Nearly a hundred wooden ships sailed majestically across the vast ocean toward an unknown destination. From an aerial perspective, the fleet was a spectacular sight.
"Has the Mizukage shown himself yet?" Mei Terumī asked softly as Ao approached her side.
As Mei's deputy in her secret plot to overthrow the Fourth Mizukage, Ao, with his Byakugan, was her most capable and trusted lieutenant.
"No. Ever since the decision was made to go to war with the Leaf, the Mizukage has remained in seclusion." Ao scanned their surroundings to ensure no one was eavesdropping before whispering, "No one can get near him except for a few specific personnel."
"I see." A flicker of worry creased Mei's beautiful brow.
The Hidden Leaf's sudden declaration of war against the Hidden Sand and Hidden Cloud had caught her completely off guard. It had forced her to delay her original plans to overthrow the Mizukage.
But...
The auburn-haired woman leaned against the bow, her emerald eyes fixed on the boundless sea. If the Fourth Mizukage were to "die in battle" on this front, it might actually be a favorable outcome for everyone involved.
"Lady Mei, should we still—" Ao looked at Mei, a fierce glint appearing in his exposed eye.
"Restrain yourself for now. The war against the Leaf is more important at this moment," Mei replied with a sigh. "If anything unexpected happens, wait for my command. Do not act rashly."
In the middle of a war, making a move against Yagura Karatachi was far from ideal. Yagura could die, but he could not die at the hands of his own people during wartime. If such a thing happened, the impact would be even more devastating than the Sand or Cloud losing their own Kage.
The Leaf would never let such a golden opportunity pass. If Mei failed to stabilize the army's morale immediately after Yagura's death, the entire Mist force would be as flimsy as paper, easily pierced by the Leaf. For the sake of Kirigakure, Mei had to endure and let Yagura live as the Fourth Mizukage for a little longer.
Meanwhile, inside the cabin of the flagship, Yagura Karatachi stood listlessly by the desk like a servant. Beside him, Obito Uchiha, clad in his black cloak with red clouds, was leafing through the latest intelligence gathered by White Zetsu and the Mist.
The latest developments from the Sand battlefield had been rushed to his desk by White Zetsu. Staring at the detailed reports regarding the "tank units," Obito's brow furrowed tightly behind his mask.
"This kind of weaponry... it's reminiscent of the methods used by the Land of Sky during the last Great Ninja War," Black Zetsu remarked calmly from where he was attached to a White Zetsu clone.
Obito frowned slightly. Kakashi, is this where your confidence comes from?
He instinctively thought back to that night years ago—the battle he had fought against Kakashi during the Uchiha massacre. His heart felt complicated. Regardless of the past, Kakashi now stood on the opposite side of his goals. This war, which swept across the entire shinobi world, was the final stage for their settling of accounts.
Obito stood up and walked to the window, gazing at the infinite waves. A trace of complexity flashed in his dark eyes.
Kakashi, you've become stronger than before, but I haven't been standing still either. Six years have passed; I am no longer who I used to be. Are you prepared to face the comrade you once trusted with your life?
Just as the Mist fleet was about to reach the Land of Whirlpools, thirty steel-hulled warships slowly crested the horizon. The appearance of such a massive fleet could not be hidden from the Mist's scouts.
When the flags bearing the leaf symbol of the Konohagakure headband appeared in the lenses of his telescope, the scout on the lookout tower immediately screamed to his comrades below:
"Leaf ships ahead! Ten kilometers out—!"
Mid-sentence, the scout seemed to hear something. He looked instinctively toward the Leaf fleet. The sound of the wind... it was too sharp.
It wasn't the sea breeze. It was the sound of something tearing through the air!
Within his line of sight, several black objects trailing streaks of flame were hurtling toward them at incredible speeds.
"Enemy attack!"
Shrill cries erupted across the Mist fleet. A second later, violent flames accompanied by deafening roars exploded within the formation!
The scout who had first spotted the Leaf fleet was hit directly in the chest by a shell from a main battery. In an instant, he was torn apart, turning into a rain of blood and gore that splattered across the ship.
The shell continued its trajectory, slamming into the ship behind him. In an instant, flames soared into the sky, and the violent explosion "cleaved" the ship in two. The vessel let out a creaking moan as it began to sink into the bottomless depths. The surviving ninjas immediately scrambled toward the surrounding ships.
Before the two armies had even met face-to-face, several large ships had already been sent to a watery grave.
"Counterattack! Counterattack!" Mei, acting as the Mist's vanguard, immediately ordered her forces to strike back.
From the founding of the hidden villages to the present day, naval warfare had always been Kirigakure's specialty. After the other villages clashed with the Mist at sea during the First Great Ninja War, they had all shifted their battlefields to land.
There was a reason for that choice. Even when at war with the Mist, the major villages would wait for the Mist ninjas to make landfall or strike them while they were mid-crossing; no one ever chose to proactively engage the Mist in a naval battle.
But the Leaf was doing exactly that. Not only were they engaging at sea, but they had also seized the initiative with a preemptive strike. For Mist ninjas, who had reigned supreme on the ocean for decades, this was an unbearable insult.
Hatches opened along the hulls of the leading Mist ships, revealing giant ballistae aimed at the approaching Leaf fleet. At the command, dozens of massive bolts were launched!
Simultaneously, nearly a hundred Mist ninjas dove into the sea, swimming toward the oncoming steel fleet.
"Maintain distance. Continue firing," Hayama Shirakumo ordered coldly from the command center of the Leaf flagship, his arms crossed as he watched the Mist's counterattack.
He wanted half of the Mist ninjas dead before the two sides even engaged in close-quarters combat. Naval battles were different from land wars. On land, you might fight for days and nights, or even stand in a stalemate for years. But a confrontation at sea wouldn't even last a day.
A sunken ship meant death.
If he could eliminate the Mist forces quickly, take out the Fourth Mizukage leading them, and destroy the Mist's ports, he could return to the Leaf immediately to assist the Hokage on the other battlefields.
"Yes, sir!" The communications officers immediately relayed the orders to the other warships via radio.
The Mist's counterattack arrived. A significant number of the ballista bolts were destroyed by cannon fire mid-flight, but some still slammed into the hulls of the warships. Upon closer inspection, the giant bolts were covered in paper bombs!
Following a series of loud bangs, flames erupted, and shockwaves of heat lashed against the steel hulls. However, once the fire dissipated, only small dents remained where the bolts had struck.
Paper bombs were completely ineffective against these steel giants. It was like the Hidden Stone's Steel Style—if a body hardened to invulnerability could be hurt by a simple paper bomb, the Steel Style would be a useless ability.
A new round of shells screamed toward the Mist fleet, sending several more large wooden ships into the depths.
At the same time, the Mist ninjas swimming through the water drew their blades, intending to scuttle the steel ships. However, seeing how thick the armor was, they abandoned the idea and surfaced, running up the sides of the ships to seize the decks.
But Leaf ninjas were already waiting for them, armed with special ninja tools loaded with kunai. This was the result of Doto Kazahana's research—devices that allowed for the rapid-fire discharge of kunai and shuriken. Once empty, the user only needed to swap in a new magazine to continue firing.
The Leaf ninjas had been waiting patiently for the Mist's arrival. Seeing the Mist ninjas rush up, a Leaf squad leader spoke with cold indifference:
"Fire."
At the command, a curtain of kunai poured from the devices, raining down on the ascending Mist ninjas.
"Agh!" "Damn it!"
Clinging to the side of the hull, they had nowhere to hide. One by one, the Mist ninjas fell back into the ocean like falling dumplings, their blood staining the surface of the sea.
"Damn it! Order the fleet to close the distance! I'll lead the boarding party myself!" Mei ordered sharply.
The Leaf's strength was beyond expectations. She had assumed they would let the Mist land to fight as in previous wars. Who would have thought they would choose a naval battle—the very thing the Mist excelled at?
"Understood!" Ao didn't dare hesitate and immediately disseminated Mei's orders.
But how could wooden ships compare to the speed of modernized warships? While the Mist fleet still relied on wind direction for speed, the Leaf fleet had already undergone a technological revolution. No matter how hard the Mist ships pushed, they couldn't catch up; the distance between the two sides remained in a delicate balance.
Mei made a split-second decision, ordering the Mist fleet to scatter and use their superior numbers to block the Leaf's path. In an instant, the Mist ninjas demonstrated their naval prowess, breaking formation to close in on the Leaf fleet from all directions.
Because the Mist ships had scattered, the effectiveness of the cannon fire dropped significantly. Even so, the Mist fleet had already lost about a third of its strength. A Leaf ninja in charge of monitoring the status immediately reported the situation.
"Lord Hayama, the barrels are beginning to overheat."
Hayama Shirakumo nodded slightly. While the cannons were powerful, they had one flaw: continuous firing caused the barrels to overheat, risking an explosion.
"Charge through. Ram them."
At his command, the Leaf fleet stopped maintaining distance and accelerated to full speed, crashing into the oncoming Mist fleet!
When a steel warship hits a wooden boat, the outcome is obvious. Since the Mist ships were already slower, the thirty steel warships tore through the Mist fleet like maddened sea beasts, ripping a hole right through their encirclement!
Just as the Leaf fleet broke through, Mei Terumī, leading the vanguard, threw herself onto the deck of a ship!
The Leaf ninjas under Hayama's command were already prepared.
"Water Style: Giant Waterfall Jutsu!"
Mei's hands blurred through signs, her expression solemn. As the first to step onto the Leaf deck, she immediately unleashed her Water Style. As the future Fifth Mizukage, her mastery over water was beyond doubt—especially at sea, where the power of her jutsu was amplified significantly!
It seemed as though the entire sea was being manipulated by Mei; a hundred-meter wave rose up, crashing down toward the steel giant beneath her feet!
Just as the wave was about to strike, a sharp hum resonated through the air...
The sound of a blade being drawn!
A streak of pure white sword light swept out from nowhere, like a curtain falling from the heavens, slashing toward the towering wave!
In an instant, it was over.
A single lock of hair fell to the ground. Mei watched in shock as the hundred-meter wave she had created collapsed powerlessly back into the sea, severed by that single strike.
One strike... to subdue the sea!
"Mei Terumī of the Mist."
"Your reputation precedes you."
A calm voice drifted from a distance. A tall figure holding a snow-white blade walked slowly toward Mei.
"Hayama... Shirakumo." Mei stared grimly at the man approaching her.
According to reliable intelligence, this man was a member of the Hokage's personal guard. His strength was top-tier, even within the elite ranks of the Hidden Leaf.
"Are you prepared... to die?"
Hayama's face was cold, showing no interest in idle chatter with Mei. This woman was merely the Mist's vanguard. After killing her, there was still a Fourth Mizukage waiting for him.
Therefore—
"Rising Tiger Style: Wind - Void Break!"
He took a step forward, and a violent gale condensed around the blade of the White Fang! As the successor to the White Fang's blade, Kakashi had never been stingy with Hayama. Aside from the sword and the White Fang's original techniques, after learning Hayama's chakra nature, Kakashi had passed on his own "Void Break" and "Sea Splitter" techniques to him.
Mei's heart skipped a beat. Her hair stood on end as a sense of mortal peril washed over her. She threw herself to the side!
A massive, transparent blade of light grazed past her. Watching the strike cleave through steel and tear through the air, Mei felt a chill run down her spine.
"That swordsmanship... it seems your understanding of the blade is not inferior to the Hokage's." Mei spoke, her heart still pounding from the near-miss that had severed a thick steel railing on the warship.
"Are you... looking down on Lord Hokage?"
As soon as Mei spoke, Hayama's cold eyes turned sharp, and killing intent surged within him. He stopped holding back, lunging forward with a strike that showed absolutely no mercy to the woman before him.
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