He answered White Zetsu like this.

White Zetsu just smiled and said, "You really are interesting. As expected of someone from the Valley of Hypocrisy, Hohozuki... you created this fake personality, didn't you?"

"No way! I am Hohozuki!"

The child answered loudly.

"So, everyone here is really fake, huh. You all even forgot your real names, forced to imitate some fake personality just to survive in this world. I've never seen anyone as pitiful as you."

White Zetsu chuckled with interest, then, under the boy Hohozuki's discontented glare, burrowed into the ground.

"Well, if you can give Uchiha Ruri some trouble in the future, I guess this trip won't have been for nothing. But, a brat like you will never reach that level in your whole life."

Hohozuki paid no attention to White Zetsu's deliberate provocation, he just gazed into the distant sky.

"Uchiha Ruri... I'll kill her..."

She destroyed his homeland, killed the great village chief whom he revered, so this blood feud must be avenged!

◎

"A false land created by an illusion technique, huh? Looks like you had a pretty eventful experience this time."

After reading through the mission report and roughly understanding how the mission was carried out, Hakushi smiled at Ruri with interest.

After learning the whole truth of the Valley of Hypocrisy, Hakushi couldn't help but sigh at how deeply war scars humanity.

In order to escape the ravages of war, the Nameless Village Chief actually defected from his original village, just to establish a refuge village hidden from the world—the Valley of Hypocrisy.

In the past, there must have been many ninjas like the Nameless Village Chief who suffered deeply from the wounds of war.

But none of them had the strength of the Nameless Village Chief, and already perished in the pursuit of peace.

"Yeah, I'm not really fond of using illusion techniques, but this time it gave me a deeper understanding of them."

Ruri replied with a mild smile.

Only afterwards did she realize that, in fact, the illusion technique of the Nameless Village Chief had already covered every inch of land in the Valley of Hypocrisy.

If not for his age and physical decline, and a severe drop in power, breaking that illusion probably wouldn't have been so easy.

But there are never so many 'what ifs' in this world.

After all, without decades of accumulation, the Nameless Village Chief's illusion technique wouldn't be so terrifying.

The Nameless Village Chief's decades of illusion technique research notes had already been ordered by Ruri to be brought out from the Valley of Hypocrisy by the Water Dragon God.

The thoughts and research on illusion techniques contained within were a real eye-opener for Ruri.

Olfactory-type illusions are extremely rare in the Ninja Realm, with almost no one researching this kind of illusion technique.

Unless you stop breathing, you'd be invaded by this kind of illusion.

Now the Uchiha Clan of the Land of Demons has one more path to learn illusion techniques.

"Then I'll just have to look forward to it,"

Hakushi wasn't particularly skilled in illusions, just enough to use them a little.

What's more, the methods for casting illusions are too rigid, lacking combat practicality.

But as for breaking illusions, he was very proficient; what he was best at was his research into Yin and Yang Style.

Shadow Dancer is a manifestation of Yin Style.

And his Healing Sage Art is the combination of Yang Style with Sage Art.

He believed, if he continued to train his Healing Sage Art, maybe he could even achieve limb regeneration.

"Here, this is a gift for you."

Ruri took out a glass bottle the size of a palm from her ninja tool bag.

It was more than half-filled with water.

"What's this?"

Holding the glass bottle, Hakushi had no idea what it was for a moment.

"According to the Nameless Village Chief, he called this Hallucinogenic Water, which can emit a scent close to that of nature, ensnaring enemies in illusions. The Nokizaru Group was taken down after inhaling the scent from wildflowers tainted by this water."

"Then why didn't it work on Kakuzu..."

"Maybe he thought his body structure was rather unique."

Though Nokizaru members have undergone modification, at their core they're not really different from normal humans.

The body modification was just to facilitate the use of secret techniques.

But as for Kakuzu's body... honestly, Hakushi thought that could no longer be classified as human.

Only the surface was still human; the inside, besides a few hearts, was a mass of black tentacles with 'life'.

According to Kakuzu, his body's durability far exceeds ordinary humans, also giving him high resistance to illusions.

This is probably thanks to the secret technique called 'Earth Grudge Fear'.

"If that's the case, this water really does have high research value. But... is this all?"

"That's it. The river was affected when the mountain collapsed and is now destroyed. The fragrance is gone from the river, and only this bit of original water remains."

"..."

The words 'a waste of such treasures' still didn't come out of Hakushi's mouth.

"Well, that's that. The Blood Mist Faction remnants still need to be eradicated soon. I just hope there's no more trouble from the Nokizaru Group."

Hakushi sighed, holding the glass bottle of Hallucinogenic Water.

Having taken Yagura's money, if he doesn't get the job done, it'll ruin the Nokizaru Group's reputation.

Still, Hakushi didn't believe Nokizaru's luck would be that bad.

The Valley of Hypocrisy and the Nameless Village Chief truly are rare sights in the Ninja Realm.

◎

April, Konoha.

"That's all for today's meeting. Dismissed."

In a brightly lit conference room, everyone present was dressed in hooded cloaks, mostly in black and white.

Seated at the head of the meeting table were two people.

Judging by their figures, a man and a woman.

They were the Chief and Deputy Chief of the Konoha Anbu.

Both were members of the prestigious Yuanfei Clan of Konoha, and also the eldest son and daughter-in-law of the current Third Hokage, who had recently regained leadership of Konoha.