Chapter 180: Seafaring and Onoki
"Lift slowly, be careful."
On the coast of the Land of Whirlpools, Izuko-kun nervously directed a group of ninjas to load boxes into the cargo hold of a ship.
There were fifty boxes in total. Each contained ten sealing scrolls, and each sealing scroll stored one thousand explosive tags, which was already the limit. It wasn't that there were no sealing scrolls with larger capacity, but if they used those, the "packaging" would be more valuable than the goods, and they would probably lose a fortune.
Masahiko stood aside watching with his two disciples. More than a month had passed since he established the "Explosive Tag Road," and the explosive tag transaction with Konoha had also been completed.
Konoha, having emerged victorious from two great wars, was indeed flourishing. They bought 1.5 million explosive tags from the Whirlpool in one go, costing one hundred Asuma heads...
After selling to Konoha, the Land of Whirlpools still had plenty of explosive tags left. The shipment currently being loaded was intended for the Land of Earth. However, since a Third Great Ninja War might still occur, selling too many could easily cause trouble for Konoha. So Masahiko finally decided to sell fifty thousand explosive tags to the Land of Earth first. This would bring in income without causing any trouble or distress.
After all, this was the Land of Whirlpools' first journey on the "Explosive Tag Road." To avoid accidents, Masahiko brought along half of the Patrol Squad's elite and boarded the cargo ship with his two young disciples, ready to embark on a voyage in the Naruto world.
With everything ready, Masahiko waved to the still-watching Izuko-kun to reassure her, then directed the others on the ship to start... rowing.
That's right, rowing. Masahiko originally thought that with the Land of Whirlpools' development over the past two years, they would have been able to build steamships or something similar, but unexpectedly, it was still this primitive power source. Of course, it wasn't completely primitive; for instance, the oars were quite advanced and could be driven by chakra, so there was no need to row by hand...
"Still feels very weak," Masahiko sighed with emotion. Fortunately, the landing spot in the Land of Earth was an uninhabited beach.
Thus began Masahiko's first, and possibly only, voyage in the Naruto world. After all, apart from accompanying the ship this time, he usually flew.
In his previous life, Masahiko had been on boats and seen the endless ocean. The sea in the Naruto world paled in comparison to modern times. Aside from directing the course, he had nothing new or interesting to do.
However, the ninjas on the ship were somewhat excited, especially Masahiko's two disciples. They were only nine years old after all, an age still fond of playing. Usually, they trained every day. Since there was no place to train on the ship, and Masahiko wasn't harsh enough to make them run on the sea to follow the ship, the two watched the big fish leaping out occasionally from the ship's rail, laughter ringing out from time to time.
Masahiko was energetic at first, but after two days, he started to get impatient, finding life on the ship truly boring.
"It would be nice if a Sea King came to attack the ship just to relieve the boredom."
Masahiko smiled bitterly in his heart. How could there be Sea Kings in the Naruto world?
Just as the thought faded, Masahiko was stunned.
A gigantic monster fish emerged from the sea, stirring up monstrous waves.
"Are there really Sea Kings? No, it's some kind of Summoning Beast." Masahiko smiled bitterly and released a burst of gravitational force to stabilize the ship.
"Nagato-kun, Konan, here comes your chance to practice ninjutsu." Masahiko stopped the elite patrol members who wanted to act and let his two disciples practice instead.
"Wind Release: Vacuum Wave!"
"Paper Rain!"
The two disciples attacked simultaneously, but their ninjutsu couldn't cause sufficient damage to the massive monster fish.
"Quite a strong Summoning Beast." As the two disciples fought on the water surface, Masahiko stabilized the ship and watched with the others.
The monster fish's attack pattern was very simple: it just rammed around. Every time it tried to ram the ship, it was pushed away by an invisible repulsive force. Every time it tried to hit Masahiko's two disciples, they dodged it. In the end, it screamed and tried to flee back into the sea.
Masahiko frowned. Leaving such a thing here might cause trouble for future voyages.
Masahiko mimicked a pistol shape with his right hand and immediately fired a miniature Tailed Beast Bomb, blowing the monster fish in half, sinking it into the water.
Seeing his two somewhat dejected disciples, Masahiko smiled and said, "Don't rush. You can't learn those powerful S-rank ninjutsu yet. In another two years, you'll be able to solve this kind of thing easily."
The fleet continued sailing. Along the way, they encountered several more giant Summoning Beasts like that. None had intelligence, nor were they worth forming a contract with, so Masahiko killed them all in the end.
"No matter which world, the vast ocean always holds some unknown dangers," Masahiko sighed. It seemed he would have to carefully select the escort ninjas for future voyages.
"I wonder if the Land of Whirlpools will produce a man who conquers the sea in the future... Hmm, preferably one who can shout, 'I am the man who will become the Pirate King!'" Masahiko let his imagination run wild.
The voyage was expected to take fifteen days but ended up taking seventeen. They encountered quite a few problems on their first trip to sea, but it wasn't too dangerous for ninjas, and they finally arrived smoothly in the Land of Earth.
"Great Elder, are we going to carry these boxes to the Hidden Rock Village?"
Masahiko glared at the foolish ninja who asked this question. A group of elite Whirlpool ninjas carrying boxes to the Hidden Rock Village to sell goods? How humiliating would that be?
Masahiko rose slightly into the air, sensed the location of the Hidden Rock Village, and formed hand seals.
"Sage Art: Dust Release: Detachment of the Primitive World Technique!"
A white beam of light shot from Masahiko's hands, piercing across the sky and traversing the airspace of the Land of Earth.
The civilians and ninjas of the Land of Earth only thought it was a strange celestial phenomenon, but inside the Tsuchikage Building, Onoki's expression changed drastically.
"This is... Dust Release!" Looking in the direction it came from, he hurriedly flew out. Several Tsuchikage guards exchanged glances and chased after him.
After releasing the Dust Release, Masahiko landed and waited on the spot.
Sure enough, before long, Onoki's chakra approached rapidly.
"Senior Masahiko Uzumaki, it really is you." After arriving, Onoki first frowned and glanced at the ship behind Masahiko, then greeted him, speculating on Masahiko's purpose.
"Don't be nervous; I'm here for a good thing this time." Masahiko waved his hand and said with a smile.
At the same time, several figures appeared beside Onoki; the Tsuchikage guards had arrived.
Onoki signaled them not to act rashly and waited for Masahiko to continue.
"Don't be so tense; it's boring." Masahiko muttered, not in a rush to talk business. "Onoki, we haven't seen each other for about thirty years, right? Aren't we going to catch up?"
Onoki hesitated, relaxed his guard slightly, shook his head with a bitter smile, and said, "Senior, do we have any old times to catch up on?"
Masahiko paused. Onoki's previous visit to Konoha wasn't exactly a fond memory.
He sighed. "Fine, no catching up. Let's talk business."
Masahiko pointed to the ship behind him and began discussing the main topic.
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