"The Goudai Shrine race is about to begin!"
"The Wagarashi family's runner is Morino Idate!"
"The Wasabi family's runner is Hikyakuya Fukusuke!"
"On your marks!!"
As the electronic announcement echoed, Morino Idate and Hikyakuya Fukusuke got ready to start. The wooden gates blocking their way opened, revealing the vast sea and two small boats ahead!
It was still a bit dim since dawn had just broken, so the referee didn't announce the start yet.
After a while,
When daylight fully broke, the referee used a loudspeaker to shout:
"Start!"
The race began.
Morino Idate and Hikyakuya Fukusuke dashed off at the same time.
But after passing through the wooden gates, they ran in different directions.
Hikyakuya Fukusuke ran straight for the wooden boat,
while Morino Idate veered off onto a small side path, almost like he was trying to run away.
"Running away?"
"Where is Idate going first?"
Sasuke and Sakura looked shocked and quickly ran after Morino Idate.
Naruto, however, didn't rush.
He looked toward Hikyakuya Fukusuke, where a green-haired man had jumped onto his boat and was helping him set off.
"What's the point of this kind of contest? A triathlon would be better!"
Naruto shook his head, moved his fingers slightly, and a golden light reflected into the sea. Hikyakuya Fukusuke's small boat suddenly began spinning in circles.
Genjutsu – Sea of Light!
By bending sunlight and reflecting other scenery ahead, it created an illusion!
This kind of genjutsu couldn't be broken even with chakra. As long as Naruto didn't cancel it, those two would never make it to shore!
But that Midori Aoi guy looked like a rogue ninja from the Leaf. If I catch him, maybe I can cash in.
"Forget it, I'll deal with that later!"
For now, those two were trapped at sea and had no way to escape.
Yata no Kagami!
In an instant, he shot past Sasuke and Sakura, catching up to Morino Idate!
"What?!"
Morino Idate slammed on the brakes when Naruto appeared right in front of him in an instant.
His eyes were full of disbelief as he stared at Naruto. "How did you do that?"
Naruto ignored him and used his observation ability to quickly lock onto the last three troublemakers for this mission!
The three genin from the Rain Village!
After taking out those three guys, the mission was basically done.
He vanished in a flash of light right before Morino Idate's shocked eyes.
At the same time, three Genin from the Hidden Rain were standing on top of a tree, staring closely at Morino Idate's group. They also saw Naruto there.
"Hey, did you see that blond kid?"
"I'm not blind. Of course I saw him. Didn't we already see him during the Chunin Exam?"
"Sensei Rokusho Aoi isn't here. What do we do?"
"Wait. If we attack recklessly, we'll die a terrible death."
The three decided to stay put for now and wait for Jonin Rokusho Aoi to come so they could deal with Naruto together.
But they didn't know that Naruto had already sensed their presence from their chakra. Just while they were chatting, Naruto suddenly appeared several meters behind them.
No extra words. One laser shot for each, and it was over.
After finishing them, Naruto walked up and looted their bodies.
Three wallets,
Each had about five thousand ryo inside, adding up to more than fifteen thousand ryo!
"As expected, the fastest way to make money is still robbery."
Naruto weighed his now heavy wallet in his hand, then vanished in a flash, leaving the three corpses to be eaten by wild beasts.
He caught up with Sasuke and Sakura again.
"I've taken care of the obstacles. You two can run the rest of the way with him."
Naruto had no interest in jogging slowly with Morino Idate and listening to a bunch of meaningless talk.
After telling Sasuke and Sakura that, he flashed away from the starting point again.
By now, the Keito family was in total chaos.
They found that Hikyakuya Fukusuke's ship had been stuck hundreds of meters from the port for a long time.
Their ship kept going in circles and couldn't move forward no matter what.
"Damn it! What the hell are Hikyakuya Fukusuke and that bastard ninja doing?!"
"Someone get a boat out there and remind them!!"
No rules in this race, so anything goes.
But as soon as another group took a boat into that area, they ended up spinning in circles just like Hikyakuya Fukusuke's crew, and they couldn't get out either!
"Could this sea area be cursed?"
With someone saying that, everyone was too scared to go to sea.
But the Wasabi family didn't want to lose, so they spent a huge amount of money to hire people to sail out—but no one dared to go!
If they went, they'd just spin in circles forever and die!
While everyone was panicking, Boss Jirobo spotted Naruto.
Seeing how relaxed Naruto looked, he felt puzzled and quietly walked over.
"Hey, you're that Leaf ninja, right? Why are you here? Aren't you supposed to be guarding Idate?" Boss Jirobo asked in confusion.
"All the enemy ninjas have been taken care of. The rest of the way, those two can run with him." Naruto said without even turning his head.
"Taken care of?"
Jirobo was shocked. "What happened?"
Naruto didn't bother explaining and just said lightly, "You'll see soon enough."
"This… fine, I trust you!"
Rather than trusting Naruto, it was more like trusting Tsunade!
With their relationship, he believed Tsunade wouldn't send some useless ninja to mess around!
Jirobo was about to leave, but then, curious about the two people spinning in circles, he asked, "By the way, how did those two end up like that? Do you know?"
"Nothing much, just a little illusion," Naruto said.
Illusion?
Jirobo instantly felt deep respect for Naruto.
Turning an entire ocean into a ghost sea without anyone noticing—that's basically a godlike move!
And since Naruto created this scene, there's no way he lied to him.
Morino Idate would definitely make it to the finish line on time!
Thinking of this, Jirobo finally relaxed.
This time—we're set!
Thank you, Tsunade!
After waiting for a long time,
Although Hikyakuya Fukusuke and the others hadn't set sail yet, the rest couldn't just stay at the starting point forever.
So they all went to the Great Shrine to wait for the final result.
Only the Keito family stayed at the starting point, tearing their hair out.
As time passed, Morino Idate's side won without any surprises!
After hearing the mission was complete, Naruto removed the illusion over the ocean, then killed Midori Ao and took all his money and gear!
He had just asked Sasuke and Sakura—catching a rogue ninja is indeed a merit, but there's no reward money... so dead or alive doesn't make much difference!
Rokusho Ao's body was disposed of according to the rogue ninja protocol—completely destroyed!
---
Read 40 advanced chapters on my patreon
patreon.com/GustinaKamiya
---