The two combatants stare at each other from either side of the calm lake. Hanagetsuya quietly assesses the elevated threat level of her young subject. The now disfigured Shogo stands eerily still.
After a few seconds go by, the old woman hops out of the lake and softly lands onto the patch of grass behind her.
Hanagetsuya slowly places the red apple in the grass directly at her feet.
This simple action sets Monster Shogo off.
The possessed child leaps off his spot across the lake, cracking the ground from the force of his leap.
As danger careens through the air toward her, Hanagetsuya flips through a quick set of hand seals and ends on a modified tiger seal.
Less than a second later, the old woman spits a bullet of viscous fluid out of her mouth at Shogo.
The bullet impacts the chest of the soaring bestial entity with significant force to the sternum, no doubt cracking a few ribs.
His forward momentum is reversed; Shogo's body skips across the lake away from his opponent, out of control. The clear fluid spat by Hanagetsuya rapidly engulfs every inch of his body from the neck down.
The fluid completely restrains the wild child in a thick film that pins his flailing arms to his torso.
Shogo struggles mightily against his bindings, but the clear fluid is extremely malleable and resistant to his movements. Reminiscent of over chewed gum.
While her opponent is temporarily incapacitated, Hanagetsuya quickly produces two water clones at her sides and then sends them toward their downed target, who is roaring in frustration in the middle of the lake.
Shogo, in a terrifying show of unnatural strength, flips from his back in the water and launches himself as if jumping from solid ground, hurtling toward Hanagetsuya.
The clones clash with the airborne beast 6 feet above the lake. The collision is so violent the clones lose their forms briefly before reforming with their arms clinging to Shogo's waist.
His speed does not slow as the clawed youth roars and slashes at the air while rapidly closing the distance. His twisted snarl reveals sharp canines determined to rip apart the Hozuki Elder just a few meters away from him.
A few hand seals from the old woman make the water clones suddenly liquefy, and the water surrounding Shogo, as well as some of the lake water, immediately condense into a bubble-like water prison.
The water bubble halts her opponent's advance. Shogo sits suspended in the bubble as the goo restricting his upper body has now worked its way to his legs.
Hanagetsuya stands in silence while holding the last hand sign of her water prison jutsu, watching her catch wiggle around in frustration.
A bead of sweat rolls down the side of her face as her brow crinkles in concentration.
"You might be more trouble than you're worth, child. It's astonishing to consider how much of the three-tailed beast's chakra you managed to absorb during your brief encounter. Fascinating!"
Hanagetsuya can't help but marvel at the anomaly in front of her while waiting patiently for him to tire out and incapacitate himself from lack of oxygen.
Shogo's struggle intensifies instead of waning like expected.
Hate-filled vermillion irises locking onto the resilient dark hazel irises.
The water prison starts to visibly boil, steam rising into the sky with a sinister hiss.
Hanagetsuya's eyes widen at this development, but she holds her hand sign steadfast with beads of sweat forming on her upper brow.
Shogo's eyes slowly glow brighter as all his muscles bulge as if close to ripping out of his skin.
Tsk!
Hanagetsuya sucks her teeth, then stomps her left foot on the ground; two water clones emerge from the wet grass to flank her sides.
The clones adopt identical stances with gritted teeth and then copy the water prison jutsu their creator has been holding.
More water leaps from the lake surface and quickly pools into the floating ball of liquid surrounding Shogo.
The additional water makes the sphere much larger, and then the ball starts to collapse in on itself, getting smaller. Maximum pressure is on the supercharged youth currently trapped inside the water prison.
Streams of crimson start to leak from Shogo's eyes before dissipating in his cage of boiling water.
Instead of submitting to the added pressure, the young boy's body starts to expand more, with his stomach growing to inhuman proportions. His frame close to popping like a balloon, the child then opens his mouth wide to release devastation upon his target.
Hanagetsuya's narrowed eyes widen in disbelief and horror.
Their immediate surroundings erupt in a blinding light.