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Uchiha Aki left the Temple of Fire with two ANBU operatives, heading straight for the Land of Whirlpools under the cover of night.
Since the Land of Whirlpools was surrounded by ocean, they had to travel by boat. After several days of nonstop travel, Aki was exhausted and ended up falling asleep inside the cabin.
Suddenly, a huge wave slammed against the boat, jolting Aki awake. He rushed out of the cabin to find the area around the ship shrouded in thick fog. One of the ANBU beside him said urgently, "We've been ambushed! Someone's attacking our team. The two of us are going to help—watch your back."
And with that, both ANBU vanished into the mist.
Aki watched them disappear, then jumped off the boat and stood atop the sea. He pressed his middle and index fingers together, touching the surface of the water to sense the enemy's presence."Only one enemy? And yet he managed to take down five Konoha jonin and kill four of them? That Mist ninja's seriously strong… Found you!"
He created a shadow clone to continue scanning the area while his real body dashed toward the enemy's location.
When Aki arrived, he saw a severely wounded Konoha ninja lying helplessly on the ground, about to be decapitated by a massive blade. Aki quickly used a jutsu:"Fire Style: Flaming Body Shield!"
Flames burst from his mouth, surrounding the injured ninja. The large blade came down, striking the fire shield instead. The shield deflected the attack, then transformed into a fiery humanoid that rushed at the swordsman. Aki followed up, appearing beside the attacker and launching a "Fire Style: Great Fireball Jutsu!" straight at him.
The blaze lit up the man's face. He was a tall, skinny guy wielding a massive broadsword. Aki didn't hesitate—he started forming hand signs:"Eight Gates Release: Gate of Opening—Open!"
With the first gate activated, Aki launched a kick at the sword-wielder. The man used his blade to block, but Aki immediately yelled again:"Gate of Rest! Gate of Life—Open!"
Still mid-air, Aki spun his body and unleashed a taijutsu combo—"Leaf Shadow Dance!" His kick landed square in the man's stomach, launching him into the sky.
At that moment, the two ANBU arrived and unleashed their jutsu together:"Fire Style: Great Fireball Jutsu!""Wind Style: Gale Palm!"
The combo attack blasted toward the Mist ninja mid-air.
But the Mist ninja remained calm. While flying through the air, he quickly formed hand seals:Tiger – Snake – Tiger – Snake – Tiger – Snake!"Water Style: Water Formation Wall!"
A torrent of seawater rose into the sky, wrapping around him and blocking the Konoha ninjas' combined attack.
Standing atop the water, the Mist ninja glared at them. "Konoha will fall at sea. You're all doomed," he said coldly, before vanishing back into the thick fog.
Aki and the two ANBU brought the four surviving Konoha ninja back on board and tended to their wounds. Then Aki asked, "Who was that guy? He wrecked a whole ten-man squad like it was nothing!"
One of the wounded Konoha ninja replied weakly, "He's one of the Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist. We don't know his real name… They call him Broken Blade."
One of the ANBU added, "Wait… you mean those Seven Swordsmen? The ones who followed the Second Mizukage and crushed Iwa's main forces?"
The wounded ninja nodded. "The Second Mizukage died so suddenly that the acting Mizukage gathered all their strength to wipe out the Land of Whirlpools—trying to make up for their losses in the Land of Hot Springs. More than fifty Konoha ninjas have already died at the hands of those seven. If you guys hadn't shown up, we'd probably be dead too."
Suddenly, they spotted movement across the water. One of the ANBU immediately signaled an alert. The three of them prepared for battle, but as the mist cleared, the figures became visible—it was Sarutobi Hiruzen leading a patrol unit.
Seeing him, Aki called out, "Hey, Monkey Bro!" and waved him over to the boat.
Hiruzen spotted Aki and walked over, hopping aboard. "What took you so long?" he said. "The Hokage gave that order over ten days ago!"
Aki rolled his eyes. "Dude, I came here with two ANBU! You think I can move as fast as you, sneaking off in the middle of a mission to steal peaches from farmers?"
Hiruzen chuckled awkwardly. "C'mon, don't keep bringing that up! Besides, that time the Hokage had me teaching you taijutsu, and I only picked a few peaches while you were training. And I paid for them!"
Aki gave him a skeptical look. "Really?"
Hiruzen, clearly embarrassed by Aki's constant side-eye, changed the subject and looked at the wounded ninja. "Did you run into Mist ninjas on your way here?"
Aki nodded. "Yeah. Some group called the Seven Swordsmen or whatever."
The injured Konoha ninja added, "It was Broken Blade, one of the Seven."
Aki turned to Hiruzen, curious. "Are they really that strong?"
Hiruzen replied, "The Seven Ninja Swordsmen are named after seven legendary blades forged by the Mist Village. Seven shinobi mastered those blades, and since they had similar goals, they formed a team together. They take on all sorts of high-difficulty missions for the Mist. Thanks to their special swords, they're seriously tough opponents."
Aki grinned. "Didn't the Second Hokage ever try to take 'em out?"
Hiruzen laughed. "If Sensei could take them out, he would've done it already. When we first got here, he fought them head-on. Except for the guy with Samehada, the rest couldn't even land a solid hit—Sensei wiped the floor with them. But he couldn't finish them off either. That guy with Samehada… I don't know what jutsu he used, but his chakra felt like a damn Tailed Beast. Sensei was nearly overwhelmed, and the seven of them escaped. Ever since, they've been ambushing our support squads and recon teams."
Aki looked around at the dense fog and muttered, "Yeah… fighting Mist ninja in their home turf like this is a serious pain."
Back at the Second Hokage's office…
"Lord Second, I'm back," Aki reported, bowing as he entered.
Tobirama nodded. "Good. What did you find? Who was it that messed you up so badly?"
Aki shook his head. "No idea who he was. But he could use Wood Style."
"Wood Style? Are you sure?" Tobirama asked, clearly shocked.
"Yeah. I fought him myself. He used Wood Style, and he was really good at it—like he used it all the time."
"There's no way. Aside from my brother—your teacher—the First Hokage, no one else in the world can use Wood Style. Even I, a member of the Senju clan, can't use it. Are you sure you weren't mistaken?"
"No mistake. I've seen the First use it plenty of times. That guy used the exact same style."
Tobirama shook his head. "Impossible. Maybe it was a jutsu from Grass Ninja—they've got some that look like Wood Style but aren't the real thing. You haven't spent much time around Wood Style users, so you don't truly know how powerful it is. When the war dies down, I'll take you to Grass Village to see for yourself."
He paused, then looked seriously at Aki. "If someone else really has Wood Style—and they're hiding out in the Land of Fire—that's a huge threat to Konoha."
Aki brushed it off. "Aren't you being a bit dramatic? Wood Style's not that impressive."
Tobirama smirked. "That's because you've never seen your teacher—or your grandfather—in action. If you had, you'd know Wood Style is hands down the strongest jutsu in the ninja world."
Aki folded his arms. "Won't be the strongest for long."
Tobirama chuckled. "Soon, the Iwa ninjas will send over their research on eliminating bloodline limits. Once I get my hands on it, I'll figure out how to combine it with your jutsu. For now, your mission is to properly extract Yin-Yang nature chakra. Seriously, how are you still unable to use something as basic as a summoning jutsu?"
Aki replied sheepishly, "It's not like I don't have enough chakra! It's just… the summoning formula never works for me. Must be my teacher's fault!"
"OUT! I don't wanna see your face for the rest of the day!" Tobirama yelled, tossing Aki out of the office.
Somewhere deep in the ocean, inside a sea cave…
Seven ninja were gathered, deep in discussion.
"Is your blade still usable, Broken Blade?" a tall man asked one of the group.
Broken Blade nodded. "I didn't expect the Thunder God Sword to cut clean through my blade like that. What a terrifying weapon."
Another ninja pulled a dramatic face. "The guy using it was even scarier. If it weren't for your blade taking the hit, we might've all been wiped out on day one!"
"That sword Samehada can devour chakra. The Second Hokage doesn't even know that. We were lucky to escape last time. If we face him again, we might all die," the man with the giant blade warned the others.
"We need to figure out how to assassinate the Second Hokage. If he ever decides to march on the Mist, we won't stand a chance."
"Don't jinx it! Just keeping the Konoha ninja stuck out here is already the best outcome. If he actually attacks the village… with all those bloodline limit clans we've got? I doubt we'd even last a day!"
"Forget it. Let's just wait for orders. Assassinating the greatest assassin in the world? I'm not crazy!"
"You're all cowards. If Feimo could just get close to the Second Hokage—!"
"He'd die! You're nuts if you think Feimo could even scratch him."
As the group joked and bickered to ease the tension, the tall man interrupted them.
"The Second Hokage wants peace. We want the Land of Whirlpools. Our goals don't have to conflict. Forget about ambushing him—we need to make sure he doesn't attack the Mist Village. Stick to the original plan: break up and keep harassing Konoha squads so they can't regroup. Once the Third Mizukage is chosen, we'll follow his orders. This group was founded to protect the Mist from outside threats. Now it's time to step up."
Broken Blade raised his weapon and shouted, "For the glory of the Mist!"
The tall man raised his own Samehada sword. "For the glory of the Mist!"
The other five followed suit, raising their weapons high.
"For the glory of the Mist!"
"....."