Early the next morning, Natsume set out with several team members.
Natsume, Uchiha Nichiyo, Uchiha Tsukihime, Uchiha Gin, and Uchiha Takashi—five people in total.
Among them, Nichiyo, Tsukihime, and Gin
were all members of Natsume's Personal Guard.
Tsukihime was Nichiyo's older sister. She was eighteen years old, tall and long-legged, with legs that almost came up to Natsume's shoulders.
Ahem...
Of course, Natsume hadn't recruited her into his personal guard just because she had long legs or anything like that.
Her strength was pretty good, too.
At only eighteen, she already had the strength of a bona fide Jonin.
She was practically the youngest and most outstanding female ninja in the Uchiha Clan.
She couldn't compare to prodigies like Kakashi and Itachi, but she was still very much worth cultivating.
After all, even across all of Konoha,
with dozens of clans of every size combined—and counting the hidden, unregistered ones—
the total number of Jonin definitely didn't exceed three hundred.
And among the Uchiha he'd brought along, fewer than ten had reached Jonin level!
That number even included the clan elders, who were growing old and frail.
That made every young Jonin all the more precious!
Uchiha Takashi was thirty-seven years old and had the strength of a Chunin.
He wasn't particularly strong in battle. But until recently, he'd been responsible for trade between the Uchiha district and the other clans of Konoha.
He had plenty of experience in commercial dealings.
Natsume had brought Uncle Ryu along because he valued that particular strength.
It would make it easier to quickly take over the Shipping Company and reorganize its operations after wiping out Gato and the others.
As for bringing Nichiyo and Gin along,
it was simply to give them more opportunities to gain experience.
After all, once the village grew stronger in the future, he couldn't be expected to manage everything by himself, day and night, could he?
He had to cultivate more subordinates he could trust—people who were capable, too!
Besides,
Natsume was much more at ease on this trip than he had been the last time.
He'd left plenty of Flying Thunder God Marks in various secret corners of the village. And with his ample reserve of 72 cards of chakra,
he could teleport back at any time.
Besides, even if Konoha really did make a move,
it would be difficult for them to escape the Otogakure intelligence network or the Uchiha spies he'd left in Konoha.
So for the time being, he didn't need to worry about the village's safety.
The most pressing matter was making money!
The Land of Waves lay southeast of the Land of Fire.
It was a little farther from the Land of Fields.
But all five members of Natsume's party were at least Chunin-level, so they were fast.
They reached their destination in less than two days.
Of course, if Natsume had traveled alone,
with his incredible speed, he probably wouldn't have needed half a day.
The Land of Waves was on a small island surrounded by the sea on all sides.
The only usual way to get there was by boat.
As for the famous Naruto Bridge in later generations, construction hadn't even begun yet.
Before long, after spending a little money,
Natsume and the others boarded a fishing boat headed for the Land of Waves.
The man rowing it was middle-aged and not particularly burly.
Judging by the thick calluses on his hands and the fishy smell about him,
he'd clearly been making a living fishing and rowing boats for years. He didn't seem like a bad sort.
"Young Clan... young master, the fog here is so thick! I can barely see anything in the distance..."
Sixteen-year-old Uchiha Gin leaned against the side of the boat, looking around with curiosity.
"That's normal. Countries out at sea, including the Land of Water, are often shrouded in thick fog."
Nichiyo replied calmly from beside him.
Compared to Gin, who didn't care much for reading, Nichiyo clearly knew more.
"Oh, so that's how it is! But what I want to know is, why does fog form? Where does it come from?"
"Brother Nichiyo, do you know?"
"Uh..."
Nichiyo was at a loss for words.
Just then,
Natsume, sitting at the stern, began to explain:
"Seawater is moist and evaporates easily under sunlight. After evaporating, it disperses into the air as water vapor. Once the vapor pressure rises until the air is saturated, condensation occurs and fog forms..."
Nichiyo: ???
Gin: ???
Tsukihime: ???
Uncle Ryu: ???
The others stared at Natsume with wide eyes.
They felt as if they understood every word, yet hadn't understood a thing.
Natsume rolled his eyes at them, feeling as though he were trying to explain things to a brick wall.
He wasn't some kind of academic in his previous life, but he still knew the basics.
Too bad explaining it to these illiterates was no use.
"Hahaha! The young master really is so knowledgeable!"
"Gin, stop thinking about playing all the time and learn something useful!"
Uchiha Takashi teased him with a laugh, easing the others' confusion.
The boat continued onward.
A little later, Natsume spoke up first:
"Boatman, how much longer?"
The middle-aged boatman wiped away his sweat and replied cheerfully,
"Not long now. We'll be there in a few minutes!"
"Looks like you young masters and ladies are nobles from one of the great nations, aren't you?"
"No, no. We're all ninja!"
"Huh? How could a little fellow like you be a ninja? Don't tease me."
"We really are ninja!"
Natsume tried to explain.
But the boatman still didn't believe him.
After all, none of them wore the usual ninja Forehead Protector.
Even ninja from small villages would normally wear a Forehead Protector with their village's symbol on it.
But that was no surprise.
Their Flame Hidden Village had only recently been established, and they hadn't had time to make their own distinctive Forehead Protectors yet.
"Uncle, we're really ninja—and powerful ones, too!"
Uchiha Gin called out.
"I don't believe it. Unless you show me a ninjutsu! Ninja techniques are really impressive!"
"That's... ninjutsu isn't for showing off. I..."
Gin hesitated, then looked toward Natsume.
After all, using ninjutsu carelessly just to show off was forbidden.
That was common knowledge among ninja.
But no one had expected what happened next.
At that moment, Natsume, sitting at the stern,
suddenly opened his right hand and began gathering a huge amount of chakra.
In an instant,
a chakra sphere appeared in Natsume's hand. It wasn't very large, but its power was formidable.
It contained at least two cards of chakra!
The enormous energy stirred the fog around them, drawing it together into a massive spiral current with quite a bit of force.
The burly boatman at the bow nearly collapsed to his knees at the sight.
"Young master, what are you doing?!"
Uncle Ryu exclaimed, sounding a little nervous.
From what he could sense, the chakra in that single sphere was several times greater than all the chakra he had in his body.
If it exploded, no one on the boat would survive!
The others were just as nervous.
Even Uchiha Tsukihime, who was normally cold and had barely spoken on the journey, looked shocked.
She couldn't understand what their young clan head was doing.
The next moment,
Natsume didn't explain. He simply flicked his right hand, and the fist-sized chakra sphere shot out instantly.
It flew to the left of the boat and quickly disappeared into the fog.
A few seconds later,
"Boom!~~"
A tremendous explosion rang out.
A huge column of water shot into the sky.
Then it broke into countless raindrops and fell...
The force of that single strike left the others speechless and stunned.
At the same time, in the distance,
along with the sound of the explosion came a chorus of cries and calls for help.
"What was that?!"
"Probably a group of pirates who make their living raiding ships," Natsume replied calmly.
"Young master, so just now you...?"
"Their ship's been blown up, but plenty of them should have survived."
"Pirates like these are utterly wicked. They kill and rob without a second thought. They deserve to die."
"Nichiyo, go take care of the rest of them!"
"Understood!"
Nichiyo answered and quickly leapt away.
He dashed across the surface of the water toward the left and disappeared into the fog, swiftly cutting down the surviving pirates.
Soon, cries of agony rang out one after another.
But after barely thirty seconds,
the screams gradually faded away.
Nichiyo soon returned to the boat, holding two bloodstained kunai.
"Reporting to you, young master. It was indeed a group of pirates, about twenty of them. All the survivors have been killed!"
"Good. Sit down."
Nichiyo put away his kunai, glanced at his older sister Tsukihime, who was sitting on the left, and said no more.
Uchiha Gin, though, couldn't help marveling again.
"That was amazing! They really were pirates?"
"Young master, how did you find them?"
"And what was that ninjutsu you just used? You didn't even need hand seals?"
Natsume smiled faintly.
"It was just a crude way of using chakra. More or less a low-powered version of the Tailed Beast Bomb. You only need enough chakra and control to master it."
"Could I learn it too?"
"Sure. Once your chakra has increased five or six times, you'll probably be able to use it, barely..."
Natsume's answer doused Gin's enthusiasm like a bucket of cold water.
How long would it take him to build up five or six times as much chakra?!
The Young Clan Head really was a freak!
He tossed out a big move like it was nothing.
As for how Natsume had sensed the pirates in advance...
That was even simpler.
With the S-rank Spirit Transformation Technique at his disposal, he could easily sense any living being with a soul approaching him.
He could even tell whether they harbored ill will or murderous intent.
So he had noticed them long ago.
Far out on the sea to the left, a band of malicious pirates was secretly trailing them and closing in.
They were just waiting for the right moment to strike.
It was the perfect chance to test the power of his chakra energy ball, too.
Rest assured, it definitely wasn't just an excuse to show off!
At that very moment.
The massive explosion, the pirates' instant defeat, and these powerful, unfathomable ninja...
All of it had left the boatman at the bow paralyzed with fear.
Good grief, he really had a boatful of ninja aboard!
And what kind of monster was that youngest boy?
He'd never seen such terrifying ninja in his life!
"Haha. Boatman, do you believe we're ninja now?"
Uchiha Gin teased him with a laugh.
"I believe you, I believe you!"
"Please spare our lives, honored ninja!"
The boatman hurriedly begged for mercy, thoroughly terrified.
"Gin! Don't scare him!" Natsume cut in.
Uchiha Gin: Σ(っ°Д°;)っ???
All he'd done was say something. How was that scary?
Besides, even if he was scary...
He still wasn't as terrifying as that stunt you just pulled, Young Clan Head!
"All right. Don't be afraid, Boatman. We won't hurt you."
"Actually, there are a few things I'd like to ask you."
Natsume helped the boatman to his feet and smiled at him in a very friendly way.
Before you continue