Konoha's Mission Master

Yakumo drew his Fuma and continued to sink... This place was only a few hundred meters away from the sunken ship, where some... red, exploding fish lived.

He had witnessed firsthand how those small red fish blasted the great sharks that had invaded their territory, tearing them apart with blood and flesh... But the most amazing thing was that the temperature was close to thirty degrees Celsius, as if there was a huge heat source on the seabed.

As soon as the three entered the area, the small red fish appeared. Their bodies emitted a faint red glow, like fireflies the size of a thumb, beautiful yet deadly.

"So cute...it must taste delicious."

Masako Mori exclaimed, "What a glutton!"

These little red fish gather together, like red ribbons dancing freely in the surging seawater.

"These fish can explode, and with considerable force."

Yakumo sent a golden arc of electricity about five meters forward. The red fish that touched the arc immediately began to explode, and a chain reaction of seawater shockwaves blasted out a series of cavities.

The number of these small fish was enormous, and as the sound of explosions spread through the seawater, even more exploding small fish gathered from afar.

The existence of this fish is illogical. Although all life experiences death, very few lives exist with the purpose of instantly detonating their enemies and perishing together.

This creature possesses the characteristics of a weapon, like a biological weapon.

Suddenly, the small red fish surged even more frantically towards Yakumo and the others, like fearless soldiers.

Yakumo manipulated the surrounding seawater to accelerate, breaking through the territory of the exploding small fish that was tens of meters wide. After discovering that Yakumo had left their territory, the fish turned their attack on Yuuki Chiyuki.

Yougu Qianxue, on the other hand, released death energy to drive it away.

A few minutes later, the three passed safely...

Masako Mori was not resentful about Yakumo's abandonment. She knew that Yakumo was training her to react to danger under the safest possible conditions.

"If my senses are correct, there should be no danger ahead, but... everyone should still be careful." Yakumo drew his Fuma sword and held it in his right hand. He had a feeling that this shipwreck gave off a rather ominous feeling.

It wasn't dangerous, but it was somewhat oppressive.

Three hundred meters, two hundred meters, only one hundred meters left to the seabed.

The three proceeded cautiously and continued their descent.

With a soft pop, as if their bodies had passed through some kind of barrier, the three of them fell rapidly, and there was no seawater around them at all.

This is clearly unreasonable!

This is the seabed, how could there be... no seawater?

Yakumo looked up and saw a strange barrier that completely blocked the seawater, but allowed the human body to pass through freely.

Here, on the seabed, only Yakumo himself serves as a source of light.

The three landed on the ground, but the seabed was not normal mud and sand. Instead, it was a flat area made of bluestone piled up and covered with moss. The environment here was somewhat humid, but still within the range that the human body could tolerate.

Not far away were those shipwrecks. Only when viewed up close did one realize that the ships were very ancient in style, as if they were creations from a thousand years ago, and the craftsmanship was much rougher than that of today.

The shipwrecks in the distance are linked together, forming a huge black shadow, but it is unknown whether some demons or monsters are hidden within them.

Yakumo stepped forward, leading the two closer to the sunken ship. So what if there were demons and monsters? It would only be a matter of two or three slashes.

"There are enemies," Yakumo warned.

"Ding."

The sound of clashing weapons rang out, and the attackers turned out to be four male snake-people, who were preparing to attack in a square formation.

But they had been dead for a long time... only their bodies remained uncorrupted, and under the influence of some kind of energy, they were completely revived.

Their bodies were covered in ancient armor, and their weapons were of varying quality. They moved swiftly along the ground using their two-meter-long snake tails.

Yougu Qianxue, fighting against four opponents alone, gradually lost ground.

But this was just the beginning. The snake-people who had been lying on the ground suddenly revived and attacked Yakumo with their weapons. Unfortunately, their movements were clumsy and their use of power was rather straightforward... Clearly, they had forgotten the combat techniques they once knew.

"Let me do it."

Mori Masako put on her gloves and charged toward the enemy with incredible speed.

Yakumo created shadow clones to continue the exploration.

With a single slash, You Gu Qianxue cleaved the snake-man in front of her in two, but a dense black aura spread from both sides of her body, quickly closing back together.

It was as if it had never been split open... nor had it ever been injured.

The same goes for Masako Mori next to her. Even though her extreme violence can shatter the bones of her enemies and even tear their bodies to pieces, they will still be revived with the help of the dark energy.

"These people are already dead, the key is the black aura!"

Yakumo reminded Yuuki Chiyuki, and on his advice... black death flames covered the blade.

This time, when he struck the enemy, although he still couldn't injure them, their strength began to decline rapidly.

After the fifteenth slaying, the enemy's body did not emit black mist, but instead fell straight down... quickly turning into bones, and then into ashes under the influence of a gentle breeze.

After Yukotsu Chiyuki defeated the enemy, she immediately rushed over to help Mori Masako. After an initial period of adjustment, the two became very well-coordinated.

Mori Masako was responsible for destroying the outer defenses, while Yukotsu Chiyuki used the Deathly Netherfire to ignite... the black energy. The two of them used the same method to completely defeat all the snake-people warriors.

"I have two pieces of news, one good and one bad."

"Hurry up...tell us all at once, I'm so excited to smash all the remaining monsters." Mori Masako was slightly injured in the previous battle, but instead became even more eager to fight. Although her bloodline disease had been cured, the constitution that made her more excited the more pain she felt had not disappeared.

"The bad news is that those were just small fry; there are still elite monsters and stronger monsters to come. The good news is... there aren't many elite monsters."

"These are two pieces of good news."

Masako Mori began to walk towards the sunken ship, and the two quickly followed.

The three men's actions successfully awakened the elite monsters, which were several taller snake-men located on the outer side of the shipwreck.

Their weapons were all long, some nearly 140 centimeters long, others were machetes around two meters long, and one of the snake people was carrying an iron hammer.

His muscles exude power.

After the battle began, Yakumo discovered that these enemies could anticipate their opponents' attacks, which was a habit caused by residual Observation Haki within them.

Yakumo remained an observer, letting the two push their limits in actual combat, while he became even more suspicious of... some hidden truth behind this shipwreck.

Why are these powerful beings trapped at the bottom of the sea? Are they trying to escape some kind of force? And why were they transformed into weapons to block invaders after their deaths?

The only thing Yakumo was certain of was that these people would never cause a shipwreck due to a maritime disaster, because these linked ships needed to be somewhat dilapidated, but perfectly intact.

This doesn't match the scene Yakumo observed with his Soul Eye, but he believes the answer lies hidden inside the shipwreck.

At this point, the battle was nearing its end. Two of the four elite monsters had already fallen, and it was only a matter of time before the remaining two also fell.

Death energy is truly a very domineering form of energy.

Five minutes later, the battle ended.

The sunken ship, dozens of meters away, began to shake irregularly, then cracked open and, under the influence of some kind of energy, spewed towards the three of them like countless sharp swords.

Yakumo wielded the Fuma sword, and the two shockwaves collided, turning the wooden blocks into wood chips that flew wildly beneath the air barrier, accompanied by thick white smoke that rose and spread.

Then came a second miniature explosion, sending countless pieces of wood flying everywhere. Yakumo was certain... that some ancient life was awakening.

The golden light diffused to block the spreading wood chips.

A gaunt human figure slowly emerged from the smoke and dust.

He was the source of that black energy and should have died long ago... but now he was in a strange state of being half-dead and half-alive. His face had many black patterns, like extremely condensed black energy marks, and even his eyes were pure black, his dark eyes looking at the three of them.

That look in his eyes was very strange.

It's about reminiscing, and also about longing.

It was surprise, and it was also anger.

It was hostility, but also curiosity.

He opened his mouth and spoke, which Yakumo couldn't understand... but through his senses, he seemed to be asking a question.

Yakumo: "What are you asking!?"

…………

PS: Requesting monthly votes.

Chapter 326 Proof of Hegemony: Taking Stock of the Gains

The deep sea, within the unknown barrier.

The two sides faced each other silently, the atmosphere in the air was extremely tense, but Yakumo knew very well... that was the resurrected, gaunt old man, and time was very limited!

After realizing that Yakumo couldn't understand him, the gaunt old man stopped speaking.

"The last shipwreck has a few wooden crates; that's your target, his treasure... I'll hold off the old man."

In the explosion, almost all the sunken ships were used by the old man as weapons to probe and attack the three of them, except for the sunken ship in the deepest part, which remained unharmed.

That shipwreck was where the wooden crates were stored.

“Okay.” Yukotsu Chiyuki and Mori Masako began to act.

The three worked together to rush towards the sunken ship behind them. The gaunt old man did not launch an attack, but stood still, letting the bodies of the group rush towards the sunken ship behind them.

Yakumo gripped his long sword and walked up to the gaunt old man, listening to him utter incomprehensible words, while his body gradually withered away, like shattered porcelain, turning into ashes piece by piece.

The old man's eyes held a hint of sadness, a resentment that had faded, but no longer anger.

He had determined that the three were human, not those smelly animals.

This is a slow, but irreversible, process of dying.

Clearly, he had been dead for a long time, only briefly revived through the power of a Devil Fruit. This revival was extremely short-lived, and he had even lost the ability to fight.

Yakumo hesitated, mainly out of curiosity. Why would this old man use a Devil Fruit to temporarily revive himself? Were those snake people pursuers whom he had killed, or were they his subordinates from a thousand years ago?

"You seem disappointed?" Yakumo asked.

As a result, the gaunt old man spoke again in a way that was difficult to understand.

"never mind."

Yakumo shook his head and walked toward the last shipwreck. Behind him, the gaunt old man was collapsing at an increasingly rapid pace. Let him take his secret and be forever sealed at the bottom of the sea.

If the Yin-Yang Seal is combined with the Impure Earth Reincarnation technique, he might be able to resurrect this old man in some sense and find a historian who understands ancient languages ​​to translate it.

This would unlock the secrets of the shipwreck, but there's no need for it.