At the edge of the dense fog over the sea.
Eight Allied Forces speedboats cut through the waves like a pack of sharks.
Standing at the bow of the lead boat was a scar-faced Iwagakure Jonin—the pursuit captain Ōnoki had stationed on the perimeter. His mission was simple:
Bite down on the remnants of the Uzumaki, confirm the location of Konoha's main force, and tear off a piece if the opportunity arose.
But he had clearly underestimated Konoha's speed of response.
When the speedboats charged into Konoha's prearranged ambush, the first thing to greet them was not kunai or ninjutsu, but—
"Expansion Jutsu: Giant's Palm!!!"
Boom—!!!
From a Konoha warship carrying Akimichi Clan elites, a gigantic palm over twenty meters wide slammed down from the dense fog!
It did not strike the speedboats themselves, but smashed viciously into the sea ahead of them!
Bang—!!!
Tens of thousands of tons of seawater were blasted into the air by the immense force!
The eight speedboats were flung up like toys, overturned, and crashed into one another!
The Iwagakure Jonin reacted swiftly, immediately forming hand seals to stabilize the boat with Earth Release, but—
"Mind Body Switch Jutsu: Coordinate Lock!"
An invisible psychic ripple spread from another Konoha warship, precisely striking the minds of every Allied Forces ninja!
It was only a 0.1-second disruption, but that was already enough for the attack to follow.
"Shadow Imitation Jutsu: Trajectory Control!"
The Nara Clan elite formed hand seals with both hands. The shadow tendrils stretching across the deck did not attack the enemy directly. Instead, like precise surgical threads, they silently "connected" to the giant palm's ten fingers.
The next instant—
The giant palm's second strike took on an eerie, precise trajectory!
It did not slap around blindly. Like playing a piano, its index finger