Inside the vast shipbuilding grounds, Uzushiogakure ninjas were everywhere. Every person had their own task: some hammered nails into planks; some carried lumber; others provided close protection for the three master shipwrights from the city…
In short, everyone was busy—focused on their work while remaining vigilant for enemies that might appear at any moment, ready to drop what they were doing and fight back.
Along the outer perimeter of the forest, battles had already broken out.
Closest to Team One, Uzumaki Makoto sensed a trap being triggered within a one-kilometer radius. Anticipating trouble, he prepared to move in support—only for strange mist to appear ahead of him.
At once, Makoto halted atop a nearby tree trunk, staring into the watery fog. His voice was low, but filled with fury.
"Kirigakure ninjas… are you looking for death?!"
Hidden within the mist, two Kirigakure chūnin smiled faintly, completely ignoring Makoto's words. All they needed was for their companions to tear open a gap, scattering the Uzumaki defenses.
Six Kirigakure chūnin had observed the outer perimeter for a long time. Among them was a sensory-type ninja who concluded that Team One's position was the weakest.
If the patrol had been fixed—and Baixing had gone there—the Kirigakure ninjas might have reconsidered and chosen a different direction to attack.
"So you're not responding? You really underestimate the Uzumaki."
Makoto formed hand seals, chakra coating the surface of his hands. He took out a sealing scroll from his robes and pulled it open.
Inside the scroll, bordered in red on all four sides, were dense lines of tiny, complex characters forming a pattern like a sun. At the center of the black circular array of text was a single large character, clearly visible—
Flame.
"Fire Release: Flame Shot!"
Before the Kirigakure chūnin could react, a massive burst of scorching fire erupted from the scroll. The terrifying heat tore through nearby tree trunks and green leaves, and even the cool air began to rapidly warm.
Just as the red blaze was about to reach the heart of the white mist, two voices rang out in perfect unison from ahead:
"Water Release: Water Formation Wall!" ×2
In an area with no natural water—only chakra-created mist—the two chūnin jointly spat out twin walls of rushing water.
The water barriers merged slightly, thickening as they formed a solid defense in front of them.
Fire met water.
Water resisted flame.
As the two collided, the mist grew even denser.
Hissssss—
The newly formed mist was far hotter than the one produced by the Kirigakure chūnin earlier.
Scalding droplets and hot vapor splashed across their faces.
At that moment, Makoto pulled out another sealing scroll—slightly longer than the width of his palm, its surface layered in red and gray. Aimed at the core of the mist that had just withstood the fire attack, he calmly unsealed it.
The long scroll unfurled, revealing content similar to the previous one—but this time, the central character was—
Wind.
"Wind Release: Typhoon's Eye!"
The next instant, a pale-white bead filled with Wind Release chakra emerged from the scroll and shot forward.
Makoto's earlier fire attack had covered nearly one-third of the misty area.
From his perspective, the densest concentration of water vapor was at the eleven o'clock direction—so he guided the "Typhoon's Eye" toward that approximate position.
"Right there."
"Detonate."
This was a special Wind Release technique he had developed using fuinjutsu principles—a guided, ultra-miniature tornado.
Because it was controllable, its range was limited, and its power wasn't overwhelming; otherwise, he wouldn't be able to handle it at all.
At most, it was only slightly stronger than a standard C-rank Wind Release used by ordinary chūnin.
Inside the mist, the two Kirigakure ninjas—who had just finished countering the fire attack—were about to breathe a sigh of relief when a small bead suddenly appeared right in front of them.
"This is bad!"
"Get out of the way!!"
The instant their words left their mouths, a violent gale erupted. The powerful wind locked them in place, preventing them from forming hand seals.
Immediately afterward, Makoto activated another Fire Release sealing scroll of the same type as before. A blinding, scorching glow surged forward.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
"AAAAAAH—!" ×2
Within the thinning mist, the light of a small fire tornado appeared. Through the flames, the two Kirigakure ninjas could vaguely be seen inside. They quickly dispelled the Hidden Mist Technique and began to retreat.
In the process, they also triggered several additional traps they had set in the area, hindering Uzumaki reinforcements.
As the white fog gradually dispersed, Makoto's three techniques had carved a small breach into the vast, dense forest.
Tree trunks, branches, leaves—even the green grass on the ground—flickered with faint tongues of flame.
At the center of that scorched area lay two men whose bodies looked as though they had been burned into blackened charcoal.
"Did that finish them?" Makoto muttered softly as he retrieved the now-expended red-and-gray sealing scroll and tucked it back into his robes.
"But unfortunately… that's too fake. I'm a sensory-type ninja—playing dead is meaningless to me."
As he spoke, Makoto flicked two shuriken from his position. They spun at high speed, shooting toward one of the Kirigakure chūnin who was pretending to lie still, waiting to ambush Makoto when he approached.
"Don't underestimate Kirigakure ninjas!"
"I'll be waiting for you in hell!!"
Enduring the agony of severe burns from the Fire Release, the Kirigakure chūnin ignited the three explosive tags affixed to his clothing with his own chakra.
Before Makoto's shuriken could reach him, the explosive tags detonated.
Immediately afterward, the tags on the other heavily injured Kirigakure chūnin—who had already passed out—also exploded.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
The explosions drew the attention of other Uzumaki ninjas. However, those too far away did not abandon their posts—without knowing the enemy's exact numbers, they held their positions.
Makoto, being in the same sector as Team One, was able to provide support.
The roaring blast waves tore through the forest. Standing farther away and largely unaffected, Makoto watched silently.
"Kirigakure ninjas… ruthless as ever."
"To prevent information leaks, they won't even leave us their corpses."
When the smoke cleared and the winds died down, two innocent trees behind the blast zone were scorched yet again by Fire Release, each losing nearly a fifth of their trunks.
Sparks continued to burn along the broken edges.
At the center, the flesh and blood of the two Kirigakure chūnin had been blown apart.
Whether head or torso, nothing recognizable remained—only two relatively intact pairs of legs marked where they had once been.
Baixing pulled Nawaki behind him, his expression grave as he locked eyes with the Kirigakure chūnin ahead.
The wind seemed to stop at that moment. The air grew unbearably dry, making one instinctively swallow in tension.
"Baixing… Baixing, big brother, I—I almost died just now, didn't I?!"
Having never encountered an enemy who went straight for the kill before, Nawaki's legs were trembling. He still hadn't recovered from the shock.
"No," Baixing replied calmly.
Before Nawaki could relax, Baixing continued, "You'd only have lost half your face and an eye."
After all, Nawaki had reacted to the sound and twisted his body slightly at the last second. If it had landed cleanly, he'd probably look like something out of the Boruto era.
Baixing briefly imagined Nawaki tightening his loosened forehead protector, gripping a long blade, activating some tattooed power-up, and shouting:
"Even so, I'm still a ninja!"
With that thought, Baixing shifted his gaze back to the Kirigakure chūnin ahead. He didn't draw his sword—instead, he took out a kunai.
"Nawaki."
"Lord Orochimaru's request can be fulfilled now."
"The Kirigakure chūnin in front of you—I'll leave him to you."
"Huh?!" Nawaki pointed at himself, his legs going weak again. "B-Baixing, I was wrong! I-I-I've never killed anyone!"
"Just cripple him. Make him unable to move," Baixing said expressionlessly, glancing in another direction.
"He's only a chūnin. He already used a Water Clone—his chakra won't be much. All you need to do now is fight the way you normally do."
"Then you—"
Ngh! Ngh! Ngh! Ngh!
Before Nawaki could finish, four shuriken sliced through the air and shot toward them. Baixing instantly tightened his grip on the kunai, knocking each one aside. He then tilted his head slightly, still staring forward, and said to Nawaki behind him:
"The other one…"
"I'll handle him."
"So—"
"My back is in your hands, Nawaki-kun."
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