It has been a week since Yukina started training with Zabuza under Juzo.
Yukina has made significant progress while training under Juzo; her taijutsu, shurikenjutsu, kenjutsu, physical strength, and water change in chakra nature have improved tremendously.
In the past week, Juzo ordered Yukina to wear weights on her limbs to enhance her strength, as her body is still not strong enough to handle the stress of her jutsu.
So Yukina started wearing weights around each of her limbs all the time except when she was sleeping or bathing.
When Juzo discovered that Yukina hadn't named her jutsu yet, he proposed a name for her afterimage jutsu: "the Phantom Step jutsu."
Yukina liked the name a lot, so she decided to name her movement-based jutsu "the phantom step jutsu."
In the past week, Yukina read all the chakra theories books, ninjutsu theories books, and hand seals theories books in Fuguki's library.
After she read these books, Yukina discovered that she possessed a photographic memory because she only needed to read them once to remember every word in them.
She was overjoyed with this discovery because her photographic memory will be a major help for her to achieve one of her goals, which is mastering every jutsu in this world.
So after reading and studying these books, she started working on mastering the jutsus that Fuguki taught her.
It took Yukina only one day to master Fuguki's jutsus.
After mastering Fuguki's jutsus, she started working on inventing variants of it.
Yukina was enjoying her time inventing variants of Fuguki's jutsu. She had never imagined that inventing jutsu could be so enjoyable.
It took Yukina only two days to invent three variants of Fuguki's jutsus and mastered them.
She decided to name these three jutsu: Ninja Art Wolf Fang, Ninja Art Steel Hair Shield, and Ninja Art Steel Hair Binding Wires.
In this past week, Yukina also mastered the first and the second exercises in water change in chakra nature.
To master the second exercise in water change in chakra nature, Yukina needs to create a whirlpool using only her chakra on the lake.
Right now Yukina is working on the third exercise of water change in chakra nature.
In the third exercise, Yukina needed to stop the water flow of a running river using only her chakra.
A clone of Juzo was sitting on the ground not far away, observing Yukina carefully.
Yukina attempted to stop the water flow in the river many times, but she always failed in her attempts no matter how many times she tried.
Suddenly Juzo said to Yukina, "Yukina, that is enough for today. You have been training for 4 hours. Go home and rest."
Yukina looked at Juzo and asked, "Sensei, the first two exercises weren't that hard, but this one is quite difficult. How come?"
Juzo rolled his eyes upon hearing those words and responded to Yukina's question, "Girl, you are underestimating the change in chakra nature."
"This is an advanced chakra control exercise. Some shinobi need years of training to master their affinity; however, it only took you a week to master the two exercises, which is quite an impressive feat, girl."
"Your problem is you are not releasing a large amount of water chakra. You will only be able to stop the water flow of this river if you release a large amount of water chakra in an instant."
After hearing this, Yukina nodded her head in understanding. Juzo then waved his hand and ordered Yukina, "Go home, girl; you need to rest. You are still young; you don't need to rush things."
Yukina sighed upon hearing this. She nodded her head, then bowed to Juzo and started walking back towards Fuguki's house.
_____
With Fuguki
After arriving at the Land of Whirlpool, Fuguki and his teammates entered the Uzushiogakure ruins and began exploring.
Fuguki unsealed the bottle of blood from one of the scrolls that the Mizukage gave him, and he started drawing sealing formulas on the ground using the blood.
After he finished drawing the sealing formulas, Fuguki started executing a long series of hand seals.
He clapped his hands together after he finished executing the hand seals and muttered.
"Uzumaki Sealing Art: Hidden Barrier Detection Jutsu."
In the next moment, the sealing runes on the ground started merging together and they formed a bright crimson ball.
"SWISH."
The bright crimson ball shot to the sky at incredible speed, like a missile, and then it flew in a certain direction, like a shooting star.
"SWISH."
Fuguki swiftly pursued the bright crimson ball at his maximum speed, and his teammates, upon witnessing his pursuit, swiftly followed suit.
_____
Not far away from Uzushiogakure
A medium-sized ship was sailing near Uzushiogakure.
10 IWA shinobi were on board the ship.
Some IWA shinobi were eating, drinking, or organizing weapons, while others chatted with each other.
A woman in her twenties was impatiently tapping her foot on the ship's deck and began complaining loudly to her teammate, who was standing next to her, "Shingo, we have been here for a couple of weeks doing nothing but sailing aimlessly. Why did that old geezer send us here? Our comrades are battling against those Konoha scum, and we are here sailing aimlessly. You better give us an explanation right now."
When the other IWA shinobi heard the woman question, they turned their heads towards the duo and listened carefully to their conversation.
The woman had short brown hair, brown eyes, fair skin, a curvaceous body, and a charming face.
She was wearing the traditional IWA shinobi attire.
Her name is Aimi; she is a Chunin-rank Kunoichi.
Shingo sighed after hearing Aimi's question, and when he saw his comrades looking at him and waiting for his answer, he decided to respond to her inquiry, "We are looking for a rogue ninja." Tsuchikage-sama told me to recruit him. He believes that the third ninja war will be upon us soon."
Aimi and the IWA shinobi who were listening to Shingo widened their eyes in disbelief upon hearing his answer.
Shingo was an average-looking man in his thirties; he had an average face, brown hair, brown eyes, tanned skin, and a muscular physique.
He was wearing IWA shinobi attire; he is a Jounin-rank shinobi.
Aimi quickly regained her senses and yelled at Shingo, "Is that old geezer insane? That rogue ninja betrayed his village, and if he joined us, he would surely betray us too."
Shingo sighed after hearing Aimi's words, then looked at her as if she were an idiot and replied, "Do you truly believe that Tsuchikage-sama would extend an invitation for a rogue ninja to join our village?"
Aimi got confused after hearing Shingo's statement, prompting Shingo to continue, "The rogue ninja we are seeking is Kakuzu, a defector from the Waterfall Village. Tsuchikage-sama told me that Kakuzu is willing to do anything for money."
"He undertook many missions from small villages for the right price. Tsuchikage-sama aims to recruit him to assist us against Konoha."
"Tsuchikage-sama also told me that Kakuzu is quite strong; he will be an asset to us in the upcoming war."
Aimi's eyes brightened upon hearing this and she asked Shingo, "How strong is this Kakuzu fellow?"
Shingo shook his head when he heard her question and said, "No idea; Tsuchikage-sama didn't tell me."
Suddenly, Shingo, Aimi, and the rest of their comrades noticed a bright crimson ball soaring to the sky at remarkable speed.
All those shinobi on board the ship were shocked when they saw the bright crimson ball. They all raised their heads and watched the bright crimson ball with fascination.
The bright crimson ball then shifted its course and descended toward the Uzushiogakure ruins, resembling a meteor.
Shingo narrowed his eyes when he saw the bright crimson ball and thought, "What was that? Could this be Kakuzu's jutsu?"
Aimi looked at Shingo and asked, "What the hell was that, Shingo?"
Shingo shook his head and answered Aimi calmly, "No idea, Aimi, but we better go and check it out. This might be Kakuzu's jutsu."
All his teammates nodded their heads in agreement, and they started sailing toward Uzushiogakure.
________
With Fuguki
Fuguki and his teammates relentlessly pursued the bright crimson ball at their maximum speed.
The bright crimson ball abruptly descends from the sky towards a tall tower in the ruins at a dangerous speed.
"BOOM."
When the bright crimson ball hit the tower, the cracks on the tower increased until they filled the tower, causing the roof to collapse.
Fuguki's teammates stopped in front of the tower upon witnessing what happened to it.
Raiga stood next to Fuguki. He smiled and asked Fuguki, "Are the Uzumaki clan scrolls hidden here?"
Fuguki nodded his head to Raiga and said, "It must be; the sealing jutsu I just execute belonged to the Uzumaki clan; it detects any hidden barriers in the vicinity."
There is a barrier around this tower; we should be cautious. We don't know this barrier's properties or if there are traps inside the tower.
All his teammates nodded to Fuguki in agreement; however, Raiga scoffed when he heard this and he ignored Fuguki's warning.
Raiga then started walking towards the tower without any concern.
Fuguki's eyebrows twitched when he saw Raiga's actions; he opened his mouth and was about to yell at him.
However, Fuguki widened his eyes when he saw Raiga hit an invisible barrier; then Raiga was sent flying away from the tower with incredible force.
"SWISH."
"COUGH."
Raiga fell harshly on the ground and started coughing out blood from his mouth; then he yelled loudly and started cursing, "Damn it, what the fuck was that?"
Fuguki and the rest of Kiri shinobi were stunned as they watched what just happened.
In the next moment, Fuguki and the rest of his teammates saw a visible orange barrier start forming around the tower.
Fuguki narrowed his eyes when he saw the orange barrier. He then grabbed a shuriken from his pouch and threw it at the barrier.
"SWISH."
When the shuriken hit the barrier, it caused it to ripple back at Fuguki three times faster.
"SWISH."
Fuguki bent his body in an unnatural way and dodged the shuriken.
Raiga and the rest of the Kiri Shinobi widen their eyes in surprise when they see this, but Fuguki ignores them.
He quickly grabbed four sealing tags from his pouch and tossed them in the air.
Fuguki then started executing a series of hand seals.
After he finished executing the hand seals, the sealing tags flew towards the orange barrier, and they stuck at the four corners.
Fuguki then clapped his hands together and yelled loudly.
"KAI."
The orange barrier surrounding the tower began to rapidly dim until it completely vanished.
Fuguki then yelled at the Kiri shinobi, saying, "Let's move; these sealing tags will only negate the barrier for a couple of minutes."
Raiga and the rest of his teammates nodded their heads to Fuguki in understanding, and they quickly entered the tower.