To prevent the corrosive effects of the Melting Apparition Technique from touching him, and to achieve a blow-away effect against the Lava Style, Kamishiro Hagoromo decisively paid the hefty chakra cost to use the S-rank Water Style: Hard Whirlpool Water Blade.
Facts proved that an S-rank ninjutsu indeed delivered S-rank results. That kind of high-speed, high-density, high-pressure explosive water flow couldn't be instantly corroded away.
However, the Lava Style's effect was still present; it was merely eating through it a bit slower.
He stared intently at the distant waterspout. Because it was mixed with the Lava Style, the jutsu's scale was constantly shrinking, and then it dissipated prematurely before its time limit.
But Terumi Mei's figure did not reappear.
Did she really end up dying to her own technique?
But things weren't as simple as he imagined. Within his perception, something beneath the water's surface was rapidly moving toward his position.
He immediately retreated, activating his Lightning Style defense. Against an unknown attack, he chose to evade.
Sure enough, the water suddenly erupted exactly where he had just been standing.
Terumi Mei appeared and launched her attack.
Unfortunately for her, he had spotted her approach in advance.
Without any seemingly special movements, she then floated up from underwater.
Looking closely at her reappearance, she hadn't suffered any actual physical injuries from her attack, but a portion of her clothing had been corroded.
He could see a section of her exposed calf.
Looking further up...
Looking even further up, there was a slender waist.
Looking further, further up...
I'm sorry, imagination is not a crime, but writing it down will get you sentenced. Please keep things family-friendly.
Anyway, this was also a very alternative way of playing oneself.
Regardless, Kamishiro Hagoromo took a deep breath and said:
"I feel this sudden urge to express my gratitude..."
For such heavy-investment fanservice, one must bow 90 degrees when giving thanks.
What about the Three Prohibitions of a Ninja? Don't forget the teachings of the Academy instructors.
Terumi Mei had absolutely no patience for his nonsense right now. She prepared to switch to Boil Style: Skilled Mist Technique to directly melt the Konoha ninja in front of her.
she didn't want to leave even a single speck behind, intending to completely erase this person's existence in every sense of the word.
But right at that moment, a bizarre sound came from opposite Kamishiro Hagoromo—which was directly behind Terumi Mei.
What was going on? A signal?
He finally tore his eyes away from where he shouldn't be looking and cast his gaze into the distance, but he couldn't see anything. Therefore, he had no way of confirming if this was an actual signal, and if it was, what it meant.
But the situation was so incredibly urgent that it didn't allow him time to think. It wasn't that Terumi Mei had launched a new attack, but rather an extremely intense sense of crisis was coming from right behind him!
Something very bad was happening.
Without any time to care about what Terumi Mei was going to do, almost subconsciously, he bit hard into his finger and rapidly wove the hand signs: Boar-Dog-Bird-Monkey-Ram!
Ninja Art: Summoning Jutsu: Rashomon!
An iron gate bearing a ferocious demon face that looked utterly impenetrable was instantly summoned. One-third of it was buried in the water, while two-thirds remained exposed above the surface.
At the same time, he ran for his life in the opposite direction. But before he could take more than a few steps...
Boom!
A deafening explosion that could cause temporary hearing loss rang out. The massive impact caused extreme shockwaves in the air, and the water surface began to surge violently. A wave even fiercer than the Exploding Water Colliding Wave curled up, looking exactly like a massive tsunami!
He was instantly swallowed by the water. Clad in his Chidori Current and having lost his balance, he flailed his limbs underwater, looking like an electric eel.
After an unknown amount of time, once the water had settled down again, he finally floated back to the surface.
The Rashomon he had just summoned was completely gone. There was only one reason for its disappearance: it had sustained a catastrophic impact.
The abandoned village that previously had some ruined houses exposed was now completely wiped out. It looked as if this lake had existed here since the beginning.
Damn it, was this the Second Impact?
"Cough, cough, cough..."
He coughed up the water that had forced its way into his lungs. Right now, he didn't even need to think to know who had fired off such a devastating attack.
But he didn't blame the person who launched it; he blamed Orochimaru.
Can't you hold the damn aggro when you're fighting a boss?
That was clearly a Tailed Beast Bomb! He almost got killed by a stray shot out of nowhere! And it seemed like that Tailed Beast Bomb was aimed perfectly, coming straight for him, wasn't it?
His inner voice was roaring.
Actually, he should be thankful this was a Tailed Beast Bomb fired by a Jinchuriki who hadn't fully transformed. If an actual Tailed Beast had launched that attack, a single Rashomon wouldn't have been able to block it.
What the hell did Orochimaru do to Roshi? The guy is resisting so violently.
Having barely poked his head out of the water, he was already making all sorts of wild guesses.
At that moment, a hand was offered to him.
It was Kakashi. While Kamishiro Hagoromo looked like a drowned rat, Kakashi seemed mostly unaffected by the shockwave.
He reached out his right hand and grabbed Kakashi's, and with a pull, the latter hauled him up.
"Hagoromo, that attack just now was..."
Although Kakashi had his suspicions, he asked uncertainly. After all, he had only seen the summoned Rashomon, heard the explosion, and felt the shockwave, but he hadn't seen a certain pitch-black sphere.
"It was a Tailed Beast Bomb, no doubt about it."
Kakashi was deeply shocked. "I knew it... But is there a Tailed Beast on this island? A wild one?"
Dripping wet, he shot Kakashi a sideways glance. He said that like he was asking if there were wild rabbits on the island.
"It's a Jinchuriki, the Four-Tails Jinchuriki. When we first ran into that eyebrow-less guy, I noticed the presence of another enemy. It turned out to be Roshi from the Hidden Stone... I exchanged a few blows with him before falling back, arriving just in time to save you."
Kakashi had no mood to correct him on whether Zabuza had eyebrows or not. Instead, he continued asking, "Why would a Hidden Stone Jinchuriki be here? If you disengaged, who is fighting him right now?"
To the first question, he could only shake his head. Pausing for a moment, he added, "Right now, Orochimaru is dealing with the Jinchuriki."
"Orochimaru..." That name made Kakashi breathe a slight sigh of relief. One of the Sannin shouldn't have a problem handling a Jinchuriki, right?
"Should we go help?"
"No, we're going after the Hidden Mist ninjas. Both enemies have disappeared. They must have used the chaos from that explosion to retreat..." he said. "I suspect that signal earlier meant all Mist ninjas on the island are clear to fall back..."
Even if Orochimaru couldn't actually defeat the Jinchuriki, retreating safely wouldn't be an issue. A ninja like him wasn't going to die easily. There was no need for the two of them to go over there and get in the way.
"But..." Kakashi seemed to hesitate.
But a single sentence from him completely convinced Kakashi: "Whether it's backing up Orochimaru or fighting the Jinchuriki, neither is part of our mission. We only have one objective: retrieve the Byakugan."
Something clicked in kakashi and without saying a word, he moved forward.
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