392. Battle against Kraken

"A Kraken? You mean this giant monster is a baby Kraken?" The eyes of the captain and the crew widen.

"Haah… my life as a sailor wasn't in vain. Finally, I have witnessed one of the legends of the sea. Now I can call myself a full-fledged true sailor." The captain tears up.

"Ahem… sorry to interrupt you, captain, but can we focus our attention on the battle? If our ship sinks here, then you will drown just like legends." Kakashi gives a rude awakening to the captain.

"Of course… of course… I will personally steer the ship and watch this battle to the end. It will become a tale foretold in the future among other tailors." The captain gets hold of the steering wheel.

The rest of the escort crew members continue to attack baby Kraken to whittle it down.

"It's not working!" Ayaka shakes her head.

"Its regeneration is too powerful. It can quickly recover from any injury we inflict on it. Looks like we need a powerful attack to finish it in a go." Minato suggests.

"But its tentacles won't allow us to gather enough chakra to release our attacks." Izumi slices another tentacle with her blade.

"At this rate, we will run out of chakra and stamina." Visible exhaustion appears on Ao's face.

"Dad! Buy me some time. I will attack it with a full-power Sage Mode Rasenshuriken." Naruto requests Minato.

"Alright! We will buy you time."

Swish… swish…

Minato makes some hand signs. Yellow lightning flickers around him as he disappears from his place. He reappears near the eyes of the Kraken and attacks them.

"No matter the creature, eyes are a weakness of every living being. If I blind it, then it won't get a chance to dodge the attack."

Swish…

Multiple lightning-infused tri-fork kunais appear in front of Minato.

Whoosh… whoosh…

He throws them toward the eyes of the Kraken. The Kraken senses the danger and closes its eyes.

Ding… ding…

The kunais produce metallic noise upon collision with the hard protective coating around the Kraken's eyes. The baby Kraken flails its tentacles around in madness.

Whoosh… whoosh…

Minato swiftly maneuverers through the tentacles and continue to bombard the eyes of the Kraken. Other group members assist Minato by repelling its attacks on the ship.

Bzzt… crackle…

Kakashi creates a giant purple lightning blade and slices through another tentacle of the Kraken.

Plop…

The chopped-off tentacle falls and disappears into the sea.

Squirm… squirm…

The tissue around the tentacles squirms like worms, and new flesh grows out of it within seconds.

"Its regeneration must have a limit. There is no way it can regenerate infinitely." Kakashi dodges another tentacle aimed at him. He dashes over the tentacle with his lightning blade stabbed into the flesh of the tentacles.

Swish… sploosh…

A giant cut appears on the tentacles and separates them into two separate halves. A blood scent wafts in the air as green blood leaks from the chopped flesh.

Ugh…

Yakumo closes his nose to avoid the stench.

"Everyone, take the antidote. Its blood is poisoning the surrounding air." Kakashi feels slightly nauseous from the bloody stench. He takes out the all-purpose antidote pill and consumes it.

"How long Naruto?" Minato asks Naruto who is busy gathering nature energy.

"The nature energy is very thin here. So, it will take me a while to gather enough." Naruto replies with closed eyes.

"If that's the case, then…"

Whoosh… Minato gives up on kiting the attacks around. He stretches his palm and gathers a large amount of chakra in it.

Swirl… whoosh…

Minato creates a gigantic cyan wind nature Rasengan.

Tch…

He clicks his tongue and infuses more chakra into the Rasengan. The core of the Rasengan turns orange as Minato adds some Nine-tails chakra to it.

"Eat this!" He aims the giant Rasengan toward the Kraken's face.

Screee…

The Kraken senses the threat from Minato's attack. It opens its mouth and gathers a large amount of water chakra from the surroundings.

It charges up a gigantic water beam in its mouth.

Fwoosh…

The Kraken releases the beam toward Minato. Minato counters the beam with his wind-release giant Rasengan.

Boom…

Both attacks collide with each other and create a blinding explosion that covers the surrounding area. Water vapors and mist cover everyone's vision.

Swoosh…

Minato is sent flying out of the white mist. He topples multiple times in mid-air before crashing into the water. Minato infuses some chakra in his heels and attempts to stabilize his footing over water. His steps leave a giant trail in the water as the backlash of the attack pushes him further onto the surface of the water.

A major portion of Minato's clothing is torn apart by the previous attack.

Haah…

Minato regains his footing on the water at almost a distance of a thousand meters from the ship. The escort ship is almost point-sized in his vision.

Phew…

Minato heaves a sigh of relief.

"I was able to neutralize its attack with my Rasengan. However, the backlash from the collision of the energy was so intense that it broke two of my protective seals.

Bzzt… bzzt…

A transparent barrier flickers around Minato. The barrier flickers for a few more seconds before a bracelet cracks on his wrist.

"It has served its usefulness." Minato discards the bracelet and turns his attention to the ship.

Fwoosh…

In the next instance, he reappears on the ship.

"Dad, are you alright?" Naruto notices Minato's tattered clothes.

"I am fine! Take care of this Kraken." Minato waves his hand as he takes support against the mast pole of the ship.

"Alright! I won't let this opportunity you gave me in vain."

Minato wasn't the only one to get caught in the aftermath of the explosion. Even the Kraken got a concussion from the powerful backlash of the jutsu.

Haah…

Naruto opens his eyes and enters the second stage, Senjutsu Mode. He extends his arm and infuses all the gathered nature energy in his palm to create a gigantic rasenshuriken of around ten-meter diameter.

"Eat this!"

"Sage Art: Cho Ōdama Rasenshuriken,"

BOOM…

The rasenshuriken explodes on top of the Kraken and envelops it into a gigantic windstorm.

Haah…

Naruto extends his palm and detonates the inner core of the rasenshuriken.

A spherical vortex of razor-sharp blades slices and tears through the body of the Kraken.

Rumble… Rumble…

The explosion from the jutsu generates powerful wind currents, causing the ship to sway back and forth.

"Everyone, quickly hold on to something!" Kakashi warns everyone, as a powerful gust of wind assaults them. The mast of the ship bends at an unnatural angle and is almost on the verge of a breakdown.

After a few seconds, the storm settles down to reveal the bloody Kraken still floating on the surface of the sea. Its body is twitching from the powerful impact of the jutsu. There are countless wounds over its body. Most of the minor wounds are already healing at a rapid pace while the major wounds are taking some time to regenerate.

"What a tenacious vitality!" Minato marvels at the state of the kraken.

"And it's only a baby at that!"

"Tch… It's not dead!" Naruto grits his teeth.

"I almost give it my all and yet… it still somehow survived."

"Kurama, can you lend me some of your chakras? This time I will blow it away for sure with my Tailed beast Rasenshuriken bomb." Naruto clutches his fist.

"I can't do that." Kurama shakes his head.

"Why?" Naruto questions him.

"Take a look around you." Naruto looks around and notices the tattered state of the ship and the scared expression of many sailors.

"If you detonate your tailed beast rasenshuriken here, then Minato and the rest of the people will be fine since they can safely evade the aftermath of the jutsu, but these sailors will become a victim of the explosion," Kurama explains the details to Naruto.

"Kurama is right! The tailed beast Rasenshuriken is way too powerful to be used amid the ocean with no footing to stabilize others." Minato shakes his head.

"Still, it's not like your jutsu didn't have any effect on it. The countless microscopic wind senbons from your rasenshuriken dealt massive cellular damage to this guy. It will be a while before it could recover to its previous state." Kakashi inspects the state of the Kraken with his Mangekyo Sharingan.

"Naruto! Leave the rest to me." Sasuke's voice echoes through the ship.

Sasuke, who is still flying on top of Garuda, opens his eyes.