No need for extra talk.
The instant he held the "White Powder," the disgust that welled up inside silently told Linto what this stuff was.
D-Grade.
The Land of Waves officials were secretly dealing in D-Grade drugs.
Linto hated two things the most: gambling and drugs.
Sasuke reached out his small hand and grabbed Linto's sleeve.
He rarely saw Linto's eyes so cold.
"I'm okay."
Linto said softly, "But..."
He looked up at the dozens of boxes of "White Powder" on the ship, then looked ahead.
An old, rusty fishing boat was coming alongside them. Black gun barrels stuck out from both sides of the fishing boat.
Forty bare-chested, dark-skinned crew members with knives and axes hanging from their waists were standing on the boat. When they saw the samurai lying on the ground, their faces turned fierce. They drew their weapons and walked towards Linto.
"...they're going to have problems."
"Star Platinum!"
This was a battle with no suspense.
No one could take a punch from Star Platinum. Everyone who rushed forward was sent flying back even faster, spitting blood and crashing into the sea.
"A ghost!"
Finally, the crew members broke down. Ignoring their companions, they ran back to the fishing boat.
"Get lost!"
Little Sasuke shouted at their backs, a happy smile on his face.
He loved traveling with Linto. It was satisfying to get revenge and speak his mind freely.
Ninja?
What ninja?
He didn't want to hold back.
But Sasuke's smile quickly froze on his face.
Shouting came from the fishing boat across from them, and the gun barrels turned, aiming at them.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
Three cannonballs flew in an arc, all shooting at once.
"Star Platinum!"
Linto pointed.
Star Platinum roared, spinning in the air and kicking away the first cannonball.
Then, it opened its hands, catching a cannonball in each. Its steel-strong arms exerted force, throwing the cannonballs back.
Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!
The three cannonballs made sharp noises as they cut through the air, clearly breaking the sound barrier. They were so fast that they left only a blur on the eyes.
Then came a series of booming sounds and screams.
The fishing boat was pierced through and torn to pieces, and the crew members fell into the sea, screaming.
The battle started suddenly and ended just as suddenly.
The passengers finally came to their senses, realizing they had been saved.
They weren't stupid.
Drug dealing, even in this terrible ninja world, was absolutely forbidden.
There was only one cargo hold on the ship. The moisture-sensitive drugs naturally had to be put in the cargo hold, so... Could they get off the ship alive after seeing the drugs?
The answer was clearly no.
The passengers fell to the ground, finally able to relax the hearts that had been in their throats.
"We're... We're saved."
The sea breeze blew on their faces. The feeling of relief after surviving a disaster made the passengers feel a little dazed. They looked at Linto's back—it wasn't particularly tall or strong, but at that moment, it gave them an unmatched sense of safety.
Linto controlled Star Platinum, throwing all the white powder on the ship into the sea. He also threw the bald samurai down and slapped the unconscious crew members awake, giving them two choices:
Sail the ship or go into the sea.
Their lives were important. The remaining crew members nodded and bowed quickly, showing great effort, and started the ship to continue forward.
After Linto and his group went far away...
The bald samurai stuck his head out of the sea and spat in the direction of the cargo ship.
"Fools! I've been on the water for half my life. Do you think I can drown in the sea?!"
There were lifeboats on the fishing boat, and the crew members who fell into the water had already gone to find them. They would be able to find him soon, and they could row back to the Land of Waves.
"You dared to touch Lord Gato's goods, kid. You're dead! Even if you escape to the ends of the earth, someone will cut off your head and bring it back!"
The bald samurai cursed.
The surface of the sea broke open, and a crew member with blood on his head gasped for breath, his face filled with terror: "Sir! The fish, the fish..."
"Fish?"
The bald samurai didn't understand what was so scary about fish.
Did they run into sharks?
That couldn't be. He was very familiar with this route.
This wasn't an area where sharks roamed.
"The fish are crazy!"
The crew member shouted.
As if to prove his words, a small fish the size of a palm jumped out of the water, went into the crew member's mouth, and bit his tongue.
"Ah—"
The crew member screamed, reaching out to pull the crazy fish out of his mouth, but a second fish bit his hand, and a third gouged out his eyes.
The bald samurai watched the scene in shock.
He recognized the fish that jumped out of the water. They weren't supposed to be aggressive at all. What shocked him even more was the fish's eyes—
Ruby-red.
It was a sign of taking drugs!
The drugs that Linto threw into the sea were eaten by the fish, making them go crazy under the influence of the drugs!
The bald samurai then noticed that the sea was eerily calm, with no crew members in sight.
He looked down and saw a sea of red.
"Don't come over here!"
The bald samurai's desperate scream echoed in the sky.
...
Linto turned away.
Sasuke looked like he wanted to say something but didn't. Linto flicked him on the forehead and said with a smile:
"If you have to fart, let it rip."
Sasuke scratched his head and said softly, "I just think, aren't we being too high-profile?"
He was talking about defeating the fishing boat.
It felt good to fight.
But thinking about it later, he felt like there were flaws everywhere.
Once the ship docked, Konoha could find out that they had come to the Land of Water with just a little investigation.
"It is high-profile, but that's the meaning of choice in life."
Linto said, "Weren't you already making a choice when you threw the kunai?"
"That was just an emotional response..."
Linto shook his head and said, "So-called 'emotion' is the fruit that grows on a tree called your 'value system,' which has been growing since you were born.
A cold-blooded ninja can't have that 'emotion.' Can you imagine Danzo angrily attacking to save Momo-chan?"
"But is that... right?" Sasuke asked.
Linto rubbed his small head.
"There's no right or wrong in this. If I had to say, it's right as long as two conditions are met—"
He held up two fingers.
"First, the choice is well-thought-out and agrees with your heart."
"Second, you are willing to pay the price for it and bear the consequences."
Sasuke thought again.
Was he willing to risk being tracked down by Danzo to save Momo-chan?
The answer was yes.
After experiencing the tragedy of his clan's destruction, Sasuke didn't want to see anyone he knew get hurt again.
He was gradually understanding what Linto meant.
"Brother Shou, you're really amazing, not just in your outward strength, but also..."
Sasuke put his right hand over his heart.
"The strength here."
Linto smiled, accepting his compliment.
Amazing?
In the real world, he was a complete failure.
He was okay during school, but after he started working, he became incompatible with the workplace.
There were too many things that Linto couldn't stand.
Until one time, he stopped his boss from sexually harassing a female colleague. The matter became a big deal, but in the end, the harassed female colleague said it was a misunderstanding.
Linto became the person who couldn't "read the air."
Afterwards, the leader made things difficult for him and had his colleagues isolate him, thinking that this would make Linto regret his actions.
But Linto didn't regret it.
The reason he stopped the sexual harassment wasn't to target his boss, let alone to save the female colleague who turned against him.
Linto just felt that it shouldn't be that way.
Just like today.
Of course, doing the right thing requires capital.
In his previous life, Linto's capital was his team's core technical skills.
In this life, it was the JOJO system.
As for the meaning of choosing "right"...
Linto leaned on the railing, the slow sea breeze blowing. He narrowed his eyes, hearing Momo-chan's laughter and Sasuke's proud snorts.
Momo-chan walked forward and gave Sasuke a big hug.
Sasuke stood there, frozen.
Linto smiled.
Perhaps, this was the meaning.
"Woo—Woo—"
The ship sounded its horn.
At dusk, they had arrived at the Land of Water.