Chapter 61: Terror from the Deep
At the Border of the Land of Fire—
"Caw... caw..."
Under the clear sunlight, crows circled through the sky.
Eventually, the last crow descended and landed on Uchiha Shisui's hand.
"The wind direction has changed. Switch to alert status."
Shisui reported the information, and the others nodded.
Whoosh!
After finishing their brief exchange, the four shinobi continued onward at high speed.
Eventually, they reached the trade route leading from the Land of Fire toward the coast.
A merchant caravan appeared ahead.
Several wagons rolled slowly along the road. The drivers and guards repeatedly looked around, clearly wary of enemy attacks. A few wandering shinobi had also been hired as escorts, keeping watch over their surroundings.
Pfft! Pfft!
Without warning, countless steel wires shot up from the ground, binding everyone in place.
Even the wagons were caught.
Four figures suddenly surrounded them.
"Where are you shinobi from? If you refuse to answer, you'll be treated as hostile forces within the Land of Fire."
Hayama Shirakumo stood on a branch beside the road, his right hand gripping the hilt of his short sword as he stared down at the suspicious group.
Whoosh! Whoosh!
Dozens of kunai suddenly shot toward him.
Shirakumo's body spun.
His entire figure seemed to transform into a swirling mass of leaves.
Countless leaves scattered in every direction, sweeping toward the large group of shinobi who had suddenly emerged.
The attackers wore Kirigakure forehead protectors.
Seeing Shirakumo disappear, they immediately entered combat formation.
At the same time, they remained wary of the other three Konoha shinobi.
Gōenji stood atop another branch.
Flames ignited along his blade, knocking away the incoming shuriken and kunai.
A cold smile appeared on his face.
"Looks like there are more than twenty of you, and your strength isn't bad either. We finally hooked a big fish."
He glanced across the battlefield.
"Unless you're all jōnin—or your Mizukage is hiding among you—you're all staying here today."
This was already the fifth day of their search for Kirigakure's Tailed Beast deployment force.
They had been patrolling the border continuously, encountering numerous squads and infiltrators from Kirigakure.
But none of them had found what they were looking for.
Today, they had finally found them.
Gōenji's blade had been hungry for action for a long time.
Hissss—
While he was thinking, the caravan remained bound by steel wires along the trade route.
Then—
Boom! Boom! Boom!
Explosions erupted from beneath the ground.
Shockwaves blasted stones into the air.
The people in the caravan finally abandoned their disguises. One after another, they tore away their civilian clothing, cut through the steel wires, and attempted to escape the trap.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
The explosions continued without pause.
Several Kirigakure shinobi were caught in the traps and killed.
"It's Konoha! Kill them!"
The Mist shinobi began throwing shuriken and kunai toward the Konoha forces, while others kept a close watch on the place where Shirakumo had disappeared.
Slash!
"Hmph!"
Shirakumo suddenly reappeared.
The scattered leaves gathered together, forming his body directly in front of the Kirigakure squad.
His left hand formed seals while his right hand gripped the hilt of the sword on his back.
Then—
Whoosh!
He drew his blade.
"Vacuum Sword!"
A violent gust erupted from the slash, sweeping away the hidden weapons and sending them flying back toward the Mist shinobi.
Shirakumo landed behind them.
Countless steel wires immediately shot up from the ground again.
"Jōnin of Konoha, Hayama Shirakumo. Your mission ends here."
Just as the Kirigakure shinobi struggled against the wires, Maruboshi Kōsuke moved.
He formed a series of hand seals and unleashed a ninjutsu.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
Explosions erupted between the wires, sending several trapped shinobi flying.
"Caw! Caw!"
Countless crows suddenly swarmed overhead, harassing the Kirigakure forces.
The Mist shinobi were forced to deal with them first.
But Kirigakure naturally had its own experts.
A gigantic Water Dragon suddenly rose into the air and shot toward Shirakumo at incredible speed.
"Uchiha Shisui, find the jinchūriki. We'll hold them here."
Gōenji planted himself firmly and wrapped flames around his right foot.
He kicked directly into the incoming Water Dragon.
Boom!
The enormous jutsu shattered beneath the impact.
At the same time, Gōenji formed hand seals.
"Shadow Clone Jutsu!"
Two clones of Gōenji appeared and immediately launched themselves at the surrounding Mist shinobi.
Shuriken.
Kunai.
Taijutsu.
Genjutsu.
To conserve his Chakra, Gōenji naturally couldn't waste powerful ninjutsu on cannon fodder.
He focused on evasion, avoiding attacks whenever possible and finding ways to dodge even the attacks that seemed impossible to escape.
Despite being surrounded by a large number of Mist shinobi, Gōenji remained remarkably calm.
That was the power of the Sharingan.
Even without the Sharingan, Gōenji believed he could become extremely strong.
But he had to admit that the Sharingan was an incredibly powerful auxiliary ability.
Its dynamic visual acuity was simply too useful.
Especially in a chaotic battle involving numerous opponents.
With his enhanced ability to track movement, he could constantly pick the best response to each attack. He didn't need to spend Chakra resolving every single crisis with ninjutsu.
Instead, he could preserve his Chakra for the truly troublesome enemies.
Such as this Kirigakure jōnin.
Gōenji's Sharingan shifted toward the shinobi who had just used the Water Dragon.
The man wore a Kirigakure forehead protector.
But his face...
He had a shark-like appearance.
Gōenji found him strangely familiar.
However, there was no Samehada on his back.
Not him.
This guy isn't Kisame.
At first, Gōenji had thought he'd somehow encountered Kisame.
But he quickly realized that couldn't be right.
Kisame wasn't nearly this old.
The shark-faced man before him had somewhat loose skin and looked noticeably older at first glance.
Gōenji focused his Sharingan on the man's Chakra.
His Chakra is enormous too.
"Uchiha Gōenji."
The shark-faced man grinned, revealing a mouthful of sharp teeth.
"I've heard about you from Fubuki Shirō. They say your Fire Release is extremely powerful."
His eyes locked onto Gōenji.
"Let me see just how strong you really are."
He looked at Gōenji like a predator looking at prey.
Gōenji frowned.
"Where did you take the Tailed Beast? Tell me, and I'll spare your life. You can stay quietly in Konoha."
Good grief.
Until now, Gōenji had thought Kisame was some kind of mutation unique to Kirigakure.
But apparently, there was an entire group of people who looked like sharks.
And their Chakra reserves were enormous.
Is that a characteristic of their clan?
He hadn't seen anything about it in the intelligence reports.
It seemed that studying wasn't enough. He also needed to keep updating his knowledge of the other villages.
He had clearly overlooked this aspect.
Boom!
A Water Dragon suddenly swept past Gōenji.
With a deafening roar, it tore through a Kirigakure shinobi in the distance, striking him below the waist and smashing him into the ground.
The shark-faced man turned his head.
What he saw left him stunned.
A middle-aged Konoha shinobi was using Kirigakure's own Water Dragon Jutsu to kill one of his comrades.
"Uchiha Gōenji! Hayama Shirakumo!"
Shisui's voice suddenly rang out.
"The Tailed Beast isn't here! We've been deceived!"
Gōenji and the others were startled.
So many people... and they're all fairly strong.
Could this actually be the unit transporting the Tailed Beast?
He had underestimated Kirigakure.
"Let's go."
Gōenji immediately made his decision.
"Go?"
The shark-faced man sneered.
"Where do you think you're going?"
"I knew Konoha wouldn't be easy to deal with. That's why we deliberately set this trap."
"Our real purpose is to transport the Tailed Beast into the Land of Fire."
"How could I possibly let you leave now?"
The shark-faced man rapidly formed hand seals.
Several other Mist shinobi immediately joined him.
Some remained behind to intercept the Konoha forces.
The others began retreating while simultaneously forming hand seals.
"Barrier Ninjutsu: Terror of the Deep!"
Several specialized shinobi appeared around them.
They joined the formation, working together to complete the seals and activate the technique.
Suddenly—
Gōenji's five senses were thrown into chaos.
Darkness swallowed his vision.
He tried to breathe through his nose and mouth.
Water immediately rushed into his body.
Then an enormous pressure descended upon him from every direction.
From outside, the phenomenon was even more terrifying.
A gigantic black sphere of water rose from the ground, completely enveloping everyone inside—
including the Kirigakure shinobi themselves.