Two days later, the three of them had traversed the Land of Hot Water and entered the borders of the Land of Sound.
The Land of Sound was not as prosperous as the Land of Hot Water.
The Land of Hot Water was a famous hot spring sanctuary in the shinobi world, essentially a tourist destination with a well-developed commercial sector and many places to visit.
The Land of Sound, however, was quite different.
It was a poor, small nation.
There were almost no places for leisure.
Consequently, their travel speed increased significantly.
Ryōsuke gave an instruction to Zabuza.
"Go find out the route to the Sound Village and then come back and tell me."
"Yes, God King."
"But why are we going to the Sound Village?"
Zabuza was slightly puzzled. The Sound Village was just a small hidden village and didn't have a Tailed Beast Jinchūriki, did it?
Ryōsuke did not intend to keep it a secret from Zabuza.
"We are going to find Orochimaru. That guy is hiding in the Sound Village."
Zabuza was surprised.
Orochimaru was one of the Sannin of the Leaf Village, though he had long since defected.
'What does the God King want with this man?'
Although the confusion remained, he did not ask any further questions.
Instead, he immediately set off to find the route to the Sound Village.
Ryōsuke continued ahead with Haku.
While this place was not as prosperous as the Land of Hot Water and even felt a bit like a primitive society...
...to him, it offered a different kind of scenery.
Before long, Zabuza found the route to the Sound Village.
The Sound Village held significant weight within the Land of Sound.
Because it was open to commissions and earned revenue through them.
Although they received fewer commissions than the Five Great Shinobi Villages, they still had some.
Of course, these commissions all had a bit of a dark side.
Naturally, the compensation was substantial.
Ryōsuke then had Zabuza lead the way, heading directly for the Sound Village.
A day later, they arrived successfully at the Sound Village.
The three of them, wearing black robes with red clouds and masks, arrived at the gate of the Sound Village.
The gate guards immediately went on high alert.
"Who goes there?"
The two Sound ninjas guarding the gate felt that something was wrong.
The attire of these three was far too suspicious.
News had naturally reached them that Killer B, the Eight-Tails Jinchūriki of the Cloud Village, had been attacked and abducted by a man in a black robe and a white mask.
This was very similar to the clothing of these three.
The person in the middle was even wearing a white mask.
Although this person wore a black robe with red clouds instead of a plain black robe...
...he could only be described as a suspect for the Uchiha Madara who attacked the Cloud Village Jinchūriki.
Even if it wasn't the person they thought it was, anyone dressed in black certainly wouldn't be coming to the village to post a standard commission.
Ryōsuke, however, spoke slowly.
"Take me to Orochimaru."
The two Sound ninjas looked surprised, and one of them said hurriedly:
"What are you talking about?"
"Orochimaru isn't here at all. Please leave."
The fact that the other party mentioned this name meant they had come with ill intent.
Ryōsuke could tell from their reactions that Orochimaru was indeed here; otherwise, they wouldn't have been so panicked upon hearing the name.
Seeing that the other party had no intention of leaving, the Sound ninja said threateningly:
"If you don't leave now, we will arrest both of you."
Orochimaru was the true leader of the village, even above the Otokage.
The Otokage was merely the leader on the surface.
Though they didn't know how the other party found out, news about Lord Orochimaru must never be leaked from their mouths.
Otherwise, their fate would be very grim.
Ryōsuke stared at the man; he actually dared to threaten him.
The Sharingan slowly opened, a flash of red light appearing as the Sharingan's Genjutsu was activated.
The ninja who had spoken the threat lost the light in his eyes and collapsed weakly to the ground.
Ryōsuke then looked at the other person.
"Do you know?"
The other Sound ninja was already somewhat paralyzed with fear.
'His eyes just turned red... Could that be the legendary Sharingan?'
But he still couldn't answer; otherwise, it would bring disaster to his family.
"I... I don't know."
The ocular power in Ryōsuke's eyes gathered once more, and he activated the Genjutsu again, causing the man to fall straight to the ground.
Since he didn't know, he would just have to enter the village and find him himself.
Soon, someone discovered the situation at the village gate and sounded the village alarm.
Suddenly, the sound of an alarm echoed throughout the entire village.
Ninjas constantly gathered at the gate.
Those who had come to post commissions also felt that things were not looking good and moved away from the entrance.
These three clearly came with ill intentions.
They didn't want to get caught up in the struggle.
Ryōsuke and the others watched the ninjas gathering around them, not feeling the slightest bit of fear.
The ninjas looked coldly at the three.
"You have a lot of nerve to attack the ninjas of our Sound Village."
One Sound ninja directly pulled out a kunai and charged toward Ryōsuke.
Ryōsuke grabbed his arm and swung him violently.
He threw him directly toward a building.
The entire building collapsed.
Buildings in the Sound Village were quite crude, mostly simple wooden structures.
The Sound ninja spat out blood and was buried under the collapsed house.
The other Sound ninjas were even more furious when they saw this.
"How dare you be so insolent in the Sound Village!"
"Go! Kill this man in black!"
In an instant, dozens of Sound ninjas attacked Ryōsuke directly.
Ryōsuke watched the attacking ninjas and sent them flying one by one with a single punch.
Although he didn't go all out, even a normal strike was enough to send these ninjas flying, spitting blood and unable to get back up.
To be honest, the strength of these Sound ninjas was only at the level of Chūnin or Genin.
This made the other people from the Sound Village who hadn't made a move sense that something was very wrong.
This man's Taijutsu was far too strong. Two of them in the distance directly formed hand signs and let out a deafening roar from their mouths.
They attacked Ryōsuke, enough to disturb his spirit.
But Ryōsuke didn't feel anything special; he just thought it was a bit loud.
This was likely due to his own powerful body.
However, Zabuza and Haku behind him were feeling a bit uncomfortable.
That wouldn't do.
Ryōsuke directly gathered his ocular power, his pupils glowing red as the Sharingan Genjutsu was activated.
The two who were emitting the sound waves stopped immediately, their eyes filled with disbelief. This was Genjutsu.
Their bodies fell uncontrollably to the ground.
At this moment, a middle-aged man wearing a hat with the character for 'Sound' rushed over.
The ninjas present became excited.
"Lord Otokage is here! He can definitely eliminate this guy!"
Hearing their words, the Otokage smiled bitterly in his heart.
They didn't even look at who the visitor was before assuming he could destroy the opponent.
He still needed to resolve this peacefully.
He had planted spies in various villages according to Orochimaru's instructions.
The specific information on Fukai, the previous generation's Eight-Tails Jinchūriki of the Cloud Village, had been given to Lord Orochimaru by those spies.
The spies had also sent news back from the Land of Lightning. The man in front of him was Uchiha Madara.