The ship was a steam-powered paddle steamer. Hiding in the cargo hold, you could hear the roar of the steam engine below, and from time to time, the "whoosh" of steam being released.
At first, it sounded a little annoying, but after listening for a long time, it was like white noise, making you feel sleepy.
There were more than ten people in the cargo hold, and at this moment, most of them were sound asleep.
When traveling is dull, sleeping is always the best way to pass the time.
Sasuke didn't sleep. He hid his hands in his sleeves, practicing hand signs.
In order to take revenge with his own hands one day, he didn't want to waste a single second.
Linto sat next to Sasuke, cross-legged, his chest rising and falling in a special rhythm. With each breath, the dim cargo hold seemed to brighten slightly.
The passengers only felt warm and relaxed, and slept even more soundly.
Sasuke was the closest and felt it the most clearly.
"Brother Shou, did you succeed in your training?"
Linto nodded slightly.
It had been more than a month since he obtained "Ripple Breathing." Linto was always practicing according to the breathing method, whether he was eating, sleeping, or walking.
Perhaps it was Uchiha's talent, or perhaps Linto was naturally good at it. From the beginning of his training, he clearly felt a ripple wave in his body with each breath.
At first it was very weak, like a dragonfly landing on duckweed, causing slight ripples.
And now Linto could finally control the ripple, releasing it along his blood vessels and skin to the outside world, affecting the real world.
Activating the breathing method would increase Linto's muscle strength to three to five times that of an ordinary person, allowing him to shatter rocks with his bare hands.
The released ripple, as a weapon, could become an invisible, hot blade. As a defense, it could help him resist sudden impacts, and even when injured, it could be used to heal.
And it was different from the power of ninja training.
Ninjas, in order to gain power, practiced in a relatively hurried way.
It's like Muay Thai. It's incredibly powerful when you're young, but when you get old, you're full of problems.
The breathing method would constantly nourish Linto's organs during practice, extending his lifespan.
Seeing the envy in Sasuke's eyes, Linto rubbed his little head.
"I'll teach you when we get off the ship."
"Okay!"
Sasuke nodded quickly, smiling.
Suddenly, his body tilted and he almost fell, but luckily Linto caught him in time.
The other passengers were not so lucky. For a moment, there were cries of "ouch" as more than a dozen people fell over in the cargo hold.
The ship stopped.
Momo-chan was sleepy-eyed and asked groggily, "Mom, are we there yet?"
Momo-chan's mother looked at the vent in the cargo hold—naturally, she couldn't see anything from that narrow window—and touched her daughter's head.
"The ship has stopped, we should be there."
Momo-chan's sleepiness disappeared, and she blinked her eyes: "Yay! I can see Grandpa and Grandma!"
The Land of Water was blockading its ports, and most of the passengers were going to the Land of Water to visit relatives. Momo-chan and her mother were among them.
Linto frowned slightly.
The timing was wrong.
Traveling from the Land of Waves to the Land of Water by ship would take at least 3 days.
Even though they were trapped in the cargo hold and had a blurred sense of time, Linto had been silently calculating the time.
They had only been sailing for two days, with one day left.
They were still in the vast ocean.
"Could it be that Danzo's people have come after us?"
Linto wondered, giving Sasuke a look.
Sasuke nodded, secretly pulling out a kunai and hiding it in his sleeve, ready to deal with any possible danger.
Whoosh—
The cargo hold door, which had been closed for two days, opened.
The sudden rush of sunlight made Linto squint his eyes. He saw the silhouettes of three people.
A bald samurai and two crew members.
The three stood at the door. The bald samurai walked in with measured steps, swaying.
A thin man asked, "Sir, are we there yet?"
The bald samurai said, "Sorry, everyone, there's been a slight interruption to the journey."
An old woman huddled in the corner asked, "W-What interruption?"
The bald samurai placed his hand on the hilt of his sword, swinging it from side to side. The scabbard tapped against the cargo hold wall, the clanging sound echoing in the cargo hold. The passengers' hearts felt tight.
"We've encountered pirates, but don't worry. After my persuasion, they've decided to let you go, provided that you hand over anything valuable you have on you... to buy your lives."
Two crew members, carrying bags, strode up to the passengers, and regardless of whether they agreed or not, reached out and grabbed their luggage and backpacks.
"No! You can't take that, that's my last possession—"
The thin man who spoke first tried to snatch it back, but was kicked over by a crew member. Just as the thin man was about to get up, a sword was held in front of him with a clang.
"Move again and I'll kill you!"
The passengers realized that there were no pirates at all?
Or rather, the samurai and crew members from the Land of Waves in front of them were the pirates!
Being under someone else's roof, saving their lives was more important than anything else. One by one, the passengers reluctantly handed over their luggage.
"Don't touch me!"
A scream came.
It turned out that the bald samurai had noticed Momo-chan's mother, who was shapely and beautiful. Seeing that she was married, he had lustful intentions. He wrapped his wicked hands around her waist, lewdly smiling, and said filthy words:
"Your boobs are so big, let me see if you're hiding anything inside?"
"Let go of my mommy!"
Momo-chan pounced on him and punched the bald samurai in the groin.
"Get lost!"
In pain, the bald samurai became enraged and swung his arm around to slap Momo-chan in the face.
"Ah—"
A scream echoed through the cargo hold.
But it didn't come from Momo-chan.
A jet-black, cold kunai pierced the bald samurai's palm and was nailed to the wall of the cargo hold, blood running down the wall.
Momo-chan looked in the direction the kunai had come from.
She saw Sasuke with a grim expression.
At this moment, Sasuke understood what Linto meant by "when you feel you need to."
Without anyone reminding him, Sasuke naturally threw the kunai.
Its power, speed, and accuracy were far superior to his usual practice.
Because this strike contained the power of "emotion."
A hand gently landed on Sasuke's shoulder. He came back to his senses, and the grimness in his expression turned into panic:
"I'm sorry, I acted without permission..."
Sasuke had learned ninja tracking skills. Professional trackers could roughly determine which ninja village a ninja was from based on the way they throw a kunai.
What he had just done was tantamount to revealing his identity, which might point the way for Konoha or Danzo's pursuers.
"Don't apologize, you did well."
What was the point of having power if, when faced with injustice, when faced with the anger rising in your heart, you were hesitant and lacked the courage to act?
You might as well go back to farming.
"I will kill you!"
The bald samurai pulled out the kunai and threw it on the ground, drew the katana from his waist, and a faint blue light appeared on the blade.
Samurai and ninjas were two different training systems. The former was simpler and more direct, with all their skills focused on a single sword, following the path of breaking all techniques with one sword.
Linto stood up and pulled Sasuke behind him.
"Leave the rest to me."
Everyone in the cargo hold focused their attention on Linto.
"Are you a ninja?!"
The bald samurai questioned.
"No." Linto answered truthfully.
The bald samurai gripped his sword tightly, his eyes flashing with anger: "Whether you are or not, you're going to die today!"
Momo-chan was held in her mother's arms, her eyes filled with fear.
"Die!"
The bald samurai shouted loudly, hacking towards Linto's face.
Linto flicked his toes, picking up the kunai that had been thrown on the ground earlier, caught it in his hand, and met the incoming blade.
A bloodthirsty excitement flashed in the bald samurai's eyes.
There was no way that Linto could block the samurai sword, which was being wielded with great force, with a single kunai.
This wasn't some low-quality martial arts movie.
Momo-chan's mother couldn't bear to watch and covered her daughter's eyes.
Clang—
The clear sound of metal clashing echoed in the cargo hold, like ripples spreading outwards.
"W-What?!"
The bald samurai stared at the scene in front of him in disbelief.
Not only him, but the two crew members who were waiting for blood, and all the passengers widened their eyes.
The kunai steadily blocked the long sword.
If it had just blocked it, they would have just thought that Linto was naturally strong.
But Linto was using the tip of the kunai to hold against the blade, without the slightest deviation or shaking. The two of them were fixed in place as if they had practiced it beforehand.
This was the power of Ripple Breathing.
An all-around improvement in speed, strength, and reaction.
The current Linto was like a smaller version of Star Platinum.
"Sir? What are you doing! Hurry up and kill him with one strike!"
A crew member shouted.
The bald samurai was anxious. Did he not want to?
The samurai sword was as if it was stuck, and could not be drawn away at all.
What kind of Ninjutsu was this?!
"Sizzle—sizzle—"
A faint smoke emanated from the bald samurai's palm, and a scorched smell of roasted meat filled the air.
"Ah!"
The bald samurai screamed, wanting to drop the hot sword in his hand, but his hands were firmly fixed and could not move at all, and the anger and fear in his expression grew stronger.
"Everyone here will pay the price for what you have done! Remember, they will die because of you!"
Linto looked at him calmly.
"This kind of militaristic, thieving logic won't do anything but hasten your death... do you have any last words?"
"I'll f*ck your—"
Before the word "mother" could be said, Star Platinum's fist, as big as a sand pot, slammed into the bald samurai's face.
Thud!
Thud!
Thud!
Three consecutive muffled thuds.
The bald samurai and the two crew members were thrown out like broken sacks, knocking over seven or eight crew members who were carrying goods, and slammed heavily on the deck, their lives uncertain.
"Sir! Sir!"
"What happened!"
Seeing the samurai sir fall, the crew members panicked one by one, and rushed forward to pinch the bald samurai's philtrum.
Just then, they heard footsteps from behind.
Linto walked out of the cargo hold, picked up a bag of "white flour" that had been spilled on the ground, and said in a cold voice:
"Is this what you people from the Land of Waves sell?"