Aokumo and Ryūfū could be clearly seen circling outside the swirling cloud tornado! The entire sea began to spin along with the white cloud vortex, and countless seawater was sucked up into the vortex, swirling around the outside like a massive water tornado. But a moment later, the air in the entire area suddenly condensed! Then, the entire 'water tornado' exploded with a roar! The clouds instantly swept across the entire surface of the sea!
Rain's vision was also obscured by the rolling white clouds. A stream of water carried him into the air, and it was only then that he realized Torifu's appearance had changed. There were black feather-like markings around Torifu's eyes, and his eyes had turned golden. His pure white hair now had golden strands mixed in! A pair of massive wings flapped up and down! Each flap caused a strong gust of wind, creating layers of waves.
"This is your Sage Mode! This is the first time I've seen it this close! It's really not from any of the Three Great Sage Regions! How did you learn it!" Rain was so happy, as if he had seen some kind of treasure. The smile on his face seemed to be overflowing.
"You know about my Sage Mode." Torifu was a little confused by this. He almost never used Sage Mode in public because there was no opponent who was worth him using it on. The only time he had was when he was fighting Kinkaku and Ginkaku. 'Could this person have been watching him since then?'
"Can you tell me!" Rain desperately wanted to know, but how could Torifu possibly tell him? But before Torifu could refuse, Rain's expression became dejected. "Never mind. You're going to be coming back with me anyway, so there's no need to talk about it now." He then lunged toward Torifu! But Torifu just held out a hand, and a massive vortex appeared in it. Countless cloud energy swirled in the vortex, keeping Rain out.
When his attack failed, Rain instantly retreated. Streams of water rose from the sea, holding him up. With a wave of his hand, several streams of water shot toward Torifu. Torifu didn't even need to dodge these probing attacks; the swirling cloud energy around him was enough to block them.
Torifu clapped his hands together, and countless sparkling points of light suddenly appeared on the sea, especially around Rain. The entire surface of the sea was glowing, and it looked very ethereal. But then, the points of light began to rapidly split and crystallize, turning into sparkling crystal shards. In the next second, they exploded. All the crystals exploded at once, and the shattered pieces of crystal went flying everywhere. But they were all attracted by the cloud energy around Torifu and gathered together. After the explosion, Torifu controlled the cloud energy, which was now carrying the crystal shards, to fly toward Rain again. Rain was now covered in blood. Senjutsu seemed to have a restraining effect on his scales, which was good news for Torifu.
The wisp of cloud energy held the wounded fish, and then the crystal shards scattered around him. They began to spin rapidly. At that moment, Rain felt as if he was being cut by thousands of knives at once. The small, dense wounds constantly bled, causing him to cry out. He struggled against the cloud energy's restraints and finally pulled his hand free. A moment later, a wave washed over him, sweeping all the crystal shards into the bottom of the sea. His wounds also began to heal rapidly. Torifu, of course, couldn't let him get what he wanted.
With a flap of his wings, a massive cloud of white mist attacked again, entering his body through his nose and mouth and freezing most of his organs. He then encased Rain in a cloud orb! The cloud orb continuously compressed, getting smaller and smaller, until it was the size of a sandbag.
"Explode."
With a bang! The cloud orb exploded violently! The boundless cloud energy shot straight into the sky, like an inverted waterfall! Even the waves of the sea were pushed away by this force.
When the cloud energy gradually subsided, Rain's body was nowhere to be found. Torifu didn't believe for a second that he had been killed by that jutsu and had turned into mist. After all, they had been fighting for a long time. Torifu knew Rain's strength, and that jutsu couldn't have killed him. Torifu flapped his wings, observing the movements on the surface of the sea. The water knights had long been annihilated, and only his puppets were left standing on the surface of the sea. He waved his hand, and they were all taken back.
Suddenly, Torifu felt a massive chakra approaching. He immediately released a cloud shield to protect himself. His premonition was correct. The moment the cloud shield was completed, two steel tridents shot out from the surface of the sea and shattered the cloud shield! But they didn't break through the cloud energy surrounding Torifu. They were firmly blocked by the clouds.
Then, a light-blue figure instantly leaped into the air! On closer inspection, it was indeed Rain, but his appearance had changed. The scales on his arms were no longer rough; they were shiny, like gemstones. His legs were gone, replaced by a fish tail covered in solid scales. The end of his fish tail, however, was a little transparent. Torifu could only see a faint outline.
"Kumotsuru Torifu, you are truly strong, to have forced me to use this move."
When Torifu saw Rain's new form, he was a little taken aback. 'What is this? Is he a merman?' But could such a thing really exist in this world? It should only be a myth. But from what Rain was saying, this seemed to be just a jutsu?
"Are you a merman?"
Rain was stunned for a moment, an unreadable expression on his face. "I wish I were."
'What does he mean by 'I wish I were'?' Rain's words were very vague, but there was no time to continue their discussion. Rain's fish tail flicked! Several water arrows shot toward Torifu at incredible speed! Torifu sent out an ice ring, freezing all the water arrows, and then mirrors appeared on the surface of the sea. Torifu rushed toward one of the mirrors and went right into it. He then moved between the different mirrors, and the mirrors' positions kept changing.
Rain tried to use his chakra to locate Torifu, but it was completely useless. Torifu's chakra was in every mirror. Just then, a mirror came to Rain. The moment Rain raised his hand to smash it, a gas blew out from inside. Rain wasn't prepared and inhaled the gas. He felt that something was wrong after the fact, but it was already a little too late. The gas, which was full of crystal shards, was sucked into his lungs. The hair-thin crystal shards began to grow and inject crystal toxin into Rain's body. At that moment, he felt an excruciating pain in his lungs, and tiny, hair-like crystals kept piercing out of his chest! His body also began to slowly crystallize. Rain gritted his teeth, and a burst of energy exploded in his body. All the crystals vanished, and the crystallized parts returned to their original state.
But Torifu noticed that the transparent part of his tail had gotten bigger.