Naruto: As a genin, I just want to live a normal life.

Page 40

In his dying moments, he realized what he had struck: an afterimage.

Chapter 50 Border Troubles

A tranquil sea breeze blew across the wooden boat belonging to the Hidden Mist, causing the boat to rock slightly.

Two exhausted Chunin from Kirigakure collapsed on top of it: even with continuous use of ninjutsu and constant refinement, they were nearly dead from exhaustion.

But after waiting for a while, they still hadn't seen the two Jonin return, so they had no choice but to return to the wooden boat and wait for the team to come back.

"So slow."

"I really envy Chunin Changtai and Chunin Sato, who were able to witness the death of a Konoha Jonin."

"Alright, didn't we also participate in this Super A-level mission? We'll definitely get our reward when we get back to the village."

Unbeknownst to the two, the sea breeze began to change direction, and the wooden boat slowly drifted towards the direction of the white mist they had just seen.

Clack.

"Huh?! Did we bump into something?" The boy from the mist got up, intending to take a look and, in the meantime, stabilize the boat so it wouldn't move too far.

The moment the boy looked up, his face turned deathly pale.

"Something terrible has happened!"

A small wave at sea blew several severed limbs and even a headless half-corpse under the wooden boat.

"What? Are you overworked? Are you starting to hallucinate...?"

Another boy from the Hidden Mist Village looked up, rubbed his eyes, and the moment he saw the sea clearly, his gaze also became blank: "We seem to be under a genjutsu. We can't believe we're seeing Anbu corpses, and... and arms and legs..."

The boy hidden in the mist was so frightened that he froze on the spot, tears streaming down his face and dripping into the wooden boat.

#

The rocky coastline on the outermost edge of the Land of Fire.

The endless seawater washed over the mud and rocks below the cliffs on the coast, and the rushing sound continued to reach the ears of Yuhi Ryuun and Might Guy, who were watching the situation from the high cliff: Rope Tree and Shiranui Kumo formed a small team to escort the two boatmen back.

Given their current chakra and physical strength, returning to the village or searching for border ninjas would be extremely difficult.

The former is because the journey is too far, and the latter is because it is impossible to determine whether the person found is a genuine Konoha ninja.

Therefore, their best option was to stay put and rest while waiting for news from Bai Xing to return.

"Uncle Zhenhong..."

"Shirahoshi..."

"Please make sure nothing happens to you."

"..."

At this moment, Matt Day, sitting beside the setting sun and drifting clouds, didn't know how to comfort them, and he himself felt uncertain.

"it's all my fault."

"What's it to you? This is clearly... Wait! You're not a spy for Kirigakure, are you?!"

Xi Ri Liu Yun's throat bobbed, his hands gripping the soil and stones on the ground with tense grip, as if he might swing a stone at any moment and throw it at Matt Day.

“How could that be?” Might Guy gave a wry smile, completely unaware that he had almost been blown to the head by the stone held in Yuhi Ryuun’s right hand. He continued, “I just feel like I’m an unlucky guy. Every time I go on a mission, I encounter this kind of situation.”

"..." Xi Ri Liu Yun silently put down the stone in her hand, which was larger than her palm. After a moment of silence, she comforted him, "This is just your guess."

"In fact, perhaps as the Hidden Mist ninja said, we were betrayed by the Uzumaki ninja."

A flicker of hatred flashed in Yuhi Ryuun's eyes. History books clearly documented the friendship between Konoha and the Uzumaki clan, with Uzushiogakure (Hidden Whirlpool Village) of the Land of Whirlpools forming an alliance with Konoha, acting as Konoha's eyes, stationed on the sea, and cooperating with Konoha's border ninja defenses. But now…

"Hey! Look! Isn't that Shirahoshi?"

"what!"

Upon hearing Matt Dai's shout, Xi Ri Liu Yun jumped to his feet and looked towards the sea.

Above the sea, a black-haired boy was seen carrying a young ninja who was clearly seriously injured, walking across the water.

"I used up too much energy just now from operating the fruit."

"Damn it, my strength is nothing special after all."

At this moment, after the battle, the hemostatic treatment, and running forty or fifty nautical miles (about eighty kilometers) on the sea, Shirahoshi's strength and chakra were almost exhausted, and she felt somewhat disappointed.

Not long after, Shirahoshi, carrying Yuhi Shinku's body on her back, gently placed her on a relatively clean piece of coastal land, and then rolled on the ground herself, panting heavily.

Yu Guangzhong looked at Xi Ri Liu Yun and Might Dai running towards him, and his heart suddenly relaxed. The fatigue from the shadow clone and his own series of exertions immediately rushed into his mind.

"Shirahoshi!!" x2

When Might Guy and Yuhi Ryuun arrived, they only saw Shirahoshi and Yuhi Shinku, who were soaking wet and half-asleep: by deliberately going into a semi-conscious state, they could save themselves the trouble of explaining how their chakra could have been used to walk in water for so long.

At this moment, Bai Xing thought to herself, "This is the first time in a long time that I've made myself this tired."

-

As darkness gradually fell, a crescent moon appeared on the black screen.

A sea outpost belonging to Konoha Village, located near the Land of Whirlpools.

The outpost was a very small island shore, but it was enough land space for about twenty people to move around freely. A chakra-powered ship, which was being searched for by a certain technology company in the Land of Fire, was moored on the shore: it could input its own chakra into the core inside the ship to increase the ship's power at sea.

The Konoha ninjas staying on the island need to frequently travel to the Land of Whirlpools to find the ninjas of the Hidden Whirlpool Village and obtain a certain amount of nutritious food.

Meanwhile, supplies are provided from time to time to the shores of the Land of Fire.

On the island, the outpost was surrounded by a three-meter-high fence, and inside, tall watchtowers and stone walls of the living quarters were adorned with torches that illuminated the darkness.

"Today is another peaceful day~"

"If only there were no war."

"What are you talking about? War isn't something that lowly ninjas like us can decide."

"As long as the hatred between ninjas exists, the war between ninja villages may never end."

"You two! When keeping watch, don't be careless. You never know when a Hidden Mist ninja might suddenly appear on the water!"

"Captain!" x2

The conversation between two Konoha Chunin above the lookout tower attracted the attention of the Konoha Jonin in charge of this maritime outpost.

Feeling the gaze of the Konoha Jonin, the two Konoha Chunin lowered their heads slightly, their faces showing some shame.

After a while, a smile appeared on the serious face of the Konoha Jonin as he patted the hair of two Chunin who had only recently come of age in the modern world:

"All right."

"You can't hear anything in the village at sea, so it's okay to relax occasionally, but it's best not to do it while on night duty."

The Konoha Jonin's gaze swept across the sea, his eyes meeting only the endless darkness.

"Working at sea is the most arduous, as you have to face unknown dangers every day."

"So, Captain, I can understand how you feel."

"Captain~" x2

"As expected, the captain is the best to us! Don't you agree, Yuuki?"

Morino Yuzuki nodded: "As long as we continue working at this post, no matter what happens in the future, we will fight alongside our captain!"

"must....."

......

The Land of Fire, on the western coast.

While patrolling the coast, a Konoha team stationed on the border discovered a nearly damaged chakra-powered ship covered in various hidden weapons: it belonged to the village.

After the shadow clones checked and confirmed it was safe, the team found a Konoha ninja who was covered in wounds and unconscious on the upper part of the ship.

"Captain, it seems to be a Chunin stationed at the sea outpost of the Land of Whirlpools."

After checking the boy's pulse and confirming he was alive, the border ninja looked up, his face filled with anger, and said:

"I know it without you having to tell me!"

Chapter 51 Danzo: Don't worry, leave it to me, Hiruzen!

When he opened his eyes again, Morino Yuzuki saw the white tent tops and the pungent smell of medicine filled his nostrils.

"Ha! Xiaoxi! Xiaoxi!!"

"Chunin Yuuki, please don't get agitated. You're safe now."

A medical ninja stationed on the western border held down the disheveled boy's body.

"Xiao Xi, how is Xiao Xi?!"

"He's still alive, he's still alive, right?"

The female doctor seemed hesitant to look directly into the boy's eyes, turning her head slightly away to look elsewhere.

"Yuzuki Chunin. You should know the specifics very well."

"Hehehe—Impossible! Why would I need his cover? Absolutely impossible!"

Not far away, Kurenai Yuhi, whose body had been extensively bandaged and whose internal organs were gradually recovering, lay on another hospital bed. She drank the water handed to her by Ryuun Yuhi while glancing at the boy who was crying with his head in his hands, unwilling to accept reality.

In addition, three members of Class One also witnessed this scene:

"Is this war?"

Seeing the boy's state, Rope Tree felt a pang of melancholy and said in a low voice.

"Hey, Shirahoshi, have you ever been to the battlefield?"

Shirahoshi shook her head: "Genin are not qualified to go to the front line of the battlefield."

"A sea outpost of fifteen people, including two Jonin and twelve Chunin, were all killed."

Might Guy muttered to himself about the intelligence he'd gathered from the border ninjas, and sighed:

"War is a cruel thing."