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At night, darkness quietly spread across the surroundings. The Kirigakure ninjas slightly relaxed their vigilance this evening. On a watchtower about five meters high, a Kirigakure guard yawned repeatedly.
At that very moment, a head of a man with black spiky hair emerged from the dark sea currents. Behind him followed ninja after ninja, each wearing a Konoha forehead protector.
Aside from the leading captain, there were a full sixty-five ninjas—none of them below chūnin level.
"Sharingan!"
As the black sclera and red pupils opened, Uchiha Hazuki's vision revealed that a basic sensory barrier had been set up by the Kirigakure camp across the sea. As long as chakra was used to stand on the water or swim forward, it would be detected immediately.
A faint, irregular blue glow covered the surface of the sea ahead. Uchiha Hazuki spoke in a low voice:
"Those skilled at swimming, follow me forward. Do not use chakra to accelerate—just infiltrate normally."
"The rest of you, wait for our signal!"
Everyone nodded slightly. There were eighteen ninjas skilled in swimming, and all of them began moving forward behind Uchiha Hazuki.
Time passed second by second. Soon, the squad spread out, gradually approaching what had once been Konoha's No. 1 maritime outpost.
At this moment, the Kirigakure chūnin stationed at Outpost No. 1 were already nodding off, conserving their energy for dealing with the Uzumaki the next day.
Just as they were about to enter the outpost's line of sight, Uchiha Hazuki halted and quietly instructed those behind him again:
"From now on, hold your breath and continue forward. If anything feels wrong, immediately release chakra or fire a signal flare. Understood?"
Everyone nodded once more, making no sound at all—like a disciplined army preparing to carry out a covert assassination.
However, just as they finished preparing, a barrier ninja inside Outpost No. 1 suddenly snapped his eyes open.
"Enemy attack!!!"
Woooo—wooo—wooo—
The alarm devices set up by Kirigakure instantly began to howl. Every Kirigakure ninja who had been resting was jolted awake and rushed toward the barrier unit to find out what was happening.
The Kirigakure barrier chūnin closed his eyes. Before him floated a spherical mass of blue chakra. At the southwest section of the sphere, ripples suddenly appeared.
"The intruder is coming from the direction of the Land of Whirlpools! This chakra is extremely strong—at least jōnin level!!"
...
Meanwhile, on the other side.
Having changed into surgical attire, Baixing had just used chakra to step onto the sea. He was still several kilometers away from Outpost No. 1 when the alarms suddenly went off, leaving him utterly speechless.
"..."
So you're bullying me just because I don't know barrier techniques, huh?
"As expected—without intelligence, even I turn into Jiraiya."
Baixing pouted and continued forward. Since I've already been discovered, so be it.
At the very least, he'd make sure these people didn't sleep tonight—so that tomorrow, the launch of the "Noah's Ark" would go a bit more smoothly.
Meanwhile, Uchiha Hazuki and the team approaching from the east were completely dumbfounded.
Soon enough, all eighteen pairs of eyes turned simultaneously toward Uchiha Hazuki, making the black-spiky-haired youth feel a chill down his back.
"No—wait."
"Is this barrier really that advanced? You step in and say one word, and it detects you?!"
"Could it be that they've already stolen the Uzumaki clan's fuinjutsu?!"
Naturally, Uchiha Hazuki couldn't admit fault. Without hesitation, he shifted the blame onto the Uzumaki. The Konoha ninjas behind him nodded in agreement—after all, even Konoha's own barriers weren't this sensitive. A mere temporary outpost being able to detect so easily was absurd!
Just as Uchiha Hazuki hesitated over whether to proceed, commotion ahead prompted him to signal with his hand. Instantly, all members submerged their heads, leaving only their eyes above the water as they observed the situation.
"Hurry, hurry!"
"They've already broken in! And they're fast—any second now—"
Above the sea, Baixing stepped on the water's surface, borrowing force to leap into the air. His hands formed seals at lightning speed, completing them in an instant. A small flame gathered before his mouth. After a brief charge-up, he released it toward the outpost.
While observing the training of his three disciples, Baixing had not only successfully copied Nonou's D-rank Earth Release, but also Mikoto's Great Fireball Technique. Combined with his own well-developed Fire Release chakra nature, he had long mastered a more powerful technique than the C-rank Great Fireball—a B-rank Fire Release once used by Sasuke—
"Fire Release: Great Dragon Fire Technique!"
Behind him, the forty-seven ninjas who had been chatting quietly while the captain was away—nearly ready to break out cards for a game of Landlord—heard the name of a technique echo from the sky. Several of them looked up and froze on the spot.
—Wait, what?! Didn't we agree to fire signal flares if discovered?! Why did someone just start the fight outright?!
In the darkness above the sea, about five kilometers away, blazing red lights bloomed one after another.
An Uchiha chūnin instinctively activated his Sharingan, extending his vision range.
"Amazing! That person actually integrated Fire Release chakra nature transformation into the Great Fireball Technique! Do we Uchiha even have someone like that?!"
"No way—let me see too!"
"Me too!"
In an instant, four Sharingan users activated their eyes. Even a branch-family Hyūga jōnin opened his Byakugan to observe the attacker's identity.
"That person… doesn't have the chakra of a Sharingan."
"What?!" ×8
The Uchiha ninjas exclaimed in shock, followed by a chain reaction of gasps from the others.
"But now isn't the time to worry about that—the person ahead is already fighting Kirigakure!"
"No matter what, he has to be on Konoha's side!"
"Hurry and notify Captain Hazuki!"
"Right!" ×N
...
The lifelike fire dragon didn't stop after a single release. Three more followed in rapid succession. Four blasts—enough to blanket the entire outpost in a comprehensive strike.
The Kirigakure camp looked up at the sky, as if four blazing suns were descending upon them.
"The technique's range is huge!"
"Don't panic—your group, use Water Release to defend!!!"
Several Kirigakure chūnin nodded and rapidly formed seals. In moments, they completed their Water Release defenses, spewing streams of water toward the falling fire dragons.
"Water Release: Water Formation Wall!!!"
The first fire dragon collided with the water wall and quickly evaporated into scorching steam, vanishing without a trace.
Then came the second, the third, and the fourth in succession. The chakra of the first group of Kirigakure chūnin couldn't hold out, so another squad took over. A squad typically consisted of four to eight members—four under normal conditions, eight on the front lines.
The first four withdrew, and the next four Kirigakure ninjas stepped in, blasting powerful water streams forward to reinforce the Water Formation Wall.
In an instant, the four massive fire dragon projectiles were completely dispersed into thick, white, high-temperature mist.
Hōzuki Suikagami issued another command:
"Barrier Unit, Sensory Unit, Assassination Unit—move!"
"Yes!" ×12
"Ninja Art: Hidden Mist Technique!" ×8
Four of them released even more Water Release mist, spreading it across the area so that the environment became saturated with water-nature chakra. The other four—members of the assassination unit led by a Special Jōnin—used nearly identical chakra signatures to blend seamlessly into the mist, vanishing from sight.
Next, the four members of the sensory unit condensed a spherical mass of blue chakra between them.
"Ninja Art: Mist Eye Technique!" ×4
Now, as long as anyone other than a Kirigakure ninja entered the Hidden Mist's range, the barrier unit would detect it immediately.
The barrier ninjas closed their eyes. As the mist expanded outward, they began to sense.
Before long, one of the barrier unit leaders—a young man—spoke up:
"I see them."
"The intruder is on the sea at the seven o'clock direction!!"
"And… Konoha's forces have appeared as well!!!"
"In the east!!!"
"Their numbers…"
"More than ten—no! Fifteen!"
"At least twenty in the eastern direction, with two at jōnin level!!!"
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