The wilder the wind, the heavier the rain.
An endless curtain of water smothered the gloomy sky, blurring all sense of direction. The water level underfoot kept rising, even flooding the massive mine tunnel behind them.
Bzz, bzz!
Insects swarmed chaotically overhead. Wings collided with raindrops, and Iwa-kuma's trio stood rigid, muscles coiled tight behind Aburame Ryūma, facing Uchiha Itachi in a tense standoff.
No one noticed.
Both of their bodies froze for a single second, then snapped back to normal as if nothing had happened.
Raindrops beaded across the jet-black sunglasses. Ryūma tilted his head up, letting the rain wash over his face. His fingers lightly traced the purple mark on his right cheek. Beneath the pad of his thumb, he could still feel the ridged scar tissue.
Itachi's crimson eyes stayed locked on Ryūma, his expression complicated beyond words.
So this was the bitter fruit the Uchiha had grown themselves.
Strong, and arrogant because of it. Isolated because of that arrogance. Rebellious because they were isolated. Then defeated because they were not strong enough.
And then, hated by those who bled and died.
Love without limits swelled into hate without limits, until it dragged the proud Uchiha and Danzō down into the same abyss.
Danzō, the man who hated the Uchiha most, was also the one who resembled them most.
Remembering the promise he'd made with Ryūma inside the Tsukuyomi world, Itachi clenched his fist inside his sleeve and said nothing.
Boom.
A violent roar thundered from afar, louder than the lightning in the sky. The terrifying explosion and the surging chakra waves pulled everyone's attention toward the distant battlefield.
Seeing that Itachi had no intent to strike, Chō rapidly formed seals. Ripple-like chakra probed toward the fierce clash on the left.
Black clouds churned overhead. The torrential rain was drawn into the chakra field, shaping into two rows of jagged fangs.
A savage, shark-shaped Water Release jutsu unfurled its fins, rearing up in a proud arc. Orochimaru held his hands in an inverted triangle in midair, controlling an Earth Release: Earth Dragon Bullet as it tore and bit back, the two jutsu smashing into each other again and again.
Konome Taketori stood in front of Orochimaru, protecting him, her gaze lowered as she studied the battle between two Kage-level monsters.
The longer she watched, the more brutally she understood it.
The gap between her and true power was not talent.
It was chakra.
Everyone in the shinobi world knew the basics.
Chakra was produced continuously by the body. Mind, flesh, and chakra formed a triad that maintained a dynamic balance. The more chakra you had, the healthier and younger your chakra core, and the faster your recovery.
If you ignored natural recovery and pills like soldier rations.
A shinobi's chakra in a normal state was roughly one third of what they could access in full combat. And when someone fought with everything on the line, pushing their spirit past its limits to squeeze their flesh dry, they could often reach five times their normal output.
That was why the shinobi world treated "three to five times" as a threshold.
Each rank up meant a jump of three to five times in chakra quantity.
If you used the most ordinary academy student, a normal human's chakra at age twelve, as the baseline for genin, then:
Three times a genin was an average chūnin.
Five times was an elite chūnin, and even some special jōnin only reached that level.
And the higher tiers followed the same law.
Three times an elite chūnin was an average jōnin.
Five times brought you into elite jōnin territory.
Meaning: if an ordinary elite jōnin entered an extreme battle state, they would reach at least 125 times the chakra of an ordinary genin in a normal state.
Then multiply that again by three to five, and you finally touched the bottom line of what a "normal" Kage-level shinobi looked like.
But that was only the minimum.
From the moment you crossed into Kage, you stepped into a realm beyond human. People who could fight a village alone, who could decide wars with their own hands.
And within that realm, the differences between individuals were enormous.
Naruto, even while suppressing the Nine-Tails, carried roughly three times Konome Taketori's chakra. If he stopped suppressing it, it could reach a hundred times.
Not counting his natural recovery or the Nine-Tails' power itself, Naruto's maximum burst could reach 12,500 times the chakra of an ordinary genin.
And that kind of chakra was not unique among Kage.
For example, the one right in front of her.
A terrifying blue aura flickered faintly.
The chakra pressure was so overwhelming that even the rain above struggled to remain rain.
The monster known as the "tailed beast without a tail" possessed chakra at roughly three fifths of Naruto's when Naruto was six years old, and that was without any suppression, chakra responding like an extra limb.
He could create lakes with ease.
He could raise tsunamis a hundred meters high.
If he had been born in ancient times, he would have been a god from myth.
Orochimaru's chakra wasn't lacking either.
Because of his body modifications and some secret technique that stimulated vitality, his chakra capacity could reach ten to twenty times that of an elite jōnin. And by Konome Taketori's estimate, if he released his flesh fully and entered the Eight-Headed Serpent state, his chakra might not even be weaker than Kisame's.
The two of them traded jutsu.
Every eruption of chakra was heavier than the entirety of what remained in Konome Taketori's shadow clone.
Boom!
The earth dragon collided with the shark again, for what felt like the thousandth time.
With the rain-soaked terrain and Kisame's absurd reserves, every impact ripped another slab of mud from Orochimaru's earth construct.
Sweat beaded at Orochimaru's temple. He had already burned nearly a quarter of his chakra. His chakra core throbbed wildly, producing more and more to sustain the output.
"How long are you planning to just watch?"
That hoarse, magnetic voice carried a sharp edge of impatience.
"I'm looking for an opening. Don't rush."
With a single sweep of her Byakugan, Konome Taketori could tell he still had energy in reserve. His trump cards, the Eight Branches technique and Edo Tensei, still weren't on the table. Calmly, she kept measuring the blazing sun of chakra in the distance.
With the rain favoring him, Kisame's chakra hadn't dropped much at all. Even the cost of his opening Great Exploding Water Colliding Wave had already begun to recover.
Even combined, she and Orochimaru could not win a war of attrition.
Genjutsu would be pointless against him. Kisame had Samehada. Disrupting chakra was effortless for that sword.
Close combat?
Samehada devoured chakra. It also countered her tailed beast cloak and Lightning Release armor. If her chakra got eaten, this shadow clone would shatter on the spot.
Annoying.
This was the "one step beyond elite jōnin" state Hiruzen Sarutobi had described.
Kisame wasn't a special case. Every Kage-level shinobi was a monster that had overcome their own flaws. Otherwise they could never lead a war.
A Kage might not be well-rounded in every area, but they no longer had obvious weaknesses.
You filled your gaps, or you never reached the top.
Konome Taketori had always lived by exploiting others' weaknesses. Now she finally tasted what it meant to be the one getting countered.
"If you don't hurry, your teammates are going to die over there."
Orochimaru's golden slit pupils flicked toward Konome Taketori, who was still "guarding" behind him. Teeth clenched, he forced more chakra out to withstand Kisame's pressure.
He didn't know how long Ryūma could hold Itachi. Even one on one was already difficult. If Itachi joined in, the fight would become impossible.
If Orochimaru wanted to keep the Six Paths relic in his hands, he had to kill this shark-faced chakra monster before Itachi finished his side.
Only then could they force the numbers into their favor and drive Itachi back.
"Ninjutsu won't win. We should take this into taijutsu and create a chance."
His long tongue slid across his lips. Orochimaru's cold gaze fixed on Kisame's broad back and the massive blade strapped there.
"He's one of the Mist's Seven Swordsmen. His taijutsu isn't weak. And that sword, I know it. It devours chakra. If we get hit, we'll lose a huge amount in an instant."
"We have no margin for error. One clean hit and you and I get drained dry." Konome Taketori stared at the light above Kisame's head and fed Orochimaru the intel.
Information was their only real advantage.
Orochimaru nodded slowly, finally understanding why she had refused to let him go in close.
"So what exactly are you waiting for?"
"I don't know."
Konome Taketori shook her head.
They were the ones at a disadvantage. They should be the ones panicking.
Yet above Kisame's head, that faint red glimmer of urgency only grew brighter. The pale red emotion and the blue chakra interwove, rolling like surf.
The Nine-Tails' power could sense emotion and hostility, but it wasn't mind reading. She couldn't tell what he was so anxious about.
Right now, she only had one option.
Wait.
Wait for the enemy to get impatient and make a mistake.
If Kisame never closed the distance, if he kept suppressing them with Water Release and guarded with Samehada, then she and Orochimaru would eventually have to gamble everything on a close-range charge, and the situation would get even worse.
Most importantly, Orochimaru's character wasn't worth trusting. She couldn't afford to drift too far from him. If he used Reverse Summoning to escape, it would be over.
"Water Release: Great Shark Bullet Technique!!!"
Kisame crossed his fingers tight. His tidal chakra surged into the lake beneath their feet. A gigantic shark that could devour chakra formed in an instant, maw yawning wide as it lunged for Orochimaru.
In the distance, a single hand slapped the ground.
Rumble!
Another towering iron gate erupted from the mountaintop.
The shark bullet slammed into it. The chakra-devouring beast gnawed at the gate, but it couldn't absorb anything at all.
In the end, it could only rely on raw impact to break the gate, and then it lost momentum and died out.
He knows. He knows my ability.
Once was luck. Twice was coincidence. But after enough times, even an idiot could see the pattern.
Staring at the two who traded jutsu with him without hurry, Kisame felt irritation tightening in his chest.
Normally, if someone wanted to grind him down, he would laugh in his sleep.
But Itachi could come to support them at any moment.
Madara-sama had warned him: be careful of the Uchiha. Do not let him learn of the Six Paths relic.
A shinobi's first duty was the mission.
He had to crush Orochimaru before Itachi came. Only then could he keep the relic secret.
No.
He couldn't keep dragging this out.
Decision made, Kisame ripped Samehada from his back and tore away the wrappings.
Hey, hey!
He barely freed half before Samehada erupted with spikes, shredding the remaining bandages like paper. Stretching as if waking, the living blade opened its mouth and snapped hungrily toward Orochimaru, excitement obvious.
"Next comes the main course."
As if infected by Samehada's hunger, Kisame's own blood rose into exhilaration.
Water Release: Water Shark Bullet Technique!
Violent water surged around his body, shaping into a shark that wrapped him completely.
Splash!
A massive tail slapped the water, sending spray exploding upward.
Riding that burst, the shark-wrapped Kisame launched into the sky and glided toward Konome Taketori and Orochimaru.
"He's coming!"
Byakugan locked onto Kisame inside the water shark. Konome Taketori warned Orochimaru that the moment had arrived.
After being pressed down for so long, Orochimaru's temper had been simmering.
Seeing Kisame descend like a flying predator, Orochimaru's neck snapped long. He vomited a blade that gleamed with cold light, its point aimed straight at the sky.
Konome Taketori raised her hands, one above the other, cradling a sphere of water. A thin stream rose from the surface beneath her, feeding into the orb to replace chakra expenditure. Even the release speed jumped.
This wet battlefield benefited more than just Kisame.
Boom!
The giant shark smashed through the rain and dropped fast, trailing a white vapor streak behind it like a gliding warplane.
"How long do I twist for?"
Orochimaru's words were muffled around the Kusanagi sword clenched between his teeth.
"Now."
Konome Taketori narrowed her eyes.
Wind Release formed a dense membrane over the water sphere. The orb began to tremble violently.
The pressure building inside was horrifying. Even Orochimaru felt a chill crawl up his spine.
This was Konome Taketori's plan.
Samehada was only one sword. Kisame only had one choice at a time.
Absorb chakra, or defend against physical force.
If she and Orochimaru struck in perfect sync, they could crack his defense.
The giant shark dropped like a meteor.
Kisame, already raising Samehada overhead, filled their vision.
Bzz, bzz!
The water sphere grew tighter. Under the crushing pressure, even without heat, the water inside began to boil. Fine bubbles packed the orb until Konome Taketori's hands seemed to hold pure white.
Above, the shark opened its jaws. She could already see the jagged barbs bristling from Samehada.
She lifted the sphere over her head. Her hands, shaped like an orchid in bloom, aimed at the sky.
A slit opened on the surface of the orb, vertical like Orochimaru's serpent eye.
"Orochimaru!"
"Mm!"
Orochimaru's eyes lit up. The Kusanagi blade shot forward, growing at terrifying speed. Its razor point stabbed straight into the descending shark.
Hiss!
It sounded like a pressure cooker venting.
Wind threads sliced through cloud and rain. A terrifying water blade, coated in Wind Release, fired like a laser, striking in perfect timing with the Kusanagi sword.
Byakugan locked onto Kisame.
The laser's focus point was his forehead.
Sword and torrent arrived in the same instant.
Kisame's eyes widened. The ambush from inside the shark had been exposed.
He raised Samehada, starving and shuddering in anticipation.
"Samehada!"
"Grrrr!"
The living blade flung its mouth wide. Kisame stepped on the rushing water. His arm swelled as monstrous strength surged through it, and he swung down with brutal speed toward the oncoming torrent and blade.
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