"Water Style: Exploding Water Colliding Wave!"
The sea level suddenly dropped by about half a metre, as the surrounding seawater was drawn up by Orochimaru's Ninjutsu and turned into a massive tidal wave! Once it had gained enough volume, Misumi, Yoroi and Nanashi hopped onto the wave, riding it towards Team Anko and the collection ships!
"Not again," groaned Sakura. "Naruto, Shadow Clones! Enough to protect the ships!"
"Got it, Sakura-chan!" said Naruto, feeling a little relieved that Sakura wasn't treating him any differently, even though she now knew a monster was sealed inside him.
Sakura, who had been preparing a Genjutsu to stop the male shinobi in their tracks during their approach, was forced to cancel her attack and move out of the wave's path— the Breast Illusion required line-of-sight to function, and she didn't want to get swept under the sea!
"Go with them, Amachi-kun," Orochimaru lazily told the man in the white lab coat at his side. "If you cannot succeed even with this, I will have considered this little project of yours a definite failure…"
Amachi was a scientist and a doctor who believed that the future of human evolution lied in the sea, and he was also the man who had turned Isaribi into a human-fish hybrid.
In the past, Amachi had assisted Orochimaru with his experiments, but even after his master had deemed his scientific endeavours worthless and discontinued the Underwater Shinobi Project, he had continued toiling on his own, kidnapping the Land of the Sea's residents to experiment on them…
"I will certainly prove the worth of my research to you, Lord Orochimaru," said Amachi respectfully, though inwardly his fists were clenched so tightly his knuckles had turned white. "Please, stand back and observe..."
Even though he hated Orochimaru for giving up on his dream to turn all of humanity into fish, Amachi knew his place very well. Even in his transformed state, he stood no chance against the weakest of Orochimaru's two helpers, Neji and Nanashi! Hiding his bitterness, he tore off his lab coat and dived into the sea…
"What should I do?" said Ino.
To her credit, Ino was doing a great job of hiding her panic. She couldn't rely on her usual strategies since her teammates Shikamaru and Chōji weren't there, and to make matters worse, their team leader Anko-sensei had fainted before the fighting had even begun…
"Stay close to me," said Sakura uncertainly. "If I can somehow immobilise Nanashi long enough for you to hit her with the Mind Body Switch Jutsu…"
Sakura didn't have the time to finish verbalising her thoughts, as the gigantic wave carrying their enemies crashed against the ships, sending the sailors and guards on the decks flying overboard and into the sea.
"What are you looking at?" said Nanashi, hopping off the wave, as Sakura went to intercept Misumi and Yoroi. "I'm right here."
"I see you've done your research," said Sakura, clicking her tongue in annoyance. "I was planning to fight you at my leisure after finishing off the small fry, but I guess we can do things in this order."
When facing healthy, red-blooded males in broad daylight, Sakura was virtually invincible— thanks to her Genjutsu: Breast Illusion. But unfortunately for her, Orochimaru had studied her abilities in depth, intrigued by her Kekkei Genkai, which allowed her to grow stronger by absorbing foreign chakra…
All things considered, it was obvious that he'd arranged a proper nemesis for her, considering her strengths and weaknesses. A female Uchiha, resilient to Genjutsu and a deadly fighter in close- to mid-range combat… she was strong in each of the aspects Sakura was the weakest!
'Here she comes!' hollered Inner Sakura.
Armed with nothing but a simple kunai, Nanashi advanced on Sakura and Ino without hesitation. Sakura crouched low, her left thumb pressing against her katana's tsuba to reveal a sliver of gleaming steel, while her right hand hovered over the hilt of her sword, poised to draw and cut in an instant…
…and the moment before Nanashi entered her range, Sakura angled her sword so that the exposed inch of steel peeking out of her sheath would reflect the noon sunlight in her opponent's face, momentarily blinding her!
"Manyuu Kenjutsu: Breast Severance Draw!"
Nanashi flickered, and Sakura's blade flashed— sword met kunai for half a breath's time, before breaking apart from each other. In a blur of motion, the air erupted with the harsh ringing of clashing steel, and despite her initial advantage, Sakura found herself on the back foot within seconds, retreating into a defensive stance.
"Manyuu Kenjutsu: Breast Guarding Stance!"
Nanashi was fast, perhaps even faster than Sasuke.
Sakura's eyes struggled to follow her, but her superhuman reflexes and tight defence just barely kept her alive. Unfortunately, Sakura also had to protect Ino, forcing her to show openings where none should have existed. And so, little by little, blood began to well from the dozen shallow cuts piling up all over her body, her lifeblood trickling down and tinging the seawater at her feet with crimson...
"Wind Style: Vacuum Blade!"
Drawing wind chakra directly from her Breast Seal and channelling it into her lungs, Sakura exhaled, releasing a cloud of turbid chakra into her opponent's face to buy herself some breathing room— and in the same breath, she spread the remaining chakra along the edge of her blade.
And the next time Sakura's wind chakra-coated blade clashed with Nanashi's kunai… it didn't stop, slicing straight through and splitting the ninja tool into two clean halves!
"What was that aim?" Sakura gloated, easily deflecting the two halves of the kunai Nanashi had just thrown at her. "Where's your Mangekyō Sharingan, hm? Did yesterday's fight strain your eyes too much? Keep this up, and you'll have to visit the optometrist soon enough…"
Sakura pressed her advantage, and now, Nanashi was on the back foot, too busy dodging Sakura's sword strikes to fight back… but suddenly, Sakura's world started spinning— unused to fighting against Uchiha clan members, she had accidentally looked into Nanashi's eyes again!
Sakura suddenly found herself trapped in a giant bird cage. She rattled the bars of her cage, powerless to break out of her prison, while jeering children chanted all around her:
Kagome, Kagome,
A Bird in a Cage,
When oh when will it come out?
In the night of the dawn, the crane and turtle slipped.
Who is behind you now?
'That would be me!' shouted Inner Sakura. 'Seriously, how sheltered are you that a children's game is the only illusion you could think of on the spot?'
One of the singing children dancing around the birdcage morphed into Inner Sakura, andsheseized the nearest child by the throat, lifting her up to eye level. Legs dangling in the air, the child slowly reverted back to her true appearance, that of Nanashi's!
"Release!" shouted Sakura, forming the tiger seal as the illusory cage faded away. "And Reverse!"
Hit by the rebound of her own Genjutsu, Nanashi recoiled, choking and clawing at her neck as invisible hands left deep finger imprints on her skin. Sensing an opportunity, Ino threw her arms forward and made a little window with her forefingers and thumbs...
"Mind Body Switch Jutsu!"
Ino's body slumped and sank into the water as she took over Nanashi's body, but instead of catching her friend, Sakura darted forwards, sword held aloft…
"Go on, little bird in the cage," Orochimaru thought to himself, his eyes glinting. "Don't you want your freedom? That's right, claim your prize..."
…and Sakura brought down the Manyuu blade down on Nanashi's chest, cleaving her connection to the Breast Vein and taking her meagre breast chakra for her own!
Ino, still in Nanashi's body, moaned lewdly as she sank to her knees, overwhelmed by the amazing sensation of having her breast chakra taken away.
Sakura, no stranger to such pleasures, kept her composure, and with one fluid, effortless motion, she sheathed her sword with a satisfying click.