Chapter 196: Cramming at the Last Minute
Tonbo Tobitake wore a faint smile, making no move to interrupt the fusion between Kisame and Samehada. However, his sensory perception remained locked onto the man, never wavering for a second.
After the fusion, a chemical reaction occurred between Kisame and Samehada; their chakra didn't just add up, it multiplied in a 1 + 1 = 3 fashion. It was far more complex than simple addition.
Perfect. This move of mine was only recently perfected, and the range for data collection isn't quite far enough yet!
The "Heartsteel" within him was pulsing, and his mind was racing. The nerves that had integrated into Kisame's body were stealthily mapping out his biological data. At such close range, Tonbo could manipulate these nerves as easily as his own limbs.
He had finally achieved remote data collection. The day when he could coat a shuriken in nerves and infect an enemy just by throwing it was not far off.
Kisame's data was massive, especially after merging with Samehada. The elements within his body—deoxyribonucleic acid, nucleotides, adenine, thymine, guanine, sugar groups, and phosphate groups—were undergoing fission-like transformations. This was likely the reason his chakra continued to surge after the fusion. Kisame must have put immense effort into developing this particular jutsu.
Uchiha Itachi frowned as he watched Tonbo stand there unmoving, seemingly even enjoying the sight of Kisame's transformation. In Itachi's eyes, this was the only person in Konoha he found truly troublesome. With Tonbo's ability, he shouldn't be giving an enemy an opening like this.
Suddenly, Itachi recalled the slight curl of Tonbo's lips when his blade grazed Kisame's chest, and his one hand that had remained hidden. He had previously assumed the "Genjutsu Seed" was planted then, but now he began to doubt. He scrutinized Kisame's body with his Sharingan but found no abnormal chakra fluctuations. It seemed everything was just his own suspicion.
"Since I created this form, no one has forced me to use it. You are the first," Kisame said. After completing the technique, his tail lashed and the fins on his head turned as he shifted his gaze. He flashed a cruel smile at Tonbo.
"Oh? Then I'm truly honored," Tonbo replied, twirling his tachi with a graceful flourish and a smile.
"Water Style: Great Explosive Water Colliding Wave!"
Rumble!
A colossal wall of water reached for the sky. The sheer scale of the movement drew the attention of figures far off at the Bounty Station. A literal ocean had appeared on land. The decades-old trees of the shinobi world, standing dozens of meters tall, looked like mere blades of grass before this deluge.
"Is that... a jutsu?"
The ninjas emerging from the Bounty Station were stunned. What kind of battle required such a terrifying technique?
"That's Water Style! Who on earth is fighting?"
"Who cares who's fighting? Run! If that water reaches us, we're dead!"
The smart ninjas vanished in the opposite direction. Of course, there were the reckless ones who thought they had the secret techniques to survive and drew closer, wanting to see the combatants.
You're really giving it your all, aren't you? Did I kill your father or something? Tonbo grumbled internally.
He suddenly realized he didn't have a great counter for an AOE attack of this magnitude. Surrounded by a literal sea and seeing the shark-mode Kisame closing in, he used his Eye of the Creator to manifest a whale to meet the charge. Because his "Contact Evolution" nerves were still inside Kisame, he realized that any visual or sensory-based Genjutsu was being instantly absorbed by Kisame's body. He couldn't induce an illusion at all.
Damn, I underestimated these locals. I've spent so much time researching and learning countless techniques that I got arrogant. I thought knowing the 'plot' meant I could just walk through them.
Tonbo's mind was a mess of curses. Having intelligence was one thing; the problem was his current setup focused on "Phantom Taijutsu," which wasn't great for handling a localized ocean. And the range of this jutsu was just too big. Earth Style probably won't stop this! Calculation error!
"Hmph. Without your illusions, are you already at your wit's end?" Kisame smiled as he saw Tonbo standing there without a counter. But he wasn't careless. The Leader had mentioned that the man possessed a powerful Sealing Jutsu—from the description, it was not something to be taken head-on.
Kisame wove signs. "Water Style: A Thousand Hungry Sharks!"
Bam! Bam! Bam!
Countless sharks manifested in the water, swarming toward Tonbo like living arrows.
Dammit, he's so cautious. Tonbo held his breath and wove his own signs.
"Hundred Puppets Soul-Binding Jutsu!"
A hundred "special edition" figurines he had crafted over the last few days burst from his ninja tool pouch. Some flew, some swam, and some ran—all of them charging at the incoming sharks. Fortunately, his chakra reserves had grown significantly; otherwise, maintaining this would have been exhausting. These custom figurines were already engraved with specific formula runes—a prerequisite for the Soul-Binding technique.
Crun-nch!
The moment the puppets got close, the sharks opened their maws and tore them to shreds.
"Kisame, be careful!" Itachi tried to warn his partner, but Kisame was underwater and couldn't hear a thing. Seeing Tonbo's "clumsy" response—using things that weren't even designed for underwater combat—Kisame's smirk widened.
Snap!
The exchange between ninjas was lightning-fast. In just over ten seconds, all hundred of Tonbo's puppets had been decimated by Kisame's sharks.
"Heh heh. The man the Leader feared is nothing special after all!" Kisame looked at the "defenseless" Tonbo. As Itachi-san always said, every jutsu has its weakness. Ninjas were the same.
Crack!
The final puppet was torn apart. Kisame wove the final sign to deliver the killing blow.
"Water Style: Water Shark— Wait, what's happening?"
He suddenly found his body paralyzed. No matter how hard he tried to command his limbs, there was no response. He looked at Tonbo, who was now smiling and adjusting his glasses with mock elegance.
"Disperse!"
Splash!
The massive volume of water, which looked like a giant jelly from afar, began to dissolve and vanish like sea foam. Kisame could only watch in horror as his own body "dispelled" his own technique.
Feeling the shift, Kisame's body began to writhe. Samehada forcibly detached itself from the fusion, and Kisame returned to his original form.
"This is... Puppetry?" Itachi stared at Tonbo's fingertips. Threads of chakra were visibly connected to Kisame. "And it's not standard puppetry. Is this a previously hidden jutsu?"
Every time Itachi thought he had the measure of Tonbo Tobitake, he felt the man was still holding something back.
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