"Veer fifteen degrees that way.
That foam trail is heading northwest. Follow it, and we'll get through the turbulent zone fastest."
Guy did not question Tenten's directions.
He turned the wheel roughly fifteen degrees to the left. The speedboat's bow sliced through a wave rolling across their path, and the hull leaped up before slamming down. The engine briefly spun without purchase underwater, then caught the water again.
The bow pointed in the direction Tenten had indicated. Resistance from the swells cost them a few knots, but their course held steady.
Neji sat at the stern with his back against the engine cover.
His eyes were closed, his left hand resting on his right wrist as his fingers gently pressed the swollen chakra pathways beneath the bandages.
He looked as though he were resting, but he was actually sensing the hull's vibration patterns. Swells in different waters had different frequencies, and those in the turbulent zone were far higher than in normal waters-almost a constant, irregular tremor.
That tremor passed through the hull into his back, then traveled up his spine to his brain, keeping him half awake.
In that half-awake state, he heard Chisen's voice.
"The underground facilities in the Land of Rice Fields-Neji, did you ever go there while Orochimaru was still alive?"
Neji opened his eyes.
The emergency lamp cast a dim yellow light over his face. Within a second, his dilated pupils contracted to their normal size.
"Once.
Two years ago, before the Chunin Ninja Exams, the Hyuga Clan and Otogakure carried out an intelligence exchange.
I went as an escort.
Orochimaru was already gone from the Land of Rice Fields by then. He was dead.
But the remaining Otogakure personnel were still using some of the underground facilities he'd left behind."
"Did you go inside