The powerful torrent swept toward the two Deep Crawlers with immense force. However, the moment the water surged from Kakashi's mouth, the Deep Crawlers had already sensed its presence.
They were highly sensitive to water. Although the mucus on their skin could repel a small amount of it, even mere submersion in water could be lethal for them.
To avoid water sources like underground streams during their excavation, they constantly emitted a type of wave. These waves reflected faint echoes when hitting water or water-saturated sediments, allowing the Deep Crawlers to detect and avoid them.
Thus, when the massive stream erupted from Kakashi's mouth, the Deep Crawlers' antennae immediately stiffened. They turned and attempted to burrow back underground.
However, at such a close range, there was no escaping the torrent. The water's impact and whirlpool-like force, intensified by the enclosed space, engulfed the giant creatures like a flushed toilet.
Although this was part of Kakashi's plan, his knowledge of the Deep Crawlers' extreme fear of water did not come from prior information—it was a deduction based on their behavior above ground.
Originally, the Deep Crawlers had the upper hand on the surface. But they suddenly retreated underground as though fleeing, just as rain began to fall from the sky.
Moreover, the mind-controlled states of Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura were immediately lifted upon contact with the rainwater.
He thus hypothesized that the adult Deep Crawlers were not afraid of fire or lightning but of water.
Before entering the cave, he had prepared to confront the Deep Crawlers using water jutsu.
The origin of the Exploding Water Shock Wave was on a mission during which he first encountered the Cthulhu statue. He had learned the technique from that missing-nin.
Though the missing-nin had only used the technique once, Kakashi's Sharingan memorized the hand seals instantly. Unfortunately, his chakra reserves made it challenging to unleash the technique's full power.
There was another issue: in the confined space of the cave, he wouldn't have time to escape.
As the torrent crashed into the cave's deep rock walls, it rebounded violently toward Kakashi.
---
At the cave entrance, Sasuke and Gin had just escaped when a massive surge of water burst out behind them, erupting like a geyser.
Sasuke realized why Kakashi had insisted that they leave first—had they stayed, the water would have swept them away.
The surge didn't last long. Due to the funnel-shaped terrain around the cave, the expelled water quickly drained back into the cave.
Sasuke placed Gin on high ground before wading waist-deep into the water to call out to Kakashi near the entrance.
"Kakashi-sensei!"
"Kakashi-sensei!"
His calls were met with silence from the pitch-black cave.
Suddenly, a voice came from the treetops behind Sasuke.
"Sasuke! Where's Kakashi-sensei?"
Naruto, unable to stay put, had arrived at the cave along with Sakura.
"Kakashi is still inside," Sasuke responded.
Without hesitation, Naruto leaped into the dark cave.
"Naruto!" Sakura shouted.
Seeing Naruto rush in, Sasuke followed suit without delay.
"Sasuke-kun!"
---
Darkness.
Endless darkness.
In the void of darkness, Kakashi's life flashed before him like a slow-moving reel of memories.
Minato-sensei. Rin. Obito. Father.
I'm sorry. I'm coming.
"Kakashi-sensei!"
"Kakashi-sensei!"
Just as he was ready to give up, a voice suddenly called out to him.
He opened his eyes abruptly and saw two small figures swimming toward him in the cold, dark water.
Obito?
Rin?
For a brief moment, he thought he was seeing the younger versions of his teammates. The two each grabbed one of his arms and began pulling him upward.
---
The immense chakra depletion from Exploding Water Shock Wave combined with the strain of keeping the First Gate open left Kakashi unconscious for an entire day.
When he finally woke up, he noticed Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura occasionally sneaking glances at him.
Suddenly, he felt a chill on his face. He reached up instinctively—his mask!
Sakura, having already guessed his concern, pointed to the mask hanging nearby. "Sensei, your mask was soaked, so we took it off."
Naruto grinned mischievously. "Who would've thought Kakashi-sensei looks like this under the mask?"
"I thought he'd have thick lips and be super ugly," Naruto joked.
"No way," Sakura interjected. "Kakashi-sensei could never be that ugly. Maybe he's just insecure about his teeth?"
"Or maybe he has tiny, cherry-like lips?"
The three students enthusiastically debated. In truth, they'd already spent a long time observing and discussing Kakashi's face before he regained consciousness.
Kakashi simply smiled and said nothing.
Deep down, he knew it wasn't Obito or Rin who had rescued him from the water—it was these kids.
After another day of rest, he fully recovered. Most of the water in the cave had seeped underground, allowing the team to re-enter.
Inside, the two "drowned" Deep Crawlers were sprawled lifelessly in shallow puddles. He promptly contacted the ANBU to have these valuable research specimens secretly transported back to Konoha.
The team remained in the area for over half a month, helping Gin rebuild the village.
Although Gin was an expert builder, construction was slow. Kakashi couldn't help but miss Yamato—if Yamato's Wood Release were available, an entire village could be rebuilt in no time.
Thanks to the help of Kakashi's team, the work was completed swiftly.
Afterward, the ANBU operatives discreetly removed the Deep Crawler corpses without alerting the villagers.
With everything settled, the team resumed their journey.
After another day of travel, Gin finally reached the Land of Crafts. On its bustling streets, Kakashi's team bid Gin farewell.
Before parting, Gin turned to Sasuke and said, "Sasuke, isn't it?"
"You were right. If I want to see my brother, I should take the initiative to find him. Once I've finished things here, I'll head to the Land of Waves!"
---
In the clearing deep within the forest, Kagami stood silently with his eyes closed.
Suddenly, he opened his eyes and gazed sharply at the sky, a crimson light flickering in his pupils.
At the same time, the clear blue sky was obscured by a dark cloud that appeared without warning.
This enormous cloud vaguely took on a humanoid shape. Despite the dense cloud cover, the upper portion revealed a distinct head-like silhouette, with two brilliant, star-like lights resembling massive eyes.
This humanoid outline within the dark cloud was the common form Ithaqua took when appearing to mortals.
The cloud itself had been summoned by Kagami using the powers granted by the Great Old One Ithaqua.
However, he possessed only a fraction of Ithaqua's powers, not its full incarnation. Thus, he could only manifest this hazy silhouette to represent Ithaqua in the mortal realm.
Even as just a shadow, the humanoid form exuded an aura terrifying enough to leave ordinary people trembling.
In the past, he had conducted an experiment on a village during one of his missions. He observed that the humanoid form created within the extreme weather of the Wind-Walker could instill a terror in ordinary people.
He could further activate his powers, escalating this extreme weather to Ithaqua's second ability: God of the Furious Storm.
The God of the Furious Storm was essentially an upgraded version of the Wind-Walker. It unleashed intensified freezing snow, lightning storms, and even more destructive force.
When the face within the storm reached its angriest state, massive hailstones and lightning bolts would rain down upon the earth.
However, Kagami was not particularly satisfied with this ability.
At present, the God of the Furious Storm was only marginally less powerful than a C-rank ninjutsu. The difference lay in that this "C-rank ninjutsu" was a composite technique, incorporating elements of wind release, ice release, and lightning release, all at the C-rank level.
Additionally, the scope of the God of the Furious Storm was not particularly "furious."
Though the dark cloud overhead appeared vast, his tests revealed its effective coverage area was roughly equivalent to that of Konoha.
Moreover, since Ithaqua's attack methods were broad and indiscriminate, it lacked the precision necessary for targeted assaults.
Still, Kagami had mentally prepared himself upon first encountering this the Great Old One.
It was because Ithaqua had a third ability known as the Offspring of the Wind.
The Offspring of the Wind referred to hybrid offspring born from unions between Ithaqua and human females. These offspring, called the Offspring of the Wind, could wield abilities similar to the Wind-Walker. Moreover, the more Offsprings of the Wind there were, the stronger the God of the Furious Storm would become.
In other words, Ithaqua's powers were growth-oriented, and its current state represented the weakest level of its potential.
Given the literal interpretation of this ability, the Offsprings of the Wind were offsprings produced through interactions with human females. Since Ithaqua could not physically descend into this world, this task naturally fell to Kagami.
However, he was only 17 years old—not yet of marriageable age in Konoha. Besides, he did not even have a suitable partner.
Though Anko would likely agree to such a proposal without much resistance, he couldn't fathom engaging in such an act with a body reshaped by a Shoggoth.
Would the Shoggoth accidentally reveal its true form in a moment of excitement?
The thought reminded him of a "pure love game" called The Song of Saya.
In the game, the heroine, Saya, was an otherworldly creature summoned through the Silver Key. Her true form was a grotesque mass of flesh. However, to the protagonist—who suffered from sensory distortions after a car accident—Saya appeared as a beautiful and adorable girl.
Thus, the protagonist and the mass of flesh embarked on an unabashedly indulgent life together.
According to later analyses, the girl named Saya, summoned through the Silver Key, was likely the All-Mother
—Shub-Niggurath.
However, judging by her size, it was more plausible that she was one of Shub-Niggurath's "spawns," commonly referred to as the Black Goat.
Regardless, he had no interest in such a grotesque scenario.
After all, the Shoggoth had been described by Abdul Alhazred as "an entity that should not exist on Earth, a product only of mad dreams." In terms of grotesqueness, it was no less disturbing than Shub-Niggurath's black cloud-like masses of flesh.
Even if a Shoggoth managed to fully transform itself into a beautiful girl inside and out, it wouldn't change the underlying reality.
On a side note, since Anko gained the body of a Shoggoth and discovered her "special feelings" for Kagami, her physical growth, including her appearance, had ceased.
Though she was 23 years old, she still looked like a girl of 16 or 17.
This was a little trick Anko used to make it seem as if she and Kagami were closer in age in the eyes of others.
Yet, no one around them ever questioned why Anko retained the appearance of a young girl. After all, Anko had once trained under Tsunade, and it was assumed she had learned Tsunade's youth-preserving techniques.
Regardless, using a hands-on approach to create the Offspring of the Wind was clearly not a viable solution. The process was too time-consuming, the rewards too minimal, and the potential for social unrest too high. Thus, he needed to find another method.
This brought to mind a story he had once glimpsed: The Dunwich Horror.
In the lore, Yog-Sothoth somehow fathered twin brothers with a human woman, and the story revolved around the events caused by these twins.
While the exact method by which Yog-Sothoth sired offspring was not detailed, it was undoubtedly not through conventional biological means.
After all, Yog-Sothoth was no Zeus, the king of gods who frequently transformed into various forms to sneak into mortal women's beds.
Gods resembling human forms, like Zeus, were merely the Earth Deities, native to the planet.
These gods originally resided atop the mountains of Earth but were driven into the Dreamlands by the rise of human civilization, where they lived under the protection of Nyarlathotep.
Such deities could not compare to even the lesser Great Old Ones, let alone one of the Great Three, such as Yog-Sothoth.
Therefore, Yog-Sothoth likely had a far more extraordinary method of impregnating human women, and this was precisely what Kagami sought to uncover.
Regarding this method, he had some preliminary thoughts.
Books written by humans, such as the Necronomicon, the Book of Eibon, or the Revelations of Glaak, were unlikely to contain records of how Yog-Sothoth impregnated mortals.
However, there was one exceptional book that might hold the answer.
This book was both the manifestation of Azathoth's will and an all-encompassing repository of knowledge about every dimension and universe—because all dimensions and universes are but dreams within Azathoth's slumber.
And the book that recorded Azathoth's will was none other than the Book of Azathoth.