The Sea Monster Appears

After bidding farewell to his two masters, Shinki looked at his friends.

Before Shinki could speak, Ya patted his chest and said, "In the past, it was always you, Shinki, who protected us and the village. Now it's our turn to protect you."

Neji nodded. "Don't worry, we've grown a lot over the years. In another... thirty to fifty years, we'll probably be able to catch up with you!"

Everyone laughed upon hearing this.

Rock Lee: "Neji, you're usually so serious, I never expected you to joke around like this."

Neji said with a serious expression, "I'm serious."

Rock Lee was speechless for a moment. Was taking thirty to fifty years to catch up with Shinki a long or short time?

After a brief chat, Shinki disappeared with Naruto, and the crowd dispersed from the Village Entrance.

In the Land of Lightning, at an unknown ferry crossing.

After Shinki brought Naruto to the Raikage's Office, the Raikage sent Darui to take the two to this secluded ferry crossing.

Darui explained, "Your whereabouts must not be known to the Akatsuki, so the Lord Raikage specifically arranged for you to depart from this small ferry crossing."

Naruto asked, "Are you taking us there?"

Darui shook his head. "See that small boat over there? Once you board, someone will take you there. Lord Raikage has already arranged everything."

"Where's Killer B? Isn't he coming with us?" Shinki asked.

Darui replied with a smile, "Killer B Bee departed yesterday."

"Alright, you two should get going now. Have a safe journey! ∩_∩"

After saying goodbye to Darui, Shinki and Naruto walked toward the small boat that Darui had pointed out earlier.

"There are quite a few boats here; it must be Secret Base of the Raikage Village, right?" Naruto asked casually as he walked across the ferry.

Shinki looked around, shook his head, and said, "It doesn't look like it. It should just be an ordinary little fishing village."

With that, the two boarded the boat.

As Darui said, there was an elderly boatman on the boat who had obviously been waiting for a long time.

After exchanging glances, the boatmen set off.

"Rumble..."

With the roar of the engine behind, the small boat cut through the waves and moved forward slowly.

They hadn't gone far at sea when Shinki saw another small boat appear on the surface of the sea not far away.

Shinki pointed to the small boat and asked the boatman behind him, "I didn't see any fish on the boat, why did we turn back?"

The boatman explained, "Sir, you don't know, an unknown monster has appeared in the waters near the village. Judging from their appearance, they probably saw the monster and turned back early."

Naruto asked in confusion, "A monster? What does it look like? There's never been one before, why did it suddenly appear?"

The boatman looked troubled. "It's not sudden; the monster has been roaming these waters for almost twenty years."

"As for what it actually looks like... I only saw it from afar, and all I know is that the monster has a huge dorsal fin and a sword-like sharp snout!"

Just as the group was talking, the returning fishing boat arrived in front of the small boat that Shinki and the others were in.

A young man with dark hair appeared on the boat and warned, "Don't go any further, that beast is just ahead."

After saying that, the young man muttered to himself, "Damn it, one day I'll tear that beast to pieces! (ꐦ ಠ 皿ಠ)"

After hearing the young man's reminder, the boatman thanked him repeatedly, then turned back to Shinki and his companion apologetically. "My lords, you heard what that young man said, so I'll change direction and go around that area of water ahead."

Shinki waved his hand. "No need to go around, just go straight."

"We're Ninjas, and since we've come across this, we might as well lend you a hand."

The boatman hesitated, "But..."

Shinki: "It's alright, let's just go."

When the boatman was assigned to ferry people, he heard instructions from Raikage's men, who said that the person he was ferrying was extremely important and that no mistakes could be made.

So even though Shinki offered to help the village, the old boatman insisted, "Forget it, with the two gentlemen here, we can't risk it. Let's go around."

Seeing the old man's stubbornness, Naruto said, "Why are you so inflexible..."

However, before he could finish speaking, Shinki pointed forward and said, "Look ahead."

Naruto followed the direction the Shinki pointed and indeed discovered a huge fish fin!

The fish's fins alone are over a meter high above the sea surface, which shows how large its body is when it's submerged!

The boatman panicked when he saw this! ヽ( ຶ▮ ຶ)ﾉ!!

Why is it that what I feared most came true?!

"Please hold on tight, gentlemen, I need to speed up!"

As he spoke, the boatman abruptly turned the boat around, preparing to speed away.

Unfortunately, the speed of a boat in water is far slower than that of a fish that lives in water!

In the blink of an eye, the enormous fin had already swept to the stern of the boat!

With a "whoosh!", the enormous fish monster burst out of the water and stabbed straight towards the small boat!

Shinki stared intently at the large fish and discovered that the monster was indeed as the boatman had described, with a sharp, sword-like snout and a very sinister appearance!

"It should be a sailfish, but it looks rather strange..."

Shinki murmured, raising his right hand. Instantly, his five fingers turned into Vines, wrapping around the giant sailfish that had leaped into the air!

This fish monster was beyond the capabilities of ordinary fishermen, but the Shinki's Wood Release technique could subdue it in no time.

In an instant, Shinki caught the giant fish.

The boatman's eyes widened: (꒪⌓꒪)

"Is this the skill of Ninja?! Truly powerful!"

The Shinki standing beside him didn't reply to the boatman. Instead, he looked at the fish monster that he had controlled in mid-air with his Wood Release, narrowed his eyes, and called out, "Naruto, come and see! This fish looks like a Summoned Beast!"

Naruto leaned closer, scratching his head as he looked at him. "How did you figure that out?"

Shinki replied matter-of-factly, "Didn't you see the hand seal for Summoning Technique planted inside it?"

Naruto: "Huh? (✘Д✘๑)?"

Seeing that Naruto didn't understand, Shinki didn't continue, but instead analyzed on his own. "This big fish must be Summoned Beast of some Ninja. Later, the Ninja who made Summoning Contract with it died, and for some reason, it didn't return to its original place of residence, but has remained here ever since..."

"Based on the timeline of its appearance, it was probably during the Third Shinobi World War..."

At this moment, the boatman beside him interjected tremblingly, "Sir, why don't you kill this big fish first?"

Shinki reacted quickly, tightening his Wood Release Vines and instantly shredding the fish monster into pieces!

Upon seeing this, the boatman was moved to tears. "Sir, you are truly Benefactor to our village!"

"Without you, we don't know how much longer we would have been tortured by this monster!"

Shinki simply waved his hand. "It was nothing."

After saying that, he muttered to himself, "It's just a Summoned Beast left over from the Shinobi World War, yet it can wreak havoc on the seas for decades..."

Naruto: "Yeah, I wish there were no more wars in the world."

The boatman interjected, "If the world were unified, perhaps war would disappear..."

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