Border Crossers Shall Be Executed Without Mercy!

Land of Water, Kirigakure Harbor.

The Fourth Mizukage, Yagura, stood on the flagship's deck, gazing out at the East Sea shrouded in heavy fog.

"Mizukage-sama, the new waterproof alloy we urgently purchased from the Black Market has already been put to use."

A shipwright stepped forward, looking hesitant.

"But yesterday, we tapped several newly installed watertight panels. They sounded brittle, completely unlike normal alloy."

Yagura gripped his iron-hooked staff and turned around.

"You think there's a problem?"

"The Black Market merchant swore it was the latest technology, but I wouldn't dare guarantee it."

Kirigakure worshipped the Bloody Mist Village, and Yagura was even less the sort of man to entrust life and death to a verbal promise.

"No material that hasn't been tested in actual combat is to be installed on the main fleet."

Yagura raised his chin and nodded toward several fast ships beyond the porthole.

"Assign the three fast ships fitted with the new material to the vanguard. Have them leave port first. The main fleet will follow ten nautical miles behind."

The fleet entered the deep sea as gale-force winds whipped up towering waves.

Yagura stood aboard the flagship, watching the distance with cold eyes.

At the edge of his vision, the three vanguard ships bucked amid the waves. The newly patched reinforcement panels along their hulls suddenly fractured, and the piercing sound of breaking metal carried over the wind and surf.

The bottoms of all three ships were easily torn open. Seawater poured in madly, and the Kirigakure vanguard did not even have time to cry for help before capsizing in the raging waves.

"Brittling agent."

Yagura stared at the distant disaster without even blinking.

The Kirigakure higher-ups behind him broke into cold sweats.

"My lord, these repair materials rapidly fall apart as soon as they