The towering waves slowly receded, revealing a beach strewn with devastation.
Third Hokage Nangō Kumoi withdrew his three clones, and the pale golden barrier around him contracted like rippling water.
He stood where he was, his aura as steady as a deep pool, as though the fierce battle of one against three had merely been a warm-up.
Deep within his subconscious, Gaia's calm voice echoed like the earth itself:
"Kumoi, you fought well just now.
But the real hard battle starts now—the three old bastards aren't easy to deal with, especially that water-user. He's damn sneaky."
Kumoi replied in his mind, "Understood! I'll be careful."
At his side, the dying Uzumaki Clan Head struggled to prop himself up and rasped a warning:
"Lord Hokage... the Third Mizukage... is the most treacherous and cunning of them all... His Water Release has never been just Water Release... You must... be careful..."
Kumoi nodded and took a specially made pale blue talisman from his robes, placing it in the Uzumaki Clan Head's hand:
"Clan Head, keep this.
If the battle changes, activate this talisman when you receive my signal—the formula on it should be familiar to you."
The Uzumaki Clan Head lowered his head to look. The sealing patterns flowing across the talisman were familiar and warm—it was Mito Uzumaki's handwriting from her youth, the Bloodline Resonance Talisman, an inheritance exclusive to the Uzumaki Clan's core bloodline.
His eyes instantly reddened with tears, and he nodded heavily. "All right... I understand... I'll activate it in time..."
Kumoi said no more and turned toward the direction from which the waves had withdrawn.
A hundred meters away, the Third Mizukage was ascending step by step on condensed water stairs.
Their gazes collided in midair, and invisible sparks seemed to scatter through the air.
Without a