The Land of Rivers, the Land of Tea, the Land of Fire, the Land of Rain, the Land of Birds, the Land of Grass, the Land of Waterfalls...
The Land of Rivers lay between the Land of Wind and the Land of Fire, so they couldn't stay there long. Conditions in the Land of Rain were even harsher, and with those demigods there, it wasn't a good choice either.
That didn't leave many places they could go.
"Rei, travel through the night. We'll cross the Land of Rivers and take the sea to the Land of Tea, where we'll establish a base!" Akasuna Arashi ordered sharply.
"Yes, Elder!"
Several of his trusted ninja, Rei among them, answered before vanishing into the dense forest.
"Is it just ahead?"
Hoshino stood on a stretch of high ground, his gaze fixed on the far edge of the forest ahead.
In the darkness, the distant coastline was faintly visible. The low, rapid sound of waves crashing against the reefs carried on the wind.
"Yes. Judging by the traces they left, they seem to be planning to leave by sea..." Qingya reported quietly.
Hoshino listened in silence.
Half an hour earlier, Akasuna Arashi's forces had split up, some heading west and others east, clearly trying to draw the Anbu's attention.
So Qingya and the others hadn't acted on their own. They had kept a close watch on Akasuna Arashi, only sending a few people to investigate the other squads after joining up with Teams One and Six.
In the end, they discovered that no matter which direction those ninja squads took, they all converged on the southern coastline.
Clearly, they intended to leave the Land of Rivers by sea.
"Captain, should we seal off the coastline?" Tieyan, the captain of Team One, asked.
"No need!"
Hoshino shook his head. "The Land of Rivers is too far from the Land of Tea. They can't cross with Water Walking alone, and there aren't any ferry crossings in the Land of Rivers, so their only option is to build boats on the spot."
He paused and swept his gaze over the group before continuing, "We'll wait for them to board, then sink them!"
Qingya, Shaji, and Tieyan exchanged glances, understanding flashing in their eyes.
As an Anbu elite, he naturally understood Hoshino's intention.
Few ninja from the Land of Wind were skilled in Water Release. It could almost be said that there were none.
The Red Sand Clan was a family of puppet masters, skilled in land combat. On the water, their fighting strength would be greatly diminished.
Sunagakure's Anbu, on the other hand, had undergone rigorous training. Against a group of puppet masters whose movements were restricted on the water, their chances of victory were excellent.
The only thing to watch out for was that force of more than a hundred ninja.
Team Eleven, led by Hoshino, rapidly closed in on the coastline, their figures darting through the dense forest.
Suddenly, the fly puppets scattered around the area sent back information, transmitting the images they saw to his lenses.
Through the fly puppets' eyes, he saw nearly ten crude wooden boats moored along the distant shore.
Akasuna Arashi's forces were boarding in an orderly manner.
"Ten boats..."
The ninja force numbered nearly two hundred. Divided among ten boats, that was around twenty people per boat.
Akasuna Arashi boarded the boat in the very center, while the others surrounded and guarded it.
Hoshino estimated that the two boats closest to Akasuna Arashi carried Red Sand Clan ninja, while the civilian ninja were on the outer boats.
"This is a bit troublesome!"
To put it bluntly, those civilian ninja were a rabble. Once the Red Sand Clan ninja were dead, few of the rest would fight to the death.
But now...
"Captain, how should we proceed?"
Seeing the boats slowly leaving the shore, Qingya couldn't help asking in a low voice.
There were ten boats. The strongest fighters were sure to be concentrated on the three in the middle; the others would be lucky to have one Jonin apiece.
Hoshino pondered for a moment, then said, "Qingya, take Team Three and approach from the left."
"Shaji, take Team Six and circle around from the right."
"Tieyan, take Teams One and Eleven and launch a frontal assault to draw their attention."
"I'll back you up!"
Hoshino took a box from a sealing scroll. It was packed with Shuriken, poison needles, poison gas bombs, and Explosive Tags.
After distributing the supplies,
he waited a little longer on the high ground. Only when the boats were almost out of sight did he call out, "Move out!"
"Understood!"
The three men led their respective Anbu members off in three directions.
"Water Walking, follow me!"
The Anbu members answered in unison, gathering Chakra beneath their feet. They planted their feet firmly on the water and began racing across the sea.
Hoshino used Magnet Release to fly high into the sky, following close behind them.
As Teams Six and Three drew close to the fleet, they dived underwater and swiftly approached their targets like swimming fish.
Now only Tieyan and the members of Teams One and Eleven remained on the sea, making no attempt to conceal themselves as they entered the fleet's detection range.
"Elder, someone's caught up to us! There are eleven of them. They should be two Anbu teams!"
The ninja on watch quickly jumped onto Akasuna Arashi's boat and reported urgently.
Hearing this, Akasuna Arashi stood at the bow and swept a cold gaze over the waters behind them.
They really are persistent ghosts.
We're already preparing to go to a peninsula in the southern Shinobi World, yet they still won't let me go. Are they really going to wipe us all out?
"Rei, take the two boats beside us and hold them off. Forty ninja and three Jonin should be enough. Remember to pick them carefully!"
Rei nodded at once, turned, and jumped onto one of the boats beside them.
He understood what Akasuna Arashi meant by picking them carefully.
It simply meant choosing civilian ninja to stop the Anbu while the clan's own ninja stayed aboard and continued to get farther away.
After all, the clan's own ninja were the foundation for their future development in the Land of Tea. They couldn't afford to lose them like this.
Besides, when fighting on the water, even Anbu couldn't use Water Walking for long.
As long as they could hold the Anbu back and keep their casualties within a certain limit, their opponents would naturally choose to retreat.
"Prepare for battle!"
Rei took the two selected boats away from the fleet and went to meet Tieyan and the other Anbu.
"Wind Release: Gale Palm!"
Tieyan rapidly formed Hand Seals with both hands. Violent blades of wind swept toward Rei's boat with a piercing howl.
A deep trench was carved through the seawater.
Rei's expression tightened, and he hurriedly directed the ninja beside him. "Wind Release: Wind Wave!"
Dozens of small wind blades shot from the hands of more than ten ninja and collided with Tieyan's Gale Palm in midair.
For a moment, air currents churned violently, and enormous waves rose one after another across the sea.
Both sides' boats rocked violently under the impact. Everyone aboard struggled to keep their footing, staggering this way and that.
Just then, deafening explosions suddenly erupted on both sides of the fleet.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
Four boats on each side of the fleet were swallowed by towering flames and billowing black smoke. Fragments of their hulls fell into the sea, throwing up enormous splashes.
It was Team Three, led by Qingya, and Team Six, led by Shaji.
They had secretly planted a large number of specially made Explosive Tags underwater beforehand.
When the moment was right, they detonated the Explosive Tags, catching the enemy completely off guard.
Before Akasuna Arashi's ninja could recover, the members of the two teams burst from the water with blades in hand and charged straight into the scattered crowd, unleashing a storm of blood and slaughter.