Traveling by ship from the Land of Iron's port to the Land of Hot Water would take about two days.
Originally, Shimizu should have booked a private first-class cabin and spent those two dull days at sea in maximum comfort.
But considering that he now needed to commission a Wind Release chakra longsword, order a large quantity of Lightning Release chakra kunai… and possibly shuriken as well…
Money that once felt more than sufficient suddenly became tight.
Why was he trapped by money in his previous life—and still unable to escape its grip in this one?
That said, there had been an unexpected gain.
After developing his first self-created A-rank Lightning Release technique, his progress in learning the Second Hokage's Water Release techniques accelerated dramatically. Just a few days ago, before leaving Shinzuku City, he had successfully mastered four techniques—three of them A-rank offensive Water Release jutsu.
Water Release: Water Continuous Bullets —
Like plant seeds scattering upon impact, countless water projectiles are launched from the hand in all directions to assault the enemy. Each water bullet is controlled by the caster's chakra, making them difficult to evade entirely. Besides its striking visual effect, its power is formidable.
Water Release: Rain Formation —
Water chakra is gathered and fired into the sky at bullet-like speed. A waterfall of descending water shells spreads outward, piercing targets over a wide area. The attack radius scales with chakra output, resembling a torrential downpour.
Water Release: Heavenly Weeping —
Like rain falling from a clear sky, this technique launches high-speed water needles from the mouth, striking the enemy's vital points unexpectedly.
All three shared common traits: high speed, long range, wide coverage, and strong power.
Their differences were clear as well:
Water Continuous Bullets excelled at precise long-range strikes.
Rain Formation was suited for large-scale bombardment over vast areas.
Heavenly Weeping, with the highest speed, was ideal for ambushes.
In addition, there was a C-rank no-seal Water Release technique:
Water Release: Instant Water.
Mastering this technique meant that in aquatic environments, Shimizu would become like the "Yellow Flash" on land—blindingly fast.
What he lacked now were two things:
First, to practice it until it became instinctive, like a conditioned reflex.
Second, to explore combat methods under extreme high-speed movement.
Previously, no matter how fast his Body Flicker was, there were intervals. No matter how swift his movement, it had limits.
But this technique truly allowed instantaneous displacement within a certain range—so long as he willed it.
Each shift had a maximum range of about fifty meters.
This was true teleportation.
If the surrounding body of water within his field of vision was large enough—and if he didn't worry about chakra consumption—he could perform continuous long-range teleportation.
He couldn't wait to experience that unparalleled sense of speed.
However, these four techniques were merely the easiest ones in the Water Release handbook.
The remaining A-rank and S-rank techniques—
He was certain that without several months, he wouldn't fully grasp them. To truly master them might take years.
Yet he also needed to develop Wind Release chakra.
He needed to refine his new technique, Lightning Release: Thunder Blade Slash.
Once he acquired a Wind Release chakra sword, he would need to construct an entirely new combat system around it.
Just digesting all of this would require years.
And war would not wait that long.
He had considered accelerating his training with the bug-like forbidden technique, the Multi Shadow Clone Technique.
But only after attempting it himself did he understand what "not suitable for ninja with low chakra reserves" truly meant.
In his estimation, only someone with chakra reserves at least at Kage-level or above could sustain the kind of consumption Naruto displayed.
In other words—
Without truly vast chakra reserves, relying on Multi Shadow Clone training was merely a beautiful fantasy.
It wasn't that Kakashi had little chakra.
It was that Naruto's chakra was monstrously excessive.
Moreover, when casting the Multi Shadow Clone Technique, chakra was divided among numerous clones, drastically reducing each one's allocation. When the technique was dispelled, all accumulated fatigue returned to the original body at once—
Potentially endangering the user's life.
On second thought, it made sense.
The idea of "using the Multi Shadow Clone Technique to accelerate training" was so simple—who wouldn't have thought of it? If it truly could be used freely for training, why hadn't other ninja done so long ago?
It wasn't that they didn't want to.
It was that they couldn't.
As for rapidly increasing the amount of chakra within his body, Shimizu had no better solution either. Aside from protagonist-level luck or sealing a tailed beast inside himself, there was simply no shortcut.
Protagonist luck, in simple terms, meant talent—bloodline limits.
Shimizu was very self-aware. He had understood this ever since graduating from the Ninja Academy. At best, he could only strive to become a "hardworking genius."
And bloodline limits…
For example, the Sharingan.
If given the chance, would he take it?
It was one of the greatest shortcuts to power. With a Mangekyō Sharingan, one's combat strength could skyrocket instantly.
But was that even realistic?
In the original story, Kakashi was a member of Konoha's prestigious Hatake clan.
But who was Shimizu?
Just an orphan.
The Sharingan was a scalding prize—not something one could casually obtain without consequences.
The only thing Shimizu could do was continue refining chakra steadily, bit by bit.
At the very least, compared to before, his chakra reserves had grown significantly. After breaking through the bottleneck of jōnin level, he was gradually approaching the tier of elite jōnin.
Combined with his astonishing chakra recovery speed, his actual combat performance already surpassed that of a typical elite jōnin.
Objectively speaking, he did have some real strength.
He quietly sensed the chakra within his body again.
Compared to the day he sparred with Tatewaki, there had been a slight increase.
Though he was still far from veterans like the Sannin—or from the samurai leader who had sent him flying with a single kick, Lord Mifune—
Those towering figures remained beyond his current reach.
But all he could do was keep moving forward, step by step.
"Look! What's that?!" A sudden shout came from outside the cabin.
"It's a whale!" someone with sharp eyesight called out, recognizing the massive silhouette on the distant horizon.
"It looks like it's heading this way!"
Everyone on deck quickly realized the same thing. The whale in their field of vision was growing larger by the second, and panic began spreading through the crowd.
"It won't crash into us, will it?!"
"Don't say nonsense!"
"But—it really looks like it's coming straight at us!"
The noise interrupted Shimizu's chakra training. Then the ship suddenly tilted sharply.
Something was definitely wrong.
He stepped out of his room, passed through the restless crowd, and moved alone to a corner of the deck to observe the situation.
A gigantic whale was rapidly approaching along the passenger ship's original course.
After determining this, the captain had ordered a sharp turn to avoid it.
But strangely—
The whale seemed fixated on their vessel.
Despite multiple course corrections, it continued adjusting its direction to follow them.
The distance between the whale and the ship was shrinking rapidly.
"Is that whale trying to ram us?" a crew member exclaimed.
"Overestimating itself! Let it have a taste of the ship's harpoons!"
Though enormous, the whale did not intimidate the captain or the seasoned sailors. They had spent years at sea; hunting whales was nothing new to them.
In this world, sea beasts occasionally attacked ships. As a result, nearly all large passenger vessels and cruise liners were equipped with heavy harpoons for defense.
The sailors efficiently readied their weapons, waiting for the foolish whale to enter lethal range.
Wait. Something's following that whale! With his visual range, Shimizu could see farther. Beneath the shadows of the surface behind the whale, he caught a glimpse of another, even larger silhouette.
What on earth was that thing?