"I just got back and we already have another mission? Are you doing this on purpose?" Kakashi said, exasperated, to Kiyosuke.
Kiyosuke said, "Isn't it because we're close? Sasuke and Naruto went to handle other tasks, and our mission is to destroy the Sky Shinobi fleet. Shikamaru, what did the intelligence division pull out in their interrogation?"
Shikamaru handed over a scroll covered with the information taken from the captured Sky Shinobi.
"It says the Sky Shinobi fleet is patrolling the coastline between the Land of Fire and the Land of Waves," he said.
"There are roughly two thousand personnel — fighters and crew combined — spread across five warships, each packed with terrifying firepower."
Kiyosuke and Kakashi read carefully.
Kakashi pondered for a moment and said,
"They mustn't spot us. Apart from you, if that lot discover us, we're dead. Even Konoha can't match the Sky Shinobi's firepower."
The Sky Shinobi held air superiority — flying above, almost untouchable.
Through kunai guns and dropped bombs they'd inflicted significant damage on Konoha, which was still rebuilding.
It wasn't just Konoha; the whole Land of Fire had been attacked.
This resurgence by the Sky Shinobi was vengeance.
Konoha had destroyed the former Sky village, and now, after decades of recovery, they'd come back for payback.
But Konoha wouldn't sit back and do nothing.
They'd sent Kiyosuke and the others to find the Sky Shinobi and wipe them out.
"Except for me, their firepower is really something," Kiyosuke said.
"If my Shadow Clone can get inside their ships, I can blow them all to pieces."
Shikamaru gave a wry look and said,
"So Kiyosuke-sensei, you could do it alone then, right? Why bring us? That's annoying."
"You could solve it on your own, clearly!"
"I'm too lazy to go alone! What's the harm in you coming out for one job? Don't be lazy at your age. Asuma said you're very smart and need proper training. Our team is Konoha's brains and looks!"
"Uh…"
As for looks, that could wait; in intelligence Shino was calm and sharp, and Kakashi needed no introduction.
But Kiyosuke… wasn't he widely recognized as Konoha's reckless wild card?
Quick to explode — literally — he was a legitimately dangerous figure in the ninja world.
Shikamaru trailed behind them, speechless.
They reached the coastline and hid in the trees, eyes sweeping over the soft sand and the blue sea.
On the distant water, five fully armed warships floated.
Unlike normal warships, these were absurdly tall, almost box-like, bristling with weapons.
Kiyosuke raised a spyglass and observed the opposite shore.
He said, "Our real target isn't this group — this isn't their main force. Kakashi, I don't think the Sky Country was completely destroyed."
"I think so too," Kakashi nodded.
"If it had been wiped out, there wouldn't be this many people. They must have reserved a lot of living forces back then."
Even with two or three decades of growth, reaching this number and level of equipment wasn't guaranteed.
After all, the Sky Country was supposed to be publicly destroyed — if any trace showed, Konoha and the other great villages would never relax.
This enemy was particularly thorny.
So Kiyosuke wanted to uproot the Sky Country this time, or at least destroy all their equipment.
Make sure they couldn't rise again.
"Shino."
"Here."
"It looks like this lot plans to leave this coastline. I'll hold them, and you take this chance to use your bugs to destroy their warships — wipe them all out. Can you do it?"
"Yes," Shino said, pulled his hood up, and submerged into the sea.
"Are you going up?" Kakashi asked.
"Yes. Cover me for a bit. I'm entering sage mode to start the assassination."
"Assassination? Have you done that before?" Kakashi asked, surprised.
Since the Third Great Ninja War, Kiyosuke's whole vibe had shifted from scheming boy to reckless brawler — had he really ever done an assassination?
"Don't underestimate me. I learned a lot down in Ryūchi Cave," Kiyosuke replied.
He entered sage mode, switched to his breathing-suppressed stance, floated into the air, and flew toward the Sky Shinobi stronghold.
"Where's Kiyosuke-sensei?" Shikamaru glanced at the Sky Shinobi and then looked for Kiyosuke, but saw nothing.
Kakashi kept watching and said, "He's in the sky, but his presence is hard to sense — he's like invisible. Terrifying ability."
Kakashi raised his spyglass and watched Kiyosuke land on the Sky Shinobi fleet.
Then… slaughter began.
A kunai plunged into an unsuspecting Sky Shinobi's throat, his mouth clamped shut, and he was thrown into the sea.
Splash!
Water erupted, and blood turned the sea red, drawing the attention of many Sky Shinobi.
"Enemy attack! Enemy attack! Enemy attack!!!"
Alarms blared and the warship broke into chaos.
Sky Shinobi strapped to flight rigs collided as they grabbed weapons and circled in the air.
They still couldn't detect Kiyosuke's exact position, but flames burst from the ships and engulfed many of them.
Ahhhhh!
Like flies sprayed with insecticide, they fell from the sky.
Plummeting dozens to hundreds of meters into the sea, the impact shredded their bodies like hitting concrete.
But by using fire, Kiyosuke's location was exposed, and a flood of Sky Shinobi attacked.
Kiyosuke slapped a steel bulkhead and infused sage chakra into it.
"Inorganic Reincarnation!"
The steel hull transformed.
On deck, iron spikes shot up one after another, piercing and pinning those Sky Shinobi to the planks.
"Wow, isn't this just a remake of that piercing spectacle?" he shrugged when he saw a gun barrel on a neighboring ship point at him.
He smiled slightly and vanished in front of everyone's eyes, which sent the Sky Shinobi into a panic.
"Object Transmutation!"
An iceberg suddenly rose in front of a warship, terrifying the helmsmen into a desperate turn.
With a thunderous crash, the ship slammed onto a hidden reef.
A huge hole ripped the hull open and seawater poured in.
When they looked again, the iceberg had vanished.
"Hahahaha!"
Kiyosuke's laughter echoed around.
"Beg for help, cry out your cowardly voices. It's time to drown in this sea of suffering. That will be your only salvation. Sky Shinobi, die!"
A grinding, teeth-gnashing sound filled the air.
The Sky Shinobi who'd planned to attack suddenly realized their ships could no longer move.
The hulls collapsed and peeled open, revealing countless fingernail-sized bugs.
They chewed through the steel at incredible speed, devouring the ships and destroying them.