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As she dove deeper into the water, the previously conjured shadow clone of Ichika Uchiha paddled her feet; hastening her descent towards the slowly but surely drowning Sunagakure exchange student. Whom just so happened to be the Jinchuriki of the one-tailed beast. Her ears popped as she reached depths ordinarily unreachable by humans, but due to the physical conditioning and chakra control exhibited by Shinobi, which amongst her peers, Ichika's own were exceptional; the ebon haired Kunoichi was able to soldier on, despite the immense pressure.
But as the Uchiha closed in on Tomoyuki, she felt a sudden shift in the water. When she turned to face the source of the disturbance, her gaze was met with the presence of a trio of enormous grey sharks. "Fuck." Was the only word that came to her mind, in an incredibly out of character thought from the usually prim and proper ninja as the apex predators closed in at breakneck speeds, thirsting for blood. With no time to waste, the clone pulled her kunai from it's place at her hip and channelled chakra into the flats of her feet. With a grunt which forced bubbles of air from her lips, Ichika pushed herself upwards at the last second, as the first shark's gaping maw closed in.
Barely evading the monstrous bite of the carcharodon, Ichika sailed above the grey water borne mammal. As she passed it's nose, the Uchiha slammed her blade into the top of the shark's head, clasping onto the hilt of the kunai with both hands in a death-grip. As the beast writhed and spun in pain, Ichika held on for dear life, turning her head to face the next oncoming shark as the one she'd mounted stabilised. As the two killlers locked eyes, Ichika's sharingan whirled to life, appearing to be a blur or red light in the depths of the ocean. The Jōnin poured chakra from her dojutsu into the chakra network of her next victim, placing it under a genjutsu which sent it into a feeding frenzy. With a gutteral roar, the beast instantly yawed left, and bit into the other member of its hunting pack, tearing a huge chunk from its back before turning back to Ichika, and barrelling towards her at full speed.
The woman held resolute as the animal burst towards her at awe-inspiring speed. But once again, Ichika pushed chakra into the soles of her feet, and met the beast's eyes as it approached. Hold... she said to herself in her head as she placed one of her feet onto the ring pommel of her kunai, waiting for the perfect moment to pounce. For her plan to work, the placement of the shark's bite had to be perfect. It wasn't until the beast was a mere meter from her face, that Ichika pushed off of her kunai with an underwater chakra jump. Jetting herself off and away from the fatal bite, but simultaneously ripping her kunai from its place within the other shark and into the mouth of the other as it bit down onto the top of the head of the first shark that Ichika had engaged. Killing it instantly.
"Hiraishin!" Ichika bellowed aloud as she gripped her wakazashi's hilt, the fabric of time and space around the clone bent to her will as the space time ninjutsu of the Flying Raijin sucked the leaf kunoichi through it's network, causing her to materialise inside the mouth of the beast. With a brief moment to catch a fresh breath as she found herself inside of an air pocket, with her kunai in her off hand, and wakazashi in the other. With a relentless flurry of strikes with the speed of lightning at the soft tissue of the inside of the shark's mouth, Ichika quickly found herself launched from the beast's mouth, as it spat her out. But it had done so too late, the internal damage caused was too much for it to handle and it soon passed out from blood loss.
With the seemingly lifeless bodies of the three apex predators in her wake, Ichika pressed on deeper, paddling as fast as she could. Even stripping pieces of her armour from her body as she went deeper and deeper. Eventually, she managed to catch up to Tomoyuki's position. But as she approached the exchange student, she bore witness to a horrifying sight. The boy's eyes had glazed over completely, and were a citrime yellow, with black diamonds in their center. Her own eyes widened, as she flashed back in the moment to the day she had fought the nine-tails with the rest of the leaf village. It was going to happen again.
With a puff of smoke, the clone in the depths dissipated. And its chakra returned to the original Ichika atop Katuyu's back. With it's experiences funnelling into the mind and memory of the Uchiha Jōnin. With no time to lose, Ichika turned to Mizuraki and although only the Senju knew Ichika well enough to notice, she had an uncharacteristic display of fear in her eyes.
"We need to leave. NOW! |