This was the first time she encountered such thrilling and tense toys.

As long as there are these Explosive Balls, the enemy would not dare to arrogantly approach again.

After all, unlike Explosive Tags, which need to be tied to Kunai for long-distance throwing and require professional skills.

These Explosive Balls, however, even ordinary people can easily use them, able to throw them far away and avoid the backlash themselves.

The surrounding view began to transform, turning into a dense yellow world.

The thick fog made it hard to distinguish directions at first glance.

Akakage, with Tamahime, officially stepped into the range of Hell Valley.

Here, natural toxic fog serves as a barrier, and the thick fog can blur vision. The air's rotting stench also removes the scent from their bodies.

Princess Tamahime began to cough, seemingly about to vomit.

The smell here was certainly too overwhelming for her.

This smell is indescribable in words; it could practically suffocate a person alive.

Akakage found it normal. Hell Valley, due to numerous uncremated corpses buried within, formed a unique natural dead land mixed with the natural Chakra.

The spread of toxic miasma was indeed a bit stimulating for a pampered princess like Tamahime.

But now was not the time to worry about such matters.

He was seriously injured and urgently needed to recuperate.

Yet he could not relax now; they were merely on the outskirts of Hell Valley, and the enemy might well attack from outside. So, Akakage continued advancing into the depths of Hell Valley, holding Tamahime.

Until half an hour later, after finding a recessed rock formation, Akakage finally stopped.

He set down the slightly flushed Princess Tamahime from his arms, slumped against the rock wall like a disassembled man, gasping heavily, his face pallid—not looking like a living person.

"Ninja, are you alright?"

Princess Tamahime trotted over, asking with a concerned face.

Akakage shook his head without speaking, taking out a Scroll from his Ninja Tool Bag and spread it on the ground.

Then he conjured with both hands a metallic silver box, opened it up revealing medical implements. Though few, they were relatively complete and suitable for emergency use.

Akakage picked out a roll of medical bandage from it, known for good hemostatic properties.

"Let me do it."

Princess Tamahime volunteered.

She had treated injured small animals in the past and knew a bit about pharmacology.

Akakage hesitated for a moment, considering the current situation, then nodded.

She uncovered Akakage's blood-soaked upper Ninja Suit. The wounds from the Explosive Tag blast were scabbing but still oozing blood beads in many places.

Princess Tamahime gently covered her lips, the wounds were ghastly to behold. But remembering that Akakage's severe injuries were because of her, she bit her lip, subdued her fear, tore open the medical bandages, and carefully wrapped the wounds.

Her technique seemed somewhat clumsy. Though experienced in dressing animal wounds, it was her first time dressing a human wound—especially that of a bare-chested man.

Never having seen a male body before, Princess Tamahime was naturally nervous, a bit ashamed, her face red.

After intermittently working for over ten minutes, she finally dressed all of Akakage's wounds.

The blush on Princess Tamahime's face had slightly faded, and a look of concern was revealed in her dark eyes.

This was indeed a small repayment for her.

"Ninja, what should we do next?"

Princess Tamahime wiped the sweat off her face, but Akakage did not respond.

"Ninja?"

Turning her head, she saw Akakage slumped and pale against the rock wall, fainted, looking exceedingly weak.

His breath was feeble; danger to his life could arise any moment.

Princess Tamahime was aware of this fact.

Excessive blood loss could lead to bodily functions shutting down.

She quickly looked at the Medical Box, which held infusion tubes, bags, and a sealed blood pack.

Having some medical knowledge, Princess Tamahime knew how to use these medical supplies, so she resolutely opened the blood pack to transfuse into Akakage.

Soon the blood pack was depleted, yet Akakage's complexion remained ghostly pale, barely hanging on.

This small blood pack only solved an immediate emergency, creating further worry for Princess Tamahime.

Blood...where could fresh blood be sourced from? 𝐟𝗿𝐞𝚎𝚠𝐞𝚋𝕟𝐨𝚟𝐞𝕝.𝕔𝕠𝚖

This place wasn't a human town; who would come to donate blood?

Hell Valley was barren, strewn with piles of human and animal bones.

Finally, Princess Tamahime had a flash of inspiration and thought of a way to save Akakage.

...

In the dark, not knowing how long it had been, his mind was extremely muddled, feeling both cold and warm, as if something was oppressively weighing down on him, almost preventing him from breathing.

Opening his eyes was extraordinarily difficult, but Akakage managed to pry them open with willpower. Before him was a vivid, kaleidoscope of colors, slowly normalizing over minutes.

Upon his regained vision, his first sight was a gorgeous, dust-specked face, yet clearly belonging to an unparalleled beautiful maiden.