Soon enough, Ryota was standing before the door, raising his right hand gently, palm pressing against the golden gate.
Whoosh—
Golden brilliance surged forth, accompanied by energy so intense it seemed to warp space itself, forming a swirling vortex behind the door.
In the next instant, his body was abruptly pulled in, plunging entirely into the blinding radiance.
Wind roared past his ears, chaotic streams of energy tugging at his senses.
Then, everything fell silent.
Feeling the solid ground beneath his feet, Ryota steadied his breathing and slowly lifted his head.
Before him stretched an immense cavern, massive beyond comprehension.
The cave yawned like the gaping maw of some colossal beast, its depths extending endlessly into darkness.
All around, natural stone walls emitted a faint, gentle phosphorescent blue glow, illuminating without harshness.
A subtle humidity lingered in the air, mingled with the lingering scent of beasts.
Occasionally, the ground revealed scratches and peculiar fragments of bone scattered here and there.
Ryota glanced around, brows furrowing slightly.
"Looks like... this isn't Konoha."
"It's not the Uchiha clan's back mountain either, nor does it match the architecture of the Land of Fire."
He narrowed his eyes slightly, the three tomoe of his Sharingan rotating quietly.
"System, where the hell did you send me?"
Yet this time, the system remained silent—no response at all.
No "ding," no prompts, no explanations.
It was as if it had never existed, quietly hiding away.
"..."
Ryota's eyebrow twitched slightly.
Now he felt even stranger.
This stupid system usually couldn't wait to bombard him with pop-ups. Now it was playing dead?
"What the heck."
He grumbled quietly, withdrawing his gaze. Deciding not to dwell on it, he turned and started heading deeper into the cavern.
The place was odd, but it didn't feel like an illusion or genjutsu.
To figure out exactly where he was, he'd have to rely on his own two feet.
Yet just as he stepped onto the phosphorescent stone ground—
Crack!
A sharp sound rang out nearby.
Ryota's heart tightened. Instantly, he withdrew half a step, turning toward the source of the noise.
A pair of sinister greenish eyes flickered in the darkness.
From the corner of the cavern, a figure slowly emerged along the wall.
Long-limbed, hunched back, wrinkled gray-green skin, and sharp bony claws for hands—
Its mouth dripped with viscous saliva as it stared fiercely at him.
There was no intelligence in those eyes, only hunger, ferocity, and instinctive killing intent.
Ryota froze for a moment.
"This thing...why does it look so much like a goblin?"
Before he could ponder further, the monster let out a shrill cry and lunged towards him!
"Hmph."
Ryota snorted coldly, his three tomoe spinning rapidly as his battle instincts instantly kicked in.
"No idea what you really are. I'll just call you a goblin for now."
"If I couldn't beat Uchiha Itachi, fine—but you? You think you're enough?"
As soon as the words fell, his legs pushed off the ground, instantly fracturing the stone beneath him!
Boom!
Ryota's figure flashed forward several meters, appearing before the goblin in the blink of an eye!
The goblin had no time to react, the cruel grin still frozen on its face mid-leap—
The next second.
Ryota twisted his shoulder, gathered strength in his right arm, and unleashed a devastating punch!
"Break for me!!"
Bang!!
The goblin's head exploded like a rotten pumpkin hit by a sledgehammer!
Blood and brain matter sprayed outward, bones scattering everywhere. Its corpse twitched briefly before collapsing, swiftly dissolving into black ashes and vanishing completely.
Silence returned once again.
Ryota shook off his fist casually.
"This durability...? Even weaker than I expected."
He glanced down at his knuckles covered in greenish blood, casually wiping it off on his clothes, his expression filled with disgust.
"This thing's blood...is seriously nasty."
Just as he was about to turn away and continue exploring deeper into the cavern—
Out of the corner of his eye, amidst the scattered remains, a faint glimmer caught his attention.
"Hm?"
Ryota turned back, approaching for a closer look.
It was a crystal shard about the size of a fingernail, irregularly shaped, translucent, with faint energy shimmering slowly within.
"What's this?"
He picked it up, weighing it in his palm.
Cool to the touch, neither heavy nor particularly light—like some low-level loot dropped in a game.
But now wasn't the time to analyze it carefully.
Shrugging slightly, Ryota slipped the crystal into his pocket.
"Whatever it is, I'll keep it for now."
With that, he started humming an unfamiliar tune as he continued deeper into the cavern.
Barely ten minutes passed as he followed the phosphorescent-lit path, before encountering three more goblins.
The first had barely jumped out from a corner and hadn't even steadied itself when Ryota drove his knee straight into its head, snapping its neck instantly.
The second leaped down from the wall above, only to be punched straight into the stone wall, not even leaving behind a proper corpse.
The third tried to ambush him from behind but ended up having its leg grabbed and thrown head-first into a stone pillar, its skull bursting apart like an overripe fruit.
"Trash mobs...not challenging at all."
Ryota glanced down at his feet, where three more crystals lay neatly on the ground.
He didn't bother thinking much about it, casually picking them up as he murmured to himself:
"Goblins drop magic stones, the principle unknown, function unclear—alright, case closed!"
Stuffing them all into his pocket, he continued onward, though his pace gradually slowed.
Because Ryota had begun to realize something.
This cavern...wasn't quite as simple as he'd initially thought.
Its layout was incredibly complicated, not only branching off frequently but also filled with countless natural pillars, cliffs, depressions, and interconnected multi-level passages.
Some parts were so narrow his shoulders nearly brushed the walls, while others were spacious enough to accommodate monsters the size of buildings.
Several times he was tempted to just fire off a Great Fireball Jutsu and blast a clear path, but he eventually restrained himself.
Now wasn't the time to act recklessly.
Though his three-tomoe Sharingan was powerful, his chakra reserves were still limited, and no one knew what else lurked deeper inside.
Besides, this clearly wasn't the Naruto world.
In an unfamiliar place like this, who knew if blasting the ceiling might trigger a collapse or attract unwanted attention?
"Forget it, better stay low-key and cautious."
Ryota sighed softly, fiddling absently with the crystals in his pocket as he chose a tunnel that didn't seem too narrow and walked in.