It didn't take long for Hikaru and Kakashi to arrive outside Shouqi Castle.
Staring up at the massive structure before him, Hikaru felt a faint tremor of excitement stir in his chest.
The castle was enormous—so large that standing in front of it made a human feel insignificant.
What made it even more unsettling was the fact that, despite Shouqi City's fall thirty or forty years ago, the castle still looked pristine. Untouched by time. That alone spoke volumes.
"I'm getting more and more curious," Hikaru thought quietly. "Just how strong is this lizard?"
He glanced sideways at Kakashi, a smile tugging at the corner of his mouth.
"We're about to walk into that thing's body," he said lightly. "You ready?"
"There's no need to phrase it in such a disgusting way, Captain." Kakashi sighed. "Besides, I'm not going in alone—you're coming with me."
His words were arguably even more morbid than Hikaru's.
The implication was obvious: if something goes wrong, at least there's someone to die with.
Hikaru knew Kakashi was joking, but it was still headache-inducing.
Thankfully, his focus wasn't on banter.
He stepped forward and pushed open the castle gates.
There was no lock.
With only a light shove, the massive doors creaked open.
But the moment they stepped inside—
Bang.
The gates slammed shut behind them on their own.
Kakashi frowned.
"Interesting," Hikaru murmured.
At once, his perception expanded outward, sweeping across everything around them.
"Captain," Kakashi said suddenly, his voice low. "This is the summoned beast's mouth. The environment here is an illusion—it has fairly strong genjutsu capabilities."
With the Sharingan active, Kakashi could see through the disguise. The interior revealed its true form: layers of flesh, distorted walls.
More disturbingly, chakra flowed within those fleshy membranes, pulsing and writhing slowly.
"Understood," Hikaru nodded.
Then his expression changed.
Without warning, he grabbed Kakashi and leapt upward.
In the instant they left the ground, dozens of thick, red, cylindrical tentacles burst out from below, whipping toward them in a coordinated assault.
The tentacles didn't strike randomly—they overlapped, crossed, and supported one another, forming a dense net of attacks.
Kakashi reacted instantly. As Hikaru hauled him clear, he drew his ninja blade, lightning chakra crackling across it as he slashed hard at the incoming tentacles.
"Water Release: Severing Wave!"
Hikaru wasn't idle either.
He formed seals at high speed and spat out a razor-thin, highly compressed jet of water. Wherever the water blade passed, tentacles were cleanly severed.
Unfortunately, despite their destructive power, this was still the enemy's territory.
And Hikaru quickly noticed something troubling—
The summoned beast's regenerative ability was terrifying.
Even after being cut apart, the tentacles twitched with vitality. Fueled by a steady supply of chakra, fresh flesh rapidly sprouted from the severed ends.
"What's going on?" Hikaru frowned. "I don't remember Naruto getting attacked the moment he came in."
His perception surged outward again, scanning the entire interior.
To be precise, the creature's entire belly.
"In the original story, it should've been on the top floor…" he thought. "But I can't rely on that completely. Not after everything that's changed."
"Not below."
Following normal logic, Hikaru checked the deepest area first.
He immediately ruled it out.
That was the stomach.
Even without seeing it, he could sense the terrifying concentration of gastric acid there. Scattered bones—some lying down, some slumped upright—were more than enough proof of its lethality.
But the number of skeletons was small.
Some had already been partially dissolved.
"So it's already starving this badly?" Hikaru thought grimly. "No wonder there's no waste."
He slashed through another tentacle with a kunai and twisted aside, narrowly avoiding another strike.
Fighting while gathering information wasn't difficult for him.
His perception rose upward.
If it wasn't below, then it had to be above.
In an instant, his sensory field pierced through layers of flesh, spreading toward the upper regions.
The summoned beast's illusion techniques were impressive—above, the area had been disguised as rows of rooms and corridors. Anyone else might've been fooled completely.
But under Hikaru's perception, those "rooms" were exposed for what they really were: organs, cavities, and structural tissue.
And in the highest chamber—
He found it.
A massive scroll, laid flat inside.
"There it is!" Hikaru's eyes lit up.
After confirming it several times, a smile finally surfaced.
That was it. No doubt about it.
With the objective located, there was no reason to keep tangling with endless tentacles.
The correct move was obvious—grab the prize and leave.
"Follow me. Don't get dragged into a fight!"
Hikaru shouted back to Kakashi and sprinted toward the upper levels without hesitation.
Kakashi responded instantly. He severed a lunging tentacle and leapt after Hikaru, staying close while providing cover as they charged upward.
The entire "castle" began to tremble.
It was clear the lizard had realized their goal.
More tentacles emerged. Smaller lizards began spilling out as well.
Even the illusionary walls started to fail, revealing pulsating flesh beneath.
Countless small lizards split from the meat-covered walls and swarmed toward them.
Hikaru jumped, driving a kunai through one lizard's skull midair, his brow knitting tightly.
"There are way too many…" he thought.
For the first time, he truly appreciated just how absurd Naruto's luck had been.
They pushed forward at full speed, cutting down attackers as they went.
Finally, they reached the top floor—the chamber where the scroll lay.
The door was tightly shut.
And with their intrusion, the summoned beast could no longer fully maintain its illusion.
The door flickered between solid wood and raw flesh, overlapping in a grotesque, unsettling blend.
Hikaru didn't slow down.
He moved at full speed, forming seals with one hand while his kunai was flooded with blue chakra.
"Water Release: Water Blade Slash!"
The kunai, infused with razor-sharp water chakra, stabbed forward under Hikaru's control.
With a thunderous crash, the "door" burst apart.
Everything inside was laid bare.
At the center, resting neatly atop a table—
The scroll.
Hikaru saw it immediately.
A bright, satisfied smile spread across his face.
"Looks like…" he murmured, "we made it."
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