The instant the trait activated, golden chakra flooded over Uchiha Kai's entire body.
Sacred. Untouchable.
Crack.
Crack.
A tooth-aching sound of shattering rang out.
At the very tip of Samehada, the hardest and sharpest forward hook… began to petrify.
Kai only squeezed lightly—
—and one barb crumbled into fragments, falling away in a soft shower.
"Wha—?! This is—!!!"
Jiraiya's jaw nearly hit the ground.
The hands he'd just clasped together to gather natural energy reflexively spread apart in shock.
"Sage Mode! No mistake—this is definitely Sage Mode!"
"But—how can this brat use Sage Mode?!"
"And there's no toadification, just the markings on his face…"
"This is… perfect Sage Mode!!!"
Jiraiya wasn't just stunned.
He was honestly terrified.
He'd seen Sage Mode before. He was one of the few who could use it.
His student, the Fourth Hokage Namikaze Minato, could also enter Sage Mode—even if he wasn't the best at it, he was still among the talented.
But compared to Kai right now, both of them looked like rookies.
In Jiraiya's understanding, Sage Mode with only facial markings—
—that was the strongest kind.
"The two Great Sages said that besides the two of them, no one would succeed… so could it be…"
A sudden thought struck him.
Jiraiya's pupils snapped tighter.
"Don't tell me… this kid is actually the descendant of the Two Great Sages?!"
…
On the other side—
Kisame's shark eyes widened and widened, and his mouth hung open so far it looked like he could swallow a pig whole.
When the violent pain and stiffness surged back through Samehada's blade into his hands, he finally understood what had happened.
"Natural energy?! Damn it—why do you have Sage Mode?!"
Sage Mode.
A terrifying state that could absorb natural energy and explode one's power.
But also—
His and Samehada's greatest natural enemy.
No contest.
Taijutsu might be annoying, sure—but at worst it just meant there was less chakra to steal.
Natural energy was different.
If you absorbed too much without balancing it—
You turned to stone.
So Kisame's instinct was immediate: retreat.
But the moment he tried—
A pulling force yanked at him from the front.
A brutal suction that made no sense at all.
Three feet ahead—attraction.
Or in other words—
Banshō Ten'in.
Yet right as Kisame felt himself dragged forward, another sensation struck him.
Repulsion.
Three feet ahead—repulsive force.
That meant—
Shinra Tensei.
Under the combined tug of attraction and the slam of repulsion, Kisame felt like a rootless piece of driftwood.
Unable to advance.
Unable to retreat.
More accurately—
He felt like a toy.
A toy being played with at will by the boy in front of him.
"So it's true. Repulsion plus attraction… equals forced control."
Kai's eyes brightened slightly.
He hadn't just been traveling these past days—he'd been experimenting with how to develop that "three feet in front" domain.
Forced control was only the first step.
"Tch… the Tailless Tailed Beast—Hoshigaki Kisame, huh…"
"If I use you as a power bank…"
"…that doesn't sound bad at all."
He raised a hand, and a single spore dropped toward Kisame's shark-like arm.
"This is—?!"
Kisame recoiled instantly, every muscle tightening.
"What's your connection to that two-faced creep who called me here?!"
That spore move reminded him too strongly of that weirdo.
It was that same guy who'd told him there were intruders here—come harvest a head, show your worth.
"Zetsu, huh? So that's why you're here."
Kai nodded.
"This spore technique? That guy taught it to me."
Then he slammed his palm down hard.
Buzz—buzz.
A point of eerie purple light sank in.
Like ink dropped into water, it spread instantly.
At Kai's ear, the system prompt chimed again.
[Spore Technique planted successfully. Current: can siphon chakra equal to 30% of Host's total.]
"Drink."
Kai didn't hesitate. He started siphoning immediately.
If you dared try to suck dry his power bank—
—you'd better be prepared to get sucked dry yourself.
In other words—
Those who drain others… will be drained in return.
"You—bastard—!"
Kisame started to curse—
—and then a painful gasp tore out of him.
"Ugh… ngh—!"
He could feel it.
His chakra was being ripped away.
Just like the countless victims he'd drained before—now he was the one being emptied.
Slowly, the chakra that once flooded his body vanished.
Kisame's massive frame thinned by a noticeable degree.
"D-drained… completely?"
He stared down at his arm in disbelief.
Inside him—nothing.
Yet the siphoning didn't stop.
Gurgle—gurgle—
The muscles on his arm visibly deflated, collapsing as if they'd been hollowed out from within.
His deep-blue skin dulled rapidly, turning gray and wrinkled—
like bark from a tree dead for a hundred years.
The entire right arm, even half the shoulder, was being devoured by that purple spore.
Until all that remained was skin stretched over bone.
Clang!
He couldn't hold Samehada anymore.
The sword slipped from his grip and fell.
Splash.
The bandage-wrapped blade crashed into the mud, sending up filthy water.
"You… what kind of monster are you?!"
Kisame staggered backward.
His left hand clamped over his withered shoulder.
His shark face was filled with shock, rage, and disbelief.
Draining chakra alone was bad enough—
—but it had taken flesh and essence too.
That wasn't "stealing chakra."
That was eating people.
His excitement at finally joining the organization vanished completely.
All that remained was hatred for the two-faced plant-headed freak who'd sent him here.
"Damn that creep… don't let me see you again!"
…
Across from him—
"Not bad. Plenty of chakra."
Kai flicked his hand, as if he were just brushing off a bit of rain and dust.
Through the curtain of steady rain, his gaze drifted toward the distant clusters of towering buildings—half-obscured behind sheets of water.
He murmured softly,
"With all these steel pipes everywhere… even if it pours like this, Amegakure's drainage system should handle it, right?"
"Just don't know…"
"…is it Second Hokage-style 'sea release'?"
As he muttered, another system prompt rang in his ear.
[Hoshigaki Kisame defeated. Attempting trait copy…]
[Copyable traits: Tailless Tailed Beast (Black), Sea Release Grandmaster (Gold), Samehada Fusion (Purple), Water Release: Great Exploding Water Colliding Wave (Purple), Chakra Devour (Purple), Shark Swarm Summon (Blue)…]
[Copy successful. Congratulations, Host has obtained Epic Trait: Water Release: Great Exploding Water Colliding Wave (Purple)!]
[Spew a massive sea of water to form a spherical water-prison that seals the space. (Note: scale depends on chakra amount.)]
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