Stepping into the great forest of the Land of Valleys, Ruri looked at the tree stumps throughout the forest that had been cut by human hands, as well as the wildflowers scattered along the roadside—no different from the forests of other countries.

"Are you sure this is the place?"

Ruri looked at Kakuzu, who had come with her, and asked.

Kakuzu nodded, pointing at a relatively intact tree with a hidden mark on it.

"Yes, this is indeed the place. Here's the mark I made a few days ago. Back then, this is where we discussed how to enter the Valley of Hypocrisy, and then the Nokizaru Group just disappeared."

"According to what you said, it's very likely they fell into some kind of trap—hence their mysterious disappearance."

Ruri speculated.

Kakuzu frowned and said, "A trap? I've already searched the area carefully, but found nothing—no traps, not even any sign of people."

This was certainly suspicious.

Having lived for more than half a century, Kakuzu was not only an underground black market powerhouse, his experience was also exceptionally deep.

If there was a trap here, there's no way he wouldn't have noticed at all.

"That's where the problem lies."

Ruri bent down and picked a wildflower by the roadside.

"A flower?"

"More precisely, the fragrance of the flowers."

Ruri narrowed her eyes.

"Flower scent? No, I don't think that's the issue."

Kakuzu did have a sense of smell.

If there was something wrong with the scent, then he would have been caught in the first time he entered here.

But the fact was, the people from the Valley of Hypocrisy only captured the Nokizaru Group and left him alone.

It's impossible for the problem to be the scent alone.

"Unless one is highly skilled in Illusion Techniques, they wouldn't notice anything. The enemy's illusions are extremely advanced. Even an ordinary Three-Tomoe Sharingan can't see through it."

Ruri hinted meaningfully.

"Illusion? So you mean, these floral scents…"

"That's right—a very rare olfactory-based Illusion Technique."

Illusion Techniques are a form of hypnotic method performed by controlling chakra flow in the human brain's nerves.

They require incredibly refined chakra control.

And all Illusion Techniques are bound by the five senses—touch, smell, hearing, sight, and taste.

The majority of Illusion Techniques use vision as the trigger.

In this regard, Sharingan takes it to the extreme.

As for Ruri herself, she had developed a tactile-based Illusion Technique—by making contact with an enemy's body or a physical object, the enemy would fall under a genjutsu.

This was harder to master than visual-based Illusion Techniques.

As for sound-based, smell-based, and taste-based Illusion Techniques, the Uchiha Clan had also studied them specifically.

Although Ruri didn't know how to use these three types, she knew how to break them.

Moreover, since the main attack vector of Illusion Techniques is the spirit, and the Sharingan is the ultimate expression of Yin Style—acting on the spirit—it could be said that for any ninja of the Uchiha Clan who has awakened the Sharingan, there's a natural resistance to various genjutsu.

Using genjutsu and breaking genjutsu alike are the specialties of ninja from the Uchiha Clan.

In front of the Land of Demons' greatest Illusion Technique expert, Kakuzu naturally wouldn't object.

After all, he knew how to break ordinary illusion techniques, but when it came to the advanced ones, he was powerless.

He thought the flower scent was normal, but before an expert like Ruri, that alone was the greatest anomaly.

He hadn't expected that the hidden trap set here was, in fact, an Illusion Technique…

Kakuzu looked at the roadside along their route—wildflowers everywhere; the scent lingered, and he immediately felt a chill deep within.

His entire concept of the so-called Valley of Hypocrisy had now shifted.

"This is a group-scale, wide-area genjutsu—the entire area is an enormous Illusion Technique space."

Ruri let out a light breath, and then the corners of her mouth rose in a faint smile.

This trip wasn't a waste… The existence of a rare olfactory Illusion Technique alone made it worthwhile for her to come in person.

It could add to the Uchiha Clan's Illusion Technique arsenal.

"In that case, how do we find the entrance to the Valley of Hypocrisy?"

Even knowing that there's an illusion here, if they can't find the entrance, all this would be pointless.

Their objective was simple: rescue the five captured Nokizaru Group members and eliminate the remaining Blood Mist Faction dwellers within the Valley of Hypocrisy. 𝒇𝒓𝒆𝒆𝙬𝒆𝒃𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝙡.𝒄𝓸𝒎

"No need to rush. We'll find it soon."

Ruri's eyes—at some point—had shifted into the Three-Tomoe Sharingan, gazing deep into the mountain forest.

◎

Standing atop a clifftop within the forest, one could look down and see a river cascading from above, disappearing into the valley below.

The wind in the canyon below was fierce, blowing moisture high into the forest and up to the mountaintop.

Directly opposite was another precipitous cliff—sheer and treacherous.

Normal people could never reach this place; only ninja could traverse here.

No, even for ninja, this was by no means easy—serious effort was required.

"The entrance is here?"

Kakuzu was a bit puzzled.

He felt the moisture rising from the base of the cliff, mixed with a fragrance much like that of the wildflowers.

Ruri said nothing, her crimson Sharingan fixed on the rock face opposite.

She picked up a pebble from the ground and hurled it at the cliff wall.

The pebble wasn't obstructed, but went straight into the cliff and vanished.

"This is…an Illusion Technique?"

Kakuzu looked at the cliff in shock.

Then he instantly became wary, sensing he himself had fallen under an illusion.

There hadn't been a hallucination from the flower scent before, so why could this Illusion Technique affect him now?