As the sailboat reached the shore, the ambush officially began.
Led by the Uzumaki Cage General, the ninjas launched a fierce assault on the enemy.
But with all those women there, they couldn't use powerful, lethal ninjutsu. Without realizing it, they had given up the Uzumaki Clan's greatest natural advantage.
Fortunately, the "Pillar of the Land of Whirlpools" was no empty title. Not one of those frenzied enemies could last five seconds against him.
"Rescue the captives first," the Uzumaki Cage General reminded his subordinates.
The battle was going smoothly, so smoothly that he began to doubt his own senses.
No matter how he looked at it, the enemy didn't seem to have set an ambush in advance. Or perhaps they'd simply underestimated the Uzumaki Clan's strength.
Watching the Princess open the cage and free the slaves inside, the Uzumaki Cage General prepared to cover everyone's retreat.
Once they were away from the harbor and he had confirmed they were safe, he would double back and take on that mysterious enemy.
"Ah!!!"
A subordinate's scream suddenly rang out. The Uzumaki Cage General reflexively turned to look.
An Uzumaki lay on the ground, his abdomen already soaked in blood. The culprit was the female slave who had been crying just moments ago.
"Everyone, be careful! There's something wrong with these people!" Mito shouted, never imagining the enemy would use such a vicious trick.
Unfortunately, they'd realized it too late. Before the Ponytail Princess's warning could take effect, nearly half the clan members were already lying in pools of blood.
The blades hidden beneath their prison clothes were all coated with poison. Even the smallest scratch would immediately trigger a state of shock.
"How could this happen?" Mito was bewildered. She couldn't understand why a situation that had been under control moments ago had suddenly taken such a dire turn.
As a woman lunged at her, the Princess's eyes hardened, and she kicked the woman squarely in the jaw.
The crisp crack of breaking bone was like a cool spring trickling through her, soothing the wound in her heart called guilt.
"Kill!" Uzumaki Mito's gaze was icy as she charged into the enemy ranks and began slaughtering them.
Man, woman, young, old—anyone who didn't immediately lie down became a corpse at her hands.
Perhaps some of them were innocent, but she couldn't keep gambling with her clan members' lives.
If there was a crime to answer for, she would bear it alone.
Growing up always came at a cost.
Elsewhere, the Uzumaki Cage General finally laid eyes on the figure he'd sensed.
A dangerous man with immense chakra.
"Who are you?" he asked.
But the white-haired man couldn't be bothered to answer. He drew the long blade from his back and swung it at him.
After more than a dozen fierce exchanges, the Uzumaki Cage General gradually realized that he was being suppressed in taijutsu.
"Looks like you're no small fry either." His hands formed a new seal, and scorching flames suddenly gushed from his mouth.
Fire Style: Fire Flame Whirlwind!
At such close range, there was no way the enemy could dodge.
The Uzumaki Clan had an unusual constitution and enormous chakra reserves. He could unleash large-scale ninjutsu like this one after another without pause.
He was nothing short of a formidable ninjutsu artillery platform.
"Ha ha ha ha!" Wild laughter rang out from within the vortex of flames. Under the Uzumaki Cage General's grim stare, the white-haired man stepped through the sea of fire, one step at a time.
Heat of that intensity should have roasted him to a crisp. But a strange white substance covered his body.
It was what had protected him from the lethal heat.
"Interesting, isn't it?" the man said with a deranged smile no outsider could understand, his skin badly burned over large areas. "This is the legendary Shikotsumyaku, a rare ability that appears only once in decades."
"I forgot to introduce myself."
The instant he finished speaking, the white-haired man unleashed his chakra and shot toward his opponent like an arrow.
"My name is Kaguya Hisao. You've earned the right to know it."
Several pale ribs burst through his skin, catching the blade that came slashing toward him. Kaguya Hisao grinned viciously as a bone jutted through his palm and thrust toward his opponent.
Shikotsumyaku: Twin Thorns!
Two sprays of blood burst out, one on either side. The Uzumaki Cage General gritted his teeth, abandoned his sword, and retreated. His arms had already begun to stop responding to him.
If he hadn't twisted his body at the last moment, the enemy would likely have punched a gaping hole through his heart.
Staring at the enemy's crazed grin, the Uzumaki Cage General gritted his teeth and began unleashing powerful ninjutsu without regard for the consequences.
If he couldn't kill the enemy, he could at least slow him down. He couldn't give him the chance to pursue the Princess.
"Run!!!"
The roar in her ears left Uzumaki Mito looking momentarily dazed.
The Uzumaki Cage General had always been invincible in her eyes. Apart from her father, who rarely ever fought, no one in the Land of Whirlpools was stronger.
But just now, the Pillar of the Land of Whirlpools had fallen. After only a few exchanges, he was thoroughly outmatched.
She knew that whether or not she fled, Uncle Cage General wouldn't escape the enemy's clutches.
It was all because she'd blindly tried to stand up for justice.
"Ah!" Mito's eyes brimmed with anguish. She couldn't bear to let everything she cherished vanish like this.
Just as her mind was pushed to its limits, a strange light suddenly flared from her lower back. Then she saw five golden chains roar up into the sky.
They drove back the approaching enemies, deflected the bone blades they fired, then bound several people—including the Uzumaki Cage General—and hurled them into the sky behind her.
"Go on ahead! That's an order!" Mito's voice left no room for argument.
For a brief moment, everyone seemed to see Lord Uzumaki Ashina.
Even the Uzumaki Cage General, the highest-ranking among them, instinctively obeyed Mito's command. By the time he came to his senses, the Princess was already surrounded.
"Your Highness!"
The golden chains forced the surrounding enemies back. Without turning around, Mito said coldly, "Uzumaki Cage General, are you going to disobey me?"
As the Princess of the Land of Whirlpools, Mito's orders were never to be questioned by her subordinates—even when they knew she was sacrificing her life.
"...We're leaving." The Uzumaki Cage General lowered his head, guilt nearly consuming him.
But he understood that even if he turned back now, he would only throw his life away for nothing. He wouldn't be able to help at all.
"Kaguya Hisao, I swear I'll kill you!!!"
"Good. They're gone." A faint smile slowly touched Mito's lips.
The golden chains behind her flickered in and out. She had just awakened them and could barely control them.
If not for the turmoil in her heart, Mito would likely have needed another ten years or so of training before awakening Adamantine Sealing Chains.
She refused to accept that outcome. The only thing she could do was trade her life for another's.
She would bear the consequences of her own mistake alone.
"It's all right. Father will avenge me." Mito was almost out of chakra.
Ignoring the enemies watching her from every side, she saw the figure of that boy appear before her eyes in the final moments of her life.
"Come to think of it, I've never even been in love. I'm so not ready to go."
She slowly closed her eyes. The next moment, she felt herself fall into a warm embrace.
"Don't be afraid. I'm here."