The seawater around Suigetsu churned violently, leaving only the space beneath his feet untouched. Accompanied by a tremendous rushing sound, the water surged toward Naruto like a waterfall.
"I am the true ruler of this sea!"
Naruto bellowed at his enemy. As his jutsu took shape, he summoned two Shadow Clones. One clone raised its right hand to form a Rasengan, while the remaining two directed streams of chakra into it, wild arcs of dangerous yellow and blue lightning crackling outward.
Only when the Rasengan had shrunk down to the size of a clenched fist did Naruto tightly clench it in his hand, the surrounding electrical discharges sizzling with increasing intensity.
He could feel his arm muscles trembling violently.
Without Sage Mode, his entire arm would have gone numb—completely paralyzed.
Yeah, he definitely owed Jiraiya—and those two old frogs—a huge thanks.
"Speaking of which, today I almost drowned and got slapped around like a fly. I really hated that. And over the past month, you've kept stopping those ships from landing—ships that might've helped us end this pointless war."
"So what!?"
"My nature overpowers yours. Even if you're surrounded by water, it won't help you at all! You'd better hope you're made entirely of water—because they say hell's mighty dry! [Lightning Release: Rasengan — Electric Sphere!]"
With that, Naruto hurled the compressed ball of lightning chakra forward. It surged through the air in a blazing arc, discharging wild bolts of electricity.
To Suigetsu, the technique didn't seem particularly threatening. He manipulated his own jutsu, trying to overwhelm it.
"This isn't how you counter my Water Release, idiot!" His voice abruptly cut off as he watched the small ball of lightning instantly vaporize every drop of water it touched, releasing violent surges of electricity.
That glowing sphere carved out an enormous spherical passage through his massive wave, unstoppable.
No, even the word "cutting" failed to describe its power. When seawater approached the area covered by the electric current, it instantly evaporated and vanished without a trace.
How was this possible?
It didn't even look that powerful. After all, it was just a small chakra sphere.
So why did Suigetsu suddenly feel a sharp tingling sensation in his mouth?
"B, get out of the water—now!"
B didn't need to be told twice; even from a distance, he could already feel the sharp charge in the air.
Regardless of whether one was a tailed beast or not, his Eight-Tails form had previously lost one of its horns to human ninjutsu.
If someone warned him to move, he wasn't about to gamble with his life.
Shifting back into his human form, he landed aboard Kumogakure's ship, Samehada still clutched tightly in his grip.
Suigetsu realized that three seconds after Naruto unleashed his technique, his body had begun to go numb.
From slight discomfort to his muscles turning to jelly, going limp and leaving him immobile, accompanied by a prickling sensation racing through every nerve in his body.
He couldn't dodge that attack. Turning into water would only make things worse. He opened his mouth to shout, but before the lightning sphere struck him, he couldn't make a sound, and the force behind that blow didn't stop there either.
From above, Naruto witnessed the effect of the spiraling lightning sphere. It continued plunging deeper into the ocea, as if carving a hole through the water, then instantly cascaded down, filling the vacuum left by his technique.
It would keep moving forward until it hit something solid—and even then, it would push a little further before finally stopping. That meant all the way to the ocean floor.
"**B!**"
Naruto looked toward the ship, seeing the dark-skinned Jinchuriki wearing white wave at him enthusiastically.
He landed beside Killer B on the deck. After exiting Sage Mode, Killer B gave him a playful punch, and Naruto grinned in response.
Then he gave his Jinchuriki teammate another punch to the head, slamming him flat onto the deck.
"You bastard! You just stood there watching, forcing me to go all out just to beat that guy!"
"Ahhh!" Killer B groaned, rubbing his head as he got back up. Aside from that, though, there was barely any sign that Naruto's "gentle tap" had even affected him.
"Don't get mad! You showed that fake one some serious strength!"
"My chakra got drained so much I almost drowned—and I got trapped inside that guy's head," Naruto replied, recalling the experience. "That's not exactly a good way to win a fight!"
Then, he noticed the blood-soaked corpse on the deck, pierced through by eight blades, spreading a pool of blood beneath it.
"What's this?"
"This crazy dude," Killer B explained, nudging Jugo's corpse with his sandaled foot. "I thought I took him out near the edge of the ship already, but he kept waiting for an opening. He tried to ambush me when I wasn't looking, but real ninja are always on high alert!"
"Why are you still carrying Samehada?"
"Samehada loves me!"
"...Sure, whatever you say."
Still sensing someone watching him, Naruto turned his gaze toward where the pirate ship had been—where the fighting had more or less broken out, even though they were now sailing in the opposite direction.
He knew Karin was probably watching from afar. More specifically, only someone with powerful sensory abilities who could track him across the open sea would be—
A shinobi from Kumogakure placed a hand on his shoulder.
"Hey, don't worry about them anymore. That guy called Suigetsu is just their muscle. Without him around, they can't keep blocking this sea region. Leave the rest to Mei Terumi."
He said with a smile, clearly thrilled about winning the naval battle.
Kumogakure wasn't particularly skilled at naval battles, so it felt amazing to win a victory like this. "Man, Mist really owes us big time now, don't you think?"
Technically speaking, of course, they had lost two swords—Samehada and that other massive blade—but it didn't matter. They hadn't been lost for good… just vanished into the vast ocean.
Maybe. Plus, Samehada seemed pretty attached to B, but that wasn't their fault.
They really were heroes. When they got back, the Raikage would give them all medals, some downtime, and even a kiss from Mariko.
Naruto gave a casual nod, not really paying attention to what the speaker was saying. His mind was elsewhere.
"They'll never catch her."
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