"But regardless, our squad leader Haseo has become quite well-known among ninjas by now," said Renjiro, as if trying to steer the conversation back.
The rumor about Haseo assassinating the Amegakure leader was more of a deliberate fabrication than a regular hearsay. Such is human nature—even ninjas weren't immune to gossip.
Haseo simply ignored him and turned back to Nagisa Nara. "What's today's mission? Another routine patrol?"
"Yeah. The recent unrest from the Mist has disappeared—they've gone quiet again," Nagisa emphasized again, almost like he was reinforcing his own confidence. "So our missions aren't as frequent or intense anymore. Now it's just one round over the sea surface each day."
"What's the route?"
"We'll depart from the southern sea off the Land of Whirlpools, then investigate toward the Mist territory, although we won't actually cross the midpoint between both nations' waters. After completing this loop, we'll return from the northern side of the Land of Whirlpools. This circular scouting route hasn't changed much recently—it's basically our standard patrol course."
Of course, a single squad alone couldn't monitor such an immense ocean entirely. But Konoha's reconnaissance teams weren't limited to just one squad. Moreover, aside from Konoha's forces, there were also the Land of Whirlpools and the Uzumaki clan. So Konoha's surveillance network was actually pretty dense. If the Mist really had any large-scale operations underway, they'd be nearly impossible to miss.
"I see. Sounds like a picnic—just heading out to sea for some views... Come to think of it, I haven't seen the ocean in a long time. Now I'm kind of in the mood for sightseeing. So when does the mission start?" Haseo asked.
"Whenever you're ready," replied Nagisa Nara.
They were ninjas after all—no way would they delay their regular missions just because Haseo had arrived. Besides, since Haseo had taken his time getting here, there was naturally no need for rest, so he could directly join the mission.
"Well then, let's prepare quickly and head out." With that, Haseo walked ahead and exited the small hut first.
Technically speaking, he was still only a Genin, but upon returning to his team, he naturally issued commands, and the other squad members happily followed his instructions.
Although they claimed to need preparations before departure, there wasn't much needed for such a routine mission anyway. Chichio simply brought along a falcon, and then the team set off.
When ninjas went out to sea, they didn't even need boats. The Haseo Squad left from the shore and stepped directly onto the water's surface, moving further into the open sea.
Not long after leaving the Land of Fire and stepping onto the water, Haseo spotted a fairly small island not too far away. He paused briefly and quickly recognized it as part of the Land of Whirlpools from his geography lessons.
"Haseo? Is something wrong? Are we… going to visit the Land of Whirlpools?"
Seeing him stop, Nara cautiously asked. At this point, he assumed Haseo must have had some secret mission involving the Land of Whirlpools.
"No, nothing yet. Not the right time," Haseo shook his head and continued walking forward.
After passing through the Land of Whirlpools, as they moved ahead, there were no obstacles blocking their view anymore. Before them stretched a vast ocean surface, sometimes calm, sometimes turbulent. This wide open feeling gave Haseo an exhilarating sensation. The world was like the sea—life might feel lonely at times, but isn't it beautiful to stand alone?
Haseo was indeed a down-to-earth and honest man. Since the Third Hokage had told him to come out for some relaxation, his attention now wasn't focused on performing any missions at all but purely enjoying the scenery. Under his lead, even though the squad hadn't crossed the sea's midpoint, they gradually veered off the patrol route.
Yes, Haseo's current journey was very ordinary—but here lay an issue... objective reality would never change because of Haseo's subjective mood, and besides, the natural order of cause and effect simply wouldn't let him take a break whenever he pleased.
As the wind blew and waves rose continuously, the deeper into the ocean they went, things weren't as transparent as imagined. Within these undulating waves, hiding several people was extremely simple—in fact, without scout ninjas, two different ninja squads could approach very closely without even detecting each other.
Haseo's team idled on the sea for half a day, pretending to enjoy the view, but really just killing time—until suddenly something happened.
Previously walking normally across the ocean surface, Renjiro suddenly crouched low, and upon seeing his movement, the rest of the squad immediately followed suit without hesitation.
"What's going on?" Haseo quietly asked in a lowered voice.
"Someone approached the surveillance buoy I placed on the ocean surface. It should be a medium-sized ninja squad—I estimate around twenty individuals, direction is due south—but I can't determine the actual distance from them... Since they're beyond my personal perception range, conservatively speaking, that group should still be several kilometers away," Renjiro explained.
His scouting technique ("placement-style") worked better over the sea. As long as he sealed his jutsu patterns inside drifting bottles and tossed them into the ocean, sooner or later they might accidentally stumble upon critical intelligence—like a blind squirrel finding a nut once in a while.
Yet curiously enough, up till now Haseo still couldn't figure out exactly how Renjiro's scouting ability functioned—it allowed determining enemy scale and direction via jutsu pattern, yet failed to determine the actual distance from them... quite contradictory.
"A ninja force this large definitely wouldn't be a Konoha scouting unit. High probability it's hostile forces. Looks like we'll have to move closer and investigate what exactly is happening," sighed Haseo before saying thus.
The remaining three exchanged glances, instantly sensing a familiar déjà vu.
Talk about rotten luck. I was just here for a vacation, so why did something like this have to happen? Among you guys, could someone possibly be in their zodiac year? Haseo Yu wasn't joking on purpose—he truly felt this way.
He, Haseo Yu, was clearly the victim here.
This blame-shifting maneuver was beyond words—who could say who truly had worse luck now?
Before Haseo arrived, everyone's scouting activities had been perfectly normal, without encountering any special situations. However, ever since he arrived here less than twelve hours ago, the group had already run into trouble.
The bitterness these three people felt—who could they possibly tell?
Following Haseo's instructions, the group crept silently in that direction until finally, the group of ninja came into view.
Nara seized the opportunity to observe them from afar using a telescope, then his pupils slightly constricted—the face of the leading ninja had clearly appeared before his eyes.
After taking a deep breath, Nara withdrew and said, "We're in deep—those are Mist's ninja, and especially that leader wearing flashy clothes. If I recall correctly, that should be Gengetsu Hozuki."
"Who?" Since Haseo had always operated at the western front, he didn't immediately react to what Nara had just said.
So Nara repeated, emphasizing every word, "The leader is the Second Mizukage, Gengetsu Hozuki."
Nara and the two others had long mentally prepared themselves for unexpected trouble. Because Haseo was present, an unconscious sense always made them feel like they'd end up at the center of some major incident, whether real or imagined. Reality, however, never failed to deliver something even worse. Trouble was one thing—but nobody expected anything nearly this big, right?
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