It was a beautiful day with a cloudless blue sky.
Fujiwara Island, located on the edge of the Land of Water, welcomed the busiest day in its history.
Looking down from a high altitude, all kinds of ships such as steamships, sailing ships, and rafts filled the sea area within a radius of one kilometer.
The island was crowded with people, just like the situation in tourist attractions during the Golden Week in Haruki's previous life.
Kakuzu had already gone inside the maze.
On the other hand, Haruki quietly blended into the crowd.
He wasn't in a hurry.
He looked around, searching for his lucky one.
Suddenly, a commotion arose on the island.
Haruki looked up and saw it was Yagura Karatachi from Kiri.
As a well - known ninja in the Land of Water, his arrival caused a stir among the surrounding crowd.
Unconsciously, the minds of many people who had come to watch the excitement changed.
In the Land of Water, Kiri was undoubtedly an authority.
Yagura Karatachi didn't say a word.
He knew that speaking at this moment would be self - contradictory.
A smile suddenly appeared on Haruki's lips.
Behind Yagura Karatachi were six Anbu ninjas wearing masks.
But he noticed something wrong with one of them.
In his eyes, the one at the rear was a little girl around seven or eight years old.
It was the Transformation Jutsu.
And her long, curly reddish - brown hair almost completely exposed her identity.
Terumi Mei.
The future Fifth Mizukage, a mature and beautiful woman, was no less famous than Tsunade in the hearts of many Naruto fans.
But at this moment, she was just a little girl.
Haruki instantly decided that his goal was Terumi Mei.
She was young and would be the future Mizukage.
He glanced around, quickly formed Hand Seals with both hands, and in less than half a second, everything returned to calm.
The ground under Haruki's feet began to shake.
"Earthquake?"
"What's going on?"
"Everyone, be careful!"
The crowd was in an uproar.
But the shaking didn't stop. Instead, it became more and more intense.
Some weak ninjas quickly retreated to the sea.
But before they could catch their breath, they saw huge waves rising from the sea as if something was emerging.
Some people put up Chakra barriers.
The waves hit the island, causing cracks to appear on the ground.
The sound of gushing water was continuous.
Bubbles kept rising on the vast sea surface.
A few minutes later, the bulging part suddenly burst, revealing a bottomless hole.
The air was quiet for three or four seconds.
Then there was the sound of something breaking through the air.
Countless ninjas rushed towards the hole.
A middle - aged man who arrived first was overjoyed. He was fast and close, so he was the first one.
But the smile was still on his face when the passage suddenly filled with fog, and a long sword made of seawater pierced through his heart at an extremely fast speed.
The spurted blood stained a small pool of water.
"Damn it!"
"There's a Booby Trap!"
"Water Release: Wild Water Wave"
Ninjutsu and screams were intertwined in the fog, and the blood red gradually spread.
Yagura Karatachi frowned and shouted, "All those below Chunin rank, withdraw! Don't waste your lives."
After saying that, regardless of whether they obeyed him or not, he led six Anbu members and rushed straight to the cave bottom.
The place was damp.
Yagura Karatachi's eyes sharpened. He extended his Sensor ability, but there was no sign of danger.
He waved his hand and continued moving forward.
The passage was dark yet spacious enough for a dozen people to walk abreast.
But they didn't walk for long before they reached the end.
"What's this then?"
Yagura Karatachi saw the bronze gate in the middle.
There were reliefs engraved inside the door.
He glanced at them. It was the story of [One Piece] that had been passed down.
The background was a gigantic tree.
It had neither branches nor leaves, just a trunk.
The roots firmly grasped the ground, forming a huge pit.
Going up along the trunk, there was a purple - tinged fruit emitting a faint divine light.
Clouds surrounded it.
The whole picture looked extremely dreamy yet desolate.
Yagura Karatachi was in a daze for a moment. For some reason, he always felt as if this tree was real.
Within a short minute, a dozen more people walked in.
Like Yagura Karatachi, they saw the bronze gate and the picture at first sight.
The atmosphere gradually became tense.
"Could it actually be real?"
Someone couldn't hold back the question in their heart and blurted it out.
Haruki was also among them. Hearing this, he smiled.
It was worth all the trouble he had taken.
But this was just the beginning. He looked at Yagura Karatachi.
Haruki had set up some interesting things on the bronze gate.
He knew that Yagura Karatachi and the others didn't really believe it, but what if they encountered unimaginable resistance?
There's a saying, things that come too easily seem too false. To cherish something, you have to make it seem hard - won.
After the brief exclamation, everyone turned their attention to the bronze gate.
"Lord Yagura, do you have any ideas?"
"None."
Yagura Karatachi glanced at the person who spoke. It was a Jonin from the Mist Village, but he was from another ninja clan and didn't get along well with the Mizukage's faction.
"Hey, since that's how it is, let me have a go."
The young man strode quickly towards the gate. Chakra roared out as he formed Hand Seals with both hands.
Two whips made of water wrapped around the door rings, then suddenly straightened and pulled outward.
The powerful force made the gate tremble.
Seeing this, the young man increased his Chakra output.
The gate slowly opened.
Then a colossal creature appeared in front of everyone.
It had a body like crystal and ten tails. After being awakened, it suddenly opened its mouth.
A black sphere formed in its mouth.
It flew out in a second.
Everyone felt their scalps tingle and a chill run down their spines.
An unprecedented sense of crisis and oppression filled the entire underground space.
Yagura Karatachi's pupils contracted. He looked at the black sphere in front of him in disbelief.
This feeling was clearly that of a Tailed Beast Ball.
How was that possible?!
But he didn't have time to think. Without hesitation, he formed hand seals, and a huge amount of Chakra gushed out from his mouth.
The sound of surging water rang out.
In an instant, he was surrounded by an endless sea of water.
As he moved, it was like a torrential rain pouring down from the sky, forming a huge waterfall.
When Yagura Karatachi performed the Ninjutsu, a group of middle and high - level Jonin behind him also reacted.
All kinds of Water Release jutsus rushed towards the black sphere.
The momentum was so grand that it seemed almost invincible.
The next second, there was an earth - shattering noise, and the unbridled flood washed over everyone.
"Watch out!"
Yagura Karatachi only had time to utter two words to his subordinates before being buried by the flood.
An unimaginably huge Force knocked him flying.
His baby face was almost bloodless.
Yagura Karatachi had only witnessed such might in front of the Tailed Beast.
Those Ninja who didn't enter only heard a deafening roar.
The sea area and the island in front of them seemed to have been swept by a violent hurricane.
The water surface was boiling, and the ground was broken in the middle.
They looked at each other in horror, completely unable to imagine what had happened inside.
Then, a huge beast emerged from the sea, stirring up a tempestuous commotion in the water.
A disaster had befallen.