The water was approaching at an inexorable rate, and the squad leader had no idea how to save the lives of his subordinates. The jonins were a goner, but the jonin could still get by.
Some of the shinobi used Shunshin in a fit of panic, wanting to escape from the approaching death, but the jonin who wanted to follow their example for a second refused to use a rather dangerous technique in this situation - the screams of pain and the crunching of bones of some of the losers who collided with other ninja indicated the lethality of such an attempt.
Some did not take into account the unreliability underfoot and simply fell in the process, throwing up a fountain of water into the air and sometimes hitting their comrades, while the lucky ones who performed the technique correctly only found themselves on the side, but did not get out from under the blow at all, so wide was the shaft of water.
And worst of all, even though its speed was roughly equal to the speed of the retreating jonins, who were only a little slower, but like any wave, the crest of the nee-san quickly moved forward, overhanging the fleeing people and in just a few seconds, threatened to collapse from a great height and just bury everyone under it.
The Chunin lost the race with death almost immediately, but Irui wasn't about to give up so easily.
Realizing that even his maximum speed would not allow him to escape the kill zone in time, he turned around and created a lightning cover - a pathetic imitation of the Raikage clan's technique - and dived under the water, pushing his body deeper and deeper with each movement, trying to avoid the main impact, and he was not used to withstanding lightning.
The strike came at the moment when Kumo-nin almost reached the bottom, but it did not save him from the pressure of many thousands of tons of water, and only the strengthening of the body with chakra allowed the commander of the strike team to avoid severe internal damage, and the electricity that came after was weakened enough to remain in a relatively combat-ready state. In the next instant, this proved to be very important, as the barely visible transparent silhouette of the shark came so close, unnoticed, that it was able to claw at the hand raised in a reflexive defense gesture with the unreleased tanto.
The chakro construct was capable of not only biting through the sleeve of the shinobi's uniform, but also the skin underneath, sinking its teeth into the flesh and demonstrating the quantity and quality of chakra spent on it.
Despite the pain signals from his body and a hostile environment that slowed his movements, Irui managed to drive the retrieved kunai into the shark before any significant damage was done to the muscles in his arm.
But that was just the beginning, as more predatory silhouettes glided through the churning water and rising silt, seemingly attracted by the scent of blood. And they were blocking the way to the surface.
Gritting his teeth, the jonin prepared to fight to the death, cursing the ingenuity of Mizu no Seirei's attack - because who else could it be, given the characterization of the Quest Book? What was an S-rank shinobi doing on the border to be so fortunate as to be in the path of Kumogakure's strike force, one might wonder later. If he managed to survive.
The ensuing fight with a multitude of sharks was fast-paced, bloody, but still ended in victory for the veteran of the last world war, though one creature still managed to claw so hard that it incapacitated his left arm, being much stronger than his companions and not immediately dispelled by the blow. Irui looked around carefully, expecting another attack, but all was quiet.
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