man's attitude was bad. He didn't dislike the Konoha ninjas, but all the ninjas from the Five Great Nations.
"Excuse me." Red Star apologized and continued, "As you know, we possess the 'Star' that other ninja villages covet. With the power of the 'Star', we will eventually grow to become the sixth largest ninja village."
No one responded. Everyone's expression management was very good. Only Sasuke's disdain was about to overflow. He felt that none of the people he had met along the way were capable.
Red Star wasn't embarrassed, and continued, "Because of this, the 'Star' has been targeted. I hope you can help protect it during this time and eliminate those who are plotting against us. I beg you."
Kushina said, "We have a general understanding of the situation. So, where is the 'Star'?"
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