[Land of Lightning, Thunder Port]
The people from the Watergate Trading Company sat on their own ship, faces full of worry.
They had already been stranded at the port for half a month.
Although there was food and drink on the ship, the real question was whether they could actually leave.
"I don't know how Lord Mizukage plans to handle this matter," The trading company's deputy, Hegu, sighed.
The company president, Huto, patted him on the shoulder, "Our Lord Mizukage is no longer the same as before. He will definitely find a way."
Hegu saw the Kumo-nin watching from the dock and couldn't help but feel uneasy, "Let's hope so."
———
Splash! Splash!
The faint sound of water came, and two short figures swam under the ship from the water.
Then they clung to the underside of the ship, and silently climbed aboard, "Huto…"
Hearing this familiar voice, Huto shivered and quickly turned around.
He found the two people standing right behind him.
"Lord Mizukage!"
Huto was both shocked and delighted, he hadn't expected the Mizukage to come in person.
"How did you come here? This is the Land of Lightning's territory."
He was deeply moved that his own Mizukage came all the way here, but this was still the Land of Lightning, undeniably a very risky place.
Yagura waved his hand, saying nothing to curry favor, those words were empty.
Him being here in person was what truly mattered.
"Don't talk about that. How many Kumo-nin are there, and who is guarding?"
Huto understood the Mizukage's meaning and immediately replied, "There aren't many Kumo-nin guarding here, only about a hundred people. They are all genin and chunin."
"But there should also be experts nearby who haven't shown themselves."
Rengoku, disguised as Yagura, leaned on the ship's railing with arms crossed and said, "It can only be the Eight-Tails jinchuriki, Killer B."
Yagura also agreed with Rengoku's assessment. After all, the Raikage had lost an arm, and Yugito was also injured.
The only top-level fighter still in good condition was the Eight-Tails jinchuriki.
"If we want to withdraw safely… it'll be difficult."
Everyone knew the Eight-Tails was a bull-headed octopus, and very agile in water.
Even if it might not swim faster than Isobu, against other ordinary people on a heavy merchant ship, the only result would be sinking.
"How many of our people are there?", Yagura asked Huto after hearing Rengoku's analysis.
Huto answered without hesitation, "We have 42 people from our trading company, the rest are hired sailors."
Hearing the number 42, Yagura began thinking, "Do we have a spare boat?"
Huto beckoned, and a burly, muscular sailor came over.
On his back he carried a huge scroll, a full meter wide.
The bigger the storage scroll, the more it could hold.
Huto pointed at the scroll, "We have an escape boat inside. It can barely seat everyone."
Yagura immediately ordered, "Gather all of our own people together. Give the other sailors some money and have them leave on their own."
These sailors were usually temporary hires, most of them ordinary people.
Their skills were not comprehensive, most of the time they just did manual labor.
They didn't even have national identities, since hiring temporarily was far cheaper than keeping a permanent crew.
After all, running sea trade didn't always mean having a steady supply of goods.
The Watergate Trading Company's sailors were more familiar faces, but right now there was no time to care about them.
Everyone quickly began to move.
Yagura and Rengoku exchanged a glance, there was some unspoken understanding between them.
Rengoku gave him a reassuring look and quietly waited.
There was movement all over the ship.
The Kumo-nin below quickly noticed that nearly a hundred sailors from the cargo ship were all gathering below.
"What are you doing? No one is allowed to leave the port!"
"Let us go! We're just trying to make a living!"
"Watergate Trading Company says they won't hire us anymore, do you expect us to stay on board and starve to death?"
"What do their contraband goods have to do with us?"
"You Kumo-nin and Kiri-nin have grudges, but you want to drag us ordinary people into it?"
These sailors were quick-witted, and soon started arguing with the Kumo-nin below.
The port had not only Kumo-nin, but also many merchant ships from other countries.
With the noise, they quickly drew other people's attention.
The impact of such a scene was bad. In business, aside from profit, a stable environment was also important.
For Kumo-nin, this was neither a good look nor a good topic.
Even if most of them were muscle-bound brutes, they couldn't just slaughter all these civilians.
Very soon, the Kumo-nin went to report to higher-ups.
Rengoku's guess was right, the one stationed here was indeed the Eight-Tails jinchuriki, Killer B.
Because the Raikage had lost an arm this time, Killer B felt deeply responsible.
He thought that if he had stayed with his brother, the Raikage wouldn't have been ambushed.
Hearing the report, Killer B irritably said, "Then let them all go, but not a single person from Watergate Trading Company leaves. Fool! Idiot!"
"Yes!"
After the Kumo-nin left, Killer B still felt uneasy, "I need to go see the situation."
———
At Thunder Port, all the people from the Watergate merchant ship had disembarked.
Taking this chance, the company's own people all gathered together on one ship.
The other sailors quickly left the port.
The Kumo-nin began to feel that something was wrong, because among Watergate's six ships, five were now completely empty.
Everyone had gathered onto one ship.
At this moment, the Watergate people used a loudspeaker to call out to the Kumo-nin, "Honored Kumo-nin, we have emptied five ships, please inspect them thoroughly."
"If you find any contraband, please let us know."
The Kumo-nin were stunned. They had never planned to board and inspect, this was clearly just a pretext.
But the Watergate people kept using the loudspeaker to repeat the message, should they inspect or not?
"What's going on?", Killer B arrived to find the Kirigakure merchant convoy blasting this announcement.
The people below quickly told Killer B the situation.
"Lord Killer B, should we inspect?", Just then, the message outside changed.
"Honored Kumo-nin, since you're not inspecting, we'll be leaving."
The merchant ship outside began lifting its anchor, looking as if it intended to force its way out.
"Lord Killer B, how should we handle this?"
"Stop them!"
Killer B, already in a foul mood, grew even more irritated, "Damn it, they actually dare to force through!"
"Stop them for me!"
"Yes!"
The Kumo-nin quickly moved out.
Their method was simple and crude.
Five Kumo-nin faced the slowly moving large ship and formed hand seals.
"Lightning Style, Lightning Spear!"
Five beams of light shot directly into the hull, opening millstone-sized holes.
Seawater quickly poured in.
"Kumo-nin, you actually dare attack the merchant convoy of the Land of Water?"
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