Over the land of lightning, the 15 ships floated for a few more minutes before they all began to move and head towards Sakai City.
On the larger ship, in the command room, a meeting was taking place between the leaders of this raid.
As commander-in-chief, Tsuji Uzumaki sat at the front of a round table and had everyone's attention as they reviewed the movements of the enemies on the ground.
Even as they were moving away from the coast where the ninjas and samurai of the land of lightning were gathered, the picture did not change.
Although they were amazed by this flying ship and didn't know how this technology worked to spy on their enemies from such a distance, many in the room didn't care and were only concerned about the merits they would gain in the next battle.
Only Tsuji was lost in his thoughts.
This state-of-the-art ship was recently unveiled, following the invasion of the four major villages on the continent, and surprised the army with its capabilities.
Although the top brass of the whirlpool country knew of the country's technological advantage compared to other countries on the continent, an advantage that made many think that the whirlpool country should conquer the world, it was the first time they had encountered such technology.
A huge ship weighing thousands of tons could not fly in the air even if hundreds of ninjas used a lightweight jutsu.
They could barely lift it a little into the air, but they couldn't make it fly from the land of the Whirlpool to here and leave it floating kilometers high.
While everyone spied on the movements of the enemies below them, Tsuji wondered how much the village's high command was hiding.
Even the third elder, who secretly supported them, knew nothing about this.
The patriarch's monstrous strength was already enough to terrify many of them, and now they find out about the existence of such ships.
Tsuji still clearly remembers the attack tests of this ship and his skin crawls just remembering it.
The commander-in-chief knew he would not survive a shot from this ship and his chances of escape were slim after witnessing the stealth capabilities of such vessels.
'Do our efforts make sense?' Tsuji wondered.
The strength of the Uzumaki patriarch did not give them much hope for their actions, and the existence of such ships almost destroyed the rest.
After all, it is known that the patriarch himself created these ships, and even if he had 15 of these machines under his command, they were not completely under his control.
They all witnessed the patriarch controlling these ships with just his mind, unlike them who needed a crew to operate it, and he could easily take control away from them at any time.
Tsuji could only think of studying the ship in secret and trying to build his own, but even that didn't guarantee they would lessen the gap with the patriarch.
After all, since the patriarch built these ships, he could also have more powerful vessels at his disposal.
Tsuji could only breathe and calm down.
Nothing good will come from getting anxious, and all I could do was be patient.
"They look like ants from here," a haughty voice said, and many in the room nodded in agreement.
Tsuji, on the other hand, could only shake his head at his son's arrogance.
Utsui Uzumaki, Tsuji's youngest son and his greatest pride.
His son reached the strength of an elite jounin at the age of 15 and he had every right to be proud, but there was a fine line between pride and arrogance and his son crossed it long ago.
Of course, Tsuji did nothing to curb that arrogance because he himself was proud of his son and he himself was also very arrogant.
Until recently, when he saw the patriarch's strength and all that arrogance vanished in seconds.
Gin Uzumaki, the patriarch of the Uzumaki clan, was someone who kept a low profile and did not get involved in the management of the country's 10 elders.
Tsuji and his companions secretly despised him because of his lazy behavior and did not believe that there should be a single supreme voice in the clan.
Although he is known for having a youthful appearance, everyone thought it was a jutsu to maintain that appearance and underestimated him.
They greatly underestimated him.
And they must have known, or at least suspected, the true strength of the patriarch because of his teaching ability.
One of the reasons the Uzumaki patriarch was underestimated was because of his libido and his habit of taking a large number of maids each year. But they must have seen in this Gin Uzumaki's potential.
If he could guide many women with little talent to become capable professionals, it was obvious that he himself was very skilled.
But no, they all just saw someone lazy and lustful and were deceived.
This made Tsuji wonder, what else is the patriarch hiding?
"Sir, we've reached the position."
The voice of one of his subordinates caught his attention and stopped his thoughts.
The projection in front of them changed to show a city, and everyone knew that this city was their target.
They were not the only ones who reached their goal.
Since the other 2 groups arrived over the city of Iwakura in the land of earth and over the city of Akizuki in the land of wind.
The three cities were in darkness while most of the population was asleep.
None of them expected an attack, and that's why they decided to wait until now to begin the operation.
"Go to your positions," Tsuji ordered.
"Yes!" they all shouted and followed the order.
While half left the room, the other half stayed and took their positions as the room transformed.
Although it was a large meeting room, it was previously very simple with a circular table in the middle and an image projected onto it.
But now, after the transformation, dozens of screens appeared filling the walls, and several hatches opened in the floor from which monitors and chairs rose.
Everyone who remained in the room took their positions in those chairs and began operating the computers in front of them.
Tsuji sat in the command chair and his hands moved.
As if understanding their intentions, the ship's computer combined several screens to form a larger one on the front wall of the command room.
With the larger screen in view, Tsuji continued moving his hands and the screen displayed the key buildings of Sakai City.
.
.
.
As a coastal city, Sakai was one of the most important cities in the Land of Lightning due to its access to the sea and its key location for trade.
Whether for trade with countries in this area of the sea, or as a key point for the distribution of resources for the whole country from the city of Sakai.
This was due to the presence of several mountains in the Land of Lightning and the scarcity of roads connecting the country. Therefore, if the cities of the Land of Lightning wanted to travel or send goods, they had to pass through the city of Sakai.
Therefore, it is not surprising that the city is heavily defended by the land of lightning.
Normally, the country's own samurai patrolled the city, and occasionally a team of ninja from the Cloud Village could also be seen joining the patrol.
But everything suddenly escalated when the invasion of the whirlpool country failed.
The defeat of thousands of allied ninjas and the emergence of a new Shinobi God alerted all countries to a possible retaliation.
The city of Sakai was one of the first to impose martial law and increase city defenses due to its strategic importance.
But when nothing happened immediately afterward, the lightning country sighed with relief and tried to start negotiations by sending diplomats to the whirlpool country seeking a truce.
But even though martial law was cancelled, the defense did not diminish in the slightest.
On the contrary, when the land of the whirlpool laid out its conditions to avoid war, the Daimyo and his court were not going to agree and prepared accordingly.
In addition to protecting their capitals and hidden village with the help of the lightning temple to create sacrificial seals, they increased the defense of their most important city, the city of Sakai.
Trapped once again under martial law, the population was angry. But because they were afraid of dying or harming their families, they remained silent.
After all, outside the city there were thousands of ninjas and samurai.
Unable to do anything, they just hoped this would end quickly.