Chapter 48: The Task Begins, Headed for the Mysterious Valley

  "What's something scary?" Meng Ling asked.

  "Just a few days ago, we found a place where the merchant's trailer had left tire tracks, but when we got to one place, the whole caravan just disappeared, and the tire tracks vanished. I went to that spot myself, and it looked like the ground had been dug up or something. It was just like the original mountain road, but the soil quality was completely different from the surrounding valley. What's even scarier is...". Taki said, pausing for a moment to calm himself down before continuing "I found a huge amount of residual chakra there, and it was just residual chakra, but the energy was already terrifying."

  "Is that so? Then, Lord Taki Kage, the chakra you discovered, is it earth attribute chakra?" asked Mugen.

  "Yes, it's indeed earth attribute Chakra, how did you know?" Taki Kage asked in surprise.

  "I think that according to what you said, without me saying it out loud, Lord Taki probably also knows what that thing is." Meng Ling said with a smile.

  "Hmm, yes, it seems that little girl has quite a lot of insight." Taki Kage also burst out laughing.

  "Meng Ling, what have you been saying from the start? I couldn't understand anything no matter how hard I listened?" Feng Quan Zhi Wu pulled at Meng Ling's sleeve and asked in puzzlement.

  "Heavenly Captain, I think this time's mission can be upgraded to S-class without any issues, because..."

  "Why?" Tian Cang asked.

  "This time, it seems that Taki Kage-sama wants us to assist her in capturing the Tail Beast." Yume Akira explained calmly.

  "What? A tail beast? How is that possible?" Tian Cang asked in surprise.

  "I think Captain Tenzou should also know, the nine-tailed beasts are ranked from one to nine according to the number of tails, just now Lord Kakashi said that even the remaining chakra is enough to scare a high-ranking ninja, Captain Tenzou should be able to imagine how huge that amount of chakra is. Apart from the tailed beasts, no other living being can have such an astonishing amount of chakra." Mei explained.

  "If it's really the Tailed Beast, then we have to report this mission to Lord Hokage immediately. But I don't know how many tails it has, or else we could prepare ahead of time." Tenma said with some frustration.

  "I think this time's Tailed Beast should be the Seven-Tails - Shichibi," said Mugen suddenly.

  "How can you be so sure?" Takiyasha asked.

  "It's simple, because, Lord Taka said that at the scene of the missing merchant travelers, there were signs of the earth being dug up and a large amount of earth attribute chakra. These are all evidence. As far as I know, Shichibi - Tanuki, among the nine great tailed beasts, is an existence that manipulates 'earth elements', and Tanuki likes to act underground. Its hunting method is to come from under the ground to below its prey, then break through the earth, making its prey fall directly into its belly. So it makes sense that there are signs of the earth being dug up at the scene where the merchant travelers disappeared." Meng Ling said slowly.

  "Meng Ling, sometimes I really want to ask, are you really only ten years old? Won't you be lying about your age?" Feng Quan Zhi Wu asked as she arrived beside Meng Ling.

  "Heh, is that so." Meng Ling smiled wryly in her heart. "She really did guess correctly."

  "Alright, now that we know, let's head back to Konohagakure and report to the Hokage for now." Teuchi said.

  Meng Ling looked at Tian Cang and others who were about to leave, and made a decision in her heart.

  "Tenchou, I'd like to stay behind. After all, reporting back to the Hokage about this matter won't make a difference with or without me, but if I investigate here for now, regarding the Seven-Tails, it'll be better to have some preparation later on." Merei shouted out her opinion to Tenchou.

  After hearing this sentence, everyone in the scene, including Takashi, was stunned. They looked at Meng Ling with a shocked face.

  "What are you kidding?" Unexpectedly, Tian Cang had not spoken yet, but Feng Quan's dance spoke first. "I admit that Meng Ling is very powerful, although I don't know much about the beast tail, even the shadow-level ninjas say it's a terrible existence, and with Meng Ling's current strength, it's also a one-way trip. I won't let you do this." Feng Quan's dance shouted loudly.

  "I agree with your proposal, Meng Ling. You can stay and investigate thoroughly." Tian Cang seemed to have not heard Feng Quan's words and agreed to Meng Ling's request without hesitation.

  "Captain, why? Are you trying to send Meng Ling to her death? My brother and I have already lost one companion, we don't want to lose Meng Ling as a friend." Feng Quan Zhi Wu's words were now tinged with a hint of sobbing.

  "Bang..."

  "It seems she still doesn't know how strong Lingyun's true strength is." Before Tiansuo could speak, Fengquan's light knocked out Fengquan's dance with a single knife and said calmly.

  "Alas, your methods are too rough, Xiaoguang." Tiān Cáng said with a hint of helplessness. "Then, Mèng Lǐng, let's head to Konohagakure first and try to bring back as much information as possible." Tiān Cáng seemed completely unbothered about Mèng Lǐng, and just like that, he left the Taki Kage Hall with Fēng Yuán zhī Wǔ, who was already unconscious, on his back.

  "Are they just going to leave like that? Abandoning their own comrades, is this the way of the ninjas from Konohagakure?" asked Fuu, the girl standing next to Taki Kage.

  "How did you know that they're doing this because they believe I have the ability, trust is often the best proof between companions." Meng Ling turned around and smiled at Fu.

  "Alright, girl, I heard they call you Meng Ling, right? Now follow Fu and leave with her, she'll take you to a temporary place to stay." Taki Kage sighed and said slowly.

  "Thank you very much, Lord Takahashi." Meng Ling dropped a sentence and followed the girl named Fu to leave the Takahashi Hall.

  On the main street of Takinomi Village, Mugen and Fu walked side by side.

  Actually, Meng Ling knew about Fū's appearance. When she was on Earth, whenever she had nothing to do, she would go online, usually watching anime or playing games and searching for information about games and anime. During one of her searches, Meng Ling came across the data about the Ten-Tails' jinchuriki from the Naruto original series. She knew that apart from the nine great tailed beasts from One-Tail to Nine-Tails, there existed Zero-Tails and Ten-Tails. The Seven-Tails' jinchuriki, Fū, was a female ninja from Takigakure with short green hair and red eyes. Putting all this together, Meng Ling knew that the little girl beside her would become the future Seven-Tails' jinchuriki. Although she had already become a high-ranking ninja at an age similar to Meng Ling's, she still lost her tailed beast during Akatsuki's pursuit. Her fate was indeed extremely tragic.

  But then, what about the fate of that person who was forced to resign?

  "Hey, I'm asking you, do you really want to go deal with that seven-tailed beast?" Just as Meng Leng was thinking, Fu suddenly spoke up to Meng Leng.

  "Not for revenge, but for investigation, thank you." Meng Ling replied calmly.

  "It's all the same anyway, we'll have to face that terrifying thing either way." Fu said discontentedly.

  "Is it? Then let's go deal with Shichibi." Meng Ling didn't refute.

  "But you're really something, aren't you? You seem younger than me, but your abilities have already far surpassed mine." Fu looked at Meng Ling, smiled, and a hint of playfulness flashed in her fiery red pupils.

  About ten minutes later, Meng Ling followed Fu into a small house...

  "Ugh, it's really hot wearing these things." Fu seemed to treat Meng Xiang as if she didn't exist, stripping off her clothes one piece at a time right in front of Meng Xiang.

  "It's just as well that she's still just a kid, otherwise...". Just seeing the little girl undressing in front of her made Meng Lin's heart beat faster. If it were an adult woman standing in front of him..., then Meng Lin's nose would definitely start bleeding wildly.

  "What's wrong?" Seeing Meng Leng's abnormality, Fu seemed to have realized something and came to Meng Leng's front, tilting her head, looking at Meng Leng's every move with great suspicion.

  "You must be running a high fever! Your face is so red." Fuma, who had changed into a white ninja outfit, touched Meng's forehead and said with apparent concern.

  "Ah, never mind, never mind, do as you please." Meng Ling had already completely had enough of this extremely ** girl and ran out of Fu's room in a very flustered manner.

  "What a weird person." Looking at Meng's disheveled figure, Fu couldn't help but laugh.

  Two days later, Meng Ling went alone to the place where he disappeared on his last business trip after explaining to Taki Kage.

  "This place seems to be called Misty Valley, although I don't know how vast the range is, however..." Meng Ling closed her own eyes.

  "Consciousness released." Meng Ling's mind was firm, and his consciousness immediately spread out like smoke that seeped into every pore, with Meng Ling as the center, continuously expanding in all directions.

  "Can't find it? What's going on?" Meng Ling was somewhat perplexed.

  Actually, Meng Ling himself had forgotten a very important issue, the seven-tailed raccoon dog. In fact, there was another ability that Meng Ling had completely forgotten, which was - as long as there was 'clay' by its side, it could change into anything. At this time, the seven-tailed raccoon dog had already discovered Meng Ling on the ground and came to his underside, fixing him in place, and had already taken Meng Ling as its prey.

  "Rumble..." With a loud crash, the ground beneath Meng's feet cracked inch by inch...

  "Not good......" Meng Ling's consciousness was fully extended outside, so she couldn't move for a short period of time, and thus, she fell in.

  "What should I do? Am I really going to die here?" Meng Ling's heart skipped a beat. He wanted to activate the Devil Fruit's power, but found that he couldn't activate it at all.

  Rumble...

  Another loud noise, and the ground that had collapsed returned to its original state, as if nothing had happened here.