The Land of Water

BOOM—

Thunder, a relentless overnight storm, showed no signs of abating by morning; if anything, it intensified, the weather as gloomy as the dead of night.

I felt my body warming up, my consciousness returning bit by bit, and gradually, I could smell the heavy scent of rain.

"..."

I parted my lips, finally finding a sliver of strength, and slowly opened my eyes.

Before me, a hazy firelight flickered. Looking up, I saw the face of Kusama Shigeo. His neck was wrapped in bandages, and he was poking at the branches in the fire—a rare, almost unnerving stillness about him.

"Where... is this?"

I felt pain radiating through my entire body. As I slowly propped myself up, I suddenly noticed something draped over me. Upon closer inspection, it was a long, black cloak.

My heart tightened as the events before my blackout rushed back. I exclaimed in alarm, "What about the Captain? Where did the Captain go?"

"Rest easy. If he were in trouble, we wouldn't be here right now."

Kusama Shigeo looked listless. He kept his head down as he spoke, as if he had been dealt a crushing blow.

Hearing this, the tension drained from my body, and I felt a sense of relief wash over me.

Regardless of everything else, as long as everyone was safe, that was all that mattered...

After calming my nerves, I looked at the silent Kusama Shigeo and noticed the bandages on his neck. I quickly asked, "Are you hurt?"

The look in his eyes shifted in an instant. I suddenly remembered that he had been in the ship's cabin below deck—the very place where that deafening roar had first erupted!

"You were at the bottom of the ship. Did something happen to you?"

At these words, Kusama Shigeo shuddered uncontrollably. The branch in his hand snapped with a sharp crack.

"That thing..." Kusama Shigeo's eyes were hollow. His back was hunched, and his hands gripped the firewood unconsciously, his entire being radiating tension and wariness.

"That thing... it didn't even look like a normal creature..."

Yes, it was nothing short of a monster!

It was as if it didn't even belong to this world!

"You... you saw it too...?"

Seeing the terror in his eyes and knowing he had been in the cabin, I leaned over and grabbed his shoulders.

"Did it... did it attack you? How bad are your injuries?"

Recalling the memory, Kusama Shigeo's brows furrowed in extreme pain, a mix of lingering fear and helpless rage.

"I wasn't in the cabin at that moment. After you left, I followed you out." He paused, as if envisioning that hell on earth, and shuddered again.

"Before I could even reach the deck, the entire lower cabin was pierced through in an instant. Blood seeped up from the cracks in the floor, and even the screams stopped... there was simply... simply no way anyone could have survived..."

"How could this be...?"

I stood there, stunned. After a long while, I shivered violently. Looking around, I realized this was some kind of cave. Anxious, I asked, "Then where are we? Are we still at sea? And the Captain... where did the Captain go?" I rattled off a string of questions in a hoarse voice, but Kusama Shigeo remained silent, only answering the final question after a long wait—

"He went to scout the path."

Hearing this, I looked toward the cave entrance. I wanted to stand, but as I moved, I felt a numbness in my right foot. Looking down, I saw that the spot where I had been bitten by the snakes was covered in a layer of medicinal herbs. It felt cool and soothing, dulling the pain significantly.

"You'd best not move." Kusama Shigeo looked at me then, recounting what had happened: "Hyuga Makoto said this is a small island belonging to the Land of Water, not far from where the merchant ship went down. We are currently in a cave."

"He brought us here?" I asked hurriedly.

At this, Kusama Shigeo's eyes dimmed. It was as if he had to force the word out through gritted teeth: "Yes."

"After I regained consciousness, Hyuga Makoto handed you over to me while you were still out cold, and he went out to find a path himself."

I sat there, dazed, and after a long time, I slumped down beside Kusama Shigeo, hugging my cold body, unable to say a word.

What we experienced at sea had completely surpassed our understanding. Even now, my body was trembling involuntarily—

How could it come to this?

In this world, once you leave Konoha, it truly is impossible to take a single step forward...

No, it is only impossible for us.

If our teacher were here, he wouldn't even have spared that monster a second glance.

We are just too weak.

"..." I stared blankly at the dancing flames, feeling so cold I could barely feel my own body.

Hiss.

The damp branches crackled and popped under the heat of the fire. As the temperature rose, Kusama Shigeo slowly calmed down. Seeing me huddled by the fire, he reached into the embers, pulled something out, and handed it to me.

I looked down to see some steamed food and a flask of water.

"The water is fresh, and the food is from the ship. It's safe to eat."

With that single sentence, he fell silent again. After a moment of hesitation, I followed suit.

The entire merchant ship that carried all our gratitude, including Uncle Kina who had let us aboard, had sunk into the sea just like that. Aside from us, no one had survived.

How... how could it come to this?

Thinking of this, my eyes grew sore. I wiped them with the back of my hand, but there were no tears. Kusama Shigeo also lowered his head, remaining silent.

The most distressing part was that we couldn't even protect ourselves, so how could we talk about saving others?

--Weak.

Still... too weak...

We sat in silence for a long time until Kusama Shigeo suddenly looked at me and said hoarsely:

"Let me heal you first."

Inside the cave, a soft green light glowed. As the healing technique was applied to my back, the wounds faded one by one. The sensation was a mix of pain and itching, making me grimace, but I gritted my teeth and held back any sound until the effort almost forced tears from my eyes. Finally, unable to bear it, I grabbed his sleeve—

"Can you be a little gentler!"

Was he doing this out of pure spite?

"Did you fall into a snake pit? Just how many times were you bitten?" Kusama Shigeo's expression was grave. He grabbed my arm and carefully pulled back the clothes on my lower back, revealing a series of bloody lacerations on my skin. His brow furrowed even tighter.

"Don't move!"

Only then did I remember. Back at the beach, I had climbed toward the sea regardless of the danger, and those tangled masses of black snakes had surged up without pause. I had even lost consciousness in the pile of them, and I couldn't help but shudder.

Only now did I feel the fear.

Fortunately, they were all superficial wounds. After I broke out in layer after layer of cold sweat, the injuries on my body finally faded, leaving only my right foot, which had been bitten through, still tinged with a bruised, purplish hue that wouldn't dissipate.

"Are you saying that the senior went out to scout the path after you woke up? He told you to watch over me and not to move around, especially not to leave the cave?" Once the healing was finished, I asked Kusama Shigeo about Hyuga Makoto's whereabouts while putting on my clothes.

"Yes. He set up a barrier at the entrance. Even if you wanted to leave, it would be impossible. Just wait quietly."

I blinked, feeling strange: "Was the senior not injured?"

"Injured?" Kusama Shigeo thought for a moment and shook his head decisively: "From my observations, he is completely unscathed."

Hearing this, I felt as if a piece of my memory was missing.

Because in my final moments of consciousness, I remembered that the senior hadn't followed us onto the shore... For a split second, I had even... thought he was dead.

I felt my heart pounding, beating in a chaotic, irregular rhythm.

In any case, it was enough that the senior was safe and sound.

"..."

But the waiting time was truly agonizing...

I heard the continuous rumble of thunder not far away, so I slowly shuffled to the cave entrance. The rainstorm outside hammered down like silver needles, striking the rocks with a hollow sound. I didn't dare take a single step out; I couldn't believe that someone was still out there, constantly trekking through such weather.

"..."

Leaning against the stone wall, I hugged my knees, waiting anxiously for that silhouette to appear.

Behind me, Kusama Shigeo curled up beside the fire, most of his body hidden in the shadows, drifting in and out of sleep.

At this moment, the suspicion and calculation I had felt toward Hyuga Makoto when we first set out had completely transformed into trust and reliance.

Because apart from him, we had no one else to depend on.

The skills we had honed at the academy were like a boat in the desert—completely useless here.

This feeling was truly terrible.

"Sure enough... no matter how excellent a student is at the academy, they can't compare to even the lowest-ranking genin on the battlefield," I muttered to myself, feeling the rain grow even colder.

I don't know how much time passed. I opened my weary eyes and suddenly saw a dark shadow approaching through the curtain of rain.

He moved with extreme speed, without a single pause, ignoring the wind and rain as he neared us like a spirit of the mountains.

"Is that the captain?" I quickly pushed the sleeping Kusama Shigeo awake. "Look!"

He opened his tired eyes, glared at me, turned his head away, and fell back into a deep sleep.

I stood up and approached the cave entrance. The moment I took a step, the barrier at the entrance was dispelled, and moisture and cold wind rushed in, instantly snapping me to alertness.

Hyuga Makoto was drenched; he left a new trail of water with every step, a testament to the raging storm still howling outside.

"Senior!" My eyes lit up, and I started to rise, but he made a gesture for me to stop. He walked up to me first, crouched down, and gently took hold of my right foot.

"Can you walk?"

I was stunned and replied: "Barely, but... it still hurts a lot."

"Sit down."

I obeyed, and only then did I notice what Hyuga Makoto was carrying in his hand—a long, pitch-black object...

It was a snake!

"Senior, isn't this from the sea...?" I was wondering what he intended to do with the snakes, but he took one out, made a light incision with a kunai, and dark purple snake blood immediately flowed out. He peeled the herbs off my ankle, and the snake blood dripped onto my wound one drop at a time.

Strangely enough, I felt a stream of icy air enter my body from the wound on my ankle, and the burning pain in my entire injury was instantly relieved.

Kusama Shigeo watched the process quietly from the side, not finding fault or mocking me for the first time; I had no idea what he was thinking.

"Senior, this snake blood..." I watched the purplish-red blood seep into the wound, still feeling a bit afraid, so I asked; after all, I had never seen such a treatment method before.

"Rest assured, I have tested it."

I was stunned for a moment and hurriedly asked, "Senior, were you injured? You didn't come ashore with us at the time—did you encounter some kind of danger?"

"And that monster, it... where did it go?"

"I was swept by the current to another beach," Hyuga Makoto said, his brows furrowing as he worked, speculating, "That thing probably cannot come ashore, so it didn't continue the pursuit, which is how we managed to escape."

Thinking back to the situation at that time, even though I was now on land, my back still felt cold with fear.

"How could there be such a thing in the ocean..."

If we encountered a monster like that on the return trip, our chances of survival would be slim.

"Senior, what exactly... was the thing we encountered?"

The fire had been rekindled. I carefully recalled the appearance of the giant snake, remembering only its jet-black, purplish scales and its ghastly fangs.

"Could it be a sea monster from the deep ocean? Why... why did it attack us?"

Hyuga Makoto suddenly fell silent at this point, seemingly lost in thought, but Kusama Shigeo interjected, "Is there any need to think about it? Snakes are cold-blooded animals; it must have sensed our large numbers and attacked because of that." He poked at the branches, his fingers suddenly clenching tight.

"It swallowed over a dozen people in one bite, right beside me. I could even hear... I could hear..."

--I could hear the sound of bones being snapped.

Kusama Shigeo couldn't help but shiver, as if recalling something extremely terrifying, his pupils constricting sharply.

"In any case... when we go back, we must not pass through that sea area again!"

I looked at Kusama Shigeo, not knowing what to say.

The good news was that Kusama Shigeo finally knew how to spell the word "fear" and seemed willing to follow orders.

The bad news was that this was the only piece of good news.

No, there was one more piece of good news.

"This small island is a subsidiary island of the Land of Water, not far from the Land of Water itself." Hyuga Makoto resealed the barrier at the cave entrance, looking at us in our low spirits, his tone no different than it had been before we set out.

"We will rest for three hours to recover our mobility, then enter the Land of Water before dawn."

I opened my weary eyes and responded with an acknowledgement, while Kusama Shigeo silently used a healing technique to treat my ankle.

Yes, this was the other piece of good news.

We were finally about to reach our destination.

It was truly ironic; I had originally thought the Land of Water would be the main battlefield, yet we had already lost half our lives while still on the road.

I gripped my healing ankle, unable to describe the feeling in my heart.

On the battlefield, one might encounter anything.

And all we could do was use our lives and our will to confront the relentless blows one after another.

--Until we were completely extinguished.

I understood more and more what kind of place this was.