Inhale, puff out his cheeks, open his mouth.
An enormous amount of chakra transformed into a massive wave of water that blasted out of Kisame Hoshigaki's mouth.
The water swelled as it surged forward, transforming in the blink of an eye into a wave twenty or thirty meters high. It roared toward Shisui Uchiha, carrying rocks and branches with it.
Kisame used the recoil to speed away, carrying Kazama Kaguya with him.
This wasn't the first time he'd done this.
Eight minutes had passed since the two of them had ventured deep into the Forest of Death, and they had already covered nearly thirty kilometers.
Kisame was known as the "Tailed Beast without a Tail," but after running at high intensity and releasing several large-scale Water Release techniques, even he was starting to feel the strain.
"Is that Red Eye some kind of dog? He's been right on our heels the whole time," Kisame cursed under his breath.
Breathing heavily, he stopped beside a small river in the forest and said quickly, "We can't keep running. That Red Eye is faster than us, and he's been chasing us, draining my chakra. If he's really as strong as you say, then this is the best battlefield for me."
"Does a place with plenty of water vapor make Water Release more powerful?" Kazama Kaguya nodded, released Kisame's arm, and stood to one side.
Under the moonlight, a night wind swept by and lifted Kazama Kaguya's black robe, revealing his body.
Kisame could clearly see that the boy who had landed him in such a miserable predicament had undergone many strange changes.
His height had shrunk from one meter seventy-five to one meter fifty, and his emaciated body had filled out. The traits unique to Shikotsumyaku—"white hair, green eyes, and round red eyebrows"—were almost gone.
"Your eyes? Byakugan?" Kisame stared intently at Kazama Kaguya's eyes.
They had changed the most noticeably.
His eyes, once deep green, were now a milky white, with bulging veins around them.
The difference was that the left eye was a purer white, while the right still retained a trace of deep green, like a pine branch not yet completely buried beneath the snow in the depths of winter.
"That's right. It's the Byakugan."
Kazama Kaguya didn't hide it. "I came to Konoha to obtain Byakugan material. Clearly, I succeeded."
"But implanting a Byakugan wouldn't cause such a dramatic change to your body."
Kisame had seen Ao's implanted Byakugan. He hadn't changed at all like this, as if he'd become a completely different person.
"Who knows? Maybe I'm special." Kazama Kaguya didn't explain.
His body was still evolving and transforming. The upheaval in his muscles and bones had stopped, and deeper, distinctive traits of the Otsutsuki Clan were beginning to emerge.
Kazama Kaguya could feel himself ascending to a higher level with every passing second.
His genes were replicating and expanding, moving toward perfection. His physical strength and spiritual energy continued to rise, and his chakra reserves were growing on their own without end, like streams during the rainy season—unstoppable once they began to swell.
The process would take fifteen minutes.
He glanced at the dark, primeval forest in the distance. He couldn't see any sign of Shisui Uchiha, but a faint, chilling killing intent was drawing near.
"Is he getting ready to attack?" Kazama Kaguya formed a Hand Seal with one hand, the veins around his eyes bulging.
"Byakugan, activate!"
In an instant, the darkness lit up. The entire world became a black-and-white, three-dimensional web of lines, visible through as if it were transparent.
Everything within a kilometer was observable: trees, rocks, rivers, animals—and Shisui Uchiha, five hundred meters away, hiding behind a tree with his hands forming Seals.
His surging, boiling chakra and his Sharingan, imbued with grass-green ocular power, were all clearly visible.
"Seven o'clock, five hundred meters," Kazama Kaguya reported concisely.
Before he'd finished speaking, a blaze suddenly flared in the forest.
The flames swelled as they surged forward, transforming in an instant into three enormous fire dragons.
Sharp dragon fangs, long, flowing whiskers, and blazing eyes ringed with bursting flames—all roared toward them, radiating terrifying heat.
Two of the fire dragons targeted Kisame, while the third locked onto Kazama Kaguya.
Fire Release: Great Dragon Fire Technique.
"There's no dodging this." This B-rank Fire Release technique was tremendously powerful. Kisame could handle it easily, but Kazama Kaguya couldn't.
With his speed as a Genin, there was no way he could dodge a B-rank jutsu from an elite Jonin.
Kisame assessed their disadvantage and immediately began forming Hand Seals while the fire dragons were still in flight.
"Water Release: Great Exploding Water Colliding Wave."
A vast quantity of seawater burst from Kisame's mouth, rapidly swelling as it swept up the river water in the forest.
In the blink of an eye, the rushing water formed an enormous, oval-shaped prison that protected them both, and it continued to expand.
Boom!
The fire dragons slammed into it. Water and fire collided violently, sending countless clouds of white steam billowing skyward.
Crack, crack, crack...
Beneath the cover of steam, Shuriken wreathed in flames flew into the sphere, exploding into clusters of fire and fragments of metal. But they were quickly swallowed by the waves.
Clearly, Shisui Uchiha's attack wasn't limited to the Great Dragon Fire Technique.
His real killing move was to use his Sharingan's dynamic vision to throw a ninjutsu attack that was sure to hit, combining intense heat with cutting power.
Fire Release: Phoenix Flower Claw Crimson.
However, even the most refined throwing technique and Fire Release were hard-pressed to match the Water Release unleashed by someone with a Tailed Beast's level of chakra, like Kisame.
Fifty meters, one hundred meters, two hundred meters...
The sphere created by Great Exploding Water Colliding Wave continued to swell, until it covered a radius of three hundred meters. Only then did the Water Release technique stop.
"What an absurd amount of chakra."
Shisui Uchiha retreated, leaping far away from the enormous water prison. Even so, its terrifying size left him deeply shaken.
He had pursued them and repeatedly closed in with Taijutsu to keep draining Kisame's chakra.
He'd already done his best to overestimate his opponent's total chakra, but it still exceeded his expectations.
Against a Water Release technique this colossal, even if he spent all his chakra on Fire Release, he wouldn't be able to hurt the people inside.
"So this is Kisame Hoshigaki, the 'Tailed Beast without a Tail.' Truly astonishing."
Shisui Uchiha stared with his Sharingan at the two black figures in the center of the water prison. Light refracted through the spherical water, making the two figures look like swaying, distorted seaweed.
"To attack them, I'd have to use Susanoo, but my eyesight..." Shisui Uchiha hesitated.
At the Mangekyo stage, each use of Susanoo could decide the outcome of a battle, but it also caused his eyesight to deteriorate further.
Unless absolutely necessary, Shisui Uchiha didn't want to use his Mangekyo abilities.
"Maybe this isn't worth a fight. I can get information on them from Lord Danzo." He watched the enormous water sphere and recalled that one of the two had connections to the Root Organization.
Suddenly, a faint buzzing sound reached him, like a swarm of insects beating their wings.
Following the sound, a swarm of tiny black insects rushed toward them from a distance.
"A swarm of Kikaichū? The Aburame Clan?"
Using his Sharingan's keen vision, Shisui Uchiha spotted the person following the Kikaichū from far away.
The figure wore a black robe and a mask. He was none other than Aburame Ryoma, one of the Root Organization's most capable operatives.
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