At the gates of Konoha, Tsunade looked at the group behind Hoshiyomi and let out a disappointed sigh. When she'd heard him ask if she wanted to go to the Land of Whirlpools together, she thought it would just be the two of them.
Now, seeing the original six-person group assembled again… that idea had clearly gone out the window.
Half-heartedly greeting everyone, she joined the others as they headed out of the village.
Along the way, Shinku suddenly said with some excitement:
"Come to think of it, we haven't all left the village together since the Chūnin Exams, right? It's been nearly ten years already."
Jiraiya lit up with enthusiasm as well.
"No kidding! After becoming Chūnin, we barely even saw each other once a month, let alone went on missions or vacations together. This time, in the Land of Whirlpools, we've got to seriously kick back. I heard that place is full of gorgeous red-haired women!"
Tsunade, clearly in a bad mood, sent the pervert flying with a single punch, prompting laughter from the rest of the group.
Orochimaru, however, was keen enough to notice that Hoshiyomi had his head lowered the whole time, completely ignoring the chatter. That immediately tipped him off that something was wrong.
He quickened his pace to catch up with Hoshiyomi and asked:
"Hoshiyomi-kun, why do you look so glum? Is something bothering you?"
Hoshiyomi, who had been struggling to find a way to bring it up, answered readily,
"Ever since we left the village, I've had a really bad feeling—like something's about to go wrong."
Hearing that, Sakumo nodded and said, "Then we'd better stay alert. There's time to relax after we've picked up Kushina."
At that, the group snapped into a more serious state. Though it had been a long time since they'd operated together, they instinctively trusted Hoshiyomi's instincts.
They stopped joking around and accelerated to full speed, reaching the Land of Fire's coastline in just over half a day. But when they arrived, the slight ease they'd carried with them disappeared—their expressions grew tense.
As mentioned before, the shortest distance between the Land of Fire and the Land of Whirlpools could be crossed by walking on water for a full day. Now, standing on the coast, they could just barely make out a faint, flickering firelight on the horizon. It looked like a mere speck from this distance, but none of them were naïve enough to think it was just an ordinary fire.
Hoshiyomi's intuition had been right—something serious had happened in the Land of Whirlpools.
"Look over there!" Shinku suddenly pointed and called out
Everyone turned to where he was pointing and saw massive waves erupting from a previously calm stretch of ocean. The rest of the sea was still—only that one spot was violently surging. It was obviously the result of a Ninjutsu.
Fortunately, Hoshiyomi had anticipated this kind of scenario and already had a rough plan. He turned to Jiraiya and said, "Jiraiya, go borrow a boat from the nearby houses—make sure it has an engine. The rest of you, come with me—we need to rescue whoever's out there first."
Everyone moved swiftly. Jiraiya turned without a word and rushed toward the nearby fishing village, while Hoshiyomi and the others darted across the water toward the distant commotion.
Hoshiyomi used the Body Flicker Technique on top of water walking. Combined with his prior Attribute Conversion, which had fully transformed his Chakra into water-natured chakra, his speed far surpassed that of the other four.His years of sword training had also given him exceptional vision.
After covering some distance over the sea, he could already make out the scene ahead.
There, a red-haired man was locked in combat with two enemy shinobi, all while carrying a small girl on his back. Battling on open water while protecting the child had put him in an extremely difficult position.
Seeing this, Hoshiyomi pushed his speed even further. Thanks to his chakra control training, even the ripples beneath his feet were minimal. Combined with Transparent Escape, his presence was virtually undetectable unless he was right on top of his enemy.
The sea was already turbulent due to the aftermath of ninjutsu. Under Hoshiyomi's precise control, he closed in until he was just 15 meters away—yet the two Hidden Mist shinobi, still focused on attacking the red-haired man, hadn't noticed a thing.
...
Uzumaki Masahiko felt like this day might be his last.
He and his cousins had fought tooth and nail to take down several Jōnin, only to discover those were just patrol units. As soon as they exited the forest, they were ambushed by more than a dozen elite enemies.
Several of his cousins sacrificed themselves to carve out a path of escape for him and held off the pursuers for as long as they could.
But he had only made it about a third of the way when two Hidden Mist Jōnin caught up. They were incredibly fast on the sea and could even manipulate the surrounding water to unleash massive Water Release techniques.
If Masahiko himself hadn't been quite strong, and if his father hadn't prepared a good number of defensive scrolls for him, he might have died in that sea long ago.
But carrying Kushina severely limited his movements. He had exhausted all of his scrolls, yet still couldn't shake the two enemies. His injuries were piling up. Even the Uzumaki Clan's legendary regenerative abilities could no longer keep up.
Still, he held on. He could die—but Kushina absolutely could not be harmed.
With that resolve, he gently set her down. Dodging attacks from the two Hidden Mist shinobi, he used the last of his Chakra to apply a special Sealing Technique to her.
With this technique, even a four-year-old Kushina could stay submerged for quite a while without suffocating.
Setting her down, he said,
"Kushina, from here on, it's all up to you. Uncle Masahiko will hold them off. You must do your best to reach the other shore.
Get to Konoha. Tell them the Land of Whirlpools is under attack. If you can get the message there, everyone might still be saved!"
With those final words, Uzumaki Masahiko shoved Kushina away and turned back, roaring as he charged at the two jōnin. Even if it cost him his life, he would buy time for little Kushina.
Just as he intended to use his life to secure a glimmer of hope for Kushina, a sharp whistling sound suddenly reached his ears
After the sound of the wind being cut, Uzumaki Masahiko witnessed a scene he would never forget.
A brilliant, watery-blue sword arc shot past his left side, streaking toward one of the Hidden Mist jōnin at incredible speed.
That Hidden Mist Jonin's reaction was not slow; he instantly canceled his Chakra control on his feet, dropping into the water, while rapidly forming hand signs.
But it was too late.
The blade strike was far too fast. Before the jōnin could fully submerge, the arc sliced clean through his arm, severing it completely.
Masahiko and the other, uninjured Hidden Mist shinobi turned to look—only to see a tall, strikingly handsome young man, about 180 centimeters tall, suddenly appear nearby.
The young man was holding little Kushina in one arm. In the other, he still maintained the pose of a sword strike. Bathed in the glow of the setting sun, his ornate ninja blade shimmered with an awe-inspiring brilliance.