The Umibōzu was a creature made entirely of seawater, a true elemental summon. Physical attacks passed harmlessly through its body.
Out of pure curiosity, Akio decided not to destroy it immediately.
He tested Water Release, Wind Release, and even Lightning Release against it.
Its offensive power wasn't especially impressive, but its durability made Naruto look fragile by comparison.
As long as its core remained intact and it had access to water, the creature was effectively immortal.
The two hideous fish-men that had summoned it, however, received no such mercy.
"Way of Destruction #4: Byakurai."
Two white bolts of lightning shot from Akio's fingertips.
The fish-men immediately lost consciousness and sank into the depths.
...They probably won't drown, he thought.
Watching the Umibōzu regenerate yet again, Akio nodded approvingly.
"Now this is a quality summon."
He rubbed his chin.
"I think fate just introduced us."
After a moment's thought, he stretched his arms wide as if beginning an exercise.
As his arms slowly closed together...
the enormous water monster was compressed by overwhelming repulsive force.
Its massive body, originally over a dozen meters wide, shrank rapidly.
Akio then raised one hand and lowered the other, squeezing inward once more.
Moments later...
the towering Umibōzu had been compressed into a floating sphere of water less than half a meter across.
A black dimensional portal opened at his fingertip.
With a flick, he sent the tiny water sphere into his Water Space.
The instant it entered...
the Umibōzu expanded into an unimaginably enormous giant.
The endless ocean inside the Water Space strengthened it far beyond anything possible in the real world.
It also confirmed one interesting fact.
Akio's Water Space was even larger than the oceans of the shinobi world.
He chuckled.
"Amaterasu could burn in there for a century and probably still wouldn't evaporate all that water."
With the battle over, Guren and Tayuya approached again.
"Elder..."
Tayuya glanced at the black portal.
"So... do you have another secret base hidden in there?"
She was clearly referring to the dimensional space Akio had opened.
Guren blinked.
Secret base?
Lord Orochimaru's base is right here.
Why would she ask him that?
Akio looked at Tayuya with an amused smile.
"Oh?"
"The kid's getting bold."
"Trying to tease me now?"
"I like your spirit."
"You've got potential."
Tayuya smiled shyly.
Akio's mouth twitched.
...Wait.
Something feels off.
Since when was Tayuya the shy type?
Don't tell me...
She's developed a crush on me?
Guren was equally confused.
Did spending months locked up in Konoha scramble her brain?
I always told her to stop hanging around Jirōbō so much...
Akio wisely chose not to continue that train of thought.
Instead, he extended one arm.
A man wearing dark sunglasses was yanked out of the water by invisible force, landing directly in Akio's grasp.
The captive struggled wildly.
"Guren! You actually betrayed Lord Orochimaru! I'll make sure he"
"He's the director of this laboratory."
Guren interrupted calmly.
"He was responsible for creating the fish-men."
Akio looked genuinely surprised.
"So Orochimaru didn't build them himself?"
Apparently, true talent could be found anywhere.
He had assumed such advanced genetic engineering had to be Orochimaru's work.
The man continued struggling.
Akio narrowed one eye.
His Six-Tomoe Rinnegan rotated.
The man's body instantly froze.
A transparent soul was ripped directly from his body.
Splash.
The empty corpse fell onto the ocean's surface before slowly sinking.
"Wait!"
Guren cried out instinctively.
Akio merely glanced at her.
The pressure from his Rinnegan made every hair on her body stand on end.
She wisely fell silent.
Akio spoke calmly.
"I'm not in the habit of killing people without reason."
"But this man secretly ordered the fish-men to attack merchant ships from the Land of the Sea, the Land of Whirlpools, and even the Land of Water."
"He murdered innocent people for profit."
"He chose his own ending."
"What?!"
Guren's expression darkened.
"That bastard..."
Akio simply smiled and closed his eyes, sorting through the memories he had just extracted.
The reason he'd spared the two fish-men earlier was simple.
They had originally been ordinary civilians from the Land of the Sea.
They were victims.
This laboratory director...
wasn't.
If Orochimaru wasn't personally responsible for these crimes, Akio had no reason to spare the man.
Genetic Engineering
LV5 (300000 / 400000)
Akio glanced at the new skill listed in his status screen.
"An unexpected bonus."
He muttered to himself.
"...Now what exactly am I supposed to do with this?"
"Start making fish-people?"
"Or maybe recreate Wolverine?"
He immediately shook his head.
"That crosses way too many ethical lines."
After fully digesting the man's memories, Akio fell into thought.
Not finding Orochimaru wasn't surprising.
He had never expected much.
If Orochimaru could abandon someone as capable as Guren, who was nearly S-rank, then he certainly wouldn't concern himself with a rogue laboratory director.
From those memories, Akio also learned everything about the underwater facility.
Apart from its director, only the two failed fish-men remained alive.
Everything else consisted of laboratory equipment.
There was nothing else worth investigating.
There was, however...
one unexpected discovery.
A single successful hybrid still lived in the Land of the Sea.
Unlike the failed subjects, she could freely shift between human and mermaid forms.
And...
she was female.
Akio pursed his lips.
"So there really is a mermaid."
A moment later, his smile faded.
"...Poor kid."
Turning toward Guren and Tayuya, he waved casually.
"I'm heading to Strange Island."
"You two do whatever you like."
Without waiting for a reply, he walked across the ocean, leaving the two girls exchanging uncertain glances.
"Guren..."
Tayuya hesitated.
"Do you think Lord Orochimaru really..."
Guren remained silent for a long time.
Finally she answered quietly,
"...I'll stay here and wait."
"Lord Orochimaru will contact me eventually."
Akio stepped onto Strange Island.
As he walked toward the center of the island, he sorted through everything he'd learned about the mermaid named Isaribi.
Because of Orochimaru's underwater experiments, people disappeared from the Land of the Sea every year.
The country's leaders had repeatedly hired shinobi from the Land of Whirlpools to investigate.
They never found anything.
Eventually, the disappearances became local folklore.
People began calling them "spirited away."
Some believed victims had been taken by a sea demon lurking beneath the waves.
Isaribi was the only person ever to return alive.
Unfortunately...
after her inhuman abilities were accidentally revealed, frightened villagers decided she must be the sea demon's avatar.
For years she'd been treated as an outcast.
Her childhood hadn't been much different from Naruto's in the original timeline.
Feared.
Shunned.
Blamed for things beyond her control.
Learning that a real mermaid existed didn't fill Akio with excitement anymore.
Instead...
he felt sympathy.
He wasn't the sort of person who found happiness in someone else's suffering.
...
Well.
There were exceptions.
If the unfortunate person happened to be Madara...
that was admittedly pretty satisfying.
Inside Akio's mental world...
Madara suddenly sneezed without warning.
The spray landed squarely on Hashirama, who was busy enthusiastically shaking a pair of dice.
Hashirama blinked.
"...Seriously?"
He wiped his face with complete resignation.
Isaribi now lived as an ordinary fisherwoman on the main island.
Akio, however, had come to Strange Island instead.
Because only one fish market here was willing to buy the fish she caught.
They paid her almost nothing.
Still...
they were probably the closest thing she had to kind neighbors.
Near the center of Strange Island, beside that modest seafood shop, Akio finally spotted her.
A young woman with long, flowing violet hair.
He quietly sensed her chakra for a moment before smiling.
"Well then..."
"Looks like the Great Sage of the Uzumaki Clan has arrived to rescue a little mermaid."
"This is definitely the kind of entrance that deserves emotional background music."
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