Many people knew that Mei Terumi possessed dual Kekkei Genkai, but few knew that her Lightning Style was also exceptionally outstanding.
Fuguki Suikazan did not know this at first. However, looking at the electric arcs flashing from the countless water droplets, he knew now.
Within the downpour produced by the exploding water dragon, a dazzling lightning light suddenly surfaced!
Fuguki Suikazan wanted to use Samehada to absorb this Lightning Style ninjutsu. But because the range of the splattering water droplets had completely enveloped his entire body, and Samehada's size was limited after all, it simply could not tend to everything!
Strands of lightning spread onto Fuguki Suikazan from all directions, and the intense numbness pinned him directly to the spot.
Taking advantage of this opportunity, Mei Terumi unleashed her killing move.
"Lava Style: Melting Apparition Jutsu!"
The viscous, strong acid attacked once more. This was a strong acid sufficient to corrode even steel walls. Once Fuguki Suikazan was hit, nothing but a melted corpse would await him!
Fortunately, his sturdy physique still granted him extraordinary resistance.
The numbness from the Lightning Style did not last very long. The moment he recovered, he immediately manipulated his own hair to form a shield just in time.
Although this shield lasted for less than a second before being completely corroded away, it still bought enough time for Fuguki Suikazan to escape.
His bloated torso erupted with the fastest speed of his life. Even so, his arm was still splattered by the strong acid that broke through his defense, leaving it charred black from corrosion.
"What a pity."
Mei Terumi gently wiped her sexy red lips with the back of her hand, the residual acidic liquid drawing out a thin strand.
If it weren't for the ground continuously cratering right before their eyes, this scene would have seemed rather alluring.
On the other side, Kisame Hoshigaki had already arrived at the battlefield.
"Water Style: Exploding Water Colliding Wave!"
A surging stream of water carrying a powerful impact was released by Kisame Hoshigaki, rushing toward Mangetsu Hozuki like a roaring, fierce beast.
"As expected of you, Kisame."
Although he was somewhat surprised that Kisame could release such a terrifying Water Style, Mangetsu Hozuki dared not be careless.
He quickly injected chakra into his arms, and chunks of muscle suddenly bulged.
"Water Style: Great Water Arm Jutsu!"
After strengthening his own power, he released a massive amount of chakra to wrap around Hiramekarei. The dual blades merged, slashing down heavily right down the middle toward the incoming stream of water!
A blue blade light boomed into bloom, actually splitting the terrifying incoming stream of water directly in two, forcefully carving out a path of survival.
Kisame Hoshigaki raised a smile, "As expected of the genius of the Hozuki Clan. Then how about this next move?"
His hands formed signs once more. Within the stream of water that had been split in two, several thick sharks suddenly condensed. They opened their bloody, giant mouths, emerging from the water curtain to bite wantonly at Mangetsu Hozuki.
In response, Mangetsu Hozuki did not care at all. He merely injected more chakra into Hiramekarei's blade, rushing toward Kisame at the fastest speed.
Six sharks attacked from both sides, utilizing their terrible biting force to snap down heavily on Mangetsu Hozuki.
Yet the scene of Mangetsu Hozuki being torn apart and eaten by the sharks did not appear. Instead, as the sharks bit down hard, Mangetsu Hozuki's body exploded into a stream of water.
Kisame Hoshigaki's deliberately calculated strike actually failed to cause any damage to Mangetsu Hozuki.
"The Hozuki Clan's Hydrification Technique is truly troublesome."
As a member of the Hidden Mist Village, Kisame Hoshigaki naturally knew about the Hydrification Technique, which was the specialty of the Hozuki Clan. But this did not stop him from continuing to test the waters.
Mangetsu Hozuki grinned, his jagged teeth displaying a hint of ferocity. The dual blades in his hands slashed heavily toward the enemy from both sides.
Facing such an attack, Kisame formed hand signs with both hands once more.
"Water Style: Water Prison Jutsu!"
A massive amount of water exploded from beneath his feet, forming a giant sphere at the fastest speed, enveloping both himself and the incoming Mangetsu Hozuki inside.
Within the water ball, Kisame Hoshigaki completely released his true nature.
The gills on his face breathed freely, and he swam wantonly inside the water ball like a shark.
Of course, due to the Hydrification Technique, Mangetsu Hozuki's combat capability in the water was also greatly enhanced. The only weakness was that he could not breathe freely in water.
Kisame Hoshigaki seized exactly this weakness. He controlled the liquid composing the water ball, combining it with his own attacks to continuously thwart Mangetsu Hozuki's attempts to head to the perimeter to catch his breath.
"Water Style: Five Feeding Sharks!"
Five sharks composed of water streams were released. Although they could not cause damage to Mangetsu Hozuki, they could manipulate the water currents to prevent him from reaching the perimeter, thereby achieving the goal of suffocating him to death!
"Damn it..."
Bubbles continuously escaped from Mangetsu Hozuki's mouth. This was a sign that he was about to reach his limit.
If he didn't breathe fresh air soon, he might truly suffocate in this water ball!
When that happened, he might become the first person in the Hozuki Clan to suffocate in water!
No, he absolutely could not let this kind of situation happen.
Since he couldn't break free from the water currents, his only option was this.
A flash of reluctance crossed Mangetsu Hozuki's eyes.
Suddenly, he pulled out a scroll from his person and tore it open forcefully.
Drawn upon it were a total of seven sealing arrays, where each array represented a ninja sword.
And he, Mangetsu Hozuki, was that super genius capable of using all seven ninja swords.
Right now, among the seven ninja swords, the Executioner's Blade was in Fuguki Suikazan's hands, while Kiba was taken away by the Mizukage, Yagura Karatachi, after Ameyuri Ringo's death.
The Decapitating Carving Knife was taken away by the rogue ninja Juzo Biwa, its whereabouts unknown.
Hiramekarei was in his own hands.
The remaining ones were Nuibari, Kabutowari, and Shibuki!
Now, in this desperate situation, Mangetsu Hozuki had no choice but to deploy the other ninja swords.
As smoke erupted with great difficulty inside the water ball, the slender Nuibari suddenly appeared in his hand.
Though he did not use it frequently, Mangetsu Hozuki still displayed extreme adaptability toward this blade.
Kisame Hoshigaki seemed to discern the opponent's intention and hurriedly condensed more sharks to attack.
But it was already of no avail.
Countless fine threads were released from Nuibari, relying on its sharpness to slice apart the numerous incoming sharks one by one!
Not only that, but Mangetsu Hozuki also took the opportunity to shoot a fine thread outside the range of the water ball, anchoring it to a boulder.
Immediately after, relying on the pulling force generated by the contraction of the fine thread, he dragged himself out of the water ball's range.
The moment he left the water ball, Mangetsu Hozuki's eyes brightened considerably.
He expanded his chest, greedily absorbing the oxygen in the air, and his bodily functions recovered rapidly.
Inside the water ball, Kisame Hoshigaki praised Mangetsu Hozuki's strategy, and then formed hand signs once more.
"Water Style: Rain Shark!"
A ripple spread out from Kisame Hoshigaki's hands, gradually enveloping the entire giant water ball.
Following closely, this massive water ball suddenly shuddered and instantly burst apart, forming thousands of tiny sharks composed of lake water. Opening their sharp teeth and fierce mouths, they flew toward Mangetsu Hozuki.
These thousands of small sharks poured down like a torrential rain, leaving Mangetsu Hozuki with absolutely no way to dodge!
Naturally, facing such an attack, Mangetsu Hozuki did not intend to dodge either.
He immediately summoned a small scroll from his ninja sword scroll.
Though called a small scroll, it was actually one of the seven most famous ninja swords of the Mist—Shibuki, though its outer appearance resembled a scroll.
Facing the thousands of falling water sharks, Mangetsu Hozuki gripped the handle of Shibuki and slashed forcefully.
The scroll-like blade was rapidly unrolled. Following that, countless explosive tags shot out from the scroll-like blade, meeting the incoming swarm of sharks.
The moment they contacted the sharks, these explosive tags boomed into explosions.
"Boom, boom, boom, boom, boom!!!"
The continuous explosions almost ruptured everyone's eardrums.
Under this near-exaggerated explosion, the swarm of sharks Kisame utilized via the water ball was finally blasted to pieces, completely evaporating under the temperature generated by the blasts.
Thick black smoke resembled a heavy wall, isolating the battlefield.
"Is this the power of Shibuki..."
Because the previous owner of Shibuki died miserably in the Third Shinobi World War, the people of the Hidden Mist Village had not witnessed the power of Shibuki for a long time.
Now, Mangetsu Hozuki finally awakened the memories sleeping in their minds.
However, while it was majestic, Mangetsu Hozuki was currently panting heavily, continuously stuffing Food Pills into his mouth.
Although Shibuki could continuously produce explosive tags for attacks, such attacks came with a price.
Manufacturing every single explosive tag required consuming a certain amount of the user's chakra.
Just now, Mangetsu Hozuki had summoned so many explosive tags in one breath, so the consumed chakra was clearly not small.
Looking back at his opponent, Kisame Hoshigaki, he still looked at him like nothing had happened, as if the chakra inside his body remained extremely plentiful.
If Mangetsu Hozuki possessed a Byakugan like Ao, then he would know that Kisame Hoshigaki was not pretending to be calm, but was truly calm.
Because his chakra reserve was already large to an unreasonable degree. Even though he had already performed several large-scale ninjutsu just now, his current chakra was still very abundant.
If a battle of attrition ensued, the victor would inevitably be Kisame Hoshigaki, who possessed more ample chakra and stronger endurance.
However, such a terrifying explosion just now was clearly impossible not to attract the attention of others.
For example...
The leader of the Hidden Mist Village, who was also the Fourth Mizukage—Yagura Karatachi.
"It seems you all are indeed very dissatisfied with my leadership."
Yagura Karatachi's somewhat tender voice suddenly echoed, accompanied by the silence of the entire battlefield.
Not a single person here would look down upon him because of Yagura Karatachi's tender voice and child-like face.
Because everyone present had deeply experienced Yagura Karatachi's terrifying strength, as well as his cruel methods that could not be described as human at all.
Mei Terumi, Mangetsu Hozuki, Ao, and even Zabuza, Fuguki Suikazan, and the others quickly went on high alert.
They knew that once this Fourth Mizukage flew into a rage, it was destined to be a bloody slaughter!
Furthermore, it would not distinguish between friend and foe!
Without waiting for Mei Terumi and her companions to make a move, a large number of bubbles suddenly fell from the sky, flying from all directions toward the newly appeared Fourth Mizukage.
"The Six-Tails?"
Yagura's pale pink eyes shifted slightly, instantly identifying the perpetrator of this attack.
Without much time to think, the numerous bubbles that had already reached his side exploded in an instant, turning into a dreadful explosion that engulfed him.
The lake surface surged with violent ripples, and the explosion agitated the lake surface to form water waves that spread out.
"How is it..."
Mei Terumi shifted her attention from Fuguki Suikazan to the suddenly appeared Yagura Karatachi.
Ao's expression was grave. Utilizing the Byakugan to penetrate the billowing thick smoke, he suddenly shouted a warning, "Utakata, watch out!"
Just as his voice fell, the gradually spreading thick smoke was swept away.
Crimson and violent Tailed Beast chakra instantly exploded. Yagura Karatachi entered the Version 2 form at the very first moment.
A massive amount of Tailed Beast chakra enveloped his body, and three thick, giant tails swept the smoke away.
Following closely, the lake surface beneath his feet suddenly cratered downward.
Before the lake surface could rebound, his body had already disappeared from the spot.
Fierce waves rose again on the lake, while Yagura Karatachi appeared above Utakata—the Six-Tails—carrying a terrifying might.
Three thick tails targeted Utakata, whose face was full of terror. Yagura said coldly, "If I remember correctly, I should have reminded you not to leave that wooden cabin?"
At this moment, Utakata's face was filled with horror, but his years of captivity still bred a bit of courage, as well as anger.
Exhausting all his courage, he roared at Yagura, "What I want is... freedom!"
As soon as he finished speaking, a hint of ferocity flashed across Yagura's face, which was covered by Tailed Beast chakra. Three tails struck Utakata's chest simultaneously.
Violent power erupted in an instant, and Utakata's thin body resembled a cannonball as it crashed heavily through the lake surface, plunging straight to the bottom of the lake!
Seeing this, Mei Terumi grew anxious. Utakata was the important weapon they used to contain Yagura. If he was finished off by Yagura in the first encounter, then what was the point of fighting next?
"Protect the Six-Tails!"
She gave a cold cry, immediately abandoning Fuguki Suikazan to go and stop Yagura.
Strangely, this time Fuguki Suikazan did not stop her, but instead showed a smile of watching a good show as he slowly trailed behind.
Mangetsu Hozuki and Ao likewise abandoned their opponents and arrived in front of Yagura.
"Just based on the three of you, you want to deal with me?"
Yagura let out a ridicule. Very clearly, the trio of Mei Terumi was not placed in his eyes at all as a perfect Jinchuriki.
"Lava Style: Melting Apparition Jutsu!"
Mei Terumi said nothing more, directly spitting out a glob of corrosive viscous liquid at the enemy.
Yagura Karatachi did not take this move head-on, but relied on his agility to dodge it.
Right after, he stomped on the lake surface once more, rapidly closing the distance to arrive in front of Mei Terumi, preparing to launch a hand-to-hand fight.
Mangetsu Hozuki rushed forward quickly, the dual blades Hiramekarei releasing a massive amount of chakra.
"Hiramekarei: Unleash!"
Mangetsu Hozuki's move fully released all the chakra accumulated by Hiramekarei just now. The chakra surged, forming a giant chakra cannonball that blasted Yagura Karatachi away!