Tenbin Village had actually been destroyed many years ago due to Jūgo's rampage. The present-day Tenbin Village was merely a small settlement reorganized by the villagers who had luckily escaped back then.
For ordinary people, finding an unremarkable village like Tenbin Village would be extremely difficult. But for Hoshiyomi, this was hardly a problem at all. Having mastered Perfect Sage Mode, his perception of natural energy was exceptionally keen.
All he needed to do was follow the flow of natural energy toward the place within the Land of Fire where it was most abundant, and he could easily arrive at Tenbin Village.
"Lord Hoshiyomi, I still don't quite understand—why did you bring me along on this trip with Lord Orochimaru?"
Outside Tenbin Village, Kimimaro looked at Hoshiyomi with confusion. He truly couldn't figure out why Hoshiyomi had brought him here.
Naturally, Hoshiyomi wasn't about to say that he was indulging in some original-story nostalgia and forcibly trying to reconnect Kimimaro and Jūgo's bond. So he replied casually:
"It's nothing. I just felt that since you came to Konoha, you haven't really gone out to see the outside world. After thinking it over, I felt that wasn't very good for your search for the meaning of life. You need to experience more things to better understand why you're alive."
Kimimaro froze for a moment upon hearing this. If Hoshiyomi hadn't mentioned it, he might have almost forgotten that he was supposed to be searching for the meaning of life.
Life in Konoha had been so happy that he had nearly forgotten the small, trembling figure once curled up inside a cage.
Looking at Hoshiyomi's back, Kimimaro smiled silently and murmured to himself:
"Thanks to you, I already found my reason for living long ago."
...
The three of them didn't bother hiding themselves and entered Tenbin Village directly.
At first glance, Tenbin Village looked like an ordinary small village, no different from the other villages within the Land of Fire. Since Orochimaru couldn't sense natural energy, he detected nothing unusual about the place.
"Hoshiyomi-kun, are you sure the child you mentioned—someone born able to absorb natural energy—is really in this village?"
Hoshiyomi didn't answer Orochimaru's question. Instead, he casually stopped a passing middle-aged villager and asked:
"Sir, we're shinobi from Konoha. We heard that something strange happened in your village a few years ago, so we came to investigate. Could you tell us about the situation here?"
The villager glanced at the forehead protectors worn in different places by the three of them. After confirming they were indeed Konoha shinobi, his face lit up with excitement:
"Heavens be praised! Heavens be praised! Konoha's shinobi have finally come to our village!"
As he spoke, the man suddenly grabbed Hoshiyomi's hand, his voice trembling with emotion:
"It's wonderful that you've come to Tenbin Village. A terrible tragedy really did happen here a few years ago, and the monster responsible now lives in the deep mountains on the other side.
"We've tried countless times to kill that monster, but we never succeeded. Now that you're here, it's truly wonderful—Tenbin Village is saved!"
Listening to the man's incoherent rambling, Orochimaru and Hoshiyomi exchanged a glance, their eyes reflecting a hint of irony.
After casually brushing the man off, the three set out once more toward the deep mountains opposite Tenbin Village.
Only Jūgo lived in those mountains. With Hoshiyomi's extraordinary sensory abilities, the three easily arrived at the cave where Jūgo resided.
Just as they were about to step inside, a voice filled with extreme pain came from within:
"Don't come in… I beg you… please don't come in."
Inside the cave, Jūgo was half-kneeling on the ground, desperately suppressing the rampaging natural energy surging through his body.
The moment the three appeared at the cave entrance, Jūgo sensed their presence. Unwilling to kill anyone, he could only try to stop Hoshiyomi and the others with words.
But there was no way Hoshiyomi and his companions were going to stop because of that.
Just as the three stepped into the cave, a dark figure suddenly burst out.
"If you insist on seeking death, then don't blame me!"
The one who appeared was none other than Jūgo, who could no longer suppress the natural energy and had completely fallen into a berserk state.
At this moment, Jūgo was entirely overwhelmed by the rampaging natural energy. Having lost all rationality, he only wanted to tear everything in front of him to pieces.
Seeing the three standing motionless in place, Jūgo revealed a smile filled with murderous intent.
The taste of blood... it's been a long time since I experienced it.
Just as Jūgo was imagining the scene of the three being torn apart in a spray of blood, he suddenly realized that his body had stopped in midair.
Coming back to his senses, Jūgo looked down and discovered that at some point, he had already been tightly bound by a whip-like bone that resembled a spine.
He stared in shock at the owner of the bone whip and found that it was a half-grown boy about the same age as himself.
The silver-haired youth had him tightly restrained, yet didn't even spare him a glance. Instead, he curiously asked the man beside him:
"Lord Hoshiyomi, is this the person you were looking for?"
Before Hoshiyomi could reply, Orochimaru let out a series of impressed clicks of his tongue.
"There's no doubt about it. This unprecedented form—Hoshiyomi-kun, you were absolutely right. So there really are people in this world who are born able to absorb natural energy.
"However, judging from his current state, it seems he can't control that natural energy himself."
Under the faint light shining in from the cave entrance, Hoshiyomi examined Jūgo for a moment. After confirming it was indeed him, Hoshiyomi was just about to speak when he suddenly showed a somewhat enigmatic smile.
It seemed that, because of him, things had suddenly become much more interesting.
Because Hoshiyomi had mastered Perfect Sage Mode, natural energy from the surroundings would naturally and continuously gather around him.
Now, perhaps because he had entered the cave, the concentration of natural energy inside had abruptly increased by an unknown amount.
Jūgo, who could not control his absorption of natural energy, was affected by this surge. Not only did he fail to regain his sanity—he became even more frenzied.
What had previously been curse-mark patterns on only half his face now spread further. His entire body gradually turned grayish-brown, and skin that had once looked no different from a normal human's now carried an inexplicable, rock-like texture.
"Kehahaha—kill… kill them all!"
Jūgo, who had only just seemed to calm down slightly, now became manic again, like a madman.
Staring at Kimimaro, who was tightly binding him, Jūgo shouted, "Don't think you can control me!" His body suddenly swelled in size, and he forcibly tore open Kimimaro's bone whip.
Seeing Jūgo in this state, Kimimaro's fighting spirit also rose. He wanted to see just what other tricks this strange man still had.