Chapter 330: The Welcome
Walking on water did not allow for the use of the ninja-foot technique, so their speed was much slower.
At noon, faint black dots could be seen on the horizon. Those were the shadows of several large islands on the edge of the Land of Water.
This meant that they were only a few dozen kilometers away from the islands—actually, based on this number, Haruno Sakura could calculate the diameter of the Naruto planet, which was also on the order of thousands of kilometers, but the data error was relatively large.
They rested for a while, sitting on the ice boat Sakura had created, and ate their lunch with dry rations and fresh water distilled from seawater. A whole morning of walking on water had tired the three students a little, but this was also a training Sakura had intentionally arranged for them. Otherwise, she could have used the ice boat to take the three of them over long ago.
A moment later, the four set off again. The twenty-plus kilometers of sea journey were quickly covered, and the coastline composed of jagged rocks and reefs appeared before Haruno Sakura.
Several ninja wearing Mist Village forehead protectors were standing on the sea in front of the island. Seeing Team Haruno Sakura arrive, they went up to greet them vigilantly.
"Halt!" The leader was a ninja wearing a mask, revealing only a pair of sharp eyes. He looked to be about twenty years old, followed by ninja wearing the same black tight combat suits. He rushed to Sakura in a few leaps and asked loudly, "Who are you?"
"Konoha ninja invited to visit the Mist Village in the Land of Water," Haruno Sakura replied calmly. "And you?"
The masked ninja nodded and said with displeasure in his eyes, "We are the ones ordered to welcome you. We've been waiting for you for a long time. You're a little late!"
"They are newcomers, so their pace is a bit slow. Please forgive us," Sakura explained, gesturing to the students behind her.
The Mist ninja squinted at the three students protected by Sakura and said nothing more. "Show your identification," he said, taking out a stamped scroll document himself. After checking each other's documents and verifying their identities, the vigilant look in the Mist ninja's eyes relaxed a lot.
Of course, Haruno Sakura could also feel that they were only relaxing on the surface. In fact, from their slightly tense steps, it could be seen that they had never truly let down their guard. Right now, they were just tight on the inside and loose on the outside.
The Mist ninja did not hide their strength at all. Judging from the texture of their chakra, all four of them were experts at least at the level of Tokubetsu Jonin, which could be considered a show of force.
"Then, welcome to the Land of Water. Please follow us." The masked ninja didn't say much and immediately turned back to lead the way. The remaining few ninja protected Team Haruno Sakura on the side, half protecting and half monitoring them as they followed the masked ninja.
Isn't this a bit too hasty?
Haruno Sakura frowned slightly, feeling a bit strange.
Even if it was strictly business, their speed was too fast. Identity verification shouldn't be this simple. What if the Konoha envoys were killed and replaced?
Or, at least exchange a few pleasantries, introduce themselves, and show the sincerity of the Mist alliance? No matter what, not even exchanging names seemed a bit disrespectful of the etiquette of a great nation.
Are ninja trained in the Village of the Bloody Mist just this weird?
"Can you slow down a bit?" Jumping over the pile of rocks to the beach on the shore, Sakura deliberately slowed down and asked tentatively. "My subordinates can hardly keep up with your speed."
She wasn't lying. After running on the sea for a morning by condensing chakra, the three subordinates were panting slightly. The masked ninja leader frowned and looked back at the three obviously rookie ninja. Sakura sensed an inexplicable irritability in his eyes.
Is there a problem?
Before she had time to think more, she saw the masked ninja's face suddenly darken, gloomily terrifying.
"Hey, hurry up, we can't delay here!" he said a little hurriedly.
Haruno Sakura frowned deeply, a strange feeling emerging. She took a step forward and said, "Why are you in such a hurry? We are envoys, not your subordinates. Please don't speak to us in such a commanding tone!"
The masked ninja snorted coldly and said, "This is the Land of Water. You Konoha ninja must listen to our orders!"
As he spoke, he reached out to grab Sakura's wrist regardless.
Smack! The hand extended by the Mist ninja was instantly subdued by Haruno Sakura instead. The girl had quietly activated her Sakura Rush at this time, feeling extremely incredulous that a Mist ninja would dare to attack an envoy.
Although his movement was not aggressive, and she didn't sense any killing intent...
"What do you want to do?" Haruno Sakura said with a dark face. She glanced around, and the three Mist ninja who had been guarding the surroundings just now all took a step closer.
The Mist ninja... want to attack them?
Sakura's mind raced, flashing one thought after another instantly; her first reaction was that the Mist ninja were going back on their word, and then her second reaction immediately told her that unless the Mist leadership had lost their minds or changed, it was impossible for them to do such a thing.
Then, has there been another coup in the Mist?
The girl had raised her vigilance to the highest level, tightly protecting her three subordinates by her side; although these people in front of her had no killing intent, their hostility had already been revealed. They didn't seem very friendly to these few envoys!
"Let go!" The masked ninja pulled his hand hard a few times, but found that he couldn't pull it out at all. The seemingly delicate girl opposite him had incredible strength. His right hand felt as if it were clamped by iron pincers, firmly grasped, and his bones were even hurting a bit from the pressure!
Sweat faintly appeared on the young Mist ninja's forehead. He said sternly, "You dare to lay a hand on me? Do you want to destroy the alliance between the Mist and Konoha?"
As he spoke, the Mist ninja beside him also looked at Haruno Sakura with fierce eyes.
Fierce in appearance but weak inside.
Haruno Sakura coldly swept a glance at these people. From their faces, she saw this phrase.
While showing hostility, they were hesitant and didn't dare to use force; shouting loudly, having his wrist subdued, yet not daring to draw a weapon to threaten, let alone counterattack.
Thinking of their strange behavior just now, Sakura realized more and more that there was something wrong with these people.
However.
Where exactly is the problem? Are they really Mist ninja, or impostors?
Without clarifying the situation, Haruno Sakura was also hesitant to act.
Although she was confident she could defeat these people in an instant, Sakura didn't know where things would lead after tearing off the mask. As that person said, before clarifying the situation, she shouldn't act rashly, so as not to cause twists and turns on the road to peace between the two villages.
Moreover, Sakura had three burdens to protect by her side.
Of course, her temporarily not using force against these people didn't mean she would obediently listen to that person and let go.
Sakura instead gripped his hand tighter, making it immovable no matter how he struggled. She ignored his increasingly severe warnings and just asked, "Who on earth are you?"
"I told you just now," the young masked ninja said through gritted teeth, sweating profusely from the pain, "I came to welcome you..."
He stopped halfway through his sentence, his face suddenly changed, and he turned his head to look.
Immediately after, Sakura also sensed an anomaly: another group of ninja had arrived!
With a few swish sounds, several ninja appeared in front of Haruno Sakura with Body Flicker.
They were also Mist ninja, dressed exactly the same, all in personality-less black bodysuits; the leader wore a white vest, looking like a Jonin.
Sure enough, is this guy in front of me an impostor? Sakura was awestruck in her heart, secretly gathering her chakra!
In an instant, she was ready for battle: Impostor meets the real deal. Shouldn't a battle break out immediately?
This location was by the sea. No matter how strong the opponent was, Haruno Sakura wasn't afraid of them at all!
However, it didn't happen.
"Aono Tomoaki," the ninja who appeared later didn't start fighting as Sakura expected, but called out his name and asked sternly, "What are you doing here?"
What's going on? They actually know each other?
Haruno Sakura frowned.
"Can't you see?" The ninja named Aono Tomoaki almost gave up on himself, sneering, "I'm welcoming the friendly Konoha ninja you mentioned!"
The Mist Jonin in the white vest glanced at him, his gaze sweeping over the latter's purple and swollen wrist, then said to Haruno Sakura, "Are you the envoys of Konoha?"
"Yes," Sakura nodded and admitted.
The Jonin said with an ugly expression, "Please let go of Aono Tomoaki's hand first. He may be a little rude, but he is not a bad person. We are Mist ninja, ordered to welcome the Konoha envoys. This is my proof of identity."
Sakura relaxed her grip slightly, but still didn't let go. She glanced at the other party's envoy certificate and documents, and asked faintly, "Then what about him? This person also has the same proof, and the seal used is exactly the same as the one in your hand!"
Hearing this, the Mist Jonin's face instantly became even uglier; Haruno Sakura could almost hear him gritting his teeth, and the muscles on his face twitched uncontrollably a few times.
"I'm very sorry for letting you see such a joke..." He took a deep breath and said, "We are the real ones, ordered by the Fifth Mizukage to welcome you."
He emphasized the words "Fifth Mizukage," then glanced coldly at the ninja in front of Sakura and added, "As for Aono Tomoaki, he..."
After hesitating a few times, the Mist Jonin didn't know how to explain the reason, so he had to repeat his previous statement: "He is also a Mist ninja. I guarantee in the name of Mist Jonin Hagura that he has no ill intentions towards you. Please let him go."
Haruno Sakura just wanted to sneer. Who knows you, Hagura? And on what basis do you guarantee that he has no ill intentions?
If he had no ill intentions, why did he try to grab her?
But seeing that his tone was close to humble, and he even used an honorific like "you" (polite form), Sakura still frowned and released the hand of the ninja in front of her.
She was an envoy after all, bringing Konoha's olive branch, not here to cause trouble.
Otherwise, Sakura would definitely have beaten this guy up.
The ninja named Aono Tomoaki, upon regaining his freedom, flashed back a few steps, looking at Haruno Sakura with an uncertain expression, his eyes full of resentment and fear.
"Take your people and get out!" seeing the pink-haired girl let go, Hagura didn't even look at Aono Tomoaki and scolded him unceremoniously.
Aono Tomoaki's face stiffened, and the words brewing in his mouth were instantly stuck in his throat, daring not to be spat out.
He snorted lowly, and with three subordinates, left with a swish of Body Flicker.
"I'm very sorry that you encountered such an unpleasant thing..." Jonin Hagura sighed and walked over slowly, saying, "Are you the envoys of Konoha? Please allow me to check your documents."
Haruno Sakura looked at him steadily for a few seconds before taking out the document scroll from her bag and handing it over.
After carefully checking it, Hagura nodded, extended his hand to Sakura, forced a smile, and said, "I am Mist Jonin Hagura. Welcome to the Land of Water."
"I am Konoha Jonin Haruno Sakura, coming with Konoha's goodwill." Sakura shook his hand politely, then asked unceremoniously, "Can you explain why your village welcomed us twice?"
Hagura's smile instantly froze on his face.
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