Tsubasa flew back to the shore of the Land of Whirlpools, stepping on clouds formed from Spiritual Qi energy, and gazed at the beautiful woman on the city wall.
" Tsubasa!" A familiar voice pierced the battlefield. Tian Yueqing stood on the reef, dressed in a light purple female ninja outfit, her hair flying in the wind. She looked at her fiancé, who was covered in blood, and unconsciously clenched her cuffs.
Tsubasa landed in front of her, took out a scroll from his robes, and handed it to Tian Yueqing: "This contains my insights into the improved Sealing Jutsu I've developed over the years." He paused, then reached out to brush aside the wind-blown strands of her hair, "I'm entrusting it to you for safekeeping."
Tian Yueqing took the manuscript, her eyes suddenly welling up with tears. "Do we really have to go to Kirigakure?" She gazed at the distant, cloud-shrouded sea, "So many powerful ninjas in the Land of Water..."
"If we don't beat them hard enough, the Land of Whirlpools will never have peace." Tsubasa gripped her hand tightly, the runes on the chains illuminating their intertwined Kageko. "When I return, we'll go back to Konoha." He suddenly leaned closer and kissed her burning earlobe. "Then we'll get married."
Tian Yueqing's cheeks flushed, and she playfully punched him. "You're so glib." But the worry in her eyes was impossible to hide. "Promise me, your safety is the most important thing."
"Don't worry." Tsubasa soared into the clouds, the sea breeze still carrying the salty, pungent smell of gunpowder. He rode on clouds formed of Spiritual Qi energy, Tsubasa straight for the Land of Water. The Kirigakure beneath his feet was shrouded in thick fog, a grey shadow. As he landed on the hill behind the village, the sealing scroll in his arms was still covered in wood chips from the Land of Water's warships. Just as he pulled out a piece of dried venison, he suddenly caught a faint, almost imperceptible sob.
Following the sound, I parted the thorns and found a little girl in an indigo dress huddled in the cave. She looked about seven or eight years old, with a faded cherry blossom hairpin in her hair. Her small face was covered in mud, but it couldn't hide the delicate features of her eyes. Hearing the noise, she jumped up like a startled rabbit, and the wild fruit she was clutching fell to the ground with a "plop".
"No... don't come any closer!" The little girl's voice trembled, and she shrank further into the cave. But when she saw Tsubasa's still-childish face and glimpsed the fine rain outside, she bit her lip and whispered, "Big brother, if you... if you want to take shelter from the rain, come in."
Tsubasa. This little girl looked thin, but she had a stubborn streak in her bones. He sat down imposingly in the center of the cave and took out various foods from the sealed scroll. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw her dark eyes staring intently at the food, and her little belly made an inappropriate "rumbling" sound.
"Want to eat together?" He shook the oil paper package. The little girl hurriedly waved her hands, her knuckles turning white as she twisted the hem of her clothes. "Father said I can't just take things from other people..." Before she could finish speaking, her stomach protested loudly again.
As the oil-paper package was shoved directly into her palm, the little girl stared at the glistening roasted chicken and suddenly burst into tears. She sobbed as she stuffed meat into her mouth, her cheeks puffed out like a little hamster. "I... I haven't had anything hot for seven days..."
Her name was Kaguya Yuki Hime. Her father, Kaguya Tsukino Na head of the Kaguya Clan, who died fighting alongside his wife on the battlefield of Land of Whirlpools. After the new head took over, his pampered youngest daughter became a thorn in his side, her food and clothing cut off, and she was frequently beaten and scolded. The little girl ran away from that home where she had no family. "I hid in the mountains, not even catching a wild rabbit..." she sniffed, tears still clinging to her eyelashes. "Little brother, where will you take me?"
"Go somewhere no one will bully you." Tsubasa patted her head, pushed the rest of the dry rations over, and said, "Be a good girl and wait for me. I'll come pick you up as soon as I'm done."
Kaguya Yuki Hime was completely mesmerized as she watched the young man fly into the sky.
Raindrops, like beads of blood, hung from the eaves of the Mizukage. Tsubasa stood on one foot, his palm hovering over a cloud of condensed energy, dark purple runes flickering like living things. He raised his palm towards the Mizukage, and the entire structure exploded with a deafening roar. As the eaves and brackets turned to dust, he looked down at the ninjas fleeing in terror, a chilling smile creeping across his lips, "This is a warning to you. If you dare invade the Land of Whirlpools Kirigakure, this is what will happen to Kirigakure!"
"You're asking for death!" The Third Mizukage, Minazuki Kiyoshi, burst forth from the water, a dark blue water dragon sweeping across the stone path, sending towering columns of water rising ten feet high. He narrowed his eyes, scrutinizing the boy before him, a contemptuous snort escaping his nostrils. "You call yourself a brat, daring to Kirigakure?"
"Whether we're a good match or not, we'll only know after we try." Tsubasa's true energy was boiling, and the clouds beneath his feet surged into a sealing array ten zhang in diameter. The ancient runes floating in the array illuminated half the sky. Before he finished speaking, he had already transformed into a golden stream of light and swooped down. When his fist tore through the rain, it actually left a trail of burning runes in the void.
Mizukage's pupils constricted sharply, and he hastily transformed into Water Release technique to dodge. But the fist wind, carrying the power to split mountains and shatter rocks, grazed past his ear, tearing three ancient trees behind him, each as thick as a person's embrace, into pieces. Before he could reassemble himself, Tsubasa's gilded chains coiled around him like serpents, and the "seal" characters on the surface of the chains exploded with a bang, splattering blood in the misty water.
"Rune Demon-Binding Formation!" Tsubasa's palms danced like butterflies, and countless golden runes instantly appeared in the air. The Anbu Ninja who had charged forward with Kunai suddenly froze in place, the runes wrapping around their limbs like Spiderweb, pinning them to the ground, unable to move. A young ninja watched in horror as the runes burrowed into his mouth and nose, making gurgling sounds of suffocation, his pupils reflecting the distorted faces of his companions.
" Water Release: Torrential Water Shockwave!" More than ten Jonin formed a formation, instantly creating a towering wave. However, just as the wave reached Tsubasa, it was frozen into an ice wall by the crimson rune he drew in mid-air. He sneered, flicked his finger, and the ice wall shattered with a roar. Countless ice shards, carrying runes, shot back. Amid screams, several ninjas were pinned to the wall, their blood trickling down the rune patterns.
Veins bulged on Minazuki Kiyoshi's forehead, and the water dragon around him suddenly tripled in size. " Hidden Mist Technique - Water Prison Killing Array!" he roared, enveloping the entire battlefield in a giant water prison. The eerie blue light flashing on the water walls foreshadowed the deadly attack that was about to be launched.
"Perfect timing." Tsubasa licked the blood from the corner of his mouth, a bloodthirsty glint in his eyes. He took a deep breath, his hands Hand Seals at a speed too fast for the naked eye to see. " Sealing Jutsu - Hellfire Burning the Heavens!" Countless chains of runes wrapped in flames suddenly descended from within the water prison. Wherever the chains passed, the seawater boiled, and water dragons let out mournful cries.
The Mizukage's face turned deathly pale. He watched as his prized killing move crumbled under the Sealing Jutsu, his elite subordinates struggling in agony amidst the flames. When he saw Tsubasa raise his hand again, preparing to unleash an even more terrifying spell, he finally broke down, shouting, "Stop! I... I swear, the Land of Water will never again invade the Land of Whirlpools!"
Tsubasa stood still, shaking the blood from his fist. The gilded chain grazed the Mizukage's throat and retracted, leaving a long trail of blood on the ground. He surveyed the ashen-faced ninjas from his high vantage point, uttering each word with deliberation. "Remember this day. The next time I smell the stench of the Land of Water— " Runes surged in his palm, blasting the last half of the Mizukage into dust, "The entire Kirigakure will be buried with the Land of Whirlpools!"
As he departed amidst the shattered clouds, the Kirigakure behind him fell into a deathly silence. Minazuki Kiyoshi slumped in a pool of blood, staring in the direction the boy had vanished, belatedly realizing his back was already soaked in cold sweat. The surviving ninjas, seeing their companions' bodies burned beyond recognition by runes, finally understood that this newly emerged Sealing Jutsu genius from the Land of Whirlpools was extremely terrifying, possessing the strength to fight an entire nation single-handedly.
At the cave entrance, Kaguya Yuki stood on tiptoe, peering out. When she saw that familiar figure, her eyes lit up. She clutched the bundle in her arms tightly, suddenly realizing that perhaps following this young man who looked only a few years older than her would lead her to a place where she would no longer suffer from hunger, cold, or humiliation.