Chapter 170: The Land of Whirlpools

Seated in a small boat, Shikamaru hired a guide to Maelstrom Island. He himself did not know exactly the way, so he had to rely on the knowledge of the boatman. He was not particularly eager to accompany some stranger to that place because of some superstition, but a hard-hitting coin works wonders. Therefore, after ten minutes, the noise of the engine became commonplace.

Shikamaru watched the lapping waves and gazed into the distant fog, thinking along the way:

“Still, something is not clean here ... She was so attracted by my appearance? Perhaps I would not call myself a straight ugly ... Over the past month I have noticeably matured, only I resemble a pretty guy rather than a courageous man. Although, Mei's tastes ... Could it be the natural chakra? That's pretty likely too ... Anyway, I'm leaning towards such a huge set of pedigrees that made me this way. It's no joke, over the past month I have grown as if for several years. The natural chakra still strengthened. From this point of view, this is most likely ... Yeah, it's funny, now flirting with Sakura or Hinata will look strange. "

After almost five hours, an imposing island with a couple of large mountains finally appeared. Even from a distance of a kilometer, one could see some buildings on the hills, completely turned into ruins. The fog completely bypassed these lands, and Shikamaru felt somehow strange here. No wonder people shied away from these places. It was too gloomy here, and perhaps not only because of the massacre that took place ...

Suddenly, in the middle of the sea, the boatman stopped and said gravely:

- I can't go on, I'm sorry kid.

- Everything is fine, as agreed ... - Shikamaru pulled out a large wallet and threw it into the fat man's hands: - There is a little more here, the price of risk. Happen!

The moment and the guy was on the water, and then at all possible speed rushed towards the island. The man opened his mouth in shock, and then sighed:

- No wonder, shinobi means ... I immediately noticed something in him ... Well, good luck guy ... - grabbing the oars, the man turned the boat around, and then started the engine and cut through the small waves on his way back. In his opinion, rain was approaching, and anything could happen there, so it was worth hurrying.

At the same time, the Mizukage returned to her office and sat down on a chair with a sigh. What happened not so long ago ... She only now began to realize all this and again blush from embarrassment. He not only took her for the first time, he also grabbed her panties, like some kind of trophy!

"No, he's definitely not like that ... I'm sure!" - there were only tights under the girl's skirt and without soft panties the sensations were completely different. She crawled with her soft part on the chair, trying to get comfortable. Perhaps intimacy with a man changed her even more.

- Oh, no, you still need to change ... - blushing again, the girl left the office without further ado and tried to make her look the most serious possible. She's a Mizukage, after all, she shouldn't act like some girl! Only with him you can ... And with the rest she is the head of the village!

***

At the same time, Shikamaru reached the lands of the hidden Maelstrom. Then he took off his cloak, unbuttoned his shirt and breathed deeply in the air of the new lands. Finally he found an island warmer than the damp Land of Water, this place even the clouds seemed to bypass. It is difficult to understand what the Uzumaki did here, but the climate was noticeably different from the others. Only even so - this place was as if covered with an intangible shadow, gloomy and oppressive.

Equipped, Shikamaru hit the road.

Already on the way, he began to understand that even the air here is not as simple as it seemed. There is clearly something dangerous in it, perhaps even poisonous. Too strange ... It is difficult to imagine what makes the air acquire such properties and at the same time continues to maintain them. Even for a ninja, living in such oxygen for a long time will lead to extremely sad consequences. This is not about years, but rather weeks. This place was not dangerous for Shikamaru, but for a child of a ninja or an ordinary person without chakra, it is pure suicide to live here. It is possible that people avoid this place for a reason.

Surprisingly, the concentration of these poisonous particles increased towards the center of the island. It immediately became clear that perhaps an incident occurred in the past collision, and these are the consequences.

“Interesting ... The old man did not tell me about the poisonous fumes. Plus, the winds are weird here. He seems to be performing a certain cyclical circle. But, even with air support, toxic fumes simply cannot last that long without proper support. This is something natural - most likely a plant that constantly generates poison, which means it is alive ... I would like to see if I had its seeds, it is also not bad. I don't usually specialize in this, but why not. It's just hard to believe that someone has spilled a whole poisonous sea here and ... "- Shikamaru stopped abruptly and reflexively grabbed the kunai, jumping to the side. It seemed to him as if ... Suddenly there was an explosion!

With dust and dirt rising up, the stones, like a hail of bullets, smashed the surrounding lands with their sudden bombardment. Shikamaru narrowed his eyes and peered at the crater that appeared on the ground. The understanding came by itself, so he quickly put the kunai in the pouch:

- Interesting ... The traps are still working. It’s either I’m not so lucky, or it was just worth checking the roots of the entire forest.

Shikamaru was not surrounded by ruins as it might seem, the island of the Maelstrom was surrounded by endless jungle, mixed with the simple forests of the Land of Fire. All the main land concerned only a hidden village and a small settlement to the west. Shikamaru came from the south, so he had to cover a lot of the forest. Only after a couple of kilometers it will be possible to finally come across empty zones with hills, and in the center of them were the remains of the village of Uzumaki.

Once the trap worked, Shikamaru decided to be even more vigilant. As much as he wanted to test Uzumaki's ability to kill invaders, he didn't want to tempt fate once again. Small pebbles for him are no more than a small swarm of mosquitoes, but for an inexperienced Chūnin, such a trap could be deadly. It may well be that these shinobi hid something more powerful here.

Carefully moving through the trees, Shikamaru was surprised to find a rather impressive number of fuin traps, and quite skillful ones. Of course, as before, they posed no threat to him. Even in the forests of the hidden Leaf, there were very few traps of this type. Over time, Shikamaru realized that he had chosen a rather unknown path and was not particularly lucky. The invaders were moving along other routes. Although he didn't care much about this, he simply identified each trap in a timely manner and moved on without any particular problems.

After a few minutes, Shikamaru finally made it to the green hills, right behind which was a ruined village. It was then that he understood why there was so much poisonous fumes in the air ...