After leaving the corridor, Sasuke did not head straight to the coast, but instead went to the Training Ground first.
(Since it's an enemy from the sea... that guy should come in handy.)
On the Training Ground, Suigetsu was idly swinging his Ninja Blade, the blade slicing through the air with a dull whistling sound. As he practiced, he was mentally planning how to ask Sasuke about the Ninja Blade later.
Suddenly, he sensed a familiar Chakra approaching. Turning his head, he saw Sasuke standing not far away, his dark eyes coldly staring at him.
(Huh? You're back so soon?)
Suigetsu's eyes lit up, and she immediately sheathed her sword, grinning as she approached. "Yo, Sasuke! What did Lord Orochimaru say? Did he agree to help me get one—"
"An enemy is coming." Sasuke interrupted him directly, his voice calm but brooking no refusal, "Come with me."
"Huh?" Suigetsu was taken aback, her smile freezing on her face. "Enemy? Enemy?"
Sasuke briefly explained, "Kabuto Yakushi just reported that an unknown enemy is lurking in the nearby seabed; we need to find him."
Suigetsu blinked, then a wide, excited smile spread across her face, "Oh! Enemies? That's great! It's been so long since I've seen a stranger!"
He rubbed his hands together, his eyes gleaming with fighting spirit. "Hidden at the bottom of the sea? Could it be another one with the same Hydrification Technique as me?"
At this point, Suigetsu suddenly remembered something and stroked her chin. "Speaking of which, I had a feeling that someone was watching me when I was at the beach... Looks like my intuition was right!"
Sasuke glanced at him. "You can sense it?"
"Hehe, after all, I'm a genius of the Hozuki Clan!" Suigetsu patted his chest proudly. "In the water, my senses are much sharper than yours!"
Sasuke didn't say anything more, turned and walked towards the shore. "Let's go, don't waste time."
"Hey, wait for me!" Suigetsu quickly caught up, her eyes gleaming with excitement. "Let me see what kind of creature it is, able to stay in the sea for so long... Could it be some kind of mutated seafood?"
Sasuke ignored his nonsense, but slowed his pace slightly to allow Suigetsu to keep up.
The two walked one after the other through the dense jungle and soon arrived at the beach at the edge of the island. Waves crashed against the rocks, and a salty sea breeze swept over them.
Suigetsu took a deep breath, closed her eyes, and carefully sensed the flow of Chakra in the sea.
"Hmm... there really is something." He opened his eyes and pointed to the distant sea. "In that direction, about two hundred meters away, there's Chakra reaction, but it's very faint, as if it's being deliberately concealed."
Sasuke's Sharingan slowly rotated. Although he couldn't see through the seawater directly, he trusted Suigetsu's judgment.
"Can you go down and lure him out?"
"Ha! A piece of cake!" Suigetsu grinned, forming hand seals, "Water Release: Water Hydrification Technique!"
His body instantly liquefied, turning into a pool of transparent water that seeped into the sand and quickly flowed into the sea.
Sasuke stood on the shore, his right hand resting on the Kusanagi Sword, his Sharingan fixed on the sea, ready to strike at any moment.
(Let me see... what dares to approach this island.)
Suigetsu, in his liquid form, glided gracefully through the seawater, sunlight filtering through the surface and refracting strange patterns of light onto his transparent body. As he descended deeper, the surrounding light gradually dimmed.
(Strangeness...)
Suigetsu keenly noticed the anomaly—a dozen sharks were lingering unusually near the island, neither hunting nor migrating. These apex predators were arranged in a strange formation, as if controlled by something.
(This is definitely not normal...)
The liquid body silently slithered past the sharks, Suigetsu suddenly caught sight of an incongruous figure in the shadows of the deeper reefs. The moment he swam closer and saw clearly, the transparent water trembled violently—
"Gurgle!"
In shock, Suigetsu immediately dispelled his Hydrification Technique. Seawater instantly filled his nostrils, and he stared wide-eyed at the nightmarish creature before him:
A pale, swollen human face was embedded in the scale-covered fish, its gills opening and closing rhythmically from a split at the neck. Most terrifying of all were its eyes—in the cloudy, yellowish eyeballs, human pupils and fish nictitating membranes coexisted eerily.
(What... what kind of monster is this?!)
The Fish-Man was also startled by the sudden appearance of the Suigetsu, its webbed fingers clenching sharply. In an instant, the previously still sharks turned as if on command, their sharp teeth gleaming coldly in the darkness.
"Gurgle--!"
Suigetsu hastily reverted to liquid form, and five or six sharks pierced through his liquid body. Using the force of the ocean current, he desperately fled towards the surface, his mind flashing wildly back to the horrific scene he had just witnessed:
(Human face, fish body... webbed hands and feet...)
(This is definitely not a natural creature!)
(Could it be Orochimaru's...?)
Just as he was about to burst out of the sea, he suddenly felt a strange Chakra attacking from below. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw the Fish-Man chasing after him at an astonishing speed, high-pressure water blades gathering between his webbed claws.
(Oh no! This guy knows Water Release!)
"Splash--!"
The moment Suigetsu emerged from the water, she immediately reverted to human form and shouted, "Sasuke! There's someone down there--"
Before he could finish speaking, three high-pressure water blades cleaved the surface of the sea. Suigetsu barely managed to dodge two of them, but the third one severed several strands of his silver hair. At the same time, more than a dozen sharks leaped out of the water, their gleaming white teeth gleaming in the sunlight.
Sasuke on the shore had already activated his Sharingan, his Kusanagi Sword crackling with lightning. "Chidori Stream!"
Amidst the piercing cries of birds, lightning transformed into an electric net that enveloped the sea. The sharks struck by the lightning plummeted to the ground, but the Fish-Man nimbly dove underwater to avoid the attack.
Suigetsu scrambled ashore, coughing violently. "Cough cough... There's a... fish monster with a human face down there! And it can use Water Release!"
Sasuke's Sharingan locked onto the turbulent sea. "Specific features."
"A human face, a fish body, webbed hands and feet, gills on its neck..." Suigetsu wiped her face. "The most disgusting thing is that its eyes blink like a fish's!"
After hearing Suigetsu's description, Sasuke frowned deeply.
He subconsciously touched the Cursed Seal on his neck, a surge of intense disgust welling up inside him—another product of Orochimaru's human experimentation. Since joining Orochimaru's side, most of his "sparring partners" had been these twisted experimental subjects: a ninja with three arms, a monster whose skin secreted corrosive liquid, and even a half-human, half-snake alien...
(This Fish-Man... is probably a similar "work" too.)
Sasuke suppressed his nausea and calmly analyzed, "Since it's an aquatic creature, its strength should be greatly weakened after coming ashore." He turned to the still trembling Suigetsu and ordered, "You stay here and guard this place. I'll go find Orochimaru and ask him what's going on."
"Hey! Hey!" Suigetsu grabbed Sasuke's sleeve, her face turning pale. "You want me to guard this place alone? That thing... that thing is absolutely disgusting! I'm definitely going to have nightmares tonight!" He gestured exaggeratedly. "You didn't see it up close. Its face looks like a bloated corpse, and its eyes even—"
"Enough." Sasuke interrupted coldly, "You're from the Hozuki Clan, you have the greatest advantage in water combat." He shook off Suigetsu's hand, "If it dares to come ashore, you take care of it."
In the sea, the Fish-Man coldly watched the two people on the shore. Its rough fingers unconsciously stroked the scales on its neck—where a faded number mark was faintly visible. The carcasses of more than a dozen sharks were slowly sinking to the bottom of the sea, their blood staining the seawater.
(These ninjas... are more troublesome than I imagined...)
Years of living alone in the deep sea left it completely ignorant of the ninja's power system. In its simple understanding, anything that could easily kill a shark was something to be wary of.
(We can't just go ashore rashly...)
(We have to wait... wait for a better opportunity...)
It gave the two people on the shore one last venomous glare, then suddenly flipped over and dived into the deep sea, its bluish-gray figure quickly disappearing into the dark waters.
"It... it's gone?" Suigetsu peered uncertainly, her Ninja Blade trembling slightly in her hand.
Sasuke's Sharingan remained fixed on the sea. "They've probably gone to get reinforcements." He turned and Earth Flow. "Stay alert, I'll be right back."
Suigetsu looked at Sasuke, who had already left, with a mournful expression.
Deep in the ocean, the Fish-Man was swimming rapidly toward a hidden underwater cave. Its gills trembled violently, emitting sound waves of a special frequency. Gradually, more dark figures gathered from all directions—a giant octopus, swarms of electric eels, and even several mutated sea snakes.
(Orochimaru...)
(This time... I'll make you pay the price...)
A grotesque smile spread across its twisted human face; this revenge had only just begun...