On the fishing fleet's ship, Makoto said, "The mission you entrusted to Konoha has already been completed. However, we still have other matters to handle, so we may not return to the Land of Fish for a few more days."
Seeing that the hidden danger had been resolved, the fishing town official was overjoyed. "Thank you very much for your help, honored ninja. I will prepare the official completion documents. You can come and collect them later."
"Then I'll trouble you with that. Also, over the next few days, you can search around and check whether there are any remaining dangers in this sea area. If there are, we'll deal with them all at once when the time comes."
"That's wonderful. As expected of Konoha, the strongest ninja village in the world—you've thought of everything so thoroughly."
This was precisely why Konoha had a fairly good reputation across the ninja world. Upholding the First Hokage's ideals, while they wouldn't act like naive do-gooders, whenever they saw ordinary people in trouble, they were always willing to lend a hand.
After that, Makoto added, "Could I trouble you to find some veteran fishermen for me? I have a few things I'd like to ask."
"Of course. Please wait a moment."
The official immediately made arrangements and quickly gathered five elderly fishermen from the fleet.
Makoto asked, "Do any of you know which direction those sea monsters came from?"
The five men exchanged glances and all shook their heads. One of the old fishermen replied, "About five years ago, the fishing grounds we usually worked in occasionally started seeing some strange large fish. Fortunately, they weren't too dangerous."
"But around half a year ago, those large fish disappeared, and were replaced by groups of sharks that could spray water, as well as octopus-like sea monsters. But no one knows where they came from."
"I see… Around the Land of Fish, or perhaps near the northeastern Land of Sea, are there any islands with lots of large creatures?"
"Sorry, honored ninja. There are none near the Land of Fish. The Land of Sea is too far—we rarely go there, so we don't know."
Makoto thought for a moment, recalling what he knew about Summoning Island, and finally asked, "Are there many volcanoes in this sea region? I mean active volcanoes."
At this point, another elderly fisherman, after thinking for a moment, replied, "There aren't any volcanoes on the islands around the Land of Fish. But about forty years ago, I heard from a sailor that in the southern waters of the Land of Sea, on a certain large island, there was a terrifying volcanic eruption."
"I heard there were quite a few residents living there originally, but after the eruption, all the survivors moved away."
After some explanation from Makoto, the old fisherman pointed out an approximate location on a high-precision ninja map.
Having obtained important intelligence, the four of them boarded a wooden boat created by Yamato, bringing along some fresh water and food supplies provided by the officials, and quickly departed.
This was the advantage of having Yamato around—whether you needed a boat or a house, he could just casually craft one on the spot using Wood Release.
The people of the Land of Fish were completely stunned when they saw someone conjure a wooden boat out of thin air.
Ninjutsu… was it really this magical? If that masked guy opened a shipbuilding factory, wouldn't he make a fortune effortlessly?
...
Ninja were jacks-of-all-trades—they had to learn everything. Sailing was nothing to them.
Along the way, Hayate and the others had no objections to searching for an island with large creatures.
If something could create ninja beasts capable of using chakra, then even if the people behind it weren't ninja themselves, the organization must have been founded by ninja.
And Orochimaru just happened to enjoy this kind of research. So his laboratory was very likely located on such an island, which didn't conflict with their mission.
The reasoning was sound. The only problem was—they had no idea that their captain wasn't actually looking for Orochimaru at all.
Yūgao asked, "Hey, Makoto, why are you specifically looking for islands with active volcanoes? How does that relate to our mission?"
Because the only clue I know about Summoning Island is that it has an active volcano.
Of course, Makoto wouldn't say that. Instead, he asked seriously, "Let me ask you this—if you were to build a large laboratory, aside from funding and equipment, what's the most important thing?"
"Researchers?"
"That's important too, but the most important thing is energy. You need a stable and sufficient power supply, you idiot. If a laboratory wants to remain hidden for a long time without being discovered, geothermal power generation is an excellent option."
"Eh? Is that so?"
Hayate nodded. "Now that you put it that way, it does make sense."
Yamato added, "I learned something today. So if you can't find a breakthrough from a ninja's perspective, you can analyze it from a civilian infrastructure angle instead."
Makoto sighed inwardly, grateful that the ninja world wasn't entirely primitive. Although some rural areas looked archaic, the overall technological foundation of the world wasn't actually backward.
The vast ocean stretched endlessly. Even with Makoto using Water Release and Wind Release to greatly increase the boat's speed, and occasionally flying up into the sky to scout, it still took the four of them two days to reach their destination.
Along the way, he never sensed the presence of that shark at all. It seemed that creature wasn't the type to return home—or perhaps it didn't originate from Summoning Island at all, but had wandered over from Kirigakure's waters.
In the vast sea lay a fragmented cluster of islands, spaced closely together. At the center, on the main island, a mountain occasionally emitted a wisp of black smoke.
Flying in the air, Makoto observed the island cluster and noticed that many of the island edges matched up.
Originally, these islands should have been a single landmass. Most likely, a volcanic eruption combined with a powerful earthquake shattered the entire island, creating the current layout.
Much of the central island was barren, clearly showing the destructive power of that past eruption.
As they steered the wooden boat closer, Hayate looked at the giant birds occasionally taking flight within the island cluster and said, "This should be the place. It's rare to find such a dense population of large animals elsewhere."
At that moment, near the shoreline forest, a massive purple-patterned spider flashed past, but didn't notice the sudden human intruders.
As a girl, Yūgao was especially afraid of such things. "Hey, did you see that? That spider was way too big, right? It looks really dangerous."
Yamato reassured her, "We're ninja—what are you afraid of? These animals just look big. Their strength probably isn't anything special. Otherwise, Kumo ninja would've already come and taken them."
Yūgao: "…"
You make a very good point—I can't even argue with that.
This area was relatively close to the Land of Lightning. If these creatures were truly powerful, those battle-hungry brutes definitely wouldn't have missed the chance to capture them.
...
After hiding the boat in a concealed location, Makoto descended from the sky.
Hayate asked, "Did you find anything?"
"This area is indeed uninhabited—completely barren. There are large summoning beasts everywhere. Only near the central volcano are there human-built structures, and they look like they were constructed in recent years. I think the laboratory must be there."
"Then let's start gathering intel from there."
Under Makoto's lead, the four concealed their presence, avoided the large animals scattered everywhere, and quickly reached the central structure. After a brief investigation, they infiltrated into the interior of the active volcano.
The laboratory that produced summoning beasts was built inside a hollowed-out mountain.
Dangerous—but it provided an endless supply of geothermal energy for power generation.
There weren't many personnel—fewer than twenty in total.
Aside from seven researchers, there were four logistics staff responsible for daily needs, and two squads of ninja serving as security.
These ninja bore no obvious village insignia. Based on their chakra signatures, Makoto judged that their strength was fairly ordinary.
From a rock cavern within the mountain above the laboratory, the four hid and carefully observed the researchers below.
They were gathered around a massive pool, recording and observing something.
The pool was filled with an unknown liquid. Inside it lay a gigantic hairless creature of indeterminate species, asleep. Its facial features even showed traces of human resemblance. It was grotesque beyond words, yet radiated a powerful, sinister aura.
There were no ethical restrictions in the ninja world. These researchers dared to do anything in the name of study.
Makoto sensed that the creature's mental fluctuations were extremely chaotic—filled with primal urges to kill and devour.
It could wake up at any moment. Yet the researchers seemed completely unaware.
Hayate and the others felt that while the style of this laboratory differed from the one they had previously raided belonging to Orochimaru, what these people were doing was very much in line with his methods.
Unfortunately, after half a day of patient observation, they still hadn't seen Orochimaru.
Instead, they unexpectedly spotted a girl with striking crimson hair.
Yūgao pointed below and whispered, "Hey, hey… that kind of hair color… is she from Kushina-senpai's clan?"
Makoto sensed her chakra and replied, "Judging from her chakra signature—yes."
"That's unexpected. We didn't find Orochimaru, but we discovered an Uzumaki instead. So, Captain… should we bring her back to Konoha?"
"Look at how she talks with those researchers—their relationship seems quite good. Why would she follow us back to Konoha? Are we supposed to abduct her by force?"
"Ah? Then… do we just ignore her?"
Makoto smiled faintly. "No. We just wait. These people are about to run into trouble."
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