En, seeing that neither of them had anything to say, pointed towards the mountain cave. "Go in through there. You two should have no problem fitting through." With that, he walked straight into the cave.
Torifū and Naori exchanged glances, then followed En's footsteps. Entering the cave, the two realized that an older person would never be able to pass through it. Only teenagers could move in and out freely; an adult would get stuck. This effectively made Hell Valley a natural prison. Even if children could get out, it wasn't an issue, unless they wanted to abandon their clan, otherwise, they would eventually return to Hell Valley. Once they reached adulthood, they wouldn't be able to leave again, beginning a new cycle. As long as the Chinoike Clan's children couldn't abandon their family, the Chinoike Clan would forever be trapped in Hell Valley, unable to escape.
The cave entrance to Hell Valley was quite long, with many twists and turns. If one wasn't careful, they could fall into a deep pit. One could say that deadly dangers lay at every turn, hence why it was called Hell Valley. It was simply not a place where living beings could survive; only hell could have such a harsh environment.
As the three delved deeper, the cave became increasingly hot, with pungent sulfurous odors occasionally wafting through. The surrounding walls, initially earthy yellow, gradually turned blood-red, as if they were in a fiery hell, making one feel suffocated. Naori felt a mix of emotions. Although she didn't believe the Uchiha clan had done anything wrong, the thought of the Chinoike Clan living in such an environment for decades, even a century, was unimaginable. She couldn't fathom the torment they must have endured for so long. If possible, she hoped to compensate them as much as she could.
"How much longer until we arrive?" Torifū wasn't thinking as much as Naori. His presence here was merely due to being intrigued by the little rogue, and then discovering that this rogue was actually from the Chinoike Clan. This only deepened Torifū's curiosity. After all, there weren't many clans in the ninja world skilled in Dōjutsu, and although the Chinoike Clan had fallen, there might still be a chance to save them.
However, whether they were truly worth saving would depend on whether the Chinoike Clan's ninja were worthy of Torifū's assistance. After all, he wasn't so kind as to save everyone he came across. If the Chinoike Clan truly wasn't worth saving, then he would just take a blood sample and leave. Presumably, no one would be able to stop Torifū from leaving Hell Valley with Naori.
"We're almost there. Just around this bend, and we'll be in Hell Valley." Torifū had no doubt about En's words, as he could already smell an incredibly strong sulfur odor. Moreover, the surrounding walls had become very damp. Clearly, they were about to enter the valley.
Finally, after turning a corner, their vision suddenly widened. However, there were no fertile fields, beautiful ponds, mulberry trees, or bamboo groves, nor crisscrossing paths where chickens and dogs could be heard. Instead, there was only a pervasive red mist throughout the entire valley, and an almost deathly silence.
Naori began coughing violently almost the instant she smelled the red mist. She tried many ways but couldn't stop, and as she continued to inhale the mist, her coughing became even more severe. Seeing this, Torifū directly pulled out a pale pink pill and placed it into Naori's mouth, telling her to swallow it. About a minute after Naori complied, she stopped coughing, and her complexion improved. Torifū looked at En and casually tossed him a pill.
"Don't die on us before we leave this place."
En looked at the pill in his hand, then put it away: "I'm used to it; the red mist can't do anything to me, but it might be different for outsiders like you." Torifū waved his hand dismissively: "Don't worry about us. Lead the way. Let me see your clan members." En nodded, then gestured for Torifū and Naori to follow him, otherwise, it would be easy to get lost in the mist. The three walked into the mist together. To prevent getting separated, Torifū connected crystal vines to their wrists, providing a strong sense of security.
Just then, Naori suddenly cried out in surprise. Torifū turned his head and saw that at Naori's feet lay a skeleton, which had obviously been there for an unknown amount of time. Naori had accidentally stepped on it and crushed it. It wasn't Naori's fault that she hadn't noticed it; the skeleton had been dyed red by the red mist. It had almost completely blended with the boundless red mist, making it difficult to spot if one wasn't paying attention. Naori wasn't scared by this minor incident; she merely felt a bit disrespectful, which was why she exclaimed.
At this moment, En calmly said, "No need to make a fuss. There's more than just one dead person here. It looks like he's been dead for over ten years."
"Why aren't they buried? Just letting bodies lie around and rot, won't that spread disease?"
En answered Torifū's question with relative patience.
"There's no soil here, only broken rocks. Even if there was soil, it would all be used to build houses. There's no spare earth to attend to them."
"As for disease... Hmph, the red mist is the biggest disease."
Well, Torifū had asked an unnecessary question. Hell Valley didn't even have soil to bury bodies; it was truly barren to a certain extent. It wouldn't be an exaggeration to call it the worst place in the ninja world. The Chinoike Clan was indeed a very tenacious clan.
"How many 'predecessors' are there in this area? I'll be careful not to offend them by stepping on their bones," Naori said cautiously.
En thought about this question: "If not a thousand, then several hundred, but most of them died fighting the Uchiha clan back then."
"The clan was severely weakened and had no energy to drag them back, so they just let them rot here. But they died for the freedom of the Chinoike Clan."
"We also call this place a holy land, though I don't feel it's sacred at all."
For some reason, Torifū felt that En became more talkative after returning to Hell Valley. Perhaps it was because he was back in a familiar place that made him feel at ease.
The area within Hell Valley was quite large. The three had walked for a while but still hadn't reached the Chinoike Clan's location. However, despite its size, the red mist showed no sign of thinning. Torifū attempted to merge with the red mist using Cloud Release, wanting to see if he could control it. He succeeded very easily. It seemed this was just ordinary mist mixed with some toxic substances. But since he could control it, everything would be much simpler. There was no need to stumble around blindly like groping in the dark anymore.