Chapter 543: The Advancing Team Three
Hayate Gekko was knocked unconscious, his body tracing an arc through the air before plunging into the sea.
With him out cold, he was naturally unable to tread water. Falling into the ocean in this state, death by suffocation was all but certain.
Madara Uchiha had been unwilling to strike a lethal blow, but if Hayate fell into the water and drowned on his own, that had nothing to do with him. Your willpower is impressive, Madara thought, but it's still not enough!
He turned his attention back to the Three-Tails, but to his surprise, a water dragon coiled and spiraled out, scooping the unconscious Hayate Gekko from the waves first.
With reddish-brown curly hair, turquoise eyes, and pink lips, the Fifth Mizukage, Mei Terumi, clad in a blue, long-sleeved, shoulder-baring dress, commanded the water dragon to deposit Hayate on a distant reef.
The Fifth Mizukage crossed her arms, a gesture that made her ample chest appear even more prominent. Her expression was grim as she looked at Madara Uchiha and the Three-Tails.
Madara glanced at her. "To dare save someone from my grasp, I must say, you have a lot of nerve."
Mei Terumi offered a dazzling smile. "I kill when I want to kill, and I save when I want to save. I'm just that kind of willful woman. But you, on the other hand, you're the one with real nerve, daring to capture the Three-Tails on the shores of the Land of Water. Who exactly are you?"
Madara replied in a haughty tone, "You will know soon enough."
He recognized Mei Terumi's identity as the Fifth Mizukage and immediately unleashed one of his signature techniques.
"Fire Release: Great Fire Annihilation!"
A massive fireball, like a meteor, descended from the sky.
Mei Terumi hadn't expected this mysterious ninja to be capable of such a colossal fire technique. Her brow furrowed as she quickly formed hand seals to counter.
As a kunoichi who had been single for thirty years with no boyfriend, forced to practice her hand speed alone in her room, one-handed seals and six seals per second were basic skills for her.
"Water Release: Water Formation Pillar!"
Meanwhile, after Hayate Gekko transmitted the intelligence about the Three-Tails to the Intelligence Division, he went offline. The report was consolidated by Aoba Yamashiro, who immediately began to mobilize forces.
Aoba Yamashiro was a veteran. Previously serving as Inoichi Yamanaka's deputy, he held the rank of Special Jonin and was responsible for intelligence analysis within the village.
After Jiraiya took office, he was smoothly promoted to Jonin. By the time Minato Namikaze became Hokage, he had become the Deputy Head of the Intelligence Division. In his daily work, he assisted Ino, patching up any oversights and providing support. He was a ninja who seemed inconspicuous but was, in fact, indispensable.
The Hidden Leaf Village had experienced three major periods of talent explosions. The first was the era of Hiruzen Sarutobi and Danzo Shimura; many of their contemporaries left their mark on the ninja world. The second was the generation of Kakashi and Might Guy, with Shizune, Asuma, and Kurenai being the standouts of that time. The third was Ino's generation, the Konoha 12.
Aoba Yamashiro didn't belong to any of these periods. His ninja registration number was 009744.
Kakashi's number was 009720, extremely close to Aoba's.
Kakashi only attended the Academy for one year before applying for early graduation. Among his peers, Might Guy's number was 010252, Shizune's was 010800, and Asuma's was 010829, all of them much later.
Aoba and Kakashi graduated at nearly the same time. Aoba certainly didn't possess Kakashi's genius talent of graduating at five, becoming a Chunin at six, and a Jonin at twelve. He graduated and was promoted at a normal pace, which meant he was at least five years older than Kakashi.
In the ninja world, where reaching sixty was considered a long life, the 35-year-old Aoba Yamashiro was an absolute veteran.
Knowing his own talents were average, Aoba was content to be a deputy, serving first under Inoichi Yamanaka and now under Ino Yamanaka.
This man was a jack-of-all-trades. He had his own unique skills in ninjutsu, genjutsu, and taijutsu. Even when faced with a ruthless foe like Kakuzu, he could charge in for a few close-quarters exchanges without any pressure. One could consider him a less powerful version of Kakashi, but without the Sharingan.
His mind was sharp. On one hand, he dispatched someone to urgently contact Might Guy's Team Three for support while simultaneously sending the report back to the village. On the other, he gathered more than three squads—a total of twelve ninja—and headed out to rescue Hayate Gekko.
Team Three's mission was simply to eat, drink, and have fun, with a focus on relaxation.
Minato Namikaze had specifically instructed Neji that, as the team's jonin, he was to look after his two "rare beast" teammates.
Team Three hadn't even started searching; they were resting in a small country on the eastern sea called the Land of the Sea.
"What?! They really found the Three-Tails?! Lee!"
Upon receiving Aoba Yamashiro's message, a fired-up Guy-sensei looked at his beloved student.
"Sensei!" Lee had been fed rich food by the Akimichi girl for half a month, and his face now looked even rounder.
Having removed the weights he wore constantly, his spirit and energy seemed to have gained a new vitality.
At this moment, Lee was even more excited than his teacher. "Is this, is this what you were talking about, Guy-sensei? A chance? A chance to unleash all of my passion and youth?!"
"Lee, youth will never fade!"
"Sensei!"
"Lee!"
"Sensei!"
Teacher and student tearfully embraced, crying their eyes out as the ocean tide surged behind them, scaring away the crows in the sky.
Passersby on the street stared with bewildered eyes, pointing and whispering among themselves.
"Ugh, this is so embarrassing..." Tenten covered her face, too mortified to look at the expressions of the onlookers. These two clowns left her at a loss, but somehow, she had grown fond of these idiots. If she were told to leave Team Three and be separated from them now, she would absolutely refuse.
Neji, the other jonin on the team, was far more reliable.
He studied the sea chart and the coordinates sent by Aoba. "Sensei, Senior Aoba's message was brief. A Tailed Beast is a powerful enemy, and we also need to find out why Senior Hayate Gekko lost contact. For the coming battle, we need to conserve enough stamina and chakra. I've planned a route. We'll hire a boat now and head over immediately."
Guy and Lee were still passionately encouraging each other, clearly not having heard a word. Neji didn't mind; his words weren't meant for those two buffoons anyway.
As the team's wealthy member, Tenten had always been in charge of hiring boats and people. Coming from a rich merchant family, she was naturally adept at dealing with all sorts of people.
When it came to social skills, the other three members of Team Three combined couldn't hold a candle to her.
"Right, leave it to me!"
Before long, Tenten had hired a sailboat said to be very fast. With a generous payment, the boat owner immediately raised the sails and set course for the Three-Tails' location.
The sailboat had barely traveled a nautical mile when a problem arose! A big problem!
Guy-sensei was seasick. Violently seasick!
"Urgh!" He leaned over the ship's railing, his head hanging out, and retched repeatedly.
Neji and Tenten quickly helped him back to the cabin. After taking some medicine, he stopped vomiting, but he was still dizzy. The tough guy now saw his students in double vision.
Tenten was on the verge of a breakdown! What was this situation?
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