With chakra-enhanced strength driving the oars, the two boats surged forward, finally breaking free of the suffocating white mist.
Everyone exhaled—
a breath short-lived.
"Don't relax. There's definitely more than one enemy!
If you're exhausted, switch rowers immediately!"
With Kurenai missing, command naturally fell to Kaito.
He stared at the massive expanse of fog rolling behind them, eyes narrowing.
"This scale…
At least four or five chūnin-level shinobi working together."
Hearing that, Ryūun—who had just handed the oar to Genma—trembled.
"F-Five chūnin…?
Then Uncle Kurenai… he…"
Her reddened eyes brimmed with tears again.
Genma placed a steadying hand on her shoulder.
"We have to trust him. That's all we can do now."
Meanwhile, inside the mist—
"What?! There are TWO jōnin?"
Hōzuki Chō's water clone nodded.
"To be precise: aside from the jōnin you fought, there's a younger jōnin with a chūnin and three genin. They're escaping the jutsu's range."
"At this rate," the real Chō hissed, "they've already gotten out."
"Even so, killing a single jōnin is a great gain for Kirigakure," the clone replied coolly.
"You know nothing! Enough. Saodō, Chōta—come with me!"
"You two, maintain the jutsu!"
"Yes, sir!" ×2
Two young Kirigakure chūnin rose from the sea.
"This'll be my first time fighting a Konoha jōnin!"
Kurotsuchi Chōta clenched his fists, excitement burning in his eyes.
"Don't get ahead of yourself," Kakitsu Saodō said calmly.
"With our skill, we're only here to cut off his escape when he's injured.
A full-strength jōnin is beyond us."
"Exactly."
The Kirigakure jōnin nodded.
His eyes flicked toward the dissolving water clone.
"Seventh Squad of the Hidden Mist—move."
"Yes, sir!" ×2
Inside the Fog—A Battlefield of Blood and Breath
White mist kissed torn skin.
Sweat and blood dripped onto the ocean surface.
Salt, copper, and cold moisture filled the air.
Exhaustion.
Pain.
And the creeping terror that only true death could bring—
All of it gnawed at Kurenai's heart.
"Pathetic, isn't it~?"
A mocking voice echoed from everywhere—
as if the mist itself whispered.
"This is Konoha's jōnin?
How disappointing."
"Come out!
Fight me face to face if you dare!"
Kurenai's breath shook.
His once-confident expression was a mask of cuts, bruises, and blood.
A shuriken was still lodged deep in his shoulder.
He hadn't even had the chance to bandage it.
"Then—
Let this ANBU of the Mist…"
A chilling hiss.
"Collect a Konoha jōnin's head."
The mist thinned—
likely because fewer Mist shinobi were maintaining it—
and Kurenai caught the faint outline of a figure rushing him.
"Got you!"
He struck.
"Genjutsu: Triple Sakura!"
"Damn—!"
Hōzuki Chō's body stiffened for a heartbeat.
Kurenai vanished.
In his place—
petals.
Endless cascades of pink petals poured from the fog.
Unlike Ryūun's beginner-level Sakura Season, this was a suffocating, high-grade illusion.
Triple-layered visual decoys.
Petal-blindness.
Constricting hallucinations.
"A… suffocation-type genjutsu," Chō muttered, eyes widening.
"So that's it."
Petals closed in around him.
Tightened.
Blossomed across the ocean's surface—
binding his ankles, choking his vision, crawling up his limbs.
"You lured my eyes upward with falling petals," he rasped.
"Then trapped me from below…"
"Truly—
a Konoha jōnin."
Petals stuffed his mouth, nose, vision—
devouring all senses.
In reality, his limbs thrashed.
He clawed at his own throat, desperately trying to break the illusion's suffocation.
He succeeded—
By strangling himself unconscious.
Plup—plunk.
Two sounds echoed at once.
Kurenai collapsed to one knee, bleeding and shaking;
Hōzuki Chō fell unconscious, floating limply on the sea.
"Hah… hah… hah…"
After resting several seconds that felt like an eternity, Kurenai forced himself upright.
He staggered toward the unmoving ANBU, clutching his kunai.
"At least…
before I die…"
He raised the blade.
"At least I'll take down one Mist jōnin!"
"Unfortunate."
A calm voice cut through the mist.
From the water's surface rose a tall Mist shinobi—
combat armor, flowing-water forehead protector, stern expression.
Kakitsu Saodō.
"You should have acted sooner."
He stepped aside effortlessly, dodging Kurenai's weakened strike—
then kicked him brutally across the surface.
Splash—roll—roll—roll.
Kurenai skidded across the water, limbs limp.
"It's over."
Saodō looked down at the fallen Konoha jōnin.
"Impressive, truly—
to cast genjutsu despite losing almost all five senses.
You even defeated one of our elites."
"Konoha really is a village of geniuses."
"Chōta."
Two chūnin charged forward from opposite sides.
"Finish him."
And then—
"ROOM."
A whisper.
Barely audible.
Before anyone reacted,
a pale-blue hemispherical dome shimmered across the water—
passing through three Mist shinobi in an instant.
"What—?
Reinforcements already? That fast?!"
Chōta snarled but didn't stop.
"Doesn't matter! Kill the jōnin first!"
Beneath the surface—
a pocket of space displaced water, forming a spherical "bubble."
Inside it stood a black-haired boy.
Kaito.
He raised one fingertip.
His other hand rested on the hilt of his sword, just slightly drawn.
"ROOM: Slaughterhouse."
Shing— slashhhh—
An invisible cut—
carved through seawater, through mist, through distance—
materialized directly in front of Saodō and Chōta.
To read advanced Chapters, head over to p@treon:
patreon.com/nani_kaito