Some treat ninjutsu like an art form, getting completely lost in its boundless creativity—which really isn't hard to understand.
Just as the water surface had barely begun to calm, sudden waves shot straight upward, rising like buildings until their foaming crests connected with the clouds in the sky.
This immense wall of water, towering like a solid fortress, cast the sunlight entirely behind itself while projecting a looming shadow ahead—shrouded in darkness no one dared to enter.
[Such an enormous shaping technique] made even its user seem impossibly small. Yet at this moment, Haseo truly looked like a water mage.
In the next instant, that massive curtain of water, carrying unimaginable weight, slammed forward like a colossal hand descending from above...
A heavy sword needs no edge—it topples mountains and parts seas with sheer force.
"Nice timing. You're surfing too?" That's what Haseo called out.
The roar of the crashing water was far sharper and louder than normal, drowning out every other sound. Whatever Haseo tried to say next was lost beneath the roar—the sound drowned everything out.
Because of this tremendous impact, the ruined village previously submerged under the sea fully "came alive." Crumbling rooftops bobbed up one after another, like scattered leaves floating on the water.
Water dripped loudly around him, echoing in his ears. Standing atop unstable waves constantly shifting between peaks and troughs, Haseo stared intently at the distance ahead.
It'd be great if he could just slap the Mizukage to death in one hit, but such a result sounded too exaggerated to hope for—it wasn't worth expecting at all. After all, his opponent was the Mizukage himself, not some random fishmonger.
The problem was that the Mizukage had just vanished from sight.
Haseo's earlier wide-area attack had split the battlefield. Not far away, Konoha's shinobi were locked in combat with enemies more than tenfold their number. But thanks to Might Duy's outstanding performance, Konoha currently held the advantage.
Therefore, Haseo could focus safely on handling the Mizukage alone.
Stalling was advantageous for Haseo alone, but risky for Konoha's front line as a whole—but regardless, dealing with someone of the Mizukage's level always required extreme patience.
Haseo concentrated intensely. Suddenly, he sensed a powerful chakra surge rise sharply from directly beneath his feet, so immediately leapt upward cautiously.
Sure enough, where he once stood on the water's surface, a vortex briefly formed. Then, a semi-transparent arm formed from seawater erupted violently upward.
As the hand stretched further outward, a translucent "water figure" emerged from the ocean, revealing itself before Haseo.
From the silhouette of the water figure, traces of the Mizukage's appearance were visible… Turns out the Mizukage wasn't just surfing—he was a water-aligned mage too.
Haseo wasn't surprised by the opponent's change. With a quick flip and flick of his left wrist, he launched several shuriken at the translucent figure. At the same time, he twisted his body and drew the long blade from behind his back with his right hand, bringing it down in a powerful vertical slash aimed at the transparent man's neck.
Unexpectedly, the opponent didn't try to dodge at all. The shuriken pierced straight into his body… yet with soft plops, they seemed to sink into a mass of gelatin, remaining lodged within him.
Then Haseo's sharp blade successfully sliced from the shoulder into the enemy's chest—but the strange sensation that traveled up his arm caused Haseo to furrow his brow. It didn't feel like slicing through flesh at all—it was like hacking into a huge chunk of rubber.
The nearly bisected transparent figure then dissolved into seawater, splashing back onto the water surface.
Haseo stepped back several feet, stabilizing himself once more.
Not far directly in front of him, the Third Mizukage's silhouette now reappeared.
"This is… the Hydrification Technique?" Based purely on the opponent's recent performance, Haseo made this educated guess.
In other words, this "Mizukage" currently visible might not even be his true form. If the Water Shadow was sufficiently cautious, his real body was probably hidden somewhere within this aquatic expanse. Considering Haseo's own poor sensor abilities, locating the enemy directly would prove extremely difficult.
"...How could you recognize my secret technique?"
Though they were strangers meeting for the first time, the enemy had instantly identified his move, which genuinely startled the Mizukage.
But he had no intention of carefully investigating where Haseo obtained such knowledge. As he spoke, beneath the surging sea, a wave dipped downward without warning—and just like that, a blade of water shot forth toward Haseo.
However, since Haseo had previously suffered serious injury from exactly this kind of attack, he had naturally remained vigilant against it—after an initial strike failed to achieve a fatal blow, repeated identical attacks would only grow less effective. This wasn't exclusive to Haseo; it applied to any ninja.
Unless the ninja was totally brainless.
Once again, Haseo nimbly leapt upward from the water surface, allowing the water blade to pass harmlessly beneath his feet.
Yet the Mizukage's assault wasn't so simplistic. Exactly as Haseo jumped, the Third Mizukage swung his arm powerfully. His long hair flowing like a maestro waving a baton, with the motion of his arm, a watery tendril suddenly surged up from beneath Haseo, wrapping tightly around the airborne warrior.
[Water Release: Running Water Whip]
Haseo had absolutely no way to dodge while in midair.
Got him? Not quite.
His expression showed no trace of panic. The moment binding occurred, brilliant arcs of lightning erupted across Haseo's body—an unimaginably intense Lightning Release immediately dissolving the watery whip completely. And this was merely his ordinary state; one could imagine how much enhancement Nine-Tails' chakra had granted him.
As he broke free from the bindings, Haseo tightly interlocked his fingers and steadily pointed his arm toward the direction from which the water blade had just come.
[Lightning Release · Kurigara – Grand Heavenly Phenomenon!]
His counterattack came without hesitation.
A thick pillar of lightning obliterated everything in its path, vaporizing endless amounts of seawater into white mist before plunging deep beneath the surface.
Did it connect?
Haseo judged that the Mizukage's true body was hiding exactly where he had aimed—but apparently, it missed.
Because at this moment, the "Mizukage" nearby continued speaking: "What an awe-inspiring attack. You truly are a powerful Lightning Release ninja. However... in your current severely injured state, still launching such an offensive—how much longer do you think you can keep this up?"
The Mizukage's gaze shifted toward Haseo's chest, where his shirt was now soaked in deep crimson blood, dripping continuously from his hem into the seawater.
According to Mist intelligence, Haseo was a well-balanced ninja who excelled equally in long-, mid-, and close-range attacks. Yet throughout the battle until now, he hadn't truly used his signature Ninjutsu-based taijutsu, indirectly indicating that his physical condition wasn't good.
The initial surprise attack, while failing to achieve the expected one-hit kill, had at least achieved some practical effect.
This conventional logic seemed sound—until you remembered that Haseo was anything but ordinary.
At this moment, two out of the three Katsuyu summoned on Haseo's body automatically ended their summoning jutsu due to chakra depletion. The previously gruesome wounds under Haseo's collar were now only faintly marked by newly regenerated cells.
Injuries severe enough to instantly kill—or at best require months resting in bed—he had completely recovered within moments…or more precisely, "had been" healed.
Advanced medical techniques and highly potent healing chakra rich in vitality were part of the equation; the more important factor lay in the sheer amount of chakra involved—not only the chakra originally stored but also Tsunade's personal reserves had likely been completely drained by Haseo at this point.
Therefore, while the Mizukage believed he was facing Haseo one-on-one, the truth was otherwise—Haseo was receiving remote support.
You could even call it something like 'sending messages with carrier birds'—except in this case, the messenger was Katsuyu acting as their living conduit.
And the Mizukage remained completely unaware.
Haseo stepped back slightly with his left leg, gripping his long blade in a reverse hold, bending his arm to steady it horizontally—the sharp edge forward, lightning radiating behind.
The Lightning Release energy surged briefly before stabilizing once more at the intense level required to instantly dissolve the water whip. Crackling arcs of lightning raced across the water beneath his feet, radiating outward in concentric ripples from his stance.
"A path chosen by those who seek oblivion."
From the Mizukage's perspective, Haseo's actions amounted to nothing less than seeking his own death, because using such intense Lightning Release at this point would only accelerate the worsening of his external injuries.
However, in the next moment, Haseo's figure abruptly vanished from his spot.
He dashed straight toward Third Mizukage, yet no one could see how he moved.
Slightly delayed, the surface of the water and mist in the air along his path began to glow with the light of Lightning Release—just within a brief moment.
It was like a thunderbolt hidden inside a raincloud—lighting up half the sky in an instant.
Not everything that happened could be seen with unaided eyes. Sometimes a ninja's sensory perception could surpass mere visual information. However, the issue was that one's physical reactions could never keep up.
Facing Haseo's linear tactical assault, Third Mizukage would never have frozen like a statue—yet somehow, he couldn't move.
"Sorry, you're worrying about far too many unnecessary things."
Haseo's voice came from behind the Mizukage. Then, his vision began to spiral downward in a full 360-degree rotation.
<><><><><><><><>
Thank you for reading! Your support will keep me updating!
~ Every 50 Powerstones = **4 Bonus Chapters** this weekend!
<><><><><><><><>
~ 100+ Advanced Chapters Available on Patreon!
~ More *Free* Chapters and Books Available on Patreon!
patreon.com/Tansnovel
<><><><><><><><>