The Land of Waves lay in the eastern sea off the Land of Fire, sandwiched between Fire and Water Country. It was a tiny, easily overlooked island nation, and very little was known about it.
Since the end of the Third Ninja War, Kirigakure in the Land of Water had fallen into an increasingly harsh isolationism. The village actively pulled back its influence and seldom contacted the outside world. After several failed attempts, Konohagakure gradually gave up on probing Kirigakure and reduced the intensity of intelligence-gathering in the eastern sea.
As the border between water and fire, the Land of Waves had effectively become a lonely island hanging between two great powers. Ironically, more detailed information about it probably existed in Kirigakure's archives, due to its history of hunting down missing-nin that fled through these waters.
Konoha, by contrast, lagged far behind. Its "latest" information on the Land of Waves consisted only of a rough survey made a year ago—compiled by a Konoha ninja who had been there on an assassination mission.
It was just a small, poor country with no shinobi village of its own, no notable resources, and a population of barely fifty thousand. After losing Kirigakure's influence, Konoha had little motivation to learn more about such a place.
And when Konoha finally rebuilt a proper intelligence file on the Land of Waves, it would likely be sometime after the Fourth Ninja War.
By then, even Neiki Hyuga himself didn't know where he would be.
"Brother Neiki, is this your home here?"
Hanabi Hyuga ran her fingers across the desk. When she lifted them, her fingertips were black with dust. She couldn't help but let out a soft "Huh…"
Although the furnishings were simple and nowhere near as luxurious as the Hyuga clan head's mansion, the sunlight, beach, and gentle sea breeze made the place feel far warmer than the gloomy, malicious house in her memories.
Hanabi looked around, eyes sparkling.
Then she froze.
"Is… is there someone here?" she whispered.
Neiki took out a key and calmly opened the courtyard door that had been sealed for a year.
"From now on," he said, stepping inside, "this will be our base."
Hanabi's gaze followed his hand as it turned the lock. When Neiki said the word "base," what she saw was just this small courtyard in front of them.
What appeared in Neiki's eyes, however, was the entire Land of Waves.
To him, the country itself was far too small to be a true nation.
But as a stronghold—as a testing ground—
…it was perfect.
On the other side of the island, the sea breeze blew cool in the evening.
"Grandpa, you're too much!" Inari pouted in protest.
Young people's feelings were straight and passionate. Inari let out a sigh. A sudden gust of wind blew his hat away. He chased after it along the coastline, sand crunching under his feet, but after only a short run his steps slowed.
"The water in Inari's bay is very calm and clean," Tazuna had once said, patting his grandson's head. "Nothing bad will happen to you here."
At this moment, Tazuna was returning from the fields with a hoe on his shoulder. Seeing his grandson chasing his hat, he smiled.
"Oh? Isn't Inari already a four-year-old adult?" he teased, rubbing the boy's hair.
"But I just turned four today!" Inari puffed up his cheeks.
It was uncomfortable being patted with those calloused hands. Inari soon grew impatient and jumped away to protest loudly.
Tazuna only laughed and set his hoe down.
"Then you should go home early. Your mother and I are still waiting to celebrate your birthday!"
"Okay, okay! I'll go back with Uncle Kaiza!" Inari replied, grinning.
The child admired his stepfather, Kaiza, very much. Their bond was deep, and Tazuna was genuinely happy to see it. He didn't worry about Kaiza being late today—he assumed the man was just out preparing a special birthday gift for Inari.
Time passed. The setting sun dyed the horizon red.
Inari sat alone at the edge of the dock, dangling his legs over the water and absentmindedly feeding little clumps of mud to the fish. Every so often, he looked up toward the sea, waiting for Kaiza's boat to appear against the flaming sky.
"But how soon will Uncle Kaiza come back…" he muttered, more to himself than anyone else.
He climbed up a little mound beside the pier, stood on tiptoe, and looked toward the open sea—first scanning the deck of a distant, stranded ship, then peering through one of its dark portholes.
No one answered him.
No ship returned.
"Inari, do you know the legend of the ghost ship?"
A faint voice suddenly sounded from behind, making Inari's entire body tremble.
He spun around.
"G–Grandpa Tazuna…?"
Tazuna stood there, leaning on his hoe, the corners of his mouth curved in a half-smile.
"If a child is alone on the beach this late," he said, voice dropping to a spooky whisper, "the ghost ship will come and take him away, and he'll never come back!"
Tazuna widened his eyes, enjoying how startled his grandson looked.
"You know the ghost ship, right?" he went on. "Everyone on it has long been dead… a ship full of ghosts. You might even see your grandma on it!"
"Grandpa, you're lying to kids again!" Inari retorted, not buying it at all.
He kicked a small stone into the sea with a huff.
"Really, you only know how to scare me…"
The evening breeze grew a bit colder, brushing across the shoreline.
That was when the shadow fell over him.
It swallowed the boy's small figure, stretching long and dark across the pier. Inari froze and slowly turned back toward the stranded ship.
An unknown red was staining the nearby seawater and beach.
It took his brain a moment to catch up to what his eyes were seeing.
It finally processed the image retrieved by his own vision.
Bodies.
Bodies were scattered from the deck down into the cabin, lying where they had fallen.
Blood seeped from inside the hull, trickling out over the planks and dripping down into the water below, turning the gentle waves a murky crimson.
His hat had been blown onto the mast of the stranded ship and now hung there like a severed head on a pike.
Ghost… ghost ship!!
Inari's throat closed up. No sound came out.
Back at the courtyard, Neiki had already finished taking stock of the place.
Cleaning didn't take long. After he and Hanabi worked for a bit—one adult and one child, guided by Neiki's calmly given instructions—the entire courtyard took on a completely new look.
"What about your friend?" Hanabi asked as she wiped a cabinet with a rag. Because she was so short, all the furniture was too tall for her; she had to drag over a stool even bigger than she was just to reach the tabletop.
Neiki glanced at her.
"It belongs to my friend," he replied evenly, tossing her a clean rag through the open window. "Go clean your own room."
Hanabi stuck her tongue out but obeyed.
Neiki formed a cross with his index and middle fingers.
"Multiple Shadow Clone Technique."
With a soft whoosh, the entire yard filled with identical teenagers wearing black eye masks, each silently picking up tools and beginning to clean.
Hanabi blinked in surprise. She still wasn't used to this.
A short while later, Neiki headed into the basement.
On the shelves and tables below, he began placing the precious spoils he had brought from Konoha: sealed Byakugan, stolen Sharingan, and scrolls filled with sealing formulas and secret techniques. A few truly important items, he left in the courtyard itself under hidden protections.
He paused only once, looking toward the direction of the sea… and the stranded ship.
"Because he defected from Konoha just like me," Neiki suddenly said, as if picking up a conversation Hanabi hadn't heard the beginning of. "But he defected earlier—and he was weaker than me."
Hanabi, busy scrubbing in the next room, froze.
"So he died in my hands," Neiki finished calmly.
He watched Hanabi's small silhouette through the doorway as she worked, saying nothing more.
"It'll take about half a month for my eyes to fully upgrade," he murmured to himself, returning to his preparations. "There's no need to rush."
In the yard above, one of his shadow clones was already giving Hanabi practical training.
"Hanabi-san, you moved too much on the boat," the clone corrected patiently. "Your footing is unstable."
The real Neiki, beneath the house, continued arranging his laboratory.
In his mind, the image of the Land of Waves was no longer just an isolated, forgotten country.
It was a controlled space.
A stronghold.A testing ground.
A place where Neiki Hyuga could quietly plant the seeds of his next plan.
PS :
Tazuna – Inari's grandfather, an older man who works with tools and farming here.
Inari – The young boy of the Land of Waves, just turned four in this scene. Deeply admires his stepfather, Kaiza.
Kaiza – Inari's stepfather
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