The five of them traveled by fishing boat under the cover of darkness, eventually reaching the vicinity of an unremarkable, unnamed island.
They had not even gotten close yet, but they could already be fairly certain that this was the place.
After all, on this remote island—which was so insignificant that it was not even marked on any map—there was actually a small camp built around a crude harbor.
Firelight flickered around the harbor, where several small boats were moored.
Farther inland, all sorts of oddly shaped wooden and stone houses were scattered haphazardly among the sparse trees.
From time to time, they could even make out figures moving around inside the camp.
Fortunately, Dazi’s fishing boat was not particularly large.
As soon as he spotted the camp, he began slowing down from a distance and lowered his voice.
“Shinobi-sama, the pirates’ ship doesn’t seem to be here.
The survivors of the attack on the village said that the pirates used a medium-sized sailing ship.” The others had naturally noticed the situation at the harbor as well.
“The pirate ship may have gone out to sea.
Judging from the style of these buildings, we probably haven’t come to the wrong place.” After saying this, Tachibana Kenji frowned.
It would be fine if the pirate ship had only just gone out to sea.
But if the pirates had never returned after raiding Apple Village, rescuing their mission targets would undoubtedly become much more troublesome.
After all, less than ten days had actually passed since the attack on Apple Village.
The pirate ship could very well still be out at sea.
“Let’s get ashore first.
Mr.
Dazi, don’t approach the harbor.
Keep going farther east and find a more secluded place to land.
There are still pirates stationed on the island, so don’t alert them.” Perhaps worried that his three students lacked enough experience and might compromise the rescue operation, Ao directly took command at this critical moment.
Although they had already made a preliminary assessment of the situation, they still needed to investigate the camp and determine whether the mission targets were actually on the island.
Since their jōnin leader had given his orders, naturally no one objected.
Dazi carefully turned the boat around and did his best to reduce the engine noise as he slowly steered the fishing boat toward a shallow beach in a blind spot east of the harbor.
However, just as the small boat was about to reach the shore, the Anticipation in Tachibana Kenji’s mind suddenly issued a frantic warning.
The level of danger was no lower than when she had previously been caught inside Mei Terumi’s Water Shockwave.
There was no time to hesitate.
“Captain, danger!
Sensory ninjutsu!” Tachibana Kenji hurriedly warned Ao.
At the same time, without waiting for the boat to stop, she pulled a kunai from her shinobi pouch and leaped directly onto the shore.
As a jōnin who had experienced countless dangerous situations, Ao naturally did not hesitate.
The moment he saw Tachibana’s abnormal behavior, he had already closed his eyes, formed the “Ram” hand seal with one hand, focused his mind, and begun using sensory ninjutsu.
Zabuza and Mei Terumi also said nothing.
In perfect coordination, they jumped off the boat and joined Tachibana in forming a three-point defensive formation, protecting the fishing boat behind them.
An invisible ripple seemed to spread outward from Ao.
The hidden enemies naturally noticed the three youngsters’ guarded stance, as well as Ao using sensory ninjutsu.
Before Ao, who had already detected their hiding place, could launch an attack, two masked shinobi stepped out from behind a large rock on the shallow beach.
Judging by their builds, one was male and the other female.
Both were dressed like members of Kirigakure’s assassination corps, wearing ANBU flak jackets and grotesque masks bearing the Kirigakure insignia between the eyebrows.
Honestly, Kirigakure’s ANBU really were unusually straightforward about this sort of thing.
They actually put their village’s insignia on their masks, as if they were afraid that people wouldn’t know which village was responsible whenever they did something shady.
The two shinobi simply walked out in the open without taking an attacking stance, seemingly showing no hostility.
However, the Anticipation in Tachibana Kenji’s mind continued screaming warnings, preventing her from relaxing in the slightest.
The male shinobi ignored the three youngsters who remained on guard and instead faced Ao.
“Jōnin Ao, we’re carrying out an ANBU mission to locate a group of missing people from the Land of Water.
We have no intention of coming into conflict with you.” Seeing that the two were dressed as ANBU and had directly identified Ao, the group lowered their guard slightly.
Nevertheless, they kept their weapons firmly in hand as they waited for Ao’s orders.
After a moment of consideration, Ao explained the situation.
“I’m leading my squad on a C-rank mission.
We have no intention of interfering with you, nor will our mission affect yours.” Kirigakure was hardly a perfectly harmonious place internally, and Ao had no desire to provoke a conflict with ANBU personnel during a mission.
The two ANBU members did not seem particularly interested in staying either.
After hearing Ao’s explanation, they said nothing.
They merely glanced over the group several times before turning around and quickly disappearing toward the rear of the island using the Body Flicker Technique.
Once the two had finally left, everyone let out a long sigh of relief and lowered their weapons.
The three youngsters waited for Ao’s next command, but Ao remained standing motionless, a thoughtful expression on his face.
“Teacher Ao?” Mei Terumi approached and called out to him.
Snapped back to reality by Mei’s voice, Ao looked serious as he spoke.
“Those two weren’t right.
ANBU wouldn’t casually reveal the details of their mission to outsiders!
And according to what I sensed, the woman was clearly the jōnin.
Yet the one who spoke was the man, who was only a chūnin!” After hearing Ao’s doubts, and recalling the frantic warnings from Anticipation, Tachibana Kenji also became suspicious of the two.
She followed Ao’s reasoning and continued speculating.
“There aren’t many female jōnin in the village to begin with.
Perhaps that jōnin happens to be someone you know, Teacher Ao, and she deliberately didn’t speak because she was worried you’d recognize her voice?” “Impostors pretending to be ANBU?” Mei Terumi and Zabuza exclaimed in surprise.
Ao did not continue analyzing the situation.
Instead, he turned toward Dazi, who was still somewhat confused about what was happening.
“Mr.
Dazi, you should return to the village first.
Leave the rescue operation to us.
It’s not safe for you to stay here.” “Then I’ll leave it to you, Shinobi-sama.” Dazi also understood that an ordinary civilian like himself would be of no use here.
He immediately untied the boat and left the empty vessel behind before setting off on his own return journey.
The moment Ao saw Dazi start the engine, he stopped hesitating and gave his three students their orders.
“Mei, you take command from here and continue the mission.
I’ll catch up with those two and confirm what’s going on.” “There shouldn’t be many pirates stationed on the island.
Once you complete the mission, wait for me near the harbor.
If you encounter any danger, launch a signal flare immediately.” “Yes, Captain!” The three answered in unison.
Ao was still somewhat worried, so he added another instruction.
“It’s fine if the mission targets aren’t on the island.
Once you’ve dealt with the pirates stationed here, wait for me to return before deciding how we’ll search for the pirate ship.” “Don’t worry, Teacher Ao.
We can handle a bunch of ordinary pirates.” Mei Terumi wrinkled her nose, sounding slightly dissatisfied.
Seeing Mei’s confidence, Ao said no more.
He turned around and quickly pursued the direction in which the two ANBU members had disappeared.
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