The sun sank toward the horizon, and darkness gradually fell.
Four hours had passed since the Three-Tails, Isobu, attacked the harbor.
During those four hours, whenever the Three-Tails seemed close to giving up on chasing the target it simply could not catch, Shimizu would close in at a critical moment and strike it again.
Only by constantly refreshing its hatred could he keep the Three-Tails willingly pursuing him.
But every close-range engagement was a gamble with death—and each one grew more dangerous than the last.
The previous time, just as Shimizu closed in and began forming hand seals for Chidori, the Three-Tails' counterattack arrived.
That massive silver tail swept across the sea like an iron whip, smashing through everything in its path.
If Shimizu hadn't possessed exceptional mastery of the Body Flicker Technique, that strike would have decided the battle.
Even so, the shockwave from the tail's swing grazed his left arm—the very arm he used to perform Chidori.
The Three-Tails' attacks were becoming increasingly threatening.
It almost felt as if the Three-Tails were testing the limits of his reaction speed.
Is it an illusion? Does this beast actually possess intellect? He wondered. It's supposed to be nothing more than a mindless mass of raw Chakra.
...
As the sun neared full descent, the Three-Tails suddenly stopped pursuing him.
It stood motionless on the sea surface.
Shimizu did not act rashly.
Caution was a fundamental trait of a veteran ninja.
Although he had initially assumed the Three-Tails was merely an unintelligent beast, their repeated exchanges suggested otherwise. The threat it posed to him was clearly increasing.
That could not simply be coincidence.
And in his memory, both the Nine-Tails and the One-Tail had spoken human language.
Did all Tailed Beasts possess such intelligence?
Shimizu didn't know.
His knowledge of Tailed Beasts was limited.
Suddenly—
the Three-Tails flipped violently, sending waves crashing into the air—
And dove into the ocean depths.
Is it planning an ambush from underwater? How ridiculous.
No matter how fast the attack, could it outpace Instant Water?
A monster was still a monster.
To describe it as "intelligent" would be giving it far too much credit.
Yet after waiting a moment—
No attack came.
Nor did the Three-Tails resurface.
What's going on?
Shimizu glanced toward the distant horizon—the direction they had come from.
The Three-Tails was retreating.
And it was moving incredibly fast.
That could not be allowed.
Feeling that roughly half his chakra remained, Shimizu began chaining Instant Water activations to pursue it. At this point, he could not worry about consumption.
If the Three-Tails returned all the way to its original location, all his previous effort would have been wasted.
An ordinary ninja would not dare venture this deep into the endless sea.
Standing on water required constant chakra expenditure.
Continuous ninjutsu use and high-speed movement consumed even more.
If one ran out of chakra far from shore, the only option would be to swim back.
In the open ocean.
Swim for days?
Shimizu relied on one thing: his extraordinary chakra recovery speed.
Even after multiple intense clashes, he still retained half his reserves.
The longer this dragged on, the more chakra he would naturally recover.
As he rapidly closed the distance—
Before he could fully catch up—
The sea ahead erupted once more with surging waves.
The beast dove underwater again.
Is it playing hide-and-seek with me?
Shimizu's gaze instinctively swept the horizon, searching for signs of it—
Suddenly—
The sea beneath his feet, not yet calmed from the previous disturbance, churned violently.
The Three-Tails burst upward from the depths.
I've been waiting for that! A ninja isn't that easy to ambush! Shimizu had already leaped high into the air the moment the surface shifted, his fingers blurring into hand seals.
Using Body Flicker, he reappeared on the sea surface.
The Three Tails' massive tail strikes tore through empty air, smashing down into the ocean and sending up towering sprays of water.
He had nearly fallen for this trick earlier.
The same move wouldn't work twice against a jōnin.
But—
That dense, overwhelming chakra rushing toward him—
Because the violent waves obscured his vision, Shimizu couldn't see the incoming attack.
Yet from his sensory perception alone, he knew it was lethal.
He instantly activated Instant Water to evade.
But it was too dense.
Each flash-step covered only about fifty meters within the water's range.
He teleported multiple times in rapid succession—
And still could not escape the massive attack radius.
This was a full-area bombardment covering several hundred meters!
From the Three-Tails''s mouth erupted thousands upon thousands of water bullets—Water Release: Water Continuous Bullets!!
The sky was filled with them. Each water sphere was the size of a basketball, and every single one carried terrifying chakra.
Even with Instant Water, Shimizu couldn't evade them all.
In the final instant, he could only rely on the instant-cast Lightning Release: Thunder Blade Slash, slashing cleanly through two incoming cannonballs in a desperate bid to open a path—
But in his field of vision, one final water sphere remained.
It was enormous.
It was dense with chakra.
It was getting closer.
His pupils contracted sharply.
"BOOM BOOM BOOM!!!"
Explosions erupted in rapid succession as countless water shells detonated.
The final unavoidable Water Continuous Bullets blasted Shimizu dozens of meters away.
He crashed down onto the sea surface, barely managing to kneel.
A violent surge of pain hit him.
He could no longer hold it in—
A mouthful of bright red blood spilled from his lips.
But the Three Tails' attack was not over.
Centered on Shimizu, the surrounding ocean suddenly surged and twisted into a colossal whirlpool—hundreds of meters in diameter.
Such terrifying control!
Within those violently rotating currents, escape via Instant Water was impossible.
Water was the medium required to activate Instant Water.
And now that very medium was under the Three Tails' control.
"Cough—!"
Spitting blood again, Shimizu drew his longsword and charged toward the Three Tails instead of retreating.
Advancing instead of withdrawing!
The Three Tails' intention was obvious: trap him within this water zone and restrict his mobility.
But could it really succeed?
The Three Tails spat out another barrage of water bullets.
This time the scale was smaller than before. Even a Tailed Beast couldn't unleash full-scale devastation without sufficient time to gather chakra.
Still—
Hundreds of Water Continuous Bullets were no trivial assault.
Konoha-Style Kenjutsu: Dance of the Crescent Moon!
The dense barrage tore through three shadow images, exploding against the distant sea surface with deafening blasts.
Suddenly, Shimizu vanished again.
Even the Three-Tails hesitated momentarily—because this time he did not appear midair as before.
Instead, Shimizu struck at the flesh beneath Isobu's head and neck—its blind spot.
The blade pierced cleanly into the red muscle.
"ROOOAR!!" Agonizing pain caused the Three-Tails' massive body to thrash violently, waves surging in every direction.
Shimizu released the sword and retreated from the berserk beast.
It wasn't that he didn't want to retrieve the weapon that had accompanied him for years—
He simply couldn't.
Perhaps the Three-Tails' immense strength had wedged the blade in place; it wouldn't budge.
And at that very moment—
Another sudden change erupted.
From beneath the sea burst dozens of shark-like creatures!
Shimizu remained composed.
With Thunder Blade Slash in both hands, he responded instantly. The seal-less, instantaneous nature of the technique allowed him to adapt to any sudden threat.
The strange fish attacked in endless waves.
He cut them down cleanly, one after another.
These were nothing like the sharks he knew from his previous life. They resembled mutated creatures—backs covered in sharp barbed spikes, their appearance far more grotesque.
Some were under a meter long; others stretched several meters.
Their massive, gaping jaws were even more terrifying than ordinary sharks.
It was a one-sided slaughter.
Blood rapidly stained the sea crimson.
So the Three-Tails had summoned these monstrous fish to assist it in battle.
Perhaps the massacre enraged the Three-Tails further.
Shimizu suddenly sensed chakra gathering in the Three-Tails' mouth—far greater than the massive water sphere from earlier that day.
Even the surrounding sea began to churn violently.
An attack of that magnitude—
Would it trigger a tidal wave?!!
In a brief lapse of focus, another smaller fish shot upward from below at extreme speed, its attack reduced to a blur.
Smaller than the others—
Faster.
Caught off guard, Shimizu failed to completely kill it. Thunder Blade Slash severed only half its body—
Before its jaws clamped viciously onto his abdomen.
It refused to let go.
When he tried to tear it off, the result was only sharper pain and heavier blood loss.
It seemed this miniature monster was capable only of brute physical biting.
If that's all... I can endure the pain!
Right now, he had to focus on the Three-Tails, which was currently brewing a world-ending strike.
Run!
I have to get out of here!
Disregarding Chakra consumption, he moved at his absolute maximum speed.
He triggered Instant Water! Not far enough!
He chained Instant Water again and again!
In just a few seconds, he triggered Instant Water more than twenty times in succession, creating over 1.3 kilometers of distance between himself and the Three Tails' immediate area.
But Shimizu knew—
Even that distance offered no true safety.
Without slowing, he continued sprinting across the sea toward the Land of Water.
He could feel the last scraps of chakra draining within him.
The shadow of death loomed closer.
Yet Shimizu remained as calm as the vast ocean itself—
Deep.
Cold.
And terrifyingly steady.