"Naruto-san... is this direction really correct?"
"Don't worry, Karin, this time it's definitely right!"
After several corrections, Karin finally stopped addressing Naruto as "sir."
This honorific of "Naruto-san" was relatively more acceptable to him, so he stopped insisting on changes.
Ever since leaving Tanzaku Quarter, the two had been traveling toward the eastern coastline of the Land of Fire according to the map's directions.
During this journey, they had taken wrong turns, but fortunately, kind people often jumped out of the bushes to give them directions.
After bidding farewell to these helpful souls who fell asleep on the spot from sudden drowsiness, they continued toward the coastline.
The Land of Whirlpools was located on an island across the sea from the eastern part of the Land of Fire. To reach it, they would need to take a boat out to sea.
Hey!
Wasn't this right up Naruto's alley?
Although he had never acknowledged his pirate identity, Naruto's experience wandering the seas definitely exceeded that of anyone else in this world.
It was only on land that he easily got lost. At sea, wouldn't this be returning to his comfort zone?
The two continued for a while longer, then a wind carrying a slight fishy sea smell passed through the forest and reached their noses.
Naruto was all too familiar with this scent.
Sure enough, they hadn't walked much farther when the view opened up before them.
The coastline extended infinitely toward both ends of their vision, seemingly endless.
This was Karin's first time seeing the ocean.
When that boundless sea surface came into view, it seemed to instantly draw out the little girl who had been hiding in the corner of her heart.
"So beautiful..."
Karin murmured unconsciously.
Hearing her speak, Naruto also smiled and responded:
"Right? I think so too..."
After admiring the seascape for a while, they began searching for nearby villages and towns.
After all, with a little girl in tow, Naruto didn't want to carry her all the way across the water.
Better to just find someone to rent a boat from... no, buy a boat outright.
With the generous sponsorship from the great benefactor Gato, plus the enthusiastic gifts from kind people along the way, Naruto's wallet was now overflowing with wealth.
Extending his Observation Haki in all directions, Naruto quickly located a fishing village.
The two first paid to have a hearty meal in the village, then bought a wooden fishing boat of suitable size from a fisherman at a price higher than market value.
Taking advantage of the calm seas, Naruto chose to set sail directly!
Out of pure confidence, he politely declined the fisherman's offer to "guide them for extra money."
What a joke! Naruto could navigate from the New World back to East Blue without getting lost. Would he really fail here?
The small boat rode the waves away from the village, with Naruto and Karin sitting on either side.
Since the sea breeze was strong now, there was no need to row manually. Naruto simply pulled out a fishing rod and wooden bucket from his sealing scroll.
Time to fish!
Karin had never fished before, so she watched Naruto-san's sea fishing process with great interest.
But soon, she began to feel bored.
The reason was simple.
No fish.
More precisely, there was no fish on Naruto's hook.
Seeing the little girl beside him starting to space out, her head nodding as she was about to fall asleep, Naruto felt his face burning with embarrassment.
Tsk, these fish really don't know what's good for them...
Unfortunately, the sea fish couldn't hear Naruto's thoughts, so he fished for several hours without catching anything.
By the time Karin woke up from her afternoon nap, the bucket in front of Naruto was still completely empty.
Now, even with no fishing experience, Karin could clearly understand that Naruto-san's fishing skills seemed somewhat lacking.
Or rather, calling them "lacking" was being generous.
Naruto, having caught nothing, now stared blankly at the distant horizon, contemplating the meaning of life.
Seeing this scene, Karin didn't know what to say.
Suddenly, she seemed to sense some chakra approaching their boat from underwater.
"Naruto-san, something is approaching from under the boat!"
Karin seemed to have naturally strong sensing abilities. Naruto had previously taught her the training method for the Uzumaki clan's secret technique, "Kagura Mind's Eye."
After just two or three days, Karin could already use a rudimentary form of this jutsu.
This progress was faster than Naruto's.
But that wasn't Naruto's fault.
Who could blame him for getting dizzy every time he saw those densely packed knowledge scrolls?
Compared to self-study from scratch, he was better at carefully observing others use techniques once with his Observation Haki, then perfectly "copying" their usage.
In a sense, perhaps the title of "Copy Ninja" should change hands.
As everyone knows, Naruto didn't like to activate Observation Haki or other similar sensing abilities while fishing.
After all, such behavior was undoubtedly extremely blasphemous for an angler.
He might as well just use jutsu to blast fish directly.
When he heard Karin's words, Naruto perked up.
For no other reason, his fishing rod finally moved!
The fishing line seemed to be caught by something under the boat and instantly went taut.
That thing's strength was terrifyingly great; it was obviously not a small fish.
The fishing rod was instantly pulled into a dangerous arc.
Fortunately, with Naruto's Armament Haki reinforcement, the fishing rod immediately became incredibly tough.
Even the fishing line that was about to snap became as reliable as steel wire.
"Come up!"
With Naruto's lift of the rod, a monster fish as large as an adult human was flung onto the boat.
Calling it a monster fish wasn't an exaggeration at all.
This fish looked round and chubby, resembling a seal at first glance. Its body was brown all over, but its dorsal fin reflected golden light.
Looking carefully, you could clearly see two long whiskers extending from its mouth.
Most memorable were this fish's vacant eyes.
Identical to Naruto's expression when he was contemplating life just moments ago.
"This... should be a catfish, right..."
Naruto wasn't quite sure.
There were catfish in the sea too, but this guy didn't look like an ordinary fish at all.
When he made eye contact with those vacant eyes, Naruto inexplicably felt a strange sensation.
This fish... is kind of cute.
"Naruto-san, it looks like it's dying!"
Hearing Karin's words, Naruto immediately snapped out of his starry-eyed state to see the fish struggling as if dying, flicking its tail before collapsing powerlessly on the deck.
Finally, under Naruto's full treatment, this large catfish successfully survived.
"How strange, this fish seems to have quite a bit of chakra in its body."
Touching the catfish's back with his finger, Naruto could clearly sense the chakra flow within it.
Then, a strange idea appeared in Naruto's mind.
Think it, do it.
After some commotion, a scroll with Naruto's name and the catfish's chakra was put away.
Unexpectedly, this strange catfish with chakra seemed to possess some intelligence, and it appeared to quickly accept Naruto.
The summoning contract was signed much more smoothly than imagined.
"Naruto-san, why... did you sign a summoning contract with this fish?"
"Eh? Don't you think Fishball is cute?"
"You've already named it?"
Karin couldn't help but comment.
After repeatedly observing the vacant catfish several times, she still couldn't understand Naruto-san's aesthetic sense.
Speaking of which, it was strange.
After this catfish officially "joined" Naruto's group, the sky became overcast not long after.
Then the sea began to rage with strong winds, wave after wave crashing against the small boat.
The storm lasted for a long time. If not for Naruto's constant protection, the boat would have capsized long ago.
That strange large catfish was also tossed around by the sudden storm, its already not-very-intelligent eyes becoming even more confused.
Then it accidentally fell back into the sea with a splash. Naruto originally wanted to rescue it but then realized he didn't need to be so concerned.
The ocean was its home anyway. Since they'd already signed a contract, he could just summon it again next time.
And just after the large catfish "Fishball" returned to the seabed, the terrible weather began to clear up at a visibly fast pace.
What connection there might be between these events... nobody could say for sure.
The urgent matter now was to determine just where exactly they had drifted off course to.