The vast and magnificent expanse of the sea stretched out before them, the deep blue waters glinting like scattered silver under the light of the morning sun...
A young fisherman was busy sorting out his nets, preparing to head out and catch his day's haul.
"Hey, you there, fisherman!"
Uchiha Emiki looked down his nose in disdain at the small fishing boat bobbing on the waves, which was barely long enough to hold five people. "Are you taking this boat out to sea?"
"Strange way to talk for an old man!" The fisherman laughed as he tossed his nets onto the deck. "If I don't go out to sea, will you feed and support me instead?"
Hearing these words, Uchiha Emiki's brows furrowed deeply. Common folk and country bumpkins really did speak without any sense of respect or proper order...
But for the sake of his safety, he could afford to care about such trivial matters right now!
"Hmph, I'll give you one thousand ryō. Take us out there!" Uchiha Emiki held his breath against the strong smell of fish and threw the money down in front of the fisherman.
"What is the meaning of this?" Faced with such a large sum of money, the young fisherman looked flustered and quickly waved his hands in refusal. "If you gentlemen are looking to travel or sightsee, you ought to take one of the large passenger vessels. My small boat can't go very far at all! Besides, you don't need to pay this much money for such a short trip!"
"I've given you the money, so just sail the boat and stop chattering so much!" Uchiha Emiki pinched his nose and climbed aboard, sweeping the nets aside with a look of disgust. "And get rid of these tattered nets right now!"
The more the fisherman tried to turn them away, the more determined Emiki became to take this particular boat. Of course, if he hadn't been afraid that Aoi Ren had already tampered with or taken control of all the large shipping companies in town, he never would have set foot on such a shabby vessel and ended up smelling of fish all over.
"Very well, very well, I shall do exactly as you say, Sir!" The young fisherman, clearly worried that Emiki might damage his nets, quickly stepped forward to gather them up, roll them into a bundle, and hang them securely over the side of the boat.
Uchiha Moni climbed aboard unsteadily, and for some unknown reason, despite the fact that everything seemed to be going according to plan and his grandfather was right there by his side, he felt himself growing more and more anxious and afraid. It felt as though the specter of death was drawing closer and closer to them...
"What are you trembling for?" Uchiha Emiki raised his hand and struck Moni across the face, frustrated by his grandson's lack of courage. "Do you really think Aoi Ren has the power to control everything in this world?"
Gulp...
Uchiha Moni nodded numbly, clutching his cheek...
Seeing this, the young fisherman rowing the boat smiled faintly. "Gentlemen, if you don't mind me asking—what is your business here, and how far do you need to travel?"
"As long as we are far enough away from the shore, that's all that matters. It would be even better if you could find some place where we can stop and rest for a while. This wretched boat absolutely reeks of fish..." Uchiha Emiki replied impatiently, waving his hand dismissively.
Uchiha Emiki had never taken this mission issued by the ANBU seriously from the very beginning, nor did he truly believe that the ANBU had somehow managed to stumble upon the trail of Kakuzu, that infamous S-rank criminal... To him, this was nothing more than a childish trick Aoi Ren had devised to cause trouble!
He had already made up his mind: they would simply drift around on the sea for a while and then head straight back, and that would be the end of it!
"Ah, I know exactly the perfect spot for that!" The fisherman said with a smile as he continued to row. Before long, a small rocky islet came into view in the distance. Several massive boulders had clustered together to form a tiny island roughly a hundred square meters in size—just large enough for a few people to stand and rest on...
"Hmm, this isn't half bad!"
As the boat pulled up to the shore, Uchiha Emiki turned around intending to give the fisherman a few words of praise, only to realize with a jolt.
"He's gone!"
Uchiha Emiki shot abruptly to his feet. The fisherman who had been rowing the boat and was supposed to be right behind them had vanished into thin air. The vast blue sea remained calm and peaceful, as if nothing unusual had happened at all...
Yet it was precisely this sense of utter stillness that made the situation all the more terrifying. It felt as though a suffocating, heavy silence was slowly closing in around them, tightening around their throats.
"Grandfather... what in the world is going on?" Uchiha Moni was already on the verge of tears.
Uchiha Emiki stared around him in disbelief. "No... it's impossible. I chose this boat completely at random. How could I possibly be so unlucky?"
"Unless..." Uchiha Emiki's eyes widened in shock, and an answer flashed through his mind—one that seemed almost too outrageous to be true.
"Unless the entire town was arranged by me. Whether it was the ninja, the ordinary townsfolk, or even the fisherman himself—they all answer to me!" A cold voice slowly drifted across the water from a distance. "Uchiha Emiki, you have guessed correctly. Every single person and every single thing in this town belongs to me!"
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