"What did that shinobi-sama just say? The Third Hokage's order? But isn't there only the Second Hokage right now?"
"Could it be that the Second Hokage is going to retire! And this person is the new... Third Hokage!"
At this moment, Torifu and the others had already walked away. If they had heard the owner's mumbling, they would have been surprised by his accurate intuition.
"Not bad, you. You haven't even become Hokage yet, and you're already giving orders," Hiruzen said, bumping Torifu with his elbow in a joking manner.
Torifu rolled his eyes. "I'm going to take the position after this mission anyway. By the time the news gets out, we'll already be back in the Hidden Leaf Village."
Danzō nodded. "That's true."
Torifu was a little surprised by this. He didn't expect Danzō to be so carefree. Wasn't this guy someone who wanted to be Hokage even on his deathbed? From his expression, Danzō wasn't hiding any emotions. His words came from the heart.
However, Torifu wasn't too surprised. This world had changed so much and was completely different from the original Naruto world. Perhaps Danzō had been so illuminated by Torifu's greatness over the years that he no longer had any ambition to become Hokage.
After eating, it was about four in the afternoon. When the group arrived at the pier, the fishermen were all packing up their nets and getting ready to go home. Only the boatman was still waiting, a piece of straw in his mouth, leaning against the mast and looking at the sky.
"Boatman, we're here."
The boatman heard the call and came to the edge of the deck. "Shinobi-sama, you're so punctual. It's exactly the time we agreed on."
Torifu and the others easily jumped onto the deck. The boat was not small. It was one of the larger ones among the fishing boats at the pier. Only this kind of boat could sail to the open sea. The entire boat was filled with a fishy smell. After being in the sun all afternoon, the smell was even more pungent. Koharu and Naori, the two girls, immediately frowned, but they could still tolerate it.
The boatman looked at them helplessly. "I'm so sorry for the inconvenience, shinobi-sama. But all the boats at the pier are fishing boats, so the fishy smell is unavoidable."
Naori waved her hand. "It's fine, boatman. Let's go."
The boatman nodded. "Alright, we'll be leaving soon. My two sailors haven't returned yet." A boat this big couldn't be operated by one person, so it was completely normal for him to have sailors.
Under the boatman's guidance, the group entered the resting cabin. It was relatively clean inside, but there was still a smell. And because it wasn't very ventilated, there was also a musty smell.
Hiruzen found a place to sit. "There's nothing we can do. All fishing boats are like this. We'll just have to bear with it."
Koharu and Naori nodded. They didn't blame the boatman. Old boats were like this. Torifu looked around the cabin and then walked to the center. A cloud of mist then poured out of his sleeves. In no time, it filled the entire cabin. At this moment, everyone in the cabin couldn't see each other. Even Naori and Koharu, who were sitting right next to each other, couldn't see each other.
"Torifu, what are you doing?"
"Getting rid of the smell. What else would I be doing? Playing a real-life escape room?"
Hiruzen was a little confused. "What's an escape room? And your Cloud Release can even get rid of a smell? Don't just add so many things to it!"
Torifu ignored Hiruzen and continued to release the mist. Soon, the mist started to seep out through the cracks of the cabin door. This change scared the boatman, who thought they were playing with fire inside and had burned the boat down. He hurriedly opened the cabin door and saw a thick, fog-like gas floating out.
"Is that a cloud?"
Torifu walked out of the cabin, with mist still pouring out of his sleeves. The boatman was a little scared and hid behind the mast.
In a short while, the clouds enveloped the entire boat! The people on the shore also saw this and exclaimed, wondering what was happening. As Torifu clenched his hands, all the clouds suddenly exploded! The entire pier was covered in mist for just a moment.
The boatman opened his eyes again and saw that his boat seemed to be much cleaner. Torifu crossed his arms over his chest and took a deep breath. "Hmm, not bad. The smell is gone." He then went back into the cabin. The boatman finally understood what Torifu had been doing. He had been getting rid of the smell in his boat. Good heavens, were all shinobi this powerful? He didn't dare to ask and just obediently stayed outside, waiting for his sailors to return.
A few minutes later, two sailors quickly ran onto the boat. They had seen what happened from afar and thought the boat was under attack. It was only after their captain told them what happened that they calmed down.
The boatman knocked on the cabin door. "Shinobi-sama, the sailors have returned. We're about to set sail."
"Good. Feel free to set sail. If you encounter any problems, you can come and get us."
The boatman agreed and then went to work with his sailors.
In the cabin, with the smell gone, Koharu and Naori felt much better. At this moment, Kagami noticed that the boat was slowly moving.
"We're finally leaving. We're going to the Land of Whirlpools."
Hiruzen nodded. "Yeah, this is our second time going abroad together. It's just a shame that Akimichi isn't with us this time."
Everyone felt a little regretful. They might never have the chance to go on a mission like this together again.
After the boat had been sailing for about ten minutes, Naori got up and went to Torifu. "Let's go up to the deck and take a look."
"Okay."
The two of them opened the cabin door and went to the deck. As soon as they stepped out of the cabin, they felt the sea breeze blowing in their faces. It was refreshing.
"This is my first time going out to sea. It's so beautiful."
Torifu smiled. "The first time I went out to sea was with Tobirama-sama. You can imagine how boring that was."
Naori couldn't help but laugh. "That sounds so uninteresting."
The captain and the sailors were diligently sailing the boat, and no one came to disturb Naori and Torifu. The two of them walked to the very front of the boat, where the view was exceptionally wide. The setting sun in the distance had turned half the sky a reddish-orange. Some white seagulls circled the boat, and occasionally, a few unknown small fish would jump out of the sea, which the seagulls would quickly eat.
Torifu snapped his fingers, and a cloud of mist poured out of his sleeve. It transformed into a flock of cloud birds flying in mid-air. They circled Naori, chirping.
"They're so round and cute."
"That's not all."
With another wave of his hand, a stream of water suddenly appeared on both sides of the fishing boat! The water rose and twisted, turning into dolphins that jumped back and forth on the surface of the water, as if they were guiding the boat. Another stream of water rose, and Torifu injected Ice Release chakra into it. The two chakras fused and then exploded! A mermaid with a fish tail and a human body appeared and then leaped into the sea. Although it only lasted for a moment, Naori saw the mermaid's face. It was her own face.