Naruto: Chronicles of a Fire Ninja-Chapter 428 - 423: Crazy Idea

Kaida vanished from his position, appearing on the top of the main mast. Seeing Kaida vanishing, other ninja on the deck of the ship also became alert, quickly checking the direction Kaida was looking.

"Wait, is that...?"

"Yeah, I believe you guys now have the chance to witness the famed pirates of the sea," Fushiro said. As the most elderly ninja of the group, there were very few things he had not seen in life, and pirates were not on the list.

"This sucks, fire jutsu has worst performance in sea."

"Don’t worry, pirates are just bandits in sea, strong compared to normal civilians, but nothing for a ninja. It is very rare for a ninja to become a pirate as well. Most I had seen are some chunins," Fushiro comforted his allies.

Since most of the ninja were civilian, they all specialized in fire jutsu. Unlike clans in Konoha, these people don’t have the versatility, and like ninja from other major villages who specialize in the elemental jutsu of their surroundings.

Sunagakure—wind jutsu, Iwagakure—earth jutsu, Kumogakure—lightning jutsu. Similarly, Konoha ninja specialized in fire jutsu. Since most present there were civilian ninja, they all had their specialty in fire jutsu, along with two clan ninja, who also specialized in the same.

In the sea surrounded by water all around them, this is the worst element to fight with, as they have to convert much more chakra to produce fire from chakra, while the enemy could use the water surrounding them for their jutsu. But if the enemy is just some chunin level ninja, there was no need for worry even with this advantage.

While they were discussing these things, a ninja went down to bring all of the team to the deck, while escorting others to the cabins inside the ship. They can’t let them out, otherwise any stray attack may kill them.

Taizen came to the deck as soon as he heard the mention of the pirates. He saw everyone looking toward a tiny dot in the sea, which was growing swiftly.

"What’s the report?" he asked.

"Kaida spotted the ship heading our way and went to the top to confirm something. From what we can see, they’re coming straight for us, so it’s safe to say they’re not just some random travelers," Fushiro said.

Taizen looked toward the main shaft of the ship, where Kaida was present. He could see that the boy was looking towards the ship intensely.

Then suddenly he vanished from his position, appearing right next to him.

"Captain, that is a pirate ship. There are many normal pirates on the ship, but the main danger is 12 ninja present on the ship. From this far, I can only guess their relative strength. Ten of them are chunin level ninja, while the rest two are Jonin.

All of them are in chaos, but I can see some semblance of order among the ninja, like they are trained soldiers trying to pose as pirates," Kaida gave his report. In his eyes, three tomoe were still rotating, giving a feeling of intimidation to the leader, even though Kaida was not even targeting him. Though Kaida could easily ’see’ that and deactivated his Sharingan.

"Two Jonin, huh? This could get ugly if not handled well," Taizen said. Even though they had more jonin, and if this was a land fight, he wouldn’t even have given this a second thought, but in the sea, things change.

They not only have to fight against the enemy but also protect the ship, unless they want to take responsibility for loss of millions worth of goods which will get submerged in the sea with the ship.

"Captain, if they come near us, we will have no chance of saving the ship. They have more ninja than us. We can’t protect this big ship with just 9 of us.

If we want to have a winning chance, we have to keep the fight as far from the ship as possible," Fushiro said, the strategy which could work if they want to save the ship from any harm.

"I know this, but we already have the terrain disadvantage. If we even left this boat and went to sea to fight, the odds will be highly against us, and I don’t want to lose any of my ninja to some f**king pirates," Taizen said, trying very hard to think of a solution for this situation.

"Captain, can I suggest something?" Kaida asked.

"...Yes, Kaida, if you have any good solution, then please," Taizen said, massaging his forehead.

"Umm, how about..."

"..."

"..."

Kaida explained his plan in short to all of the Jonin on the ship.

"Are you crazy? There is no way in hell I am going to agree to this. This plan is beyond risky," Taizen said.

"Kaida, it is easy to let the power get to your head when you get it so early. I don’t even remember how many young talents I have seen dying because of this," Fushiro said.

"I know about my capabilities, everyone. That’s why I have shared this plan. Also, if anything goes wrong, I can always run back, though this would lead to us having to fight them on this ship. Hmm, that will lead to some damage... Well, I will take full responsibility. Then any damage to the ship will be provided by my family," Kaida said.

"Leaving behind the topic that you have so much money and still here, you can’t expect us to believe that you will be able to run away from so many ninja. If they try hard enough, even all of us combined will have a hard time against them," Taizen said.

"Hahaha, Taizen-san, look like I have to prove myself to you. Well, let’s say if all of you can stop me from going to the sea, then I will not follow this plan, and we can go with the one you come up with," Kaida said.

"What type of childish joke are you thinking you are making? This is the time where the life of everyone present here is at ris—"

"They are coming very fast, and I don’t want to waste time explaining myself again and again. I was chosen by Lord Third and Shikaku-san because I am capable," Kaida cut off the Jonin who was the most tense one in the group, while also the youngest. It was understandable why he was so on edge, but the ship was closing the distance very fast, and they didn’t have time for this.

"Fine, Kaida, you can follow through your plan, but make sure to fall back at the first sign of danger," Taizen said.

"Sure, captain," Kaida said and vanished from his position.

"Are you sure that was a good idea?" Fushiro asked.

"I don’t know, but that boy had made up his mind, and I am sure nobody here would have been able to stop him... without some injuries, and I don’t want that in this situation. Also, there should be some strength behind all that confidence, right?" Taizen said as he went to the telescope mounted on the ship to see what was happening on the other side.

...

Ryuga was sitting on the captain’s seat of the ship, while Kurohime was managing last-minute preparation for the attack. They both were Jonin from Mizukage’s faction.

Since the war had started, their funds have kept on dwindling, so their faction had to take some unsavory missions which they wouldn’t even think of in the past.

One of it was posing as pirates and eliminating a merchant. This would have been a mission easy enough to fall on a chunin, but that merchant had good ties with Konoha, which means he will have a good security force with him as well.

That’s why a highly specialized team for such a mission was formed, and they had been sent to the sea. If not for the pay to be this good, Kirigakure wouldn’t have taken this mission at all. Fighting Konoha ninja, even in water, never resulted in good.

They were sure some of them would die today, but even then, they were ready for the fight. With this, they could have enough money to focus on the rebels for quite some time, rather than wasting their manpower in missions.

Just when Ryuga was thinking all this, a ninja came to his cabin.

"Sir, a Konoha ninja is approaching the ship with a white flag in his hand. He looks like a thirteen or fourteen-year-old boy. What should we do?"

"?" Ryuga couldn’t believe what he was hearing. Konoha trying to evade a fight? But why? Are they not prepared for a fight, or is this a trap?

"Is he alone?" he asked.

"Yes sir, we have checked thoroughly. He is totally alone. He is saying he just wants to discuss a peaceful alternative to a fight."

"Fine, don’t bring him on the ship. I will talk to him in the sea," Ryuga said, not wanting to take any risk.

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