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Chapter 81: Kisame Hoshigaki
Shark face, shark teeth, gray-white skin. It was unmistakably Kisame Hoshigaki! Aided by White Zetsu's powerful throw, he fell rapidly from the sky, appearing above Konan. His cheeks bulged, and he spat out a huge amount of water: Water Release: Great Exploding Water Colliding Wave!
Whoosh! A flood-like waterfall poured down, instantly forming a giant blue water prison. Its diameter reached a terrifying nearly one thousand meters! Konan had no time to dodge and was directly enveloped inside.
On the ground, Sasuke Uchiha let out a wretched scream. He clutched his eyes and knelt, his rapid breathing as harsh as a broken bellows. The second-form Susanoo outside his body let out a wail and instantly dissipated. Every cell in his body screamed in pain. Especially his eyes. It was like fiery needles stabbing them, throbbing and pulsing, feeling like they would pop out of their sockets. The heavy burden from forcing the use of Susanoo was so painful he couldn't even speak.
"Sasuke!" Karin immediately leaped to Sasuke's side, pulled up her sleeve, and pressed her bite-mark-covered arm to his mouth. "Quick, bite!"
Sasuke didn't hesitate, biting down hard and beginning to suck.
"Ngh... ooh..." Karin closed her eyes, letting out a series of indescribable moans.
As the gentle healing chakra entered his body, Sasuke felt much better, the sharp pain in his eyes greatly easing. Obito Uchiha stood to the side, paying no attention to Sasuke. His right eye glowed red as he stared up at the water prison in the sky. Just now, he had teamed up with Sasuke to attack and seal off the White Tiger's escape routes precisely to create this opportunity for Kisame, allowing Kisame's water prison to accurately trap her.
In mid-air, the thousand-meter blue water prison floated silently. Inside, Konan was completely submerged. Her mouth and nose were tightly shut to avoid inhaling water. Just as her oxygen began to deplete and the feeling of suffocation grew, she suddenly felt a slight prick in her chest. A cool stream of air entered her blood vessels and flowed throughout her body. The suffocation vanished. Alex was supplying her with oxygen. Ever since the battle with Shinnō high in the sky, where he had encountered the problem of hypoxia, he had consciously stored oxygen in his white threads to prevent such a situation from affecting a battle again. Konan's eyes remained open, having already adapted to seeing underwater. Her amber eyes instantly locked onto Kisame on the other side of the water prison. He was currently fused with Samehada, in a half-man, half-shark form. It was almost alien, looking truly terrifying.
"White Tiger, I never thought I'd be facing you one day."
Kisame could speak normally in the water. His voice, cold and slightly hoarse, traveled clearly through the water to Konan's ears.
"To make Mr. Madara send me here personally, your strength must have changed a lot. It doesn't match your previous performance in the Akatsuki at all."
He bobbed in the water. "Mah... but this is as far as you go. Once you're in my water prison, no one escapes!"
Kisame's face was savage as he completed the hand seals: "Water Release: A Thousand Feeding Sharks!"
Bang, bang, bang! A thousand three-meter-long sharks suddenly appeared in the water prison.
"Out of respect for our time as colleagues, I'll send you off myself!"
Under Kisame's control, all the sharks opened their bloody maws, whipped their tails, and bit at Konan from all directions. Their dense teeth glinted coldly.
Konan's expression was impassive as she watched Kisame with cold eyes. Inside the Akatsuki, which was full of problem children, only two people besides Nagato had met her standards. The first was Kakuzu, who honestly completed bounty missions, worked for the organization, and handed over large sums of money. The second was Kisame. He was a true ninja. As long as it was a mission, he took it without any nonsense. And he completed it perfectly every time. Unfortunately, you chose Obito's side. That makes you an enemy.
Konan raised her hands, activating her Ice Release in tandem with Alex. In an instant, a massive amount of paper flew from her body, radiating a bitter chill. It shot out in all directions, 360 degrees without a blind spot. Everywhere it passed, the cold water froze. It formed a frozen sphere around her body, which expanded rapidly. In the past, facing Kisame's giant, mobile water prison, Konan would have had no way to counter it. She would have been defeated in the end. But now, she possessed Ice Release. It could be said to be a perfect counter, completely neutralizing this trump card of Kisame's.
Bang, bang, bang! Some sharks slammed into the hard ice, their heads instantly bursting, and they lost all combat ability. Other sharks had no time to react and were frozen into ice lumps by the flying paper. As for Kisame, when he saw Konan use Ice Release and freeze more and more of the water, he immediately stopped his attack. His shark-like eyes stared in shock at her, encased in the ice. His face was grim. He was helpless. This was the first time he had ever encountered such a situation.
As a Kage-level expert, the enemies who had forced him to use this move in the past were also extremely powerful Kage-level foes. But so what? They couldn't breathe in the water prison and had their chakra devoured by his summoned sharks. In the end, they were all worn down and fed to the sharks. Even those as strong as a Jinchūriki or a village Kage, as long as they didn't have a space-time ninjutsu or some other special means to escape the prison instantly, they all died in the water prison, full of unwillingness. Ever since Kisame had developed this move, he had never been defeated. Now, it seemed, that record was about to be broken by Konan. He watched the growing layer of ice, feeling that this was an extremely difficult situation. He had no solution. A quarter of the water prison's volume was already frozen. It wouldn't be long before the entire thing became a giant block of ice.
"Even Kisame isn't enough..."
On the ground, Obito clenched his fists. He watched the white layer of ice rapidly expanding within the blue water prison, his face so dark it looked like it could drip water. His final attempt had also failed. The White Tiger's strength was beyond imagination... He actually had no way to deal with her... He couldn't win... Obito's heart was filled with extreme frustration, agitation, and soaring killing intent. For the past ten-plus years, he had treated the entire ninja world as his plaything. He believed he had everyone dancing in the palm of his hand. So what if Nagato had the Rinnegan? He was still just a puppet fooled by him. He had even controlled the Fourth Mizukage, crippling the Village Hidden in the Mist, one of the Five Great Shinobi Villages. He was even responsible for the deaths of the Fourth Hokage and his wife. No one had ever had the power to resist him. This had made Obito extremely arrogant, looking down on everyone. But now, he was being repeatedly thwarted by Konan. The first time, she could only flee for her life. But the second time... the tables had turned. It seemed he would have to flee for his life...
Obito's rage exploded. "Dmn it! Dmn it!! How did this traitor get so strong!!!"
"Lord Madara, we have to retreat."
Black Zetsu emerged from his feet, staring at Obito with a dark expression, suppressing his own anger.
"Sasuke can't fight anymore, and you and Kisame have no way to deal with the White Tiger. If we drag this out, we'll only suffer greater losses. We should retreat immediately."
At this moment, he was inwardly cursing Obito. Useless trash!! It's because of your arrogance that the White Tiger has spun more and more out of control. If you had listened to me and transplanted the Rinnegan earlier, or retrieved your other Mangekyō, how could you possibly fail to take down one White Tiger!! Now all you can do is rage impotently. What a waste! A useless waste who's always got a screw loose!! Black Zetsu's previous bad feeling had now become even heavier after seeing the White Tiger's drastic change in strength. The stronger the White Tiger became, the greater the threat she posed to it. Even if Obito went back and transplanted the Rinnegan immediately, it would still take a considerable amount of time to adapt and familiarize himself with it. During that time, if the White Tiger continued to fuse with other bloodlines and her strength grew even more terrifying, she would inevitably become the greatest obstacle and variable for the Eye of the Moon Plan. Thinking of this, Black Zetsu grew even more furious. It was all Obito's stupidity and arrogance that had led to this difficult situation. He really wanted to give this idiot a piece of his mind, straight from the heart.