Uzumaki Ashina glanced at Hoshiyomi. Seeing no objection from him, he gave the order to lower the ships.
To their credit, the enemy kept their word—once they got the ships, they didn't resume the attack. Knowing Konoha reinforcements might be right behind them, they were clearly eager to flee as fast as possible.
As the joint force withdrew, Hoshiyomi released the Sixth Gate. The moment the gate closed, his previously stoic expression twisted in pain. He had kept it open far longer than last time, enduring the backlash of the Sixth Gate just to remain standing.
Now that it was over, the pain hit him like a 200-kilogram man collapsing after running 2,000 meters—his entire body ached terribly, and even lifting a hand felt like too much effort.
Ashina helped him down from the wall. Tsunade rushed over immediately—not even bothering to summon Katsuyu—and began healing Hoshiyomi with her own hands.
A group of Uzumaki girls looked on in pure envy. If only they had learned medical ninjutsu themselves!
The surviving Uzumaki began eating and resting on the spot. After some time, those who had recovered started combing the burning ruins and debris, hoping to find any survivors.
But the search yielded nothing.
The buildings around the shrine had been completely destroyed, and after searching for a long time, they found no viable hiding spots. The only hope was that some clan members had escaped across the sea.
Roughly two hours later, the main Konoha force finally arrived.
Many of them thought they were coming in as saviors—only to find everything had already ended. They were too late.
But no one made any foolish noise about wiping out the enemy completely. These were shinobi—not idiots—and no one was going to rush into unnecessary slaughter.
When Akimichi Torifu confirmed that Hoshiyomi and the others were safe, he let out a long breath of relief. In truth, the primary reason Konoha had dispatched reinforcements was to protect Hoshiyomi and his team. The Uzumaki were, at best, a secondary concern.
Now that Hoshiyomi was confirmed safe, Torifu could finally relax.
As for Ashina's proposal to relocate the Uzumaki clan to Konoha, Torifu gave his full support. He was a staunch follower of the Hokage faction, someone who treated Tobirama Senju's policies as his personal creed.
Besides, the alliance between Konoha and the Uzumaki was well known. He doubted anyone in the village would dare oppose letting the Uzumaki in.
Of course, Torifu understood there would be political resistance—but he also knew that as long as Mito was alive, and the older generation of the Senju clan still had a voice, the Uzumaki's relocation was practically guaranteed.
...
Meanwhile, outside Uzushiogakure, the shinobi of the four-village alliance had reached the shore with the ships. Dozens of jōnin stood around, eyeing the two ships, exchanging uneasy glances.
If everyone present was from their own village, there'd be no issue—just board and go.
But surrounded by strangers, who could say what might happen once they were on the open sea?
What if someone tried something shady? They were all carrying valuable sealing scrolls—who could guarantee someone wouldn't get greedy?
As the awkward silence stretched on, the Kirigakure elder spoke up:
"How about this: we divide by village pairings. Two villages per ship. That way we keep things balanced, yeah?"
Everyone nodded—reasonable enough.
The Kiri elder went on:
"Given the earlier tension between the Kumo and Iwa elders, I suggest this: Kiri and Kumo board one ship, and Iwa and Suna take the other. Sound fair?"
The others nodded again. Many even praised the Kiri elder's thoughtful planning.
The Iwa and Suna elders agreed too.
Truth be told, Iwa's jōnin had no desire to travel with those Kumo brutes—they'd clash for sure.
So the two groups split and began boarding their respective ships.
As they were doing a headcount, the Suna elder suddenly frowned:
"Hey… anyone seen Ichiki? He's not here."
A jōnin shrugged and muttered:
"Probably got taken out when he was tailing that brat on the wall. Kijima and Rihara didn't make it back either.
That kid looked young, but man, he was a monster. Why does Konoha keep producing freaks like that? Must be some kind of luck."
The Suna elder sighed in agreement:
"Seriously. Even Chiyo-sama's own children didn't have that kind of talent. Not even Ryūnosuke, the one chosen by Lord Shamon to be the next Kazekage, could match him in raw ability.
Still, Ryūnosuke is much older. If they cross paths again, I'm sure Ryūnosuke will take him down."
As they talked, the jōnin boarded the ship. The Suna elder continued taking roll, and once all his people were aboard, he followed.
Before stepping inside, he muttered to himself:
"I don't recall assigning Ichiki to reconnaissance... Oh well. If he didn't make it back, bad luck for him."
He entered the ship's cabin, preparing to leave the Land of Whirlpools.
What he didn't know was that a plot was brewing on the other ship—one aimed squarely at them.
As the two ships pulled farther out to sea and followed the sea routes marked on their maps to avoid the whirlpools, the vessel carrying Kirigakure and Kumogakure suddenly changed speed and veered sharply off course.
The abrupt movement startled the Iwa and Suna shinobi.
"Hey! What are you doing?! You're off course!" someone shouted.
There was no reply.
Instead, multiple Water Dragons erupted from the sea—dozens of Kiri jōnin had launched a coordinated Water Dragon Bullet Technique!
Massive dragons of water roared through the air, crashing down in waves that shook the Iwa-Suna ship violently.
Even the most foolish among them understood now: they'd been betrayed. The Kiri and Kumo forces had set them up!
"You bastards!" roared the Suna elder, jumping to his feet. "Don't panic! If they play dirty, we'll hit back harder! Everyone, unleash your jutsu!"
He led by example, launching a Wind Release jutsu of considerable power.
But on the vast ocean, he was too small to turn the tide. His A-rank wind jutsu only managed to shred two of the dragons—moments later, even larger ones emerged.
On water, the Kirigakure shinobi were in their element, their power boosted considerably.
Meanwhile, on the Iwagakure and Sunagakure side, several jōnin—who couldn't swim—were already retching from the violent rocking of the waves.
Then came a scream from below:
"The ship! Those Kiri bastards are are drilling holes in the ships!"
The Iwa elder rushed into the lower hold—and sure enough, seawater was flooding in. The ship was sinking.
But he didn't dare order them to jump into the sea, because he could clearly see that on the distant ship, the Kumogakure shinobi—those he had previously mocked as "black bears"—were already forming hand seals for Lightning Release ninjutsu, just waiting for them to leap into the water and die.
"Damn it…"
Author's note:
It seems the Third Kazekage doesn't have an official name. I searched for a while and couldn't find one, so I gave him a placeholder. If anyone knows a canon name, let me know so I can fix it.