Still under water, the boy held both hands in front of him, left palm facing down and right palm facing up, leaving a large space in between them.
'You're gonna regret giving me time and space old man.' He thought as water began whirling within each of his palms.
What he was in the process of activating however, was no water jutsu.
It was the very motion of Shiki's chakra that influenced the water around him.
Two spheres of violently rotating chakra manifested, one on each palm, stirring the sea surrounding the boy into further tumult with their opposite flows.
Two small Rasengan.
But this was just the beginning.
Slowly.
Ever so slowly.
Shiki brought his two palms closer.
The two Rasengan, once hovering stably above each of his palms, began influencing each other, orbiting around a center point while drawing upon each other.
Until finally . . . They touched.
With massive momentum, an unstable rasengan formed from the collision, jittering and deforming as it violently spun around.
The gentle streams of chakra that had previously stirred the surrounding waters became raging torrents of such density that ordinary ninjutsu would be blocked outright.
Violently rotating chakra in the form of these torrents, surrounded the boy's body like a mantle, churning the sea and drawing it in, to the point a waterless vacuum formed as the seawater was forcefully incorporated into the forming attack.
'Taikyoku Rasendan'
The Taikyoku Rasengan from the Roran Movie but adapted into a ranged attack like Momoshiki's Rasendan.
Aiming upwards, Shiki unleashed the jutsu.
It did not travel in a straight path.
Owing to its inherent instability, it shot forward in a cylindrical helical path.
This made it hard to precisely hit small targets but . . . There was really no need to worry about that.
As it moved, the Taikyoku Rasendan displaced and dragged in more and more water, increasing the size and mass of the attack.
Worse, as it crossed the region still filled with pools of liquid fire from the earlier Fire Release: Napalm, it incorporated its blazing flame greatly boosting its destructive power.
By this point, it was impossible for the Mizukage not to notice.
The man had sensed the buildup of chakra before of course but now, he could perceive the catastrophic nature of Shiki's' attack.
He wove a sequence of hand seals and leapt high into the air, water from the sea surface following behind him.
Parallel to the surface, the Mizukage held his hands forward as if about to unleash a Kamehameha.
'Water Release: Great Shark Bullet'
A massive shark made up of seawater was unleashed straight down.
'This is Kisame's jutsu.' Shiki realized.
And alongside that realization, came another, far more critical one.
Great Shark Bullet was almost invincible in ninjutsu clashes because it could absorb other ninjutsu to increase its power.
'The density and power of my Taikyoku Rasendan can tear through Mist Rain but if Great Shark Bullet is added into the mix . . .' The boy already knew the outcome.
The enormous water shark opened its cavernous maw as it descended, greedily devouring Shiki's ninjutsu and growing to an even more massive size.
It then plunged into the sea, heading straight towards the boy
'Shit!' Shiki activated Flicker Phantom while cursing in his head, flickering through the water at blinding speed while the massive shark gave chase.
He was simply not very well equipped to deal with this kind of jutsu.
If the duel was taking place on land, he had options but in the sea, unless you had an all powerful pure taijutsu move like Might Guy, you were pretty much cooked.
Trying to fight the Mizukage head to head on the sea was just far too arrogant of Shiki.
'I'm still faster than that thing. I just have to keep running until that old bastard cancels the jutsu out himself.' The boy thought.
One of Great Shark Bullet's major requirements was a massive chakra pool, most of the cost went towards making it but manipulating such a large jutsu does not come cheap either.
But there is an alternative.
As Shiki flickered around, he noticed something about his pursuer.
'The water shark is getting smaller.' He noted.
In order to conserve his chakra, the Mizukage was drawing up the chakra composing the jutsu itself to maintain and control it.
Because it had absorbed Shiki's ninjutsu, there was a significant surplus so he could afford to do it.
'He must be thinking that even if the Great Shark Bullet cannot take me out, this chase will significantly exhaust me without eating on his own chakra reserves.' The boy deduced the Mizukage's thought process.
'Unfortunately for him, so long as I have the Nirvana Seal, tiring me out is literally impossible.'
Shiki simply lacked jutsu constantly enough to deplete himself faster than the Seal could replenish his reserves.
He knew he just had to wait and the situation would just reset except for the fact that the Mizukage's chakra would be more depleted.
After all, the man was still maintaining Mist Rain and the activation cost of Great Shark Bullet, Great Water Fall and so on, must have drained him significantly as well.
In fact, the boy was sure of it, his Ryugan: Zenchi, could determine how much chakra someone had and how much of it they had already expended.
'Despite his advanced age, the Mizukage's condition is remarkably good. Even with a costly jutsu like Great Shark Bullet being used, he still has around two thirds of his total chakra reserves.' Shiki concluded from his observations.
'It's unlikely I'll be able to take him out when he's fully on guard and with plenty of chakra remaining.' The boy began to cook up a new plan.
'He's trying to exhaust me, not knowing it is basically impossible. If I act like that is working and goad him into exhausting more and more chakra, I might be able to weaken him enough for a sudden turnabout.'
It was far from full-proof but it was the best Shiki could come up with at that moment.
'Calmly running about only shows I have plenty of leeway in terms of chakra and stamina. I need to take some risks to sell the fact that I'm running out of time.' He thought.
And so, the boy changed up his passive stance.
As he flitted about using Flicker Phantom, he stopped keeping his distance and slowly began maneuvering to approach the Mizukage's position on the sea surface.
'Trying to approach me? Aiming for a short decisive struggle through taijutsu and bukijutsu now that you lost the ninjutsu struggle?' The Mizukage theorized.
He held doubts however.
After all, the man had tasted first hand how scheming and methodical Shiki was in the way he approached Shinobi combat.
Even if the Mizukage saw things heading according to his plans, in the back of his mind, the doubt that it all might be the boy leading him on again would always be present.
Though drawing him into taijutsu under the Mist Rain Jutsu's effects was a part of the plan, the man temporarily opted for a more conservative approach and body flickered away, making sure Shiki had a hard time closing the distance while avoiding the Great Shark Bullet pursuing him.
'Cooperating with my act so well? This Third Mizukage might not be as troublesome as I thought!'
+++++
Hey, Author here!
To promote the novel I will be releasing BONUS CHAPTERS on SUNDAYS based on the previous week's power stone count.
100 Power Stones = 1 Bonus Chapter
500 Power Stones = 2 Bonus Chapters
1000 Power Stones = 3 Bonus Chapters
Every earned BONUS CHAPTER on Webnovel will also be posted on Scribble.
Just a reminder that you can read up to a FULL MONTH ahead of this site on pa-treon.
I'm trying to become a full time Author now and I'm not going to be starting any new novels just so I can make sure this one is properly completed.
Find those sweet advanced chapters on pa-treon.com/lusoba without the -