Naruto: I, Shikotsumyaku, Byakugan Princess

Chapter 163 Shadow

The stronger the wind, the heavier the rain.

An endless curtain of water enveloped the dark sky, making it impossible to distinguish east from west. The water level at one's feet kept rising, even filling the huge mine shaft behind them.

Buzz!

Insects swarmed haphazardly in the sky, their wings colliding with raindrops. The three members of Iwakuma stood behind Aburame Ryoma, their muscles taut, locked in a tense standoff with Uchiha Itachi.

No one noticed.

The two of them paused for a second, then quickly returned to normal.

His dark sunglasses were covered in water droplets. Ryoma Yuu looked up at the sky, letting the rain wash the moisture off his face. He gently touched the purple mark on his right cheek, feeling the wrinkles and scars beneath his fingertips.

With his crimson eyes fixed on Ryoma Aburame ahead, Itachi Uchiha's gaze held an indescribable complexity.

It turns out that everything was a bitter consequence of the Uchiha clan's actions.

He became arrogant because of his strength, became isolated because of his arrogance, rebelled because of his isolation, failed because he was not strong enough, and was hated by the people who had shed blood and sacrificed themselves.

Boundless love amplified hatred, ultimately dragging the proud Uchiha clan and Danzo into the abyss.

Danzo, who was the most hostile to the Uchiha, was actually the most like the Uchiha.

Thinking of the promise he made with Ryoma Aburame in the Tsukuyomi space, Itachi Uchiha clenched his fist, which was hidden in his sleeve, and remained silent.

Boom.

A deafening roar, louder than thunder in the sky, came from afar. The terrifying explosion and the surging chakra waves drew the attention of the people who were quietly facing off.

Seeing that Itachi Uchiha seemed to have no intention of making a move, Butterfly quickly formed hand seals, and ripples of chakra probed towards the fierce battlefield on her left.

The sky was covered with dark clouds, and the torrential rain was absorbed by chakra, turning into two rows of ferocious teeth.

The ferocious shark-shaped water-style creature stretched out its fins and stood tall and proud. Orochimaru held the creature in the air with his hands in an inverted triangle shape, manipulating the earth dragon bullet to tear and bombard it.

Hui Li shielded Orochimaru in front of her, observing the battle between the two Kage-level powerhouses with her eyes lowered.

The more she watched, the more she realized the enormous gap in chakra reserves between herself and truly powerful individuals.

Well known.

Chakra is generated in real time in the human body. The spirit, body, and chakra are a trinity that always maintains a dynamic balance.

The more chakra a person has, the healthier and younger their chakra core is, and the faster their chakra recovers.

If we don't consider the body's natural recovery or the use of medications like "military ration pills," then...

In normal circumstances, a ninja's chakra is about one-third of what it is when in combat. In a desperate situation, where mental strength pushes the body to its limits, the chakra can often reach more than five times that of a normal state.

Therefore, the ninja world uses three to five times the chakra as a threshold.

In ninja ranking, the amount of chakra increases three to five times with each higher rank. The amount of chakra a typical ninja academy student, that is, a normal human being at age 12, is considered a genin.

Generally speaking.

Three times the chakra of a genin is equivalent to that of an ordinary chunin, while five times is considered elite among chunin, and even some special jonin only reach this level of chakra.

The same applies to going further up.

Three times the chakra of an elite Chunin is equivalent to that of a regular Jonin, while five times the chakra elevates one to the ranks of elite Jonin.

In other words, if an ordinary elite Jonin enters a state of extreme combat, he can reach at least 125 times the chakra of an ordinary Genin in his normal state.

If you multiply that by three to five times, you'd become a fairly normal Kage-level powerhouse.

But this is only the minimum standard.

Starting from the Kage level, ninjas enter the non-human realm, often capable of single-handedly fighting an entire ninja village, or even leading a war.

The amount of chakra varies greatly between each person.

When Naruto is suppressing the Nine-Tails, his chakra reserves are about three times that of Kairi. If he doesn't suppress them, they could be a hundred times greater!
Without taking into account his own recovery ability and the power of the Nine-Tails, Naruto's maximum burst of chakra is 12500 times the chakra of an ordinary genin.

This chakra isn't unique even among Kage-level beings; for example, the one in front of us.

A terrifying blue halo flickered slightly.

The soul-shaking chakra fluctuations prevented the rain from maintaining its original state.

The monster, known as the tailless tailed beast, possesses about three-fifths of the chakra of a six-year-old Naruto, and this is without needing to suppress the Nine-Tails; its chakra is completely under its control.

It can easily create lakes and unleash tsunamis hundreds of meters high.

If one were born in ancient times, this would be a deity that only exists in mythology.

Orochimaru's chakra is also quite good.

Due to human body modification and a certain secret technique to stimulate life force, his chakra level can reach ten to twenty times that of an elite Jonin. According to Hai Li's estimation, if he were to release his physical body and enter the Orochi state, his chakra level would not be much weaker than Kisame Hoshigaki.

The two clashed using ninjutsu.

Each burst of chakra was more powerful than all the remaining power of Hui Li's clone.

boom!
The earth dragon collided with the shark for who knows how many times.

Thanks to the rainy weather and Kisame Hoshigaki's outrageous chakra, each impact could wash Orochimaru's earth dragon down into a patch of mud.

Sweat beaded on his forehead; nearly a quarter of his chakra had been depleted. His chakra core was pulsating wildly, generating a large amount of chakra to sustain his ninjutsu.

"How long are you going to stand here and wait?"

His husky, magnetic voice betrayed a hint of anxiety.

"We're looking for opportunities, so don't rush things."

A quick glance from the Byakugan revealed that Orochimaru still had some strength left; his trump cards, the Eight-Headed Serpent Technique and the Impure World Reincarnation, had not yet been revealed. Hui Li calmly observed the chakra source in the distance, which resembled a blazing sun.

Thanks to the favorable conditions of the rainy weather, Kisame Hoshigaki's chakra was not depleted at all, and he had even gradually recovered the chakra he had used to activate the Great Waterfall Wave.

Even if she and Orochimaru combined, they couldn't compete with each other in terms of ninjutsu attrition.

If Kisame wanted to use genjutsu to defeat his enemies, he also had the greatsword Samehada, making it incredibly easy for them to disrupt each other's chakra.

Close-quarters combat.

Samehada's ability to absorb chakra is extremely effective against her Tailed Beast Cloak and Lightning Release Armor. Once her chakra is absorbed, her shadow clone will immediately shatter.

It's really tricky.

This is the state of an elite Jonin that Hiruzen Sarutobi described as taking a step further.

Kisame Hoshigaki's situation is not an isolated case. Every Kage is a monster who has overcome his own flaws; otherwise, they would not be able to lead a war.

A Kage-level ninja may not be all-around perfect, but they will no longer have any obvious weaknesses.

Only by making up for one's own weaknesses can one fight against ten thousand! Hui Li, who has always been good at restraining others, finally understands what it is like to be restrained by others.

"If you don't hurry, your teammates will all die."

With his golden vertical pupils glancing at the slacking Hui Li behind him, Orochimaru gritted his teeth, gathered his chakra, and withstood Kisame Hoshigaki's attack.

It's unclear how long Ryoma Aburame can hold off Itachi Uchiha. Right now, he's already struggling in a one-on-one fight, and if Itachi joins in, they'll be completely outmatched.

To protect the Six Paths Treasures, they must kill this shark-like monster with endless chakra before Itachi Uchiha defeats Ryuma Aburame, creating a situation where there are many against one, thus having a chance to force Itachi Uchiha to retreat.

"If we can't win with ninjutsu, we might as well fight with taijutsu and create an opportunity to win."

With his long tongue licking the corner of his mouth, Orochimaru's cold gaze focused on Kisame, who was carrying a large sword in the distance.

“The opponent is one of the Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist from Kirigakure. Their taijutsu is not weak, and I recognize that big sword. It has the ability to absorb chakra. If you get hit, a large amount of chakra will be absorbed.”

“We have no room for error. If we get hit even once, our chakra will be completely drained,” Hairi said, staring at Kisame’s head and revealing this information to Orochimaru. Intelligence was their only advantage.

Orochimaru nodded slowly, finally understanding why Hairi didn't let him fight at close range.

"So what opportunity are you waiting for?"

"do not know."

Hui Li slowly shook her head.

They are the ones who are clearly at a disadvantage, and they should be the ones who are anxious.

But in the distance, the light above Kisame Hoshigaki's head, representing his urgent emotions, grew brighter and brighter, the pale red emotion and blue chakra reflecting each other and churning.

The Nine-Tails' power can sense emotions and malice, but it's not mind-reading, so she can't know what the other person is anxious about.

just now.

All she could do was wait patiently.

We hope the enemy will make a mistake in their haste and deliberately reveal a weakness.

If Kisame Hoshigaki never gets close to them and always uses Water Release to suppress them and Samehada to defend them, the two of them will only be able to try to fight them in close combat, and the situation will be even more passive than it is now.

Most importantly, Orochimaru's character is not trustworthy. She dares not stray too far from him, in case he uses the Reverse Summoning Technique to escape, that would be truly disastrous.

……

"Water Release: Great Shark Bullet Technique!!!"

Kisame Hoshigaki clenched his fists, and the surging chakra within him poured into the lake beneath his feet. A giant shark capable of devouring chakra instantly materialized, opening its massive jaws to bite Orochimaru.

A figure in the distance pats the ground with one hand.

rumble!

Another magnificent iron gate appeared on the mountaintop.

The giant shark collided with the iron gate. The shark, which could absorb all chakra, bit at the iron gate but could not absorb any power. In the end, it could only rely on its own impact to smash the iron gate, and then it lost its power.

The opponent seemed to know his abilities. Every time he used a ninjutsu that could absorb chakra, the opponent could accurately predict it and respond with pure physical offense and defense.

Once or twice is a coincidence, but if it happens too often, even a fool could see the problem.

Looking at the two people in front of him, calmly exchanging ninjutsu with him, he felt a little anxious.

Normally, he would be overjoyed to encounter someone who would put him in a war of attrition, but Uchiha Itachi's side could send reinforcements at any time.

Madara warned him to be careful of Itachi Uchiha and not to let him know about the existence of the Six Paths Treasure.

For a ninja, carrying out missions is the top priority.

He must defeat Orochimaru before Itachi arrives in order to keep the secret of the Six Paths Treasures.

No!

We can't keep dragging this on.

Having made up his mind, Kisame Hoshigaki pulled out Samehada from his back and quickly untied the bandages wrapped around it.

Squeak!

Only a small portion of the bandages had been untied when Samehada instantly bristled with spikes, shredding the remaining bandages. Stretching out, Samehada opened its massive maw, its jaws snapping open and shut repeatedly towards Orochimaru, its hunger and excitement visibly palpable.

"What follows is a grand feast!"

Seemingly infected by Samehada's emotions, Kisame Hoshigaki also became excited.

Water Release: Water Shark Bullet Technique!
The raging water flowed around him, gradually changing its shape into that of a shark, tightly enveloping Kisame's body.

boom!
The large fish tail slapped the water's surface, splashing water everywhere.

Using the force of the impact, the shark enveloping Kisame leaped into the sky and glided towards the direction of Kairi and the other person.

"coming!"

Byakugan locked onto Kisame inside the water shark, and Kairi quickly reminded Orochimaru that the time was right.

Having been suppressed and beaten for a long time, Orochimaru had already accumulated a lot of anger.

Seeing Kisame descend from the sky riding a shark, he instantly stretched out his neck and spat out a sword tip that gleamed with cold light, aiming it at Kisame in the sky.

Hui Li held a water sphere with both hands, one above and one below. A stream of water emerged from the water beneath her feet and entered the water sphere to replace the consumption of chakra. Even the speed of releasing ninjutsu was much faster than before.

This humid environment is not only beneficial to Kisame.

Boom!

A giant shark crashed through the rain and plummeted from the sky, leaving a trail of white mist behind it, resembling a gliding fighter jet.

"How long will you pull and twist?"

With the steel longsword in his mouth, Orochimaru's speech was somewhat unclear.

"immediately!"

Hui Li narrowed his eyes.

The Wind Release technique created a dense air film on the surface of the water sphere, causing the entire sphere to tremble violently. The terrifying internal pressure made Orochimaru, who was standing nearby, feel a chill run down his spine.

This is the battle plan that Hui Li came up with.

There is only one Samehada, so the opponent only has one option: to absorb chakra or defend against physical attacks.

If the two can keep their attacks perfectly synchronized, they may be able to break through the opponent's defense.

The giant shark plummeted at high speed.

Kisame Hoshigaki, with Samehada raised high, had already come into view of the two.

Buzz!

As the water sphere solidified, even without high temperatures, the water inside visibly began to boil violently under immense pressure.

Tiny bubbles filled the water sphere, turning Gray Glass's palm a pure white. Above her head, a giant shark opened its massive jaws, and she could already see the menacing barbs spreading across Samehada's body.

The water sphere was raised above his head, his orchid-like palm pointing towards the sky, and a crack appeared on the surface of the water sphere, just like Orochimaru's vertical snake eyes.

"Orochimaru!"

"Ok!"

Orochimaru, who had been waiting for a long time, suddenly brightened up. The Kusanagi sword in his mouth grew rapidly, and its sharp tip, carrying a cold light, stabbed fiercely at the giant shark in the air.

Zizi!

The sound of a pressure cooker releasing steam reached my ears. Wind wisps sliced ​​through the clouds and rain, and a terrifying water blade imbued with wind-escape technique shot towards the giant shark in the sky like a laser beam, along with the Kusanagi sword.

The Byakugan locked onto Kisame, the laser beam focusing precisely on his brow!

The sword's edge and the rushing water arrived in an instant.

Kisame, his eyes widening as he tried to ambush from within the giant shark, raised the thirsty Samehada in his hand!

"Samebas!"

"Woo!"

Kisame's giant sword, Samehada, suddenly opened its massive jaws. Kisame stepped on the water, his arm suddenly expanding with monstrous strength as he swung the sword at lightning speed, slashing down at the rushing torrents and sword blades shooting towards him.

(End of this chapter)