Near the seas of the Land of Lightning.
Countless small islands dotted the waters here, forming a scattered archipelago.
Though numerous, most of these islands were tiny. The largest could barely hold a single village, while the smallest were little more than rocky outcroppings, barely a dozen square meters across. Their close proximity made building ports impractical, leaving them uninhabited.
Yet today, the silence of the archipelago was broken by the sounds of battle.
Swish! Swish! Swish!
Several Kumogakure ninja squads emerged from the islands, chasing after two badly wounded shinobi desperately fleeing for their lives.
The fugitives leapt onto a small boat moored at the edge of one island. Tossing explosive tags behind them, they forced the Cloud-nin back just long enough to push off and let the wind carry their vessel away.
Watching the boat drift farther into the distance, the Kumogakure squad captain scowled.
"Get to the boats! We cannot let them escape!"
He was just about to leap aboard when—
Boom! Boom! Boom!
A string of explosions shook the shoreline.
The Kumogakure shinobi froze. One of them cursed.
"Captain, our boats… they destroyed them with explosive tags!"
The captain's face darkened.
"Damn it! Those two planned this out ahead of time!"
"What do we do now?" one of his men asked anxiously.
They all knew the truth—without a boat, chasing at sea was pointless.
The fugitives' sailboat was already gaining speed, carried by the strong winds. Even if the Cloud-nin pursued across the water's surface with chakra, they couldn't match that pace for long. Worse, if the winds turned to storm, they'd be stranded in the open sea, unable to return.
The captain hesitated, torn between risk and reason—
When suddenly—
Crack!Bang!
The fugitives' boat lurched violently, as though it had slammed into something hidden beneath the waves, and came to an abrupt stop.
The captain's expression shifted into a sharp grin.
"Ha! Fortune favors us! They've struck a reef and have nowhere to run! After them—into the sea!"
A swarm of Kumogakure shinobi leapt forward, sprinting across the water's surface with practiced steps.
On the boat, the two fugitives went pale.
"Impossible! How could there be a reef here?" one shouted.
The other shook his head in disbelief.
"I know these waters better than anyone. There shouldn't be a single reef in this area!"
Rushing to the bow, both men peered down—
And what they saw left them completely stunned.
It wasn't a reef at all—it was something white.
It stretched straight across the sea like a gleaming wall, and as the fugitives stared at it, realization struck.
"Ice?!"
"How can there be such a massive sheet of ice out here?"
The frozen surface extended far into the distance, so long they couldn't see its end. The trail of ice twisted across the waves like a colossal serpent coiling through the ocean, forming a path upon the water itself.
How was this possible?
While the fugitives were still reeling in shock, the Kumogakure shinobi had already boarded their boat.
"Let's see where you run now!"
By the time the two injured ninja regained their senses, it was too late. They were surrounded, and the battle resumed. Outnumbered and exhausted, they were swiftly subdued.
One of the Cloud-nin sneered.
"Idiots! If they hadn't run into that reef, we might've actually lost them!"
Another frowned.
"No… something's not right. There aren't any reefs in these waters. Why did their boat suddenly stop?"
He stepped to the bow and peered over the edge—only to freeze in place, eyes wide.
"What's wrong with you?" another asked, moving to join him.
Before either could explain, the sound of rapid footsteps echoed across the sea.
The entire unit turned toward the noise.
"That's…!"
"People? Someone's running on the sea!"
A ninja?
But that wasn't all—besides the small island behind them, there were no other landmasses or boats nearby. Whoever these people were, they had been sprinting across the ocean from far beyond the horizon.
The distance alone was unthinkable. No ordinary shinobi could maintain chakra control for that long.
"Captain, you'd better come see this!"
The captain strode forward, only to halt in disbelief. The ice path continued endlessly, stretching toward the Land of Lightning itself.
And the footsteps grew closer.
Three figures appeared—Shigure, Chōjūrō, and Haku—dashing effortlessly across the ice. As they passed, Shigure cast a sidelong glance at the stranded boat.
Sorry. Just bad luck. Didn't you look ahead before sailing?
His ice was so hardened it might as well have been iron. The trio sprinted on without pause, vanishing into the distance.
The Cloud-nin stood in stunned silence.
"Captain… tell me I wasn't imagining things. Did we just see three Mist brats running across the sea on ice?"
"I saw it too!"
"But how? The weather's warm. How could the sea freeze into a perfect path like that?"
"Was it their jutsu?"
"What kind of technique could that be? To freeze the ocean and shape it into a road… the chakra control required would be monstrous."
Even the captain couldn't believe his own eyes. If not for his men confirming it, he would have thought it a hallucination. Those Mist genin were supposed to be rookies—yet their abilities were anything but ordinary.
"…We should be close," Shigure said, narrowing his eyes.
The appearance of Kumogakure shinobi meant they had nearly reached the Land of Lightning.
Haku spoke next.
"According to the information gathered by the tracking team, the Six-Tails' jinchūriki is hiding on one of the smaller islands around the Land of Lightning."
Chōjūrō scratched his head with a frown.
"But there are hundreds of islands out here—maybe even a thousand! How are we supposed to find him?"
Shigure's brows knit together, then relaxed as an idea came to him.
If they were searching for ordinary shinobi, it would be impossible. But a jinchūriki… a host of a Tailed Beast's chakra was far easier to locate.
He glanced toward the distant mainland. They were already on the edge of Lightning Country's waters. Any further, and they'd be deep inside enemy territory.
Shigure veered toward a nearby island.
"Let's get ashore first. I've thought of a way to track the Six-Tails' jinchūriki."
"I have a jutsu for reconnaissance. With some adjustments, it should work."
Even as he ran, he reached out mentally to the Great Sage.
Can you modify the Cloud Release: Cloud Fish to enhance its chakra-sensing ability?
[Great Sage: Of course. By integrating principles from Yamanaka clan techniques, the host will be able to project consciousness into any cloud fish clone at will, expanding perception and control.]
Perfect. The ninjutsu he had studied during the Chūnin Exams was finally proving useful.
How long will the calculations take?
[Great Sage: Three minutes.]
By the time Shigure, Haku, and Chōjūrō reached the island, the process was nearly complete.
[Computation finished. Congratulations. The host has acquired a new skill: Cloud Release – Cloud Fish Mind Transmission Jutsu.]
The technique, once used merely for attack, now carried the ability to sense chakra, conduct wide-range reconnaissance, and share vision with its clones.
A true evolution of ninjutsu.
Shigure smirked.
"Excellent. Looks like I'll need to set aside time later to have the Great Sage upgrade all of my techniques."
...
TN:
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