Unaimaru spat me out into the water. I quickly righted myself, finding up and down before the water could disorient me further and kicked my way to the top where I climbed out and stood atop the surface sending a glare at the giant unagi that was my courier. His barbels simply raised and pointed behind me. A door, the same one I’d been brought before during my last visit to Kaizoku’s summon realm.

The bold, red spiral of the Uzumaki held greater importance after the brief conversation Unaimaru had amused Uncle with— speaking of which, “Don’t you ever touch my Uncle like that, Unaimaru, do you understand me?”

Unaimaru cackled, his head bobbing underneath his relaxed body, “You give too many orders for a summoner that might never see tomorrow.”

His words I knew were truthful or at least he believed them to be. Unaimaru, giant unagi capable of drowning entire navies or not, was getting on my last nerve, “And you are too disobedient for a fish that feeds off his fathers leftovers.”

The giant unagi lost his relaxed gaze and inched towards me, his head becoming more pronounced, glaring eyes fixated on my unyielding form. I doubted he could still see me by the time he stopped and said, “Never again call me a fish.”

“Don’t ever handle my Uncle without my permission.”

We remained at an impasse and I would have loved to ensure his fragile will buckled against the waves of killing intent radiating off of me but I literally had bigger fish to attend to.

I showed him my back and approached the large Uzumaki labelled door that led to Kaizoku, the unagi guards barely recognized my presence beyond pulling the door open. This time I braced myself, expecting to be overtaken by a tidal wave but none came. The water level between the rooms was flat with little more than a ripple passing through as the doors swung open.

But I felt his presence, a greater pressure than Unaimaru could hope to achieve, bathed me, rattled my teeth and bones for a fleeting moment before it meant nothing. Isobu’s chakra, I felt my friend bolster my chakra network with a small infusion that instantly toughened my mind and will.

Thank you, Isobu. He didn’t offer a response, content to watch and pay attention as I ventured into Kaizoku’s lair. The large door began to shut the moment I walked through, until the only light source was the ominous pair of slit eyes leering up at me from the water's depths.

“Kaizoku, I have paid your gruesome price and I have come to reap its worth.” Truly, what was the worth of five hundred drowned souls?

Whether he heard my call or just got tired of staring, Kaizoku began to rise, slithering up the impossible distance in a few seconds. His head breaking the water tension was like a mountain being born, he continued to rise even after exiting the water, extending to heights only his tower could afford.

“The little turtle has returned and with his task complete. This is the first time a human has fulfilled that task of mine this quickly, you must really be the Mizukage.” Unlike his progeny, Unaimaru, Kaizoku spoke without a hint of derision.

“That I am, great Sea Serpent Sage.”

Kaizoku chuckled, his merry breath shook the tower more than his spoken voice, “I see. You, turtle, have ambition, a finish line you are desperate to cross.”

I narrowed my eyes up at the colossal creature, not liking the way he threaded his sentence, “Do not attempt to extort me, Kaizoku. I have done as you asked, delivered five score lungs drowned in your waters, drowned in the Kaizoku sea. It is time you reveal your secrets.”

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“I need no reminders of my obligation, turtle. I will do as I have promised, now come closer.”

I sensed Isobu stirring within me, my friend’s concern growing without a verbal thought. Still, I walked further into Kaizoku’s overshadowing form until he spoke again, this time in a hush that didn’t rattle walls, “The path of the Sage is one of nature and nature is wild, an untameable being that cannot be bargained with as you bargain with me.” He continued, “There is no in betweens in such a path, you either become a Sage or you become one with nature, one with my realm.”

I’d thought as much. Jason’s memories did not include Kaizoku or anything related to his summon path, but the little I recalled of Senjutsu informed me of the toad Sage Arts and the penalties for failing its transformation. Kaizoku’s mermen and other strange human-aquatic hybrids fit the bill well enough.

“I understand.” I said, resolute.

“Do you? You must undergo a trial of nature itself, accepting its power, the chakra of the entire world into your frail, small body. Do you not have a village to protect, Mizukage?”

“I do. This is how I will protect them.”

Kaizoku’s gaze held mine for a moment before he slowly blinked, “Shinobi…I will only warn you once more then. Once we begin you will have to balance the nature chakra entering your chakra pathways with your own chakra, you will have to contain the power of all the worlds with your own. If you are not capable enough then you will become kin and never leave. Do you accept this?”

“I have been waiting for this.”

Kaizoku inhaled and after witnessing Unaimaru do the same before demolishing a boat, I tensed and awaited the devastating blow of water to strike me. Instead, the spout of water Kaizoku expelled cradled me, even as I sunk into the veritable ocean from its impact.

It took all of three seconds to recognize the next change. The water cradling me was also invading my body and chakra network. Water has a weight, it always has but this felt nothing like the weight of water. Every sliver that slipped through my pores was like a kunai to the knee.

The water brought along with it a concentrated amount of Nature Chakra that quickly began to sicken me as I continued to fall, though my descent didn’t last as the cradle of the Nature Chakra infused waters created a sphere around me that Kaizoku dragged out.

He placed me in a folding of his tail and inspected my acute experience of agony. His words were muffled by the dense water in my ears, but I heard his words and they weren’t helpful. “You must absorb or expel this sphere of Nature Chakra, accomplish one and you may have some potential to become a Sage after all.”

He said some more things but I’d quickly stopped listening the moment I felt a new nostril or gill growing out of me. I’ve definitely had enough Nature Chakra come in. I grabbed a hold of my chakra, seizing the bounty becoming a Jinchuriki left me with and fought against the Nature Chakra.

I flooded my pathways with chakra spun at my core. But flushing out the excess Nature Chakra was no easy task. It weighed at least twenty times as much as my normal chakra did, quickly demanding more chakra continue my efforts.

My eyes were squeezed shut in concentration, I didn’t even concern myself with the agony of the water still seeping into my pores, introducing more dense granules of Nature Chakra in spite of my attempts to be free of it.

“Remember balance, Yagura-kun. Balance between us, between your two selves, between Nature and Man. Acceptance alone will bring balance.”

Isobu’s voice was like a distant scream, easily lost in a whirling wind but his words reached me. His trust reached me. He didn’t intervene, didn’t infuse my pathways with his chakra to help. He was trusting me to find the balance as I had over and over again since waking up in this world, since becoming two people, since becoming Mizukage.

I let go. Of all of it. The tension, fear, worry, guilt, indecision, mistrust, paranoia, schemes and doubts of futures yet to come to pass. I let go of it all in one exhale and allowed the Nature Chakra to be free.

It cycled through my pathways like an IV drip and with my focus recentred on maintaining balance, the water seeping through my pores stopped hurting. The weight of Nature Chakra became a force I merely guided down existing paths rather than challenge.

A cold breath blew over me and I fell, knocked out from the sphere. Kaizoku was there to catch me, he raised me up to his face and for the first time since I entered the room his eyes weren’t the only thing I could see.

“Well done, turtle, you truly are worth the title Mizukage.”