"Heheh, brat, you showed up after all."
"Next, I'll send you to hell!"
Kisame stabbed Samehada into the ground and rapidly formed hand seals. "Water Release: Great Exploding Water Colliding Wave!"
An even vaster amount of water than before spewed from his mouth.
In an instant, an area of several kilometers was engulfed by this massive torrent, forming an enormous water prison.
"This will be your burial ground!"
Kisame looked at the trapped Takumi and the Konoha youngsters, a triumphant smile appearing at the corner of his mouth.
Then, he fused with Samehada, becoming a shark-like monster, and plunged into the water prison.
Takumi swiftly swam, forcefully kicking the others who were having trouble breathing out.
He was afraid his hand strength wouldn't be enough to free them from this massive water prison.
One kick, two kicks, another kick.
One thud, two thuds, another thud.
Soon, all the young Shinobi had been kicked out of the giant water prison by Takumi.
Only Hinata remained.
Without a word, Takumi went up to her and first performed mouth-to-mouth resuscitation.
"Takumi-kun! I-I still have oxygen..."
Before Hinata could explain, Takumi had already... made contact.
After transferring a few breaths of oxygen, he pushed Hinata's bottom with both hands, shoving her out of the water sphere.
"Ah! Why was only Hinata pushed out like that!"
Sakura touched her own bottom, saying somewhat jealously.
Meanwhile, Hinata was already unable to sit still.
Her cheeks were flushed, her head spinning.
"Hinata! What's wrong?"
"Did you get water in your lungs from lack of oxygen?" Naruto asked in alarm.
"N-no, it's not lack of oxygen..."
Hinata replied dizzily.
"It's... too much oxygen..."
…
On the other side.
"As expected of Takumi-senpai! He rescued everyone else in an instant!"
Deidara shouted excitedly. Beside him, Kakuzu, Hidan, and the others all had grim expressions.
"Bastard, whose side are you on?" Hidan cursed. "Why are you cheering for him?"
"You don't understand anything! It's like how you worship your so-called Jashin-sama! Takumi-senpai is the god in my heart!"
Hidan really wanted to curse, but hearing Deidara say that, he couldn't really refute it.
Other emotions, he didn't understand much.
But if it was like worshiping a god, well, he understood that very well!
"What's your take, Itachi?"
Beside them, Sasori asked coldly.
"Hmm, a very sharp decision."
"If he hadn't gotten those few people out instantly, there would have been big trouble later."
Seeing Takumi's actions and then remembering Sasuke's earlier move, Itachi just felt a chill.
'Oh, little brother~'
'Why don't you learn from Takumi?'
'The difference in combat awareness is just too vast.'
...
Inside the massive water prison.
Seeing Takumi and Hinata's mouth-to-mouth, Kisame cursed angrily.
"At death's door, and you still have time to worry about others? You should be concerned about your own situation."
Whoosh!!!
Kisame swiftly swam to Takumi's side. Relying on his extreme speed in water, he appeared completely at ease.
"Water Release: Five Feeding Sharks!"
Five Chakra-formed sharks charged forward at high speed.
Takumi immediately raised his temperature.
The water prison boiled almost instantly.
Even the Chakra-formed sharks couldn't maintain their shapes, causing them to dissipate.
"Tch..."
Kisame clicked his tongue, continuously replenishing Chakra to maintain the water prison's size.
This was the key to victory.
However, having his Five Feeding Sharks countered so easily still annoyed him.
But it was fine.
If Water Release didn't work, he'd just go in directly!
Someone with hampered movement in the water was just a slow-moving target to him.
He pushed off powerfully with his feet, shooting forward at high speed.
"Just like in training, constantly replenishing with Chakra, the water prison's volume won't decrease."
Pain nodded. "At this point, that Takumi should be doomed."
"Hehehe, go die! Sinner who blasphemes against the god!" Hidan sneered evilly.
The others also watched Takumi with burning gazes.
Except for Deidara, who looked resentful.
But he had been subdued, his mouth wrapped in bandages, unable to even speak.
Whoosh!
"Huh? Where'd he go?"
Kisame was stunned.
He turned his head left and right, searching for Takumi.
But suddenly, he felt his body trembling uncontrollably.
"This is... Samehada?"
Kisame frowned. He could clearly feel that Samehada, fused with him, was trembling, shivering as if it had encountered a natural predator!
"Wait? Where did Takumi go?"
The observers outside also saw the strange situation inside the water prison.
Hidan frowned. "And Kisame is shivering, right? But why is he shivering?"
"Who knows," Kakuzu frowned slightly, but the next second, he noticed the situation had changed!
Because he saw Takumi actually starting to transform!
His body bent slightly. A fin grew on his spine, a deep blue fin shimmering with a metallic luster.
Fins also grew on his spine and the outer sides of his arms, like blades embedded on his arms.
Gills appeared on both sides of his neck.
It was completely the form of a merman!
"Hey! Look!"
"What's with Takumi's form?!"
"Fins, gills, sharp teeth and claws... similar to Kisame's change! That guy transformed!"
Everyone quickly looked over.
Sure enough, they saw a bizarre-looking merman floating in the water!
Although it was a merman form, it was much more handsome than Kisame's!
It was Takumi!
"What's going on? How can he transform too?" Hidan yelled.
Sasori gave a simple assessment: "Yeah, how can he do such a thing? Isn't this only possible by fusing with Samehada?"
"A new ability... another piece of intelligence to update."
Konan recorded this discovery, then looked at Pain. "What now? It looks like the speed Takumi is displaying is much faster than Kisame's. And in that state, he can definitely breathe underwater."
"Observe for now."
Pain's brow was tightly furrowed. At this moment, his mind was also in turmoil, blank.
This is...
How the hell did he pull out another new ability?!
Every critical moment, Takumi could display a brand new, utterly unexpected power.
Even Pain couldn't handle it, but he didn't have a good solution.
"Looking for something?"
Takumi was now above Kisame, looking down at him constantly turning his head left and right searching for something. He couldn't help but chuckle.
"What?"
Kisame looked up in surprise. "I... that's impossible! How can you transform like this?"
Looking at Takumi's current appearance, he arrived at the same assessment as Sasori.
"And..."
"Samehada, why are you trembling?"
Kisame asked in a low voice but received no answer.
Because at this moment, Samehada was already paralyzed with fear!
Although Samehada was a bizarre, mysterious creature, even capable of devouring Chakra, including Biju Chakra, as a living being, it still had sensory abilities.
Takumi's merman transformation ability was obtained through devouring countless fierce fish, experiencing countless battles, even devouring Sanbi.
In other words, this form of his was honed on the battlefield.
The apex predator of the ocean!
The overlord of the sea!
This naturally made Samehada feel terrified!