Land of Hot Water.
Due to its abundant geothermal resources, the overall climate is mild and humid.
Countless hot springs, big and small, dot the country, leading to hot spring inns and resorts being almost ubiquitous throughout the Land of Hot Water.
Yugakure itself is situated on a large hot spring resource, and its philosophy is one of pacifism, abhorring war. This indirectly allows Yugakure to be open to the Ninja World, regardless of whether you are a ninja from another ninja village or a tourist.
Anyone can enter Yugakure, as long as they avoid certain explicitly prohibited areas within the village.
From Shinji's perspective, he simply couldn't understand how the Yukage who issued this command could think.
If it weren't for the Land of Hot Water's unique location, perhaps this place would have long since become like the Land of Whirlpools.
However, the benefit of this was that Shinji and the others' infiltration was excessively easy.
Inside an inn in Yugakure, Shinji slowly walked into a room.
After confirming that it hadn't been tampered with, he finally relaxed. He walked to the window and observed the bustling crowd on the street outside through a small gap.
"Yugakure does indeed seem strange."
The information transmitted by the elder stated that Yugakure was already deeply embroiled in chaos. Yet, ever since Shinji stepped foot here, everything he had seen and heard was an atmosphere of peace and tranquility, detached from the world.
This wasn't necessarily bad, but it felt a little unrealistic.
It was as if... this village had been subjected to Tsukuyomi?
Shinji, who had this sudden thought, was startled, and then his expression turned serious.
Before he could think further, his thoughts were interrupted by a knock on the door.
He slowly walked to the door, opened a small crack, and seeing that Yushu and the others were standing outside, he opened the door.
Yushu and the others entered the room one by one, and Shinji slowly closed the door.
Just as Koto was about to speak, Shinji stopped him with a hand.
He quickly moved his fingers, then formed several hand signs and slammed them onto the ground.
A wave of Chakra rippled out, and two streams of Chakra flowing on the ground formed a counter-rotating barrier inside the room.
After completing all of this, Shinji finally stood up and looked at Yushu and the others, who were looking at him with puzzled expressions.
"Better to be safe. Yugakure feels exceptionally eerie to me."
With that recent thought, Shinji naturally couldn't remain inactive.
Hearing Shinji's explanation, Yushu and the others nodded, as such a precaution was perfectly understandable.
"Koto, what were you about to say?" Shinji turned to Koto and asked.
From entering the village until now, they had split up to scout.
Shinji, meanwhile, had stayed put, ready to provide immediate support to the others if anything happened.
"Shinji, regarding the hot spring mentioned in the intel, we all went to investigate it."
"It's now back in operation, with people coming and going, not at all like what was described as the scene."
Shinji nodded.
This was consistent with his estimation. If there wasn't someone within Yugakure orchestrating this matter, the elder wouldn't have needed to send special intel.
Now, the hot spring mentioned in the intel had already been dealt with by the Yugakure authorities.
This indirectly confirmed that Shinji's idea was correct. However, this also meant that finding this elder would be even more difficult.
After all, without the elder's information, Shinji and the others wouldn't be able to directly know what was truly happening in this village.
"But..." Koto showed a troubled expression.
"What is it?" Shinji asked.
At this point, any information was crucial for their continued operation.
"I tried to look for some information at that location, but I unexpectedly read some strong imprints of pain and fear."
"Logically speaking, this is almost impossible."
Koto shook his head. Even though he was only a Chunin now, it was only temporary due to certain shortcomings. Otherwise, he would have already been a Special Jonin.
Therefore, he believed his Yamanaka secret techniques were not inferior to most people in his clan.
"Why is it impossible?" Shinji tilted his head, a little puzzled.
"Regarding imprints, if there were bodies or heads at that location, their strong presence I could understand."
"However, the surroundings have been completely cleared. I don't know what the people at that scene encountered that would cause their spiritual imprints to linger there for so long."
As Koto explained, Shinji and the others gradually understood.
If it was truly as Koto said, this was the most peculiar aspect.
Shinji rubbed his chin and asked Muta and Yushu, "Did you two discover anything?"
Muta nodded, extending his hands, signaling them to look.
Seeing this, Shinji and the others gathered around. They saw Muta's palms strangely undulating. Then, many insects crawled out, densely packed.
Shinji blinked. Even with some expectation, the impact of seeing this scene was unexpectedly great.
In contrast, Yushu, the only female member of the team, surprisingly pulled out a pair of surgical tweezers and looked at Muta.
After seeing Muta nod in agreement, Yushu then picked up an insect with the tweezers.
Shinji looked curiously at the insect held by the tweezers. He saw the insect constantly twitching, seemingly trying to break free.
"This insect is actually already dead." Muta, standing beside him, said something startling.
"That's right, I also noticed this point, which is why I found it surprising." Yushu said, picking up another insect.
"When an insect dies, its legs can no longer be supplied with blood and cannot remain taut, and its limbs enter a relaxed state. In this situation, it cannot continue to support its body, flipping over to lie on its back."
"When these insects first came out, they were already in the state I described, but in just an instant, they flipped back over."
Yushu said, continuously picking out insects from Muta's palm and placing them on the floor.
Meanwhile, Muta had many insects crawling out from his feet, surrounding the picked-out insects.
Upon contact, these insects picked out by Yushu immediately launched a frenzied attack on the insects released by Muta. Even though they were just insects, Koto found it terrifying.
After all, the insects picked out by Yushu were attacking with utter madness, and it seemed Muta's insects were also gradually being affected.
"That scene seems to have left behind some things, and these things have corrosive, hallucinogenic, and infectious properties. This infection can already be confirmed." Muta said with a serious expression, looking at the insects on the ground.