The smell was already strong, yet we hadn't even reached the docks. I have never really seen the ocean before, living all my previous life in the city, locked inside a concrete jungle... So, after enjoying Konoha's air, the forest, I was now very much ready to have a grand boat trip, sailing the ocean! Maybe if I ever die, I will end up in One Piece next... Anyway... Our destination was nothing major, no big city waiting for us or anything. It was just a small coastal town, apparently something that was jointly maintained by Konoha and Uzushiogakure, a kind of military outpost if I have to liken it to something.
Of course, that didn't mean there weren't any civilians here, but unlike the troops of the Fire Lord, who led and protected the nation at a different level, this one was protected by shinobi from the two main villages. Jiraiya led us in, and with him at the front, nobody really stopped us, probably because of our headbands or thanks to Jiraiya's presence; I couldn't really tell. As for the place, it looked like it would fit into Konoha any time, with the same types of buildings, people, and clothes... Well, not exactly. There was one difference in that there were ample red-haired people walking around, showing their Uzumaki heritage. Especially some of the vendors, standing behind their stalls, mostly selling seafood...
"Damn..." I muttered to myself, getting nudged by Minato, who noticed that I was about to slow down.
"Not now." He whispered, holding back a laugh, making me and Kushina groan just the same.
"But they look so good..." She whispered, and I had to agree.
They were selling roasted fish bits on sticks that looked really... Juicy... and good... and damn, the smell alone was making my stomach rumble... but apparently, we weren't slowing down, and Jiraiya also ignored us, keeping his pace. Haaah... Oh well, there will be time to taste them later! I hope.
Reaching the shoreline, I finally noticed the wooden docks stretching into the ocean. Apparently, it was built to host about 4 to 6 ships, depending on their size, but currently, there is only a single one moored there, about 5 to 6 meters in length, probably waiting for us. It wasn't impressive, or like it was ready to sail around the world, discover a new continent, or something like that. It was just... a sturdy sailboat. Apparently, it wasn't ours either, as the spiral crest of Uzushiogakure was carved into its bow and painted over so many times that the grooves were worn smooth.
"That's…" Kushina started, then stopped, looking at Jiraiya, who nodded his head in answer.
"Our ride," he said simply, "To get through the treacherous waters, we must take Uzushiogakure's ships and their experienced sailors; otherwise, we risk being swallowed up by the ocean."
"Yeah," I moaned, glancing at Minato, "I am not in the mood for drowning."
"Nobody is," He agreed with a shrug, standing next to me.
As if summoned by the noise, a group of men and women emerged from the ship's inner cabin. They were all red-haired, or at least, red-tinted, as some of them had a way darker red on their scalps than the others. One of them stepped forward, walking down the ship's ramp. At a glance, he was an older man with weathered skin and a spiral tattoo wrapping down his forearm, with his hair tied up in a bun.
"You're late," he said to Jiraiya, crossing his arms.
"I still had time until sunset," Jiraiya replied, "I'd call that arriving early as it's only past noon."
The man snorted at that, hiding a smile, and then turned his gaze toward us, and of course, stopped on Kushina. Something flickered across his face, most likely a kind of recognition, before mumbling something.
"They will be surprised to see her back, that's for sure," he murmured, and I could only pick it up because my eyes, even without a Sharingan activated, read his lips perfectly. Huh... good thing I wasn't showcasing an Uchiha logo on my shirts, or maybe he would say I can't come... Phew! Problem averted. For now...
"Alright! Introductions are for later!" Jiraiya clapped his hands once, "Tide's turning, no? We should leave if we want to arrive before dark."
"I am not arguing against that!" The captain nodded and put his fingers into his mouth, whistling loudly. The next moment, ropes were being pulled, the sails quickly adjusted, and before any of us had time to question it, we were ushered aboard, the ramp pulled up behind us as we began sailing out of the docks.
The moment my foot touched the deck, I felt it, and no, I am not talking about how a ship bobs on open waters... I wasn't seasick... I think. There was a certain feeling of chakra coming from somewhere, but I couldn't really pinpoint it, and I didn't want to activate my Sharingan to take a look. What could it be? A barrier? No... that would be weird... Maybe a seal? Considering we are on an Uzumaki ship... Huh... Interesting. I think Minato felt it too, because I could tell by the way his eyes sharpened and his head tilted slightly, as if he were listening to a sound, that he was trying to tell where it was coming from.
"What… was that?" he whispered, leaning over to me, watching the sailors work, and as we drifted forward, leaving the little town.
"Maybe it's something that helps us navigate. Sensei did mention the whirpools... it is very much possible that it's for detecting and avoiding them." I offered my own logical explanation, just to be interrupted by a foreign voice.
"The sea doesn't like visitors," one of the sailors said without turning, walking past us, "So, best to stay put unless inviting trouble, kids."
Was that a warning to not poke our noses into where they didn't belong? Probably. Haaah... It may have been hard to dispel our curiosity, if not for the view that soon made me forget about the weird feeling... There's no other way to describe it, how it looked... just... vast. Seeing the endless ocean, where the blue water and sky met... It was boundless, even a bit scary.
"Beautiful, isn't it?" Kushina said as she walked up to us, our little trio leaning against the wooden railing, watching the waves.
"It is." Minato nodded, watching it all, and so far, the waves were not even big enough to make our ship react to them.
"The water ahead of us looks calmer than when I came over." She said, smiling, "It was a bit more... aggressive."
"I guess you are very much used to it, hm?" I asked, glancing at her with one eye.
"Aye!" She pulled herself straight, acting proud, speaking like she was some pirate or experienced sailor, "Every one of us is good at sailing or anything related to it! Our village is on an island, but that does not mean it's only one island. We have dozens of tinier versions surrounding the main one, and people do live on them! So traveling back and forth between them is pretty much a given."
"Dattebane?" I added, making her kick my shin, "Sorry, I was expecting you to add it with how excited you are, so when it's not there, I start missing it."
"Minato," She turned to him, smiling from ear to ear, "If you throw him over, I will be very... VERY happy with you."
"Whoa, whoa! Don't put your boyfriend against his best friend!" I yelped, looking at them pleadingly, "That's unfair!"
"WHAT BOYFRIEND?!" they both yelled out, with completely red faces, making me grin even harder, but before anything could happen, Jiraiya arrived, giving each of us a tap on the head.
"Pipe down, idiots," he began, looking at us with crossed arms, "Don't start a show, because one slip and you indeed may fall over... And I can't guarantee that I can save you in time."
"The waters look amicable," I added, rubbing the top of my head, leaning over, watching as our ship cut through, creating white, foamy waves, breaking through them.
"Listen to your teacher," The captain joined us at the bow, taking over the explanation, "The dangerous waves are not on the surface. There are countless, slow, massive rotations, as if the ocean itself is being stirred by an invisible hand from below." He explained as he raised his hand, mimicked the motion, showing it to us, and the way he held his hand out at the end... Damn. It was perfectly imitating how you form and hold a Rasengan. "Under, where you can't see," he continued, "Currents are being twisted and overlapped, spirals forming and dissolving endlessly in a massive chaos, some wide enough to swallow ships whole if we are not careful enough. Then, others are narrow and violent, spinning fast enough to churn foam into the air, but those at least warn us ahead of time. Still, one hit... and it can rip us to shreds."
I couldn't help but glance at Minato in that moment, and I saw his expression being distant... He got an idea, I could tell, and I could also tell what that idea was about. I think... I think he just got the seed of the Rasengan implanted into his mind. Holy hell...
"This is why," the captain continued calmly, smiling at us, "outsiders don't come here often, and we are safe within the heart of this unseen storm."
"What if they come in big numbers?" I asked suddenly, unable to hold it back, knowing how the whole clan was destroyed, "Or," I added before he had a chance to answer me, "Or if they come not over the waters? But from the air?"
"From the air?" He asked, and even Jiraiya looked at me, surprised.
"Yeah," I nodded, remembering how Deidara went in and snatched up Gaara... Nobody thought of looking up, huh? "Don't tell me there is no way to develop a jutsu that allows them to fly in..." I added, rolling my eyes, "I bet you that the shinobi from Iwagakure could create some clay birds or something to bring troops over via the air. Then the whirlpools can't stop their ships."
I just watched as the captain and Jiraiya exchanged glances, and I could tell they were actually considering what I just said, only for Kushina's voice to start teasing me.
"Then good thing they are at the other end of the world and not our neighbors, eh?" She chuckled, making me shrug.
"I'm just saying," I put my hands up, dropping the topic, "There's no defensive line in the world that can't be exploited or outright ignored in one way or another. Be it a mountain range, there will be someone who crosses it with elephants. Be there a reinforced border with bunkers, I mean, fortresses covering it... Someone will go around it and appear behind you, cutting through even the densest forest imaginable. Same here... If someone wants to get to your village... They will get to it."
...
....
.....
In the end, three to four hours had passed, and the sun was close to touching the horizon, ready to set. Once again, I was back at the bow, leaning over the railing and watching the water, trying to get an inspiration, just like Minato, but... nothing came to mind. Haaah... That was the genuine difference between our talents. Just as I sighed, the ship angled sharply, suddenly cutting across a current that would have dragged us sideways in seconds. What the fuck?! The sailors called out measurements, not directions, but it was all about timing... They yelled to each other, counting seconds and changing the ship's course according to something they had memorized, and then... bam! I sensed a ripple of chakra, telling me that the thing we felt at the start was indeed a sealing or a formation-based jutsu, here to protect the ship. I felt how the deck tilted, then leveled, resisting a pull while the hull began groaning as something deep beneath us wanted to pull us down, and then… it suddenly let go, as if its hand was slapped away.
I leaned against the railing even more now, my eyes fixed on the water, trying to see it, activating my Sharingan, of course. There... I could see the flow, layers upon layers of natural movement, intersecting currents forming something like a living seal array stretched across who knows what distance, going down into the darkness. It was then counteracted by something that was placed under the ship or, probably, etched into it. Well, it did not entirely counter the natural currents, but it allowed us to resist them long enough to get us out of the danger zone. However, the most interesting part was staring into the waters... Because it was indeed like looking into a Rasengan.
"Renji," Minato said quietly, "do you see it too?"
"Hm…?" I looked at Minato, who was now standing next to me, gazing at the waters the same way, "I guess? Yeah." I answered, deactivating my Sharingan. "Feeling inspired?"
"Yeah..." He nodded, repeating my tone, finally smiling, "I think... I got an idea and..."
"Sure," I slapped his back without letting him finish, "I'll help ya out with that!"
"Help with what?" Kushina asked, walking up to us, but before we could say anything, a loud yell interrupted us.
"Land!"
At first, it was just a shadow, but, true enough, a moment later, a dark smudge against the sunset-dominated, orange-colored horizon began to rise as we approached it. It only took a few moments for details to emerge, including jagged cliffs spiraling inward, stone formations, wave breakers, and waterfalls pouring directly into the sea and vanishing into rotating currents below. Well... fuck. It wasn't welcoming at all, and I guess, besides whirlpools, another big defensive line was the fact that it felt way too easy to run onto a sharp rock, slicing the ship apart. Please, don't Titanic us...
Luckily, with an Uzumaki crew, we hadn't crashed and arrived at Uzushiogakure safe and sound.
The port we came to a stop at revealed itself gradually, tucked into a massive natural bay where the waters were calmer, but only comparatively to how they behaved elsewhere. There were even more man-made stone wavebreakers, lined with sealing marks that curved outward, and they actively channelled the currents into controlled paths, creating a safe approach point. I could guess that if our ship hadn't been an Uzumaki design, the formations would stop working and let the wild waters eat us alive...
Apparently, we were coming to the main docks, because I saw some massive ships being docked in here. They weren't cruise ships or anything at that size, of course, but damn... they were at least what? Thirty? Forty meters in length? They looked impressive, especially next to ours. As for the village itself, it rose beyond the port in multiple, layered terraces, many of its buildings constructed from stone and reinforced wood. The motifs I expected them to have were ever-present, as spiraling streets and stairways were etched into walls, between cliffsides, connecting the different sections of the village. Or city, as its size was akin to Konoha, from the first look at least.
"…Home," Kushina whispered all of a sudden, and after my subtle nudge, Minato finally reached out, patting her shoulders.
After we docked and disembarked, people had already gathered there to welcome us, which wasn't surprising. An Uzumaki woman approached Jiraiya at the end, making me look at her to try to ascertain how old she was, but I couldn't tell... She looked maybe twenty, then forty... but then twenty again. Ugh... Hell if I know! As for clothes, she wore no armor, no weapons or vests, just a long coat marked with spirals and seals stitched into the fabric itself, probably representing something I was unaware of.
"So," she said, glancing at Jiraiya, "You brought them here..."
"I told you I would," Jiraiya replied, shaking his head with a smile. "And I expect you'll help us out."
"Of course, she is one of ours." Her eyes softened, and then she looked behind Jiraiya, but instead of Kushina, she glanced at me. Um... Hello? I tried to smile without looking intimidated or anything. "…An Uchiha," she muttered. "Interesting... The last time one was visiting us, he came with Hashirama."
Great... I don't know if I should be happy about that comparison... or not...