Navigation and Onoki
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"Lift slowly—careful now."
At the shoreline of the Land of Whirlpools, Izuko was nervously directing a group of shinobi as they loaded crate after crate into the ship's cargo hold.
There were a total of fifty crates. Each one contained ten sealing scrolls, and each scroll held one thousand explosive tags. That was already the limit. It wasn't that higher-capacity scrolls didn't exist, but if the packaging ended up being more valuable than the goods, they'd be selling at a loss.
Akio stood off to the side with his two disciples, observing. It had been over a month since he pioneered the "Explosive Tag Trade Route," and the deal with Konoha had already been finalized.
As expected from a village that had decisively won both Great Ninja Wars, Konoha was thriving. They purchased 1.5 million explosive tags from the Uzumaki in one go—at the cost of one hundred Asumas' worth of bounties...
Even after selling to Konoha, the Uzumaki still had a large stockpile of explosive tags. Today's shipment was headed for the Land of Earth. Of course, a third ninja war could still break out at any moment—if they sold off too many, it might cause problems for Konoha. So Akio decided to sell just five hundred thousand tags for now: enough to bring in revenue without creating complications.
Since this was the Uzumaki's first time embarking on the "Explosive Tag Trade Route," Akio brought along half of his elite patrol force and his two disciples to ensure nothing went wrong. They were all boarding the cargo ship, ready to sail the seas of the shinobi world.
Once everything was ready, Akio waved at Izuko, who was still watching nervously from the shore, signaling her to relax. Then, he turned to the crew on board and gave the order—to start rowing.
Yes, rowing.
Akio had assumed that after two years of development, the Land of Whirlpools would have steam-powered ships or something similar. But no—this was still basic manual propulsion. Well, not entirely primitive. The paddles were at least high-end—chakra-powered, so no one had to row them by hand...
"Still feels underwhelming," Akio muttered. Fortunately, the landing site in the Land of Earth was a remote, uninhabited beach.
Thus began Akio's first, and possibly only, sea voyage in the world of Naruto—after all, he usually just flew.
In his previous life, Akio had been on boats and seen the endless ocean. Compared to that, the seas in this world felt tiny and tame. With little else to do except give occasional directions, things quickly became boring.
But the shinobi onboard were clearly excited—especially his two young disciples. They were only nine years old, still at an age where they liked to play. Normally, they spent every day training, but there was no space for training aboard the ship. Akio wasn't strict enough to make them run laps at sea, so they leaned over the railing and watched the large fish leaping from the water, giggling and laughing.
At first, Akio was in high spirits too. But after two days, he began to grow restless. Life on a ship was incredibly dull.
"If only a sea king or something would attack us just to spice things up..."
He chuckled to himself. As if there would be sea kings in the world of Naruto.
No sooner had the thought crossed his mind than Akio froze.
A gigantic sea beast emerged from the water, stirring up towering waves.
"A sea king? No—some kind of summoning beast," Akio muttered with a wry smile. He released a surge of gravitational force to stabilize the ship.
"Nagato, Konan—here's your chance to practice ninjutsu," he said, holding back the elite patrol unit and signaling his disciples to step up.
"Wind Style: Vacuum Wave!"
"Paper Rain!"
The two children launched their attacks simultaneously. However, their jutsu barely scratched the monstrous beast's massive body.
"Pretty tough summoning beast." Watching from the deck, Akio kept the ship steady while observing the fight.
The beast's attacks were crude—it simply charged over and over. Every time it tried to ram the ship, an invisible repulsive force pushed it away. Every time it aimed for the disciples, the kids managed to dodge.
Eventually, the creature let out a pained shriek and tried to flee back into the sea.
Akio frowned. Leaving such a beast around might pose problems for future voyages.
Raising his right hand in a finger-gun gesture, Akio formed a miniature Tailed Beast Bomb and fired. It exploded, slicing the beast in two and sending its remains sinking into the sea.
Seeing the slightly disappointed expressions on his students' faces, Akio smiled.
"Don't worry. You're not ready for high-powered S-rank jutsu yet. In two more years, you'll be able to handle creatures like this easily."
The voyage continued. Along the way, they encountered several more of those giant summoning beasts. None were sentient, nor were they worth contracting—Akio ended up slaying them all.
"No matter the world, the vast sea always holds some unknown danger," he mused. "I'd better be more careful about which shinobi to send as escorts on future trips."
"I wonder if the Land of Whirlpools will one day produce a man who can conquer the seas... preferably one who can shout, 'I'm gonna be the Pirate King!'" Akio chuckled at the thought.
The voyage was expected to take fifteen days. It ended up taking seventeen—not without issues, but nothing too dangerous for shinobi. They finally reached the Land of Earth.
"Great Elder, are we carrying these crates all the way to Iwagakure?"
Akio shot a glare at the foolish ninja who asked that. A bunch of elite shinobi lugging crates to Iwagakure to peddle their goods—how humiliating would that be?
He rose slightly into the air, sensing the location of Iwagakure, then formed hand seals.
"Sage Art: Dust Release—Detachment of the Primitive World Technique!"
A white crystalline beam shot from his hands, spanning the sky and cutting across the Land of Earth.
Most of the local civilians and shinobi assumed it was some sort of strange weather phenomenon—but inside the Tsuchikage's office, Ōnoki's expression changed drastically.
"That's... Dust Release!" He looked in the direction it came from and immediately took off, several of the Tsuchikage Guard following behind.
Akio landed on the ground after releasing the Dust Release technique and waited.
Sure enough, before long, he sensed Ōnoki's chakra approaching rapidly.
"Uzumaki Akio-senpai—it really is you." Ōnoki arrived, frowning slightly as he glanced at the ship behind Akio, then greeted him with a polite bow, already speculating on the reason for Akio's visit.
"No need to be so tense. I came with good intentions this time," Akio said, smiling and waving dismissively.
A few more figures appeared beside Ōnoki—it was the Tsuchikage Guard.
Ōnoki signaled for them not to act rashly and waited for Akio to speak.
"You're all so stiff—it's boring," Akio muttered. "Ōnoki, it's been... what, over thirty years? Aren't you going to catch up with an old friend?"
Ōnoki hesitated, then relaxed slightly and shook his head with a bitter smile. "Senpai, what memories do we even have to catch up on?"
Akio paused. Ōnoki's previous visit to Konoha wasn't exactly a pleasant memory.
He sighed. "Fair enough. No reminiscing, then. Let's talk business."
Akio pointed to the cargo ship behind him—and the negotiations began.
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