Three Routes

Three Routes

The sea wind, heavy with the salty stench of the ocean, howled fiercely into the cabin. The wooden hull groaned dully amid the surging waves, and with every sway, the messenger seated close beside Shuji turned a shade paler. He was a capable young man, yet now he clutched the corner of his clothes tightly, his gaze repeatedly flicking toward the churning dark-blue sea beyond the porthole.

"Th-there's someone chasing us! Hurry!"

"Get your weapons! Ready the harpoons!"

On deck, the sailors' rough shouts mingled with the sharp clang of metal, thick with tension. The previously steady rhythm of the voyage had been utterly disrupted.

Shuji sat cross-legged on the slightly damp deck boards with his eyes closed, his body rising and falling faintly with the ship's rocking as though rooted in solid stone. The messenger's panic did not disturb him in the slightest.

"They're here..." Shuji slowly opened his eyes, his gaze as tranquil and deep as an abyss. He rose to his feet, his movements carrying a peculiar rhythm that offset the ship's swaying.

"Stay here," he ordered the messenger curtly when the man tried to stand.

Pushing open the creaking cabin door, Shuji stopped behind several sailors holding harpoons at the ready and looked out over the sea. A tall, lean figure was racing through the waves, running atop the water.

The person wore a sleeveless black bodysuit beneath a dark breastplate that reflected a cold gleam. A mask covered his face, revealing only a pair of eyes as sharp as a hawk's.

Shuji's eyes narrowed slightly. "A member of the Black Erosion Corps? Or one of their subordinates?"

To pursue a ship across the open sea on foot for so long required chakra control and reserves that could not be underestimated. Even in Konoha, he would qualify as an elite among Chunin.

If he was a core member of the Black Erosion Corps, that was still within their estimates. But if he was merely a subordinate... then their assessment of this organization's strength would have to be raised another level.

Just as Shuji prepared to face the enemy at sea, Illusion Erosion entered the somewhat noisy first-floor hall of the Sea Breeze Pavilion like a ghost melting into the shadows.

With his attire and appearance, he should have been the most conspicuous person in the crowd. Yet the innkeeper, passing attendants, and even the few scattered guests all seemed blind to him. They went about their business, their vacant gazes sweeping past where he stood.

"Three people... all in rooms upstairs." Illusion Erosion did not climb the stairs. From the three rooms above came the distinct, concentrated, active life force and chakra of ninja.

The ninja dressed like an ascetic was filled with doubts. Wasabi Jirocho's declaration had been nothing less than an open scheme—he had gathered the heads of local factions, displayed the evidence, publicly announced that he had dispatched a messenger to report to the Feudal Lord, and invoked the name of Konoha's ninja to exert pressure. He was clearly forcing his opponents to choose between "waiting for the Feudal Lord's ruling" and "acting at once to erase the threat."

Since they had anticipated a fierce response from their enemies, why was Konoha's ninja team still all here?

Could the messenger who had only recently departed be nothing more than bait?

Had the messenger carrying the crucial evidence already quietly set off long ago?

If that were true, why had there been no word at all from the Daimyo Palace?

The three presences in his perception were undoubtedly real... Could Konoha have secretly sent reinforcements? Illusion Erosion's thoughts raced as an inexplicable unease quietly arose within him.

He abruptly turned and quickly left the inn, his movements swift and silent.

Standing in the street, he warily looked up. His green eyes instantly locked onto a half-open window on the top floor.

Behind the window, a pair of eyes was gazing coldly down at him.

Illusion Erosion's heart tightened. He pushed off with his toes and retreated several steps, raising his wrist slightly at the same time. The bell marked with the character "Devour" tied to it let out a low, urgent hum, and invisible ripples swept across his body.

Only after confirming that he had not fallen into any genjutsu or barrier trap did he focus his gaze upward once more.

This time, three pairs of eyes appeared behind the window—Shuji, Anko, and Itachi. The three faces watched him calmly, their expressions equally indifferent.

"Clone Technique!" Illusion Erosion understood in an instant. Anger at having been fooled surged up alongside his wariness. No wonder there were three solid chakra entities in his perception, yet their scent was so singular!

"Nicely done," Illusion Erosion spat inwardly, the copper coin between his canine teeth making a faint scraping sound.

The chakra had been divided into three portions, yet each still retained considerable strength... The one left behind was probably the captain. That meant the ones who had left were undoubtedly that brat and the female ninja.

With First Erosion's strength, dealing with those two would be more than enough.

Then his task now was to pin down the captain before him! Keep him firmly trapped at the Sea Breeze Pavilion until First Erosion succeeded, or force him to lose patience and make the first move, exposing an opening!

Illusion Erosion no longer tried to peer into the inn. Instead, he withdrew into the shadows of the street behind him. The bell at his wrist continued to ring softly and deeply, like a venomous snake hissing before a hunt, as an invisible force field quietly began to envelop the area around the Sea Breeze Pavilion.

Inside a third-floor room of the Sea Breeze Pavilion, Shuji stood by the window and watched Illusion Erosion's figure completely vanish into the shadows at the street corner. Through the unique sensory link between Wood Clones, the information that his main body had been intercepted at sea and that Illusion Erosion had appeared at the Sea Breeze Pavilion had already synchronized instantly.

The target has taken the bait. Begin the containment. The Wood Clone Shuji left at the inn understood.

With a slight movement of his will, the two Wood Clones behind him, which had been used to impersonate Anko and Itachi, silently retreated into the room's blind corners. They then transformed into wood and fell to the floor. Their dissipating chakra was not wasted; like countless rivers flowing into the sea, it swiftly merged into the Wood Clone by the window.

Though his Sage Art training had not succeeded, Shuji's day-after-day exploration and attempts had long brought his fine chakra control—particularly his command over Wood Release clones—far beyond what it had once been.

Precisely dividing, reclaiming, and then condensing chakra again was no difficult task for him.

The scene returned to shortly after Hongshan Cheng's cargo ship had left port.

"The plan has three routes." In the inn room, Shuji faced Anko and Itachi, his voice steady and clear. "I'll personally take the messenger route. Wasabi Jirocho's act of reporting to the Feudal Lord will most likely provoke a response from them. This is the route most likely to encounter core members or elite forces of the Black Erosion Corps. It needs to be handled carefully so we can obtain critical intelligence."

Anko folded her arms, one brow raised. "What about here? And old man Wasabi's place?"

"The Sea Breeze Pavilion needs to maintain the illusion that all of us are here, to mislead ordinary watchers. At the same time, it will serve as bait to draw in enemy ninja who might come to investigate, allowing us to collect firsthand intelligence." Shuji's gaze swept over the two of them. "I'll leave clones behind to impersonate the three of us."

"If we're gathering intelligence, are you using Shadow Clones? Won't that consume too much chakra, Shuji? Your main body plus three clones, and you still have to deal with a fight...?" Anko asked. Shadow Clones divided chakra evenly among themselves.

"Enough." He was leaving Wood Clones behind, but Shuji did not intend to reveal the matter of Wood Release yet.

Since her captain was so confident, Anko did not question him further. She only asked, "Then Itachi and I will take the third route? The Wasabi Clan?"

"Yes. They may choose to attack the Wasabi Clan. The manpower there is more than sufficient to handle assassinations, but it would be inadequate against a large-scale attack."

By the most conservative estimate, the enemy had no Jonin and could do nothing against Jirocho under the protection of a Jonin. But rationally speaking, the enemy should have a Jonin. If they did not resort to assassination and instead intended to directly attack the Wasabi Clan, Shizune alone, whose strengths lay primarily in medical abilities, would likely not be enough. As for Tsunade, once a direct group battle broke out, blood would inevitably be spilled. If Tsunade entered the fray then, she would instead become a point of weakness.

Therefore, Itachi and Anko had to go to the Wasabi Clan, just in case.

However, there were some matters he needed to explain in advance. Shuji's gaze passed over the two of them. "There's an outstanding medical ninja at the Wasabi Clan. She can be trusted, but there's no need to ask about her background... Consider it a personal request from me."

Anko scratched her cheek as she listened. "Eh—our captain's personal request, huh? In that case, I won't see anything either. But... if it involves, um... anyway, Shuji, you know what I mean."

Shuji indicated that he understood. She had just gone through the matter of her teacher Orochimaru defecting from the village. If it truly involved something important, something concerning the village's safety, Anko would most likely still report it to the village.

As for Itachi, the Uchiha merely nodded and quietly agreed.

He knew Shuji's hidden identity and naturally understood better than anyone that Shuji was the least likely person to harm the village. Keeping certain matters confidential was therefore no issue.

(End of Chapter)