After the Kaguya clan's raid, the fighting between Mist and Leaf settled into a brutal stalemate along the coastline. Mist kept trying to land forces, and Leaf kept throwing them back into the sea. Every time Mist tried to push forward, elite Leaf teams would hit them hard enough to force a retreat.
Taiichi hadn't been sitting idle either. Between regular combat missions, he spent most of his time flying over the ocean, checking island after island in search of Mist's main base.
He had already searched all twelve nearby islands. He found plenty of Mist activity, but no actual camp. It was starting to look like they had set up much farther out at sea.
Standing on one of the islands, Taiichi stared out at the endless horizon and frowned.
"If they're really out in the open ocean, this is going to be a pain in the ass."
He spread his wings and took off again, already thinking of a new approach. If he couldn't find their base directly, then he'd just have to make the Mist ninjas lead him to it.
---
On another stretch of coastline, Hyuga elder was once again leading his ten-man squad on patrol.
Ever since he had been the first to spot the Mist landing force last time, he had received praise from Tsunade. Even though she had privately complained to Taiichi that the man was "bored out of his mind," she couldn't exactly stop a Hyuga elder from wanting to contribute on the front lines.
So Hyuga elder had thrown himself into every kind of mission—patrols, sweeps, support runs. And because he and his branch family guards were genuinely skilled, they kept completing their tasks successfully. Tsunade had no real grounds to stop him.
"Elder, our patrol shift ends in an hour," one of the branch family jonin said. "Do we have another mission after this?"
"Of course," Hyuga elder replied with complete seriousness. "We're on the battlefield. We should be earning as much merit as possible. We can't let the Hyuga name be looked down on."
He was speaking as if this was completely natural, completely ignoring the clan's original instructions that he was only supposed to be here as a symbolic representative.
While he was busy lecturing his guards, a small team of four "Leaf" shinobi appeared in the distance, walking toward them.
At first, the Hyuga group didn't pay them much attention. But when the four kept approaching even after entering their patrol range, the atmosphere shifted.
The Hyuga shinobi spread out naturally, placing Hyuga elder in the center. The one in front called out, "Friends, this area is under our patrol. What are you doing here?"
The four "Leaf" shinobi didn't answer. Instead, they smiled.
Hyuga elder's eyes narrowed. His Byakugan was already active.
"Be careful! I've never seen these people in camp before. They're not ours!"
The moment the words left his mouth, the four fake Leaf shinobi's expressions changed. They body-flickered forward, launching water bullets, wind blades, and lightning orbs to break the Hyuga formation.
At the same time, one of them melted into water and disappeared into the sea.
"Ghost Lantern clan! They're Mist!" someone shouted.
A branch family jonin immediately stepped forward and activated Rotation, deflecting the incoming ninjutsu. While he bought time, the rest of the Hyuga moved to engage the three visible enemies.
But the fight turned ugly almost immediately.
Two Hyuga chunin were sent flying before they could even react properly. They hit the ground and didn't get back up.
"Elder, they're all jonin! They're targeting you specifically!"
Hyuga elder's face darkened. Four jonin, one of them from the Ghost Lantern clan. This wasn't a random encounter. They had come for his Byakugan.
"Send up the signal! Cool too, go help Cool Jie hold off those three!"
"Elder, what about you—?"
"Stop wasting time! I'm still a jonin. I can stall the water one for a while!"
A red signal flare shot into the sky, exploding into the distinctive Hyuga crest. It was an emergency signal that every Leaf ninja on the front lines would recognize.
The moment the flare went up, the Ghost Lantern jonin hiding in the water made his move.
The sea suddenly churned violently. A massive wave surged toward the shore, and at the front of it was a giant water beast formed from seawater. Several tentacle-like appendages lashed out, smashing the Hyuga chunin guarding their elder.
"Damn it! I'm not some helpless civilian!"
Hyuga elder roared and slammed his palm forward.
Eight Trigrams: Air Palm.
A powerful shockwave blasted out and punched a large hole through the water beast's body. But the creature simply regenerated using the surrounding seawater and kept charging.
Rotation.
A blue dome of chakra spun to life around him. The water beast slammed into it and exploded into countless droplets. For a moment it looked like the Hyuga elder had the upper hand.
But this was the ocean. There was an endless supply of water.
The beast kept reforming. No matter how much the Rotation destroyed, more water rushed in to replace it. The two forces reached a stalemate.
While this was happening, the other Hyuga jonin were struggling. They were outnumbered in terms of quality, and the three Mist jonin were keeping them occupied.
Eventually, Hyuga elder's Rotation faltered from exhaustion. The moment the dome disappeared, several thick water tentacles wrapped around him and dragged him into the body of the water beast.
"Target secured! Fall back!"
The Ghost Lantern jonin's voice came from inside the water beast. Before anyone could react, the massive creature turned and rolled straight into the sea, carrying Hyuga elder with it.
"Elder!"
The remaining Hyuga could only watch helplessly as their main family elder was dragged underwater.
By the time reinforcements finally arrived, all they saw was a wrecked beach and several stunned Hyuga shinobi standing at the water's edge.
They were too late.
Just as despair was setting in, a golden figure descended from the sky.
Taiichi landed in front of them.
"Lord Taiichi!" one of the Hyuga jonin shouted in relief. "Our elder was captured by a Ghost Lantern clan member! They went into the sea!"
Taiichi didn't waste time with questions. He spread his chakra sensing and immediately picked up five signatures rapidly moving away from the coast. Two of them were underwater and moving extremely fast.
"I'm going after them."
He shot into the sky without another word.
Behind him, the Hyuga jonin quickly organized what was left of their group and gave chase, along with the other Leaf reinforcements that had arrived.
In the sky, Taiichi was moving at full speed. Within a minute he had already overtaken the three Mist jonin on the surface. He didn't even spare them a glance as he flew past.
"Shit, that's Matsushita Taiichi!" one of them cursed. "He's too fast!"
"Forget it. We can't catch up. Let's just hope Ghost Lantern Kagetsu can either escape or hold out until we get there."
Taiichi ignored them completely. His focus was locked on the two signatures moving underwater.
The Ghost Lantern jonin had clearly sensed him coming. Instead of surfacing, he dove deeper, dragging Hyuga elder with him. His plan was obvious — fight Taiichi underwater, where his Hydrification Technique would give him the advantage.
Taiichi didn't hesitate.
He folded his wings slightly and dove straight toward the ocean. While still in the air, he formed hand seals. The moment he hit the water, his hands plunged beneath the surface.
Water Style: Great Water Prison.
A massive sphere of water, nearly thirty meters in diameter, rapidly formed beneath the surface. The Ghost Lantern jonin and Hyuga elder were caught inside it before they could react.
No matter how hard the Mist jonin tried to escape using his water transformation, the violent currents inside the prison kept him trapped.
On the surface, Taiichi grabbed the massive water prison with both hands and slowly began lifting it out of the sea.
The three Mist jonin who had been chasing from behind arrived just in time to witness the scene.
They stopped dead in their tracks, staring in disbelief at the giant sphere of water floating above the ocean, with Taiichi standing on its surface like it was nothing.