Kakuzu's 'Four Yin Black Purple Array' rapidly shrank as Kakuzu carried Inoyue and jumped down the deep well.
Karura and Rasa had no choice but to follow him down. It wasn't just because Kakuzu had taken the hostage and jumped; more importantly, there was a high probability that the treasure was located beneath this entrance.
The treasure was too important, and the shrinking 'Four Yin Black Purple Array' also forced them to jump.
...
What is this place?
The Underworld?
This question existed in the minds of the few people who came down.
This world was not good; it seemed to be entering a state of death. It was somewhat oppressive and desolate, like the moment before the autumn sunset.
The ground was yellow sand, an endless expanse of yellow sand. Sparse trees, tall and short, large and small, grew on the yellow sand.
These trees were all entering a state, also a state of death, with withered branches and rotten leaves.
A gentle breeze blew, breaking withered branches and dropping rotten leaves, desolate and devoid of any vitality, like a person who would die of thirst in the next moment.
This place was vast; it wouldn't be an exaggeration to call it a world.
The sky was high, but the oppressive clouds were low, some red, some gray. What was most striking was that when looking up at this world, one could see a broken full moon in the distance, half embedded in the yellow sand and the other half suspended in mid-air.
It was tattered and riddled with cracks; full of holes, as if it could collapse at any moment. But the ground near the full moon glowed with a golden-yellow light.
"Golden sand?" Kakuzu's eyes widened, and the light of greed in his eyes surged.
Karura saw it too.
Golden sand was not just money; it was also a powerful weapon. If Rasa were here, he would be almost invincible, because he controlled golden sand.
"We must get it!" Kakuzu and Karura made this decision in unison in their hearts.
Kakuzu loved money, and so much golden sand would allow his sense of accomplishment to reach its peak. Karura's starting point was her husband and the Village; whether these golden sands were used as the Village's reserve funds or to instantly enhance Rasa's overall strength, they were excellent things.
Inouye was with Karura; for her Sand Ninja Village, she could abandon everything, including her life.
Inoyue also loved money, but it depended on the timing. Now, she was meekly held in Kakuzu's hand.
Kakuzu's strength to kill her was not much different from crushing an ant, so she could only temporarily compromise.
Her body no longer hurt much; the pain, which exceeded the ten tortures of the Waterfall village, had lessened by ninety percent the moment she entered this world.
It was as if the cold Chakra was a mad lion outside, but here it was like a good baby returning to its mother's embrace.
Moreover, she was now more concerned about another issue.
The broken-legged stone statue that dug the deep well, the ancestor of the Asakura Clan from many generations ago.
That guy had smiled before digging the well, and that voice was definitely a person, or once was a person, and certainly had its own consciousness.
But now, that guy was nowhere to be seen; he had disappeared. After the few people came down, they were all shocked by this world, but only Inoyue noticed this issue.
Inoyue was also shocked by this world, but she knew this world, so she recovered from the shock first. This world was very similar to her continuous dreams; the only difference was the absence of that broken moon.
...
"Have you come? ..." A voice suddenly echoed in everyone's minds. It appeared so abruptly, catching people off guard.
The voice was ancient and weak, as if it had just awakened from a deep sleep. From this voice, one could hear a strong sense of longing, as if longing for someone to come.
Although this voice appeared out of thin air in people's minds, the source of the sound was definitely at the broken full moon.
This was simply the feeling it gave, without any special reason. It was as if the owner of this voice wanted everyone to know he was speaking from there.
"Hold her. If you don't want to die, she cannot die." Immediately after the strange voice sounded, Kakuzu threw Inoyue back to Ryoko.
Kakuzu seemed to know a great deal about this world, and this sentence revealed Inoyue's importance.
This was another world, different from the Ninja World. The deep well that led down was merely a transitional passage. Karura had already realized this issue upon arriving here.
Kikyo Castle's underground space, no matter how large, could not contain this entire world.
Kakuzu had said before that Inoyue was the protagonist, and she should have a significant connection to this dying world, so Karura and Ryoko believed Kakuzu's words.
Even without Kakuzu's words, Karura would still protect Inoyue, because Inoyue was not yet a Konoha Ninja, but the unfortunate girl who called her 'big sister'.
...
"It's best not to make a move now!" Kakuzu, who usually said little, spoke again, and he said it very solemnly.
He and these three women were adversaries, and it wouldn't be an exaggeration to call them enemies who would kill each other at any moment.
It wasn't that Kakuzu lacked confidence in his own strength, but rather that it was indeed not the right time to act.
Karura also sensed something unusual; it was indeed not a good time to make a move.
Before that voice appeared, this world was just a world gradually entering death, but after the voice appeared, it was different. Although it was still a dying world, this world now seemed to have a human consciousness.
Before the voice appeared, Karura could communicate with the yellow sand on the ground, and this yellow sand could be used by her.
But after the voice appeared, this yellow sand cut off contact with her, as if another consciousness controlled them.
They were like a part of this consciousness, his hands, his feet. As long as he willed it, the yellow sand would actively protect him and attack the enemies he wanted to attack, just as Karura did in the outside Ninja World.
This was a new, unknown enemy. He was very strong. Although it felt like he was close to death, and on his deathbed, he was still very strong.
...
The destination was the broken moon.
The moon was far away in the sky, but after walking for a short while, it was right before their eyes.
They didn't know if this world was actively approaching Inoyue and the others, or if they walked too fast, but they arrived in no time.
The gigantic moon was breathtaking up close. Even a broken moon was still very large, larger than anyone could have imagined.
In front of it, everyone was like a few ants before a tall mountain.
The golden sand was spread beneath the moon, a very thick layer. After seeing this, Kakuzu's mask even showed the shape of his smiling mouth. This was truly an inexhaustible gold mine, perfectly to his liking.
Suddenly, a cold wind blew, and everyone instantly snapped out of their awe. Cold Chakra gathered out of thin air in front of them, and a figure slowly materialized.
The four people present had all seen this figure; it was the stone statue with the missing leg, only now he looked more like a somewhat transparent person, not just a statue.
His right lower leg was missing, which matched the statue perfectly; but his standing was not affected at all, standing straight, just like a normal person.
He wore a tall hat and ancient clothes, dressed somewhat like an Onmyōji from before Ninja history, and his face bore some resemblance to Asakura Yuichi.
"The ancestor of the Asakura Clan from many generations ago." Inoyue instantly made this judgment in her heart.
After so many years, this old fellow still hadn't completely died. Even though Onmyōji were replaced by Ninja, they were still the dominant power in the world at that time, truly not to be underestimated.
"Where is the sacrifice?" The figure's voice was cold, with a hint of disdain, as if he were a high and mighty god looking down on these ant-like people.
"Where is the item?" Kakuzu was somewhat displeased, and his reply was quite stiff. He, Kakuzu, had lived for so many years, and someone speaking to him in such a condescending tone made him very annoyed.
If it weren't for the fact that this ancestor of the Asakura Clan had something he particularly needed, with Kakuzu's personality, he would have taken the old dog's life without a second thought.