~It’s believed that when ones body receives unnatural amounts of physical pain or torment all at once, that there mind can’t cope, and may even slip away to somewhere else~
Katsuo awoke to find he was not where he had been prior. This wasn’t a completely new environment however, as the young man had certainly been here many times before. But where was he?
It was a large, dark stone room, consisting of absolutely nothing...except the faint flicker of light in the distance.
“What the hell?”
Katsuo climbed to his feet, too intrigued to notice he no longer sustained any injuries. The boy hesitantly cleared the gap between the light source and himself, his eyes widening as he finally realized where he was.
Suspended in front of him, was both of Katsuo’s chakra natures, now minuscule compared to the last visit. Somehow...Katsuo had entered a state of meditation unknowingly.
“Am I...dying?”
The stormy haired boy couldn’t believe his eyes. The once sizable ball of shimmering water had been reduced to a single droplet, and the continuous arcs of untamed lightning were now scaled to the size of a small static-shock.
The boy had used up essentially all of his chakra in a last-second defensive reflex...meaning his body was no longer capable of sustaining itself.
“No...I’m not ready. Not after something like that!”
A fierce determination had begun swelling inside the boy, causing him to literally
grab hold of his chakra sources and smash them together.
Bzzzzzt~
The imbalanced natures repelled from one another, generating a sizable spark even at this scale, that managed to throw Katsuo back several meters.
“...not enough?”
Grumbling due to his efforts ineffectiveness, Katsuo charged ahead once more, slamming the chakra sources into one another again.
Bzzzzzt!~
The rejection was even stronger this, time, sending Katsuo careening backwards into the stone wall a great distance away.
“
One....one more t-time!”
Frustrated, Katsuo used the distance he’d gained to charge forward at top speed, causing the chakra natures to collide much more violently this time around.
BZZZZZT!~
Again, Katsuo was launched backwards at impossibly high speeds...only this time...when his body collided with the hard stone wall, it gave way, causing the entire room around him to almost instantly collapse in on itself.
“Huuuuuuu...”
Katsuo groaned as his eyes fluttered open, thankful to be greeted by the familiar blue sky he’d left behind.
“....wa-ter...”
Was all the boy could manage as his throat felt hot and dry, making it difficult to speak. He reached up to wipe some blood away from his cracked lips, only to be met with a searing pain all along his body.
Upon closer inspection, Katsuo came to realize his entire body was beat-red in color, and lightly steaming.
The water from Krakens Tendrils had attempted to form a protective barrier around him instinctively, but was incapable of withstanding so much heat with such little chakra to go on.
Due to this, his entire body has been scorched as the water evaporated off his skin.
Needless to say...both he and Sagiso would require some medical attention.
——
“Ichiko! I need help stopping the snakes!”
Kido, who’s eyes were now engulfed in a white, crackling energy, shouted to his Kraken-wielding wife from a nearby rooftop.
“Huh? Damnit...fine! You know what to do!?”
Ichiko yelled, giving her husband a rather unapologetic look, as if he’d just asked her to wash the dishes.
“Of course, love.”
Kido replied in a much softer tone, casting a quick set of hand signs while giving Ichiko a flashy wink.
“Right. We move in close while it’s distracted. Attack on my mark.”
With a wave of her hand, Ichiko utilized her connection to Sotura’s chakra and pulled the murky shallow puddles that had been forming around the Leaf together, morphing the growing mass of water into a Shuriken.
It would’ve looked exactly like Katsuo’s typical Water Shuriken...if not for the fact that is stood nearly twice Ichiko’s height.
“Let’s go!”
And thus, the paired dashed towards the closest snake to their current location, which just so happened to be the training grounds.
Upon closer inspection, it became apparent that the snake was in combat with someone already.
Ichiko and Kido nodded to one another, planning to capitalize on this moment.
“You ready?”
The Water-Nin questioned her battle-ready husband, who had been sustaining the same hand seal for the entire trip over, gathering chakra for something soon to be revealed.
“Of course.”
Kido replied calmly, dashing towards the snakes from ground level whilst Ichiko jumped from sign to tree to building, gaining as much height as she should, before kicking off into the air towards the back of the snakes head.
“Water Style! Titanic Water Shuriken!”
Ichiko announced proudly as she put all her forward momentum into one incredibly forceful throw aimed at the base of the snakes head.
“Lightning Style! Tesla Frenzy!”
Kido, not a fraction of a second behind his wife, finally released all of his the stored chakra through his widespread fingertips in a bundle of ever expanding electrical beams.
As the the lightning struck the tail end of the massive Water Shuriken, the water was imbued with an intense electrical surge, causing it to produce rays of white light as violent lightning chakra crackled across its surface.
“SHOOTING STAR SHURIKEN!!!”
If all went according to plan, the empowered Shuriken could likely sever the snakes head clean off. If not, Kido would detonate his chakra, causing the Shuriken to release a massive electrical explosion in hopes of finishing the job.
