[Naruto] To the underworld

While Deidara and the girl were busy catching fish and grilling them, Scorpion slowly circled the lake, stopping to take a look from time to time. When he returned to the gathering point, he said, "You rest, I'll keep watch." Then he moved aside and said nothing.

"Uncle Scorpion seems a little depressed." The girl whispered to Deidara.

"Maybe that lotus is really precious. After finally getting here, I found out that the seeds are bad. All my efforts were in vain, huh."

Deidara once found a high-quality clay in the Pottery Village that could quickly integrate his condensed chakra and stimulate the tension of creative inspiration. He was very excited for a time. Later, when he arrived at the mining site, he discovered that this clay that was extremely suitable for his artistic creation had been used. There was not much left to develop and he was extremely disappointed. He could understand Xie's frustration and had no complaints about this futile trip.

The girl woke up from her sleep in the middle of the night, took out her water bag and drank a few sips. Her eyes touched Xie's somewhat lonely profile, and she couldn't help but look at the lifeless lotus seeds discarded on the ground.

Is this really the only way to go?

Is this lotus really completely extinct?

Is there any hope left?

She stood up, told Xie "I want to see the stars for a while," and walked toward the lake.

The entire oasis seemed to be sleeping, and stars fell into the quiet lake. With the ripples of the lake, the intoxicating night glow was rippling.

The girl took out a king lotus seed, injected her mind energy into it, and let it fall into the water. Soon, a giant disc-shaped leaf with a rolled edge about 3 meters in diameter appeared. A lotus stretched out of the water and gradually bloomed. Exudes a strong floral fragrance.

She sat cross-legged on the emerald jade plate, broke the stem, used the flower as an oar, and rowed leisurely. By visually measuring the lake area and the coverage of its own circle, the lake was divided into seven areas and the search was carried out one by one.

She closed her eyes and carefully felt the shapes of objects under the lake surface, especially in the mud layer from the bottom of the lake, and scanned them bit by bit.

The seeds of the Red Flame Golden Lotus are slightly more pointed than ordinary lotus seeds, about the size of a peanut...

There are stones of different shapes at the bottom of the lake, large and small snails, clams, fish and shrimps, soft water plants swaying gently, and small snakes swimming...

If there is nothing in the shallow layer, then spread the Qi to deeper places to search...

If there is nothing in the first area, then search in the next area...

Ah, there are lotus seeds that match the appearance... but they have no vitality, no...

The girl was so absorbed in her perception that she completely forgot about the passage of time.

Deidara woke up in the early morning and heard from Scorpion that the girl had left for a while, so he went to find her and saw her sitting on a giant leaf, floating in the middle of the lake, with his eyes closed and not making any noise. He came back and informed Scorpion .

"She doesn't look like she's looking at the stars, nor does she look like she's sleeping. Uncle Scorpion, are you going to take a look, huh?" Deidara asked.

What is she going to do?

Xie didn't know if the little girl's behavior was related to what he had asked for before. After hesitating for a moment, he left with Deidara.

The fifth area has been found. The girl was very tired and mentally exhausted due to releasing a large amount of thought energy. She rested her hands on the lotus leaves, breathing a little quickly, and small beads of sweat broke out on her forehead.

This was the first time she had used a circle to search for such a small object. It was really tiring to go deep into the mud to find it, but now that she had done it, she didn't want to give up halfway.

Penetrate another 5 meters down. If you can't find it, take a nap on the lotus leaf to regain some strength, and then go to the remaining two areas... She planned this, and spread her thoughts further down the mud layer, concentrating on it. ground perception.

Hey, what is that——

She tilted her head slightly, her eyebrows slightly gathered together, and after confirming again, she finally relaxed.

The shape is exactly the same as the lotus seed given to her by Xie, and the weak vitality is contained in it. There is no mistaking it, it is the seed of a red flame golden lotus that is still alive.

No, there is more than one. Near it, there are one, two, three, four...

Go tell them quickly!

The girl managed to get up, and when she raised her eyes, she found the two people who had been standing on the shore for an unknown period of time. She couldn't help but waved her hands happily, "Uncle Scorpion, I found it!"

"careful!"

Seeing that the girl was exhausted and was about to fall into the lake after shaking a few times, Deidara quickly jumped out and rushed to the girl's side across the lake, holding her up.

"What did I find? I'm so happy..." Deidara put the girl's arm on his shoulders and wrapped his other hand around her waist. "Should I take you ashore first, huh?"

"Wait a minute, I want to let Uncle Scorpion take a look at this..." The girl urged the few thoughts in her body to rush towards a small area deep in the lake bottom, wrapping up several small seeds and injecting them with... Vigorous vitality, prompting them to wake up from their slumber.

The lotus seeds at the bottom of the lake broke through the hard shell, sprouted roots, and gave birth to seedlings. The underground stems extended rapidly, the leaf buds continued to differentiate, and the branches grew rapidly. One after another, dark green lotus leaves spread out one after another, and one bud after another emerged from the lake. .

The rippling lake surface became silent again, and time seemed to pause for a moment.

pat- pat-

Under the gradually brightening skylight, Xie vaguely heard the sound of flowers blooming, and through his amber prosthetic eyes, he clearly saw the red lotuses blooming one after another, standing gracefully in the lake, blazing like flames, bathing in the water. Swaying gently in the morning breeze.

"Wow, what a beautiful red color!" the girl praised sincerely.

"Yeah, with Uncle Scorpion..." Deidara was also amazed, and swallowed back the second half of the sentence.

"That lotus flower is a very beautiful red color. It's the same color as your hair. We'll take you to see it in the future."

The scene of the red lotus blooming that he had been dreaming of for more than twenty years finally appeared in front of him, making Xie feel like he was in a dream. In a trance, he seemed to hear the soft and warm voice of his mother deep in his memory.

Scorpion stared for a while, then moved his eyes to the girl Deidara was supporting, and slowly spoke: "Little girl, you... are very good."

The girl smiled at him.

"Deidara, pick all the flowers." Scorpion continued.

Deidara sent the girl to the shore first, then returned to the lake to pick off the lotus flowers one by one, and returned to Scorpion with a large handful in his arms.

The girl came over and took a closer look at the lotus pod wrapped in red petals, and asked with some surprise: "How come its lotus seeds are just ordinary green like other lotuses? Will they turn into gold when mature?"

Xie took the lotus with his puppet arm, "No, its changes are a bit special. You guys should step back a little."

Deidara and the girl took two steps back as instructed. A few minutes later, in their shocked eyes, the red lotus suddenly burned for unknown reasons. In the end, only a few golden lotus seeds were left shining on the ground. Light.

"The red lotus is shaped like a flame. It only blooms for a moment and is reborn from the fire."

Xion said word by word, the words his father wrote down on the scroll came to mind.

Scorpion put away these golden lotus seeds and left two for the girl.

The girl originally wanted to help Xie give birth to a batch of lotus flowers, but Xie said she wouldn't need it for the time being and would ask her for help next time when she needed it.

"What is the use of this lotus seed? Is it some kind of antidote?" the girl asked casually.

Scorpion told her without any secret, "It is neither poisonous nor can it be used to detoxify, but the seeds contain a special substance that can keep the body and organs of dead people or animals alive and never rot. After conducting experiments, the chakra of dead ninjas can be completely preserved. The production of my human puppet was also developed based on the results of this experiment."

The girl was amazed and decided to keep the lotus seeds well.

"Little girl, do you want any reward?"

Xie was satisfied with the girl's performance and asked kindly.

"No, this is to repay Uncle Scorpion for providing me with precious information last time." The girl scratched her head, "Well, if Uncle Scorpion insists on expressing his gratitude again, can you give me a ride back?"

"As if I didn't say anything..." Xie walked away with a cold face.

The three of them boarded the giant clay bird again and left the desert oasis.

Not long after the clay bird flew, the girl began to feel sleepy, but she didn't want to get into the airtight bird's mouth in such a hot weather. Deidara sat down, hugged her weakly, and let her sleep on his shoulder.

When she woke up, she found herself in a cave with a bonfire burning inside.

"Is it getting dark so soon?" She rubbed her eyes.

"You are so fast asleep, you have no sense of defense at all." Didara stretched out a finger and poked her cheek, "It's not night yet, but we have to stay here for the time being, okay."

"Isn't it the safest to be with you? What else do we have to guard against?" The girl looked at the entrance of the cave in confusion, and saw the sky outside was dark, the wind was howling, and sand and rocks were flying.

"This is--"

"sandstorm."

"Why did you encounter a sandstorm when everything was fine?"

"It's normal to encounter sandstorms in this season, and they shouldn't last too long."

"You can't move in a sandstorm, right?"

"Well, you will lose your sense of direction. Not only will you be wandering in the desert, but you may also die of dehydration."

"Oh...huh?"

The girl talked to the person for a long time, and then realized something was wrong.

The clear and clean voice is a strange combination of charm and coldness. It sounds numb and pleasant to the ears.

But this man's voice has the temperament of a boy, but he is obviously not Deidara!

The girl turned her head suddenly and saw another figure sitting next to the familiar hunchback puppet.

The young man wearing the iconic red cloud robe of the Akatsuki organization has an exquisite and delicate appearance. His hair is as red as red flames and red lotus. There is a smile on the corner of his mouth. His eyes are pure and gentle, and he looks harmless to humans and animals.

"Who are you?" The girl's eyes widened.

Isn’t the organization full of people? Where did the formal members appear? Wait, why is he in this desert...

"Little girl, have you fallen asleep?" The red-haired boy raised his eyebrows slightly.

The girl's brain shut down for a few seconds, and an incredible conjecture emerged in her mind.

"You, are you...Uncle Xie?"

The red-haired boy's smile deepened a little.