Chapter 526: Pursuit and Encounter at Sea
Due to a shortage of manpower, the Mist Ninja were unable to use carpet-style or dragnet search methods.
Their reconnaissance route followed radial paths along the diameter.
This way, they would pass through the center of the storm multiple times—Chojuro also felt that the Three-Tails was more likely to be in the center of the storm.
Inside the storm.
Heavy rain poured, and gale-force winds howled.
Raindrops beat frantically and forcefully against the ninja.
Carrying the chill of autumn.
Marching in such a fierce storm, even ninja whose abilities far exceed ordinary people would feel their own insignificance in the endless struggle with nature and quickly become exhausted.
At first, the Mist Ninja were still using chakra to block the rain, but they soon abandoned this idea.
In such harsh weather conditions, maintaining a chakra shield for a long time was simply too taxing!
As a result, the ninja were bathed in the rain and quickly soaked to the bone.
Once soaked with water, their clothes became as heavy as a suit of armor clinging to their bodies.
Every time the dense raindrops hit their exposed skin, it felt like being struck by hard little pebbles; the icy water droplets flowing over their skin took away precious body heat.
It wasn't just the problem of the rain.
The turbulent and churning water surface beneath their feet made the ninja's most basic water-walking advance less ordinary, even exceptionally difficult.
Every huge wave that surged up tested the ninja's most fundamental chakra manipulation skills!
And under these circumstances, the Mist Ninja also needed to concentrate to sense whether the Three-Tails' chakra was hidden within the undulating waves.
They also needed to keep their eyes wide open to observe whether the bumpy water surface concealed the Three-Tails' figure.
Before long, the Mist Ninja began to pant heavily.
"Brother," Choujuurou glanced at the exhausted companions beside him, stepped forward, mustered his courage, and advised in a low voice, "Let's find a place and rest for a while first."
His voice was heavy, interspersed with rapid breathing.
It had already been ten hours since they entered the storm. Under prolonged, high-intensity mission conditions, the ninja were also starting to be unable to hold on.
Chojuro glared hard, scanning the sea area in front of him. After confirming the Three-Tails wasn't here, he stopped, turned his head, and glanced indifferently at his younger brother.
His eyes were full of sternness and resolve.
An elder brother is like a father. Their parents died early, and Choujuurou grew up under his brother's care, usually fearing Chojuro's scolding and glaring the most.
His personality was also on the soft side. Being looked at by his elder brother like this, his heart tightened, and the courage he had finally mustered instantly disappeared by more than half.
But thinking of the companions behind him, even with his heart beating like a drum, Choujuurou still gathered his remaining courage, braced himself, and said, "Brother... we've walked continuously for ten hours, everyone is very tired. Forcing the mission to continue without enough spirit and stamina will actually make it easier to miss traces of the Three-Tails, and might even lead to casualties."
"It's better to rest for a bit and let everyone recover their energy before executing the mission, that would be more efficient."
Chojuro's gaze shifted away from Choujuurou to the Mist Ninja behind him.
His indifferent eyes swept over the demoralized Mist Ninja. When he saw the sensory ninja, whose body had already started shaking like a leaf but was still forcing herself forward, his gaze finally wavered.
Chojuro kept a straight face, remaining silent for a long time.
"Big brother?"
The younger brother asked cautiously.
Chojuro lowered his eyelids and after a long while, finally spoke indifferently, "Find a small island or somewhere, stop and rest for five hours!"
The exhausted ninja's eyes instantly lit up. They exchanged a glance with Choujuurou and cheered in low voices.
"That's great!"
The sensory ninja quickly found an extremely small island.
"Look here, there's a reef underwater!"
Calling it a small island wasn't quite right; it was actually just a submerged reef, with the top layer of rocks still several meters below the water's surface.
In an environment where muddy waves blotted out the sky and it was pitch black, the coral reef only had a hazy shadow. If not for the sensory ninja's efforts, the Mist Ninja wouldn't have been able to discover its existence at all.
"It's too deep, we can't rest here!" a Mist Ninja shouted loudly.
The rain intensified again.
Amidst the noisy sounds of rain, waves, and thunder, softer voices would be drowned out, so the ninja had to speak at the top of their lungs, turning the volume to the maximum.
Fortunately, among the accompanying ninja, there was one who knew Earth Release, and he immediately stepped forward, "I'll do it!"
He mobilized the little remaining chakra in his body, his hands rapidly forming seals, changing the shape of the reef.
The reef hidden underwater quickly rose and surfaced. The Earth Release ninja continued to form seals, manipulating the reef to transform into solid walls and rooms. A temporary yet sturdy camp soon stood amidst the storm.
The Mist Ninja's spirits were instantly lifted, and they filed into the camp.
Changing clothes, making a fire, cooking food, and other matters proceeded in an orderly manner.
Emergency dry rations soaked in hot soup, warm food, and a campfire built with the kerosene they brought soon warmed the freezing ninja from the inside out.
"I'm alive again!"
The sensory ninja sat cross-legged by the fire pit and said exaggeratedly.
That was a petite young girl, with an unfaded childishness between her brows and eyes. She crossed her delicate, smooth bare feet, smilingly holding a lunch box and taking small sips of hot soup.
Sitting next to her was an older Anbu, about forty or fifty years old, with much vicissitudes added between his brows.
He glanced at the girl who was sitting improperly and smiled, "That's all thanks to the Captain's good heart, otherwise how could you be resting comfortably here now!"
"What good heart," the girl pouted, rolled up her pant leg, and rubbed the white, tender flesh of her calf, muttering, "I've walked until my feet are numb."
"Hehe." The old ninja smiled unconcernedly.
"Yurika, you can't take this anymore?" He shook his head, "If it were in our time, even just five or six years ago, how could the village tolerate a delicate little girl like you being a ninja!"
If it were the Mist Ninja Village during the Blood Mist era, the leading captain would completely ignore such requests.
"Failing to keep up with the team is your own business!" He said emotionally, "No one would help you, let alone stop to let you rest."
"That's how the village was back then."
"Times are different now! If it were in our era, Chojuro doing this would be looked down upon, others would think he's cowardly!"
The Village of the Blood Mist took pride in being cold-blooded and ruthless. Something like the comradeship advocated by Konoha was seen as a symbol of weakness in that era.
Hearing a few words, Choujuurou came over and asked with considerable interest, "Uncle Hino, what was the village like back then?"
The other young people in the team also pricked up their ears.
Uncle Hino shifted his butt, making room for Choujuurou to sit down between him and the girl Yurika.
"Hehe, since you're interested, then I'll talk about it."
"Back then, we called ourselves the Village of the Blood Mist..."
After talking for a while, Chojuro walked in. His hair, body, and clothes were still wet, evidently having been busy until now.
He walked straight to Uncle Hino's side and whispered, "The duty roster is set. We'll work a bit harder and take turns keeping watch. The young people have poor stamina, let them rest more. I'll take the first shift, you take the next, understood?"
"Yes!" Uncle Hino responded solemnly.
Chojuro turned his head to look at the others and said in a deep voice, "Everyone, stop just talking. There are beds in the inner rooms, rest early after eating. The subsequent mission will be even more arduous; you won't be able to handle it without enough stamina! Understood?"
As Chojuro spoke, he deliberately glared at the sensory ninja sitting at his feet.
"Especially you, Terumi Yurika!"
"...Yes." The young girl responded with a pouting mouth.
The hall then quieted down.
About five hours later.
Judging by the time, it was already late at night, or the wee hours of the morning.
However, for the center of a storm where dark clouds blotted out the sky and one couldn't see their fingers in front of them, the distinction between day and night was no longer obvious. When the Mist Ninja walked out of the house, they didn't even feel that it had entered the night.
Following their previous direction, the Mist Ninja continued their mission.
After walking for a while, Yurika suddenly stopped.
"Wait!"
"What's wrong?" Chojuro suddenly raised his fist, signaling everyone to stop, and asked her in a deep voice, "Did you find the Three-Tails?"
"I sensed a powerful chakra reaction... an extremely terrifying aura!"
"Are you sure it's the Three-Tails?"
The sensory ninja closed her eyes, her brows furrowed tightly, and whispered, "Wait... no, this isn't the aura of the Three-Tails!"
"And it's not one chakra, it's two very powerful chakra auras!"
Her small face turned deathly pale, and she exclaimed, "They are right in front of us..."
"The feeling they give me is even more terrifying than the Three-Tails!"
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