Longqi hovered in the air, his watery shark tail swaying slowly. He sneered. "A dragon? That mythical creature?"
"In ancient legends," Kabuto Yakushi said without opening his eyes, as though telling a story from a distant age, "dragons were no myth. They truly existed—living beings that governed the laws of nature."
"They summoned clouds and rain and ruled rivers and seas. Ancient texts tell of an Azure Dragon that slept beneath the ocean. Each breath it took brought a tide; when it turned over, a tsunami rose; when it opened its eyes, starlight appeared above the sea to guide those who were lost."
He paused. "But the crucial point is that a true dragon is the sea's one and only king."
"All those so-called Sea Gods, Water Demons, and Monsters are merely usurpers occupying its domain while it sleeps."
The tendril markings on Longqi's face writhed with rage. "Nonsense! I rule this sea now! I am the Water Immortal, blessed by Lord Jashin!"
"Is that so?" Kabuto Yakushi finally opened his eyes.
In that instant, his violet Sage Eye Markings blazed with brilliant light!
"Sage Art: True Dragon Manifestation!"
Boom!
Terrifying Nature Energy erupted from Kabuto Yakushi like a tsunami! It was not a surge of Chakra, but a more primal, more immense force of heaven and earth!
Kabuto Yakushi's body began to change.
Blue-gold scales surfaced on his skin, each one etched with patterns of nature.
His body swelled and lengthened rapidly within the light. Five meters, ten meters, fifty meters, a hundred meters...
"Wh-what is that?!" Longqi's pupils contracted.
When the light faded, an enormous Azure Dragon a thousand meters long appeared above the sea!
Its body wound like a mountain range, its blue-gold scales gleaming like metal beneath the remaining daylight. Four dragon claws hovered over the