Chapter 515: Successful Emergency Landing, the Vegetable-Man Shamon

Loulan,

This once desolate small town, under the vigorous support of Shamon after he assumed the role of Kazekage, has risen to become the second-largest city in the Land of Wind, second only to the capital.

The crude walls made of rammed earth were long ago demolished and replaced with towering blue stone brick walls, upon which heavily armed guards patrol, constantly keeping watch for any signs of enemy activity.

Entering the main city area through the spacious gate, the dilapidated shanties are nowhere to be seen; on both sides of the wide, uniform brick-paved road, new houses several stories high and brightly colored are packed together, and many residents coming and going have happy smiles on their faces.

The main road extends all the way to the landmark building in the city center, which is the high tower housing the Dragon Vein; the black spire looks slightly worn by the grinding of time, yet it cannot conceal the ancient aura it radiates.

At this moment, the area around the tower is filled with well-equipped guards, and many ninja carrying the Hidden Sand Village forehead protector are patrolling everywhere, surrounding the entire tower so tightly that not even water could pass through.

Compared to outside the tower, there are not as many busy figures inside, with only a few ninja squads stationed there, but one can judge from the aura emanating from these people that they are all top-tier experts of the Hidden Sand Village.

Beside the pit of the Dragon Vein, there is a small, temporarily constructed hut, where a few people inside are gathered in a circle, watching the unconscious bald man on the sickbed with deep worry.

"Chiyo, is there still no news from that physician you invited?"

Among them, a dignified middle-aged man asked with a frown.

"Lord City Master, as long as Uncle Gin receives my letter, he will definitely come."

Chiyo, who was using medical ninjutsu to check Shamon's physical condition, wiped the fine sweat from her fair forehead upon hearing this, then nodded with a look of certainty.

"Is that person you mentioned really so miraculous?"

Not understanding why Chiyo has such confidence in Uchiha Gin, who has yet to arrive, a faint look of doubt appeared in the eyes of the Loulan City Master.

In order to treat Shamon, he had exhausted all his efforts, inviting every famous physician in the entire Land of Wind, yet none of them could propose an effective solution.

"Uncle Gin will definitely have a way."

"But if this drags on any longer, even the Dragon Vein won't be able to save Shamon's life!"

The City Master's fists were tightly clenched, his inner anxiety reaching its limit; the Shamon before him was not only the Kazekage but also his childhood playmate, and their bond was extremely deep.

"Big Sister, why don't you let me go personally!"

Ebizo was equally anxious; worried about his teacher's health, he decided to set off for Konoha to invite someone.

"No."

As soon as the words fell, Retto, with his gray hair, glared, instantly extinguishing Ebizo's passion.

"First Kazekage, if—"

"No, this is a critical period; until the truth is uncovered, no one is allowed to go to the Land of Fire."

"Then what about Uncle Gin?"

Hearing Ebizo mention the name of Uchiha Gin, Retto's face twitched slightly; he had been snapped at by that curly-haired man more than once when he went to Konoha for a summit back in the day.

If it weren't for the fact that the two countries were in a honeymoon period, he would have long ago spent a fortune on the black market to put a bounty on that curly-haired man's head.

"If he comes, then everything is still uncertain, but if he doesn't, it indirectly confirms the true identity of the culprit."

Retto stroked the beard on his chin meaningfully, a soul-stirring sharpness erupting in his weary eyes, and his tone of voice changed accordingly, fully displaying the spirit of a former hero of the Land of Wind.

"If the culprit really is him, even if I have to exhaust the entire strength of the Hidden Sand Village, I will make Konoha pay the price!"

When mentioning the word "culprit," looks of resentment appeared on the faces of everyone in the room.

"Report!!!"

Suddenly, a hurried voice came from outside the house, and the few people inside were immediately jolted; Chiyo ran out like the wind, excitedly questioning the Sand ninja who came to report.

"Speak quickly, is it someone from Konoha?"

"Replying to Lady Chiyo, no one from Konoha has been found approaching."

The Sand ninja shook his head, and a look of disappointment instantly appeared in Chiyo's eyes; the letter had been sent so long ago, could something have happened to Uncle Gin?

"However, the sentries at the watchtower just discovered an unidentified flying object flying in from the direction of the Land of Fire."

"Unidentified flying object?"

"It is approaching Loulan at an extremely fast speed."

The few people present were stunned upon hearing this; could it be a new enemy?

"How much longer until it arrives?"

"According to estimates, ten..."

"What's the panic? Ten minutes, right? Immediately assemble the combat personnel and prepare to—"

Retto, as the person with the highest seniority and prestige among them, waved his hand very steadily.

"Nine."

"Huh?"

"What on earth is that thing!?"

At the top of the watchtower, several Sand ninja widened their eyes, the binoculars in their hands sliding to the ground; they were already of no use.

Because that streak of red lightning, which was far away on the horizon just dozens of seconds ago, was now dragging a visible contrail, tearing through the azure sky and falling steadily toward them.

In mid-air, Uchiha Hikaru, who was at the very front, skillfully controlled the "plane" condensed from Susanoo, diving toward the target; a rare look of madness appeared on her delicate little face.

"Hikaru, I'm begging you, fly a little slower."

Behind her, a terrified Uchiha Gin gripped his seatbelt tightly; under this supersonic flight state, his stomach was churning, and his handsome face was turning purple.

"Ha! Passion is burning!"

But Uchiha Hikaru acted as if she hadn't heard; the pupil power in her scarlet eyes poured into the Susanoo as if it cost nothing, and for a moment, the flight speed increased by a few notches.

Feeling the turbulence of the flight, Uchiha Gin hurriedly steadied his shaking body, only to find a scorching hot, soft body suddenly pressed against his back; the shocking softness made his heart tighten.

"Tsukihime, men and women should not touch."

"*&…*%￥##￥！@￥%#……%@!"

"Huh?"

Uchiha Gin, who had originally thought his sister-in-law was here to deliver a treat, immediately turned his head to check after hearing the garbled nonsense in his ear.

He saw Otsutsuki Tsukihime, sitting in the last row, tilting her head; her cold Byakugan had already turned into dizzy circles, her pink tongue lolling out of the corner of her mouth, looking completely broken.

"Wake up, Tsukihime!"

Seeing this, Uchiha Gin called out repeatedly to his airsick sister-in-law.

"I..."

Perhaps hearing Uchiha Gin's voice, the half-conscious Otsutsuki Tsukihime slowly came to her senses.

"Phew, it's good that you're awake."

However, before Uchiha Gin could catch his breath, Otsutsuki Tsukihime's little face turned purple, and her cheeks puffed up high; it was too late for her to cover her mouth with both hands.

(●≧ Cao ≦●)

"Blegh!"

"Yamerete!"

Uchiha Gin, receiving the baptism, let out a shrill scream that echoed for a long time in the sky over Loulan.

"Get ready, we're landing!"

On the other side, the ace pilot Uchiha Hikaru, who was focused on maneuvering the "plane," was completely unaware of the tragedy behind her; after confirming the approximate location of Loulan with the naked eye, she dove downward, charging toward the sand dune next to the massive city.

"Everyone, pay attention, it's charging over!"

Although time was short, the speed of ninjas was nothing to sneeze at; soon, several Sand ninja squads gathered on the city wall, each looking with eyes like torches at the red monster bird diving down from the sky.

"Prepare Wind Style!"

One of the Sand ninja, who counted as the captain, made a judgment at the first moment and decisively gave the order.

In order not to let the red monster bird attack Loulan, the Sand ninja immediately raised their hands to form seals, using all their signature techniques.

But by the time they puffed their mouths up like buns, ready to engage, that diving red monster bird actually brushed past their heads and crashed straight into a sand dune several miles away from Loulan.

"Boom!"

With a muffled sound, the Sand ninja, who had been poised for battle, could only watch the sky-filling sand and dust rising in the distance, then looked at each other in confusion, not knowing what to do next.

"What is the situation?"

Just then, Retto arrived with the main force; he took the lead, jumping onto the city wall first, and loudly questioned the Sand ninja on the wall.

"First Kazekage—boom!"

"Greetings—whoosh!"

"Pay—slap!"

"..."

Because the ninja on the wall had already prepared their Wind Style, when Retto appeared, they hadn't had time to disperse the Wind Style in their mouths; having just experienced a very tense situation, countless wind bullets and whirlwinds were subconsciously unleashed.

"You all!"

Retto's eyes widened in anger, and his hunched figure was instantly swallowed by the incoming gale.

"Sigh~ It seems I still need to practice my landing technique."

In the sand dune, Uchiha Hikaru, feeling as if her whole body had fallen apart, jumped off her Susanoo and muttered to herself while holding her dizzy head.

Fortunately, these sand grains were extremely soft and absorbed most of the impact, preventing them from being smashed to pieces on the spot.

"Gin? Gin!"

Once her brain cleared up a bit, Uchiha Hikaru turned to look for her teammate, only to see Uchiha Gin, smelling foul all over, expressionlessly cleaning the filth off his hair.

And behind him, Otsutsuki Tsukihime, with her clothes slightly soiled, hung her head, her white jade-like earlobes flushed red with shame.

"Sorry."

Knowing she was in the wrong, Otsutsuki Tsukihime rarely offered an apology to Uchiha Gin, her voice as low as a mosquito's.

"It's okay, this isn't your fault."

Uchiha Gin, who had casually summoned a ball of clear water to give himself a simple cleaning, pulled half a green leek out of his curly hair while speaking.

"But I advise you to eat fewer leeks in the future; this stuff is too heating and bad for the eyes."

No wonder she had been red-eyed every day these past few days at his house; it turned out she had been suffering from internal heat.

"Uh, are you two alright?"

Uchiha Guang only then realized she seemed to have done something wrong, and she stepped forward to ask, feeling very embarrassed.

"What do you think?"

After washing her curly hair once more, there was still a faint smell, so Uchiha Gin immediately summoned a large mass of clear water in a huff, shoved his head directly into it, and began to clean it thoroughly.

"How come this thing of yours is different from last time?"

Kaguya Otsutsuki also frowned, her gaze falling on the Susanoo Gray Machine that had yet to dissipate nearby, and she asked in confusion.

"Hey, it's been upgraded, you know? This is the... what number is it?"

Seeing the other party ask about this, Uchiha Guang immediately patted the large Gray Machine beside her with a proud look on her face.

In order to completely crush Kaguya Otsutsuki in terms of speed, Uchiha Guang had put no small amount of effort into this aspect over the years.

Finally, heaven rewards the diligent; after undergoing several iterations of updates, she successfully optimized the Susanoo to this current version, whose speed was unrivaled.

She dared to claim that in this ninja world, there was absolutely no vehicle faster than her Sixth Generation Susanoo Gray Machine.

"Alright, you can brag more after we get down; someone is coming."

Uchiha Gin, who had a towel wrapped around his head, walked over, gave the smug Guang a hard knock, and signaled for them to look into the distance.

Not far away, several tiny black shadows were rushing over at an extremely high speed.

"Enemies?"

Uchiha Guang, feeling the pain, pouted, and as the pattern in her eyes shifted, the massive Sixth Generation Susanoo Gray Machine behind her instantly collapsed.

"No, they're here to pick us up."

Uchiha Gin shook his head; he had already changed into a new set of clothes, otherwise, being covered in vomit would damage the image of a Konoha person.

"Thud!"

As he spoke, the first figure arrived; it was actually the watch-buying boy Ebizo. After landing, he immediately spotted Uchiha Gin with the towel on his head, and a look of pleasant surprise instantly appeared on his face.

"Uncle Gin! We finally waited for you to come."

"Thud!"

The other figures followed in succession. As soon as the leader, Chiyo, saw the unchanged face of Uchiha Gin, a look of excitement welled up in her large, watery eyes.

"Uncle Gin, you finally came!"

"Little Chiyo, you've matured quite a bit again."

Uchiha Gin smiled and raised his hand to greet her, his eyes uncontrollably drifting toward the wide-open cleavage of Chiyo, where the exaggerated scar had split open a bit more than when they last met.

Could it be that the Land of Wind had some sort of secret remedy?

"Really?"

Hearing Uchiha Gin's words, Chiyo subconsciously touched her somewhat rough cheeks; did Uncle Gin think she had grown old by saying that?

Once a woman reaches this age, she becomes very sensitive to such topics.

"Sister, this is not the place to talk; please invite Uncle Gin and the others into the city!"

Ebizo, worried about Shamon, saw the two chatting endlessly and immediately urged them.

"Ah? That's true. Uncle Gin, please."

Chiyo glanced at the two women behind Uchiha Gin, secretly astonished at their still-unchanged appearances.

What method could one possibly use to keep one's youth forever like them?

"By the way, Uncle Gin, did you come here riding that strange bird?"

On the way, Chiyo asked curiously. Although she hadn't seen the actual red bird, according to the descriptions of eyewitnesses on the city walls, that bird was extremely fast and difficult for the naked eye to track.

"Uh... that is Guang's jutsu, specifically used for traveling."

Uchiha Gin thought for a moment and used a rather vague explanation to brush it off.

What he said wasn't wrong, right?

"That's truly convenient."

"Let's not talk about these unimportant things for now; hurry and take me to see Shamon."

Withdrawing his eyes from the exaggerated scar on the side, the righteous-looking Uchiha Gin had not forgotten the main purpose of his trip.

Soon, Uchiha Gin and the two others passed through the bustling streets of Loulan and were led into a towering black tower. After winding through several turns, they entered a hidden room beside the Dragon Vein.

As soon as he entered the room, Uchiha Gin caught a scent of something unusual, which was emanating from the body of Shamon on the sickbed.

Shamon lay on the bed with his eyes tightly shut; his once burly physique had turned into skin and bones, and his loose skin hung off his face, looking quite terrifying.

"This is..."

Uchiha Gin frowned; he hadn't expected Shamon to be this weak. As a knight, he at least had a Tailed Beast card on him, so he shouldn't have been reduced to the point of being on the verge of death, right?

"Uncle Gin, please look."

Chiyo, who was to the side, stepped forward and lifted the quilt covering Shamon with a grave expression. Only then did Uchiha Gin notice that the inside of the quilt was covered in tadpole-like curse marks.

Within the array at the center of the curse marks, the dim One-Tail card flickered with a light barely visible to the naked eye.

And beneath the quilt, there was a strange plant exuding a rich aura of life. It wasn't very large, but it was growing precisely on Shamon's abdomen.

Several brown roots inserted into his body were greedily sucking away Shamon's already meager life force, pushing him step by step toward the gates of the Pure Land.

"What a plant-man!" (End of chapter)