The crystal instantly became incredibly dazzling. Just a single glance was enough to turn a person's vision white! A fatal amount of energy gathered within it! As the crystal's light became brighter, its temperature also became hotter! Torifu aimed it at Rain, who was locked on the surface of the sea.
"Crystal Release: A Single Ray of Light."
An incredibly hot ray of sunlight burst from the main crystal! It was like a world-destroying beam, shooting toward Rain! Faced with such a crisis, Rain naturally couldn't just sit and wait for death, but his body was firmly locked by the chains and unable to move. He couldn't use any jutsus and could only watch as the ray, which was powerful enough to burn everything to ashes, hit his body!
At that moment, Rain felt like he had a close encounter with the surface of the sun! The dense scales on his body had absolutely no effect. They were instantly melted and stuck to his body. Rain let out an incredibly painful scream. He swore that this was the greatest pain he had ever experienced since he was born! Not even the experiments done on him without anesthesia felt this painful. His skin quickly became shriveled and dehydrated. Rain could only use the energy in his tail to continuously repair his body, but this also made his already half-transparent tail even more transparent.
Just as Rain's tail completely turned transparent and his fish tail turned back into a pair of legs, the Cloud Release chains that were restraining Rain also couldn't withstand the scorching heat and were completely vaporized. Rain fell into the sea, thus avoiding a fatal blow. Even so, he was left with a massive wound, and the skin and flesh on it had been completely turned to charcoal. Without the power of his fish tail, Rain couldn't regenerate his wounds even after entering the sea. He could only use a simple medical jutsu to heal himself.
Although the wound was slowly healing, Rain was incredibly weak and wasn't even sure if he could use any other jutsu. Seeing Torifu on the surface of the sea, searching for him, Rain closed his eyes and wiggled a finger again. A bubble slowly rose from the bottom of the sea. Sleeping inside it was Naori! He applied the poison on the kunai in Naori's hand. "Go. Use this kunai to stab that transgressor on the surface and restore peace to our country."
A bewitching voice, like that of a siren, echoed in Naori's ears. She, who had her eyes tightly shut, slowly woke up. Her eyes were still pale-blue. Then, without any unnecessary movements, she popped the bubble and swam toward the surface. Then, five more bubbles appeared from the bottom of the sea. Inside them were Hiruzen, Kagami, Danzō, Koharu, En, and others. Rain once again used the same trick and commanded them. "When that woman succeeds, do whatever it takes to capture Kumotsuru Torifu!" Then, the group slowly woke up, popped their bubbles, and swam toward the surface.
Rain's injuries were extremely severe. He had just used another genjutsu to control Naori and the others, which made him even weaker. If he were to show his head now, he would surely be easily killed by Torifu. Fortunately, he still had these plans in his hands. He could make Kumotsuru Torifu hesitate. Even if they failed, they could at least buy him enough time to recover. That was already enough.
Naori hid beneath the surface of the sea, continuously adjusting her position with the waves. This way, the sunlight shining on the waves could completely hide her body. Torifu was doing his best to search for Rain while also trying to fight off the grogginess caused by the poison in his body. The poison was making Torifu's consciousness grow more and more hazy. He would lose focus every now and then and couldn't concentrate for long. Torifu had never felt so sleepy before, but a voice at the back of his mind kept telling him, 'No, you can't. The mission isn't complete yet, and your companions are still in that guy's hands!' He forced himself to be on high alert, but he quickly became tired again. Just as he was struggling, Torifu suddenly noticed that a wave looked a little strange. In the next second, a figure shot out from the wave! No matter when, Torifu would never forget that this was Naori!
The moment he saw Naori, Torifu's mind instantly cleared up. He also saw the kunai in Naori's hand. He immediately understood that she was coming for him. Naori was still being controlled by Rain! He then used his Cloud Release chains to try and tie Naori up, but Naori was incredibly nimble. She constantly Body Flickered and dodged on the surface of the sea, making Torifu, who was already struggling to focus, even more tense. To ease the pressure, Torifu instantly released more than a dozen chains at the same time to pursue Naori. He just wanted to tie her up and not hurt her. With this in mind, the chains became very cautious in their pursuit.
On the other hand, Torifu also had to pay attention to one more thing. Since Naori had shown up, his other friends might also be hiding beneath the surface of the sea, waiting to attack at any time.
"Naori, wake up! It's me, Torifu! Don't you remember me!"
As expected, this trick was completely useless against a controlled person. Torifu knew that Rain's jutsu wouldn't be dispelled by words. He just wanted to try his luck. As Naori was being pursued by the chains, she continuously tried to use the kunai in her hand to attack Torifu. Torifu easily countered her attacks. After all, he was only having trouble concentrating; his strength hadn't weakened. He had originally wanted to release his puppets to capture Naori, but Naori would seize any opportunity to attack him, not allowing him to be distracted at all. As soon as she saw an opening, Naori's kunai would instantly stab at him.
Rain, who was in the sea, also saw this. He had recovered a little, but he was still very weak. However, he could use simple jutsus. He forced a smile and waved his right hand. Several flying fish leaped out of the sea and flew toward Torifu. Torifu, who noticed them, immediately used a jutsu to block them. And at that moment, the drowsiness in his mind returned! Aokumo and Ryūfū immediately shouted loudly, trying to clear Torifu's mind. It worked, but unfortunately, it was a little too late.
Torifu used a jutsu to destroy the flying fish, but Naori instantly Body Flickered and appeared in front of him! Torifu immediately retreated, wanting to dodge, but he was still stabbed in the shoulder with the kunai! The kunai immediately glowed with a black light, as if something was entering Torifu's body. At the same time, the facial markings on Torifu's face that symbolized Sage Mode suddenly disappeared. Aokumo and Ryūfū also returned to their original forms and circled in the sky. Naori, who had succeeded, stood blankly on the surface of the sea, her body trembling slightly.
In the next second, a huge splash erupted on the surface of the sea! The controlled Hiruzen and the others shot out of the water! Everyone entered their strongest state, determined to take down Torifu in one fell swoop! At that moment, Rain also emerged from the sea, clutching his chest. "It looks like the tide has turned."