A small boat rose and dipped with the waves as it made its way toward the mysterious island.
The closer they got, the thicker the mist became, until visibility was nearly gone.
Beneath the dark water, enormous shadows glided under the hull. They were giant sharks, far larger than any normal beast.
"These... these sharks are way too big, aren't they?"
Ino clutched Akira's sleeve tightly, her face pale with fear.
Karui had a hand locked around her sword hilt too, her palm slick with sweat.
The oppressive atmosphere was like a slow torture on the nerves.
At last, the bow scraped against land.
They stepped onto the island.
Visibility here was even worse, barely three or four meters at most. The air was damp and bitterly cold, carrying a sharp, murderous stillness.
Akira suddenly stopped walking, a faint cold smile tugging at his lips.
"Looks like they've been waiting for us this whole time."
"There's a barrier woven into this fog."
Samui drew her blade at once and scanned the surrounding mist.
"They already found us?"
Akira closed his eyes and extended his senses for a moment, then opened them again.
"No need to look. They're here."
"Hinata, Byakugan."
"Shino, release the bugs."
The three reacted instantly and shifted into combat mode.
Veins bulged at the corners of Hinata's eyes as the Byakugan activated, piercing straight through the fog.
"One o'clock and eleven o'clock. One enemy in each direction. Chakra signatures... chunin."
Akira nodded and looked to Shino.
Shino understood at once. His sleeve twitched.
"Secret Jutsu: Bug Sphere."
Countless tiny kikaichu insects, hidden perfectly by the fog, swept silently toward the enemy at one o'clock like invisible reapers.
Those two Kiri ninja had sensed intruders, but they never noticed the tiny insects closing in.
By the time the one at one o'clock realized something was wrong, it was already too late.
"Bzzzz."
The black swarm swallowed him whole in an instant.
"AAAHHHH!"
The shrill scream echoed through the mist, sending chills up everyone's spine.
That was the agony of having your chakra eaten away alive.
The sea fog rolled and churned like a giant beast waiting to devour prey.
The moment the cry rang out from eleven o'clock, the killing intent arrived.
Sharp whistling filled the air as a dense rain of shuriken and kunai poured toward Akira's group.
That kind of saturation attack could kill even a jonin if they reacted too slowly.
Pakura herself had once fallen to a filthy ambush like this.
That was one of the reasons the Kage of every village rarely left home. Once their information leaked and they were lured into a carefully constructed death trap, even monsters at that level could die, unless they possessed the absolute strength of someone like Madara Uchiha or Hashirama Senju.
Samui sensed the danger rushing in, but with the fog blocking everything, she couldn't lock onto the exact direction.
All she could do was rely on instinct and brace herself, frustration surging through her.
This was too passive. This cursed weather crippled the way Kumo ninja fought.
At that critical instant, Akira's voice rang out, steady and forceful.
"Hinata."
Without the slightest hesitation, the small girl stepped directly in front of him, veins rising around her eyes.
"Rotation!"
Blue chakra burst from every tenketsu in her body, spinning at high speed to form a perfect hemispherical shield.
At her age, she should not have been able to master such an advanced jutsu. But under Akira's guidance, she had cast off her former timidity and weakness. Her personality had changed, and her strength had exploded along with it.
As the heir of the main family, once she was willing to learn, the clan elders had naturally taught her everything.
Metal clanged again and again as every projectile was hurled away by the centrifugal force of her Rotation.
When the jutsu ended, Hinata was breathing a little harder, a thin sheen of sweat on her forehead. The cost had clearly been significant.
Akira saw through her condition at a glance.
"Hinata, regulate your breathing. Rest for a moment."
But Hinata kept staring into the depths of the fog, her eyes filled with a resolve that had never been there before.
"I'm fine, Akira-kun. I can keep going."
Before the words had even fully left her mouth, she darted into the fog like an arrow loosed from a bow.
Akira did not stop her. He simply observed through his senses.
A moment later, her clear voice cut through the mist.
"Eight Trigrams: Thirty-Two Palms!"
Then came a rapid series of impacts, and within seconds the enemy's screams cut off abruptly.
A small smile touched Akira's mouth. In his perception, Hinata's chakra remained steady.
But in the distance, several more chakra signatures were racing toward them.
He turned to the blonde woman at his side.
"Let's move. We go deeper."
Listening to the sounds coming from the mist, Samui could not help but remark,
"No wonder the Hyuga are feared. That Gentle Fist style is a nightmare for close-range fighters."
She knew very well that once someone's chakra points were sealed, even a physical monster like Rock Lee would be unable to open the Eight Gates and would become easy prey.
Unless you had something absurd like the Nine-Tails, or Sage Art that drew in natural energy, once your chakra circulation stalled, no amount of physical ability could save you.
That alone explained why Kumogakure had coveted the Byakugan for so many years. It was a perfect counter to the taijutsu-based combat style they took such pride in.
Akira said nothing. He simply led Ino and Shino forward.
Samui hurried after him. In this thick Mist Hidden Jutsu, without a sensor guiding them, they could easily get lost and die before they even reached the target.
The naturally heavy fog of this island, combined with Mist methods, made it a perfect hunting ground.
As they pushed deeper inland, Akira kept his hands behind his back and still did not personally join the fighting.
He gave all the combat opportunities to Hinata and Shino.
Both of them were sensor-oriented fighters, and in an environment like this, the field actually favored them.
As for Ino, for now she could only remain under protection. Other than the Mind Transfer Jutsu, her frontal combat power was still thin. In that regard, she was not much different from Sakura at this point.
Samui stayed close at Akira's side, remaining alert in every direction. The hidden attacks from the Kiri ninja left her constantly on edge.
By the time Hinata and Shino had cleanly taken out two more chunin, the island's defensive forces had already been cut down by more than half.
Akira's mind stirred, and a vast sensory net instantly spread out, gathering every chakra fluctuation within more than twenty kilometers.
"Found Akita."
He stopped walking and turned to Samui, his tone becoming serious.
"He's at the center of the island. The bad news is that Isobu, the Three-Tails, is lurking just one kilometer off the shore. That's too close."
Samui's normally cool face cracked at once, her pupils shrinking violently.
"What? One kilometer?!"
She could hardly believe what she had heard. That was practically dancing with a monster's jaws brushing your back.
If they woke the Three-Tails, then surrounded by giant sharks in these waters, they would have nowhere to run.
Seeing the fear in Samui's eyes, Akira remained as calm as ever.
"As long as we don't use anything too flashy, anything that shakes the whole map, it probably won't wake up."
Samui stared at that calm face in disbelief.
"That's a tailed beast! One wrong move and we'll all be vaporized by a Tailed Beast Bomb!"
Only now did she fully understand why Akira had looked so serious before they left. Even for jonin, this island was a death trap.
Akira patted her shoulder in reassurance.
"We're already here. Save that worry for the enemy. Complaining now isn't helping, and it definitely isn't cool."
Samui drew in a deep breath and forced the fear back down.
They kept moving. The enemies they encountered were either cut down in a single strike by Samui or killed by Hinata and the others working together.
Karui and Omoi showed off the polished swordsmanship of Killer B's disciples. Their strength was already knocking on the door of jonin level.
Akira still moved as if on a casual walk until all of Akita's outer guards had been eliminated.
At last, they arrived at an open clearing.
It was the island's only clean patch of ground. For a radius of two hundred meters, there was no fog at all.
Because Akita was a rogue from Konoha, he was not suited to Mist-style combat, so he had used a barrier to keep the moisture away.
Looking at the middle-aged man standing in the center, Akira smiled.
"Finding you really did take some work."
Akita looked at the absurdly young team leader before him and frowned.
"A brat this young is a jonin? Did the examiners in Konoha lose their minds?"
He had only made jonin at forty after years of clawing his way upward. Looking at Akira now, jealousy spread through him like poison.
Akira did not waste time.
"Your choice. Die here, or come back to Konoha's prison with me."
Akita laughed in fury, the flesh on his face twitching.
"Big talk from a little punk. Did you even bother looking into who I am before coming here?"
Since he had sided with Orochimaru, he definitely had the Cursed Seal as his trump card.
Akira's eyes remained indifferent, as if he were looking at a clown.
"I did. You're a failed test subject who let Orochimaru carve on him. That Cursed Seal of yours, the one that burns your life away for a little borrowed power, is trash. Only you would think it's precious."
The words hit the sore spot instantly. Akita's grin froze, and his expression turned vicious.
Samui, hearing this, looked confused and then demanded,
"Why didn't you tell us Orochimaru was involved? That bastard has blood debts with Kumogakure!"
Akira glanced at her and shrugged.
"What would telling you sooner have changed? You'd only have gotten emotional. It wouldn't have helped the mission. He's nothing but a discarded pawn."
Samui was irritated by the concealment, but she knew this was not the moment to fight among themselves.
"Enough talking. Bring him down first."
Akira gave a small nod and offered,
"Then let's do it together. To make up for the part I hid, if we kill him, you can take the body back with you. Fair?"
If Akita lived, he had to be taken to Konoha for interrogation. If he died, then he was just meat, and handing the corpse to Kumo would be an easy favor.
Samui considered it for a moment, then nodded.
"Deal."
Akita watched the two of them divide up his "corpse" like he was already dead, and fury rushed up his throat.
"One woman and one brat. You think I'm made of mud?"
Before the roar had even faded, he had already drawn a kunai and charged like a mad dog.
Samui moved to draw her sword, but a long blade appeared in Akira's hand out of nowhere.
"That was... space-time ninjutsu?" Samui's gaze sharpened.
"Don't overthink it. Just a summoning trick."
The moment he finished speaking, Akira's body split into three.
"Konoha Style: Crescent Moon Dance!"
Three figures, impossible to tell apart, moved together as blade light fell like pale moonshine.
"Clang. Slash!"
Akita blocked one strike, only to be pierced through the chest by another in the same instant.
But the sensation was wrong.
Akira's brows tightened slightly as the "corpse" in front of him dissolved into a puddle of water.
"A Water Clone?"
The real Akita had already retreated dozens of meters away and was flying through hand seals.
"Water Style: Water Dragon Jutsu!"
Samui's expression changed at once. At this distance and on this terrain, her swordsmanship could not fully come into play, and she could only evade.
But at that exact moment, Akira formed a one-handed seal so fast it blurred.
"Water Style: Water Dragon Jutsu!"
Only three seals.
Yet behind Akira, a far larger, far more savage water dragon burst forth with a roar.
"ROAR!"
The two dragons slammed into one another high in the air with a thunderous crash.
Akira's dragon devoured the other one like a whale swallowing a fish, smashing straight through Akita's jutsu and continuing its charge toward him without losing momentum.