"Three minutes left?"
The port of the Land of Hot Water was already shrouded in darkness.
Baiyu frowned as he checked the time. After hesitating for a moment, he gestured toward the cockpit behind him and ordered the anchors on both sides to be raised.
Hooooonk!!
The Dawnbreaker sounded its departure horn, the deep, resounding drone cutting across the harbor.
Disguised as a tugboat, the Dawnbreaker swayed slightly in the harbor like a tipsy giant, its hull bumping against the waves.
The drugged man in the duty room slept soundly. Even upon hearing the horn, he merely smacked his lips and shifted his sleeping position.
—Three minutes.
Their journey to the Land of Whirlpools was a secret operation. Whether Yun Chuan and the others arrived or not, the ship would leave the harbor in three minutes and sail alone for the Land of Whirlpools, ensuring that no witnesses discovered their trail.
"Did Lord Yun Chuan run into trouble again?" Baiyu felt a trace of worry. Lowering his head, he spat and muttered, "This damn world is getting more and more chaotic."
Kirigakure's movements had become increasingly obvious lately. The Third Mizukage was carrying out a reign of terror, purging dissidents while secretly mobilizing every force at his disposal.
Baiyu had no idea what the Third Mizukage was plotting. He only needed to follow Lord Yun Chuan's orders.
Just as Baiyu was lost in thought—
"Ahhh! I'm not ready yet!!"
Hearing the voice from below, Baiyu's body jolted.
Bang!
Before he could lower his head to see where the sound had come from, a black shadow came screaming as it was flung onto the deck. Its head struck first, producing a heavy, muffled thud.
The body that had been flailing wildly immediately stiffened, then slid to Baiyu's feet on the remaining momentum.
"..."
Feeling the pain by proxy, Baiyu's mouth twitched. Looking down at the orange-haired brat lying there like a dead fish, he silently mourned for the unlucky kid for one second.
Below the ship, Yun Chuan ignored Yahiko's screams, leapt from the shore, and landed lightly on the deck.
Nagato followed suit, jumping up and grabbing the railing with one hand before nimbly flipping onto the deck and landing steadily on both feet.
"Stop playing dead." He casually kicked Yahiko's prone body without even lowering his head, saying coldly and mercilessly, "You're tough as nails. A fall like that won't do you any harm."
Yet as he spoke, Nagato recalled the words his brother had once told him.
"Nagato, a person's dreams shrink with age. When you're young, you want to become someone who stands tall beneath the heavens, but as one blow after another comes your way, you gradually become rational, measured, and objective."
"You grow more and more concerned with things. You stop going mad, stop letting your emotions control you, refuse to take sides or state your position, and make sure you can always walk away unscathed."
"You see people crying, shouting, raging, and panicking, and you laugh at them in your heart for being complete idiots."
"You remain silent at all times, convinced that silence is the best weapon. You're too lazy to fight for anything and accept everything, living out your life with such careful cleverness, like a pendulum forever frozen at the midpoint."
"People like that may make up the majority, but I only find them boring. Sometimes, calmness isn't clarity—it may simply be cowardice. You and Yahiko are actually the same. You're both the kind of people who bring me pleasure."
"To me, life is like tasting wine. Sometimes you take a light sip, and sometimes you drink with wild abandon. Do whatever brings you pleasure. That is what makes it interesting."
Am I as interesting as him?
To his brother, people and things he found interesting had value, while he had no patience at all for those he found boring.
His brother was still the same as ever—every word and action filled with twisted amusement.
Nagato gave Yahiko a long look, then lightly kicked him again. "Get up. Don't lie there and block the way."
Yahiko, sprawled across the deck, twitched. He raised his face, black as the bottom of a pot, gritted his teeth, and sprang to his feet in one swift motion.
"Uncle Baiyu, please take care of him." Yun Chuan handed the infant still sleeping in swaddling clothes on his back to Baiyu.
Baiyu froze for a moment, accepting the baby with a bewildered expression.
But when he lowered his head and saw the sleeping little face, his aged features softened into a kindly smile.
"Oh my!" Baiyu rocked the swaddling clothes and asked with a beaming smile, "Lord Yun Chuan, how come every time you go out, you manage to abduct... pfft, bring back a few children?"
At least they had been five- or six-year-old brats before. This time, he had brought back a newborn baby.
"Has he been named yet?" Baiyu looked up at Yun Chuan, his eyes seemingly shining.
"Not yet. Yahiko was the one who saved him, so let him name him himself... But forget that for now, Uncle Baiyu. Did I interrupt your good days?"
Looking at Baiyu, whose heavy aura had faded considerably and who seemed rejuvenated like an old tree in spring, Yun Chuan blinked and jokingly asked, "You haven't forgotten the way to the Land of Whirlpools, have you?"
"Please don't tease me." Baiyu gave a bitter smile and pounded his lower back. "I haven't even had the chance to thank you for pulling me out of misery!"
As he spoke, under Yun Chuan's teasing gaze, Baiyu gestured behind him again, his old face reddening as he pulled out a map.
"This is the shortest route." Baiyu pointed out the route on the map and explained, "If nothing unexpected happens, one day should be enough."
As he spoke, the great ship sailed out toward the endless black waves, leaving behind only the deep, deathly darkness within the harbor.
"Then that settles it." Yun Chuan nodded as he looked at the route.
According to his vague memories, the journey from Konoha to Sunagakure would take at least three days even at a Ninja's speed.
By comparison, traveling by ship was already quite fast. They would have no problem reaching the Land of Whirlpools before Kirigakure.
"Brother."
After sending Yahiko back into the cabin, Nagato came to Yun Chuan's side and asked in a lowered voice, "Do you know why Kirigakure is attacking the Land of Whirlpools?"
He now knew that the relatives his brother had mentioned were the Uzumaki Clan living in the Land of Whirlpools.
Although he had been born in the Land of Rain and had never had any contact with those clansmen, learning that he still had people of the same clan stirred something in his heart.
After hearing that Kirigakure was attacking the Land of Whirlpools, Nagato felt even deeper hostility toward Kirigakure.
"Maybe because certain people can't sit still."
Yun Chuan stroked his chin and smiled. "Someone wants to create an even more chaotic world."
Nagato froze at those words, unable to make sense of them.
However, Yun Chuan did not explain further. Instead, he smiled and placed a hand on Nagato's shoulder under the latter's puzzled gaze.
Gurgle! Gurgle!!
A large amount of scarlet blood mist erupted from his palm. Within three seconds, it completely enveloped Nagato, spreading over and covering his body like liquid.
"Brother?"
Nagato felt an incomparably cold chill, but because he trusted his brother, he did not resist. He merely frowned awkwardly and asked, "What are you..."
Before he could finish, Nagato's words abruptly stopped.
Because, before his stunned eyes, something white was wriggling out from his chest...
"Ahhh!!"
Accompanied by a terrified, shrill scream, a white humanoid creature twisted and grew out—first its head, then its body.
"What the hell is this thing?!"
Nagato, covered by the symbiote, and the white humanoid creature looked at one another and cried out in terror at the same time.
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