“Dude, you okay?” Jin pats Rito on the back.

Rito vomits one more time before sighing, “I’ll be fine… as long as you never do that again. That was the foulest thing I’ve ever seen!”

“Hmm?” All three sense chakra headed in their direction followed by the sound of water splashing.

They look ahead to see a fairly large water dragon headed right for them, cutting through the trees in its way. Once it’s close enough, it lunges at Jin’s group. Rito creates a shield of crystal while Jin holds out his hand and absorbs the dragon with the Preta Path. Jin proceeds to scout the area with his sensory abilities.

“Come on out I know you’re there.” Jin cautiously grows a black receiver out of his hand.

“Aww… unfortunately, it would seem that my efforts to make this quick has put us in the thick of it.”

A puddle of water with no business being there on a clear day slowly rises up. It clumsily sways back and forth before solidifying, taking the form of a medical ninja with messy, orange shoulder-length hair and three blue markings, one going from the top of his head and going down over his eyes and the last one going down over his nose. Another medical ninja leaps down beside him, he has long blue hair poofed up into three triangular shaped puffs of hair. He also possesses two red square-shaped markings coming from the top of his forehead and one of them going over his eyes.

“Your ambush failed, Shizuku.” The blue-haired medical ninja sneers at his comrade.

“It was still better than your idea.” Shizuku folds his arms.

Jin claps to get their attention. “I know you guys… you’re Moryo and Yomi’s underlings! Where are your masters? Tell me now and I might let you live.”

Shizuku continues to infuse chakra. ”You think we’ll just hand that info over because of some cheap threats? I think you might be taking this a little lightly! Water Style: Surface Slicer!”

Shizuku summons several linear waves of water that shoot outward from the ground at high speeds. Jin, Mecha-Naruto, and Rito each jump to a different tree as the one they were standing is cut to ribbons. A horde of mungonhei suddenly appear out of nowhere, surrounding them.

“Leave the water style user to me!” Rito creates a long dagger as he lunges at Shizuku.

“Alright, just make sure to keep him alive for questioning.” Jin’s Rinnegan turns red as his now aching body emits yellow chakra. He creates a susanoo ribcage with a pair of arms and begins to cleave away at the mungonhei.

An annoyed Shizuku creates a large orb of water with one hand. “Keep me alive? Don’t underestimate me, kid! Water Style: Dragon Water Whip!”

The orb sprouts multiple sharp whips that track Rito’s movements and quickly impale multiple spots on his body, skewering him. Rito goes limp and after a moment, he turns into a piece of crystal and shatters into countless shards. Several Rito’s appear, surrounding the dark medical ninja. Both shocked and perplexed, Shizuku looks up and sees a mirror floating in the sky just above the canopy.

“Jade Crystal Clone Jutsu.” One of the Rito’s lands a solid punch on Shizuku’s face.

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“Whatever you are, you won’t be able to dodge these!” Setsuna, one of Moryo and Yomi's subordinates, hurls several shuriken that have been infused with wind-nature chakra.

Mecha-Naruto leaps from tree to tree to avoid them, but to no avail. The shuriken track and follow the shinobi android like a swarm of wasps. Each time Mecha-Naruto jumps to another tree, one of the shuriken manages to graze him, piercing through his exterior. Each cut is deep enough to reveal his chassis and circuitry. As the shuriken are about to come at the mechanical ninja for another attack, they scatter in multiple different directions.

“Now die!!” Setsuna brings his arm to his chest, forming a cross.

The many shuriken converge on Mecha-Naruto with the intent to tear him apart from all sides. The robotic duplicate tracks their movements, using calculations to predict their movements before rocketing into the air. The multiple shuriken quickly trail behind, following the mechanical copy who begins to take aim. The instant they form a straight line, Mecha-Naruto fires his eye beams, destroying them all.

Shocked and dumbfounded, Setsuna takes a step back. “Wha--? Impossible!!”

“HAHAHA!! MECHA-NARUTO IS NUMBER ONE!!” Mecha-Naruto jeers as he rockets back down to dive-bomb the enemy.

At high speeds, the android headbutts Setsuna, sending flying a good distance away before anchoring himself firmly to the ground. He rapidly transforms his body into a cannon and begins to charge up.

“CHAKRA FULLY CHARGED. SAFETY LOCK RELEASED. FIRE!!” As a cannon, Mecha-Naruto fires a powerful, violet laser.

An overwhelmed Setsuna can only look on in horror as the beam gets closer, making contact. “G-Guwaaaa!”

Mecha-Naruto reverts back to his humanoid form and walks back to his comrades with a massive explosion occurring behind him.

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“Water Attack Gorgon!” Shizuku summons a large volume of water in the form of a dragon with a gaping maw.

The jutsu rushes towards Rito at lightning speeds. The young boy charges forward and leaps toward it, forming a rotating sphere of chakra.

“Try this on for size! RASENGAN!!”

Just before Rito makes contact with the water dragon, he reaches out and touches it with his free hand. The dragon freezes in place before quickly crystallizing, it morphs into a tunnel, allowing Rito to continue sprinting downward. When he reaches the end of the tunnel, Rito jumps at Shizuku, slamming him with the ball of chakra. There’s a bright light followed by an explosion.

Rito watches as Shizuku slowly melts into water. “Even though most ninjas can do that, I still think it’s bloody weird.”

“Heh heh heh… Ninja Art: Water Substitution.” As a puddle, Shizuku gets down to leisurely slithering away. “I’ve turned my entire body into water, you can’t touch me. Later, kid.”

“So if you’re made of water… Does that mean you’ll evaporate into thin air and die if my friend uses his fire style on you?”

The puddle freezes in place at Rito’s hypothesis. “What?”

Rito calls out to his friend. “Oi, Jin?! I just beat my opponent! Can you use your fire style on him?!”

“Sure, I was just finishing things up myself.” Jin walks over, dusting his hands off with a fully repaired Mecha-Naruto following after him. “ Fire Style: Dragon Fla--”

“STOP!! STOP, I SURRENDER!!” The puddle interrupts, pleading. “I’ll do whatever you want… just don’t kill me!”

“Reassume your solid form.”

A terrified and compliant Shizuku follows orders and re-corporealizes his body. He sits down on his knees, shuttering in a cold sweat as Jin places one hand on his head.

“Let’s see…” Jin reads the dark medical ninja’s mind with the Human Path. Amped by dark chakra… possesses dark medical ninjutsu… powerful water style jutsu…

“Well? Anything?” Rito breaks the serious silence.

“Nothing… he doesn’t know where his masters are. The only info worth taking is his water style! *sigh* …I’m pulling out his soul.”

With one hand, Rito presses down on Jin’s hand in order to prevent him from taking their prisoner’s soul. “Can’t you just let him go?”

“...What? Why?” A puzzled Jin tilts his head to one side. “He’s a movie villain henchman. He doesn’t even make it to the end of the movie… besides, we’re at war with him.”

Hearing this perplexes Shizuku. “What…? What’s a mov--”

“Quiet, you!”

“C’mon, you of all people should know that there’s power in mercy. Remember what you did at the Five Kage Summit? Actions like those are the main reason why you become Echo.”

The area goes silent as Jin takes a moment to mull Rito’s suggestion over. His head tilting from side to side. It’s so quiet that the only thing that can be heard are the tree leaves rustling in the wind. Finally coming to a conclusion, Jin releases his grip on Shizuku’s head.

“Alright, we’ll do it your way. But only on the condition that he disap--GYAHH!!!” Jin is interrupted as he is suddenly stabbed in the back with a pitch black hand, impaling his chest. …C-Can’t… move…!

“I was going to wait for Tobi to finish his little war, but you magically appear out of nowhere with everything I need.” An ominous voice says from behind Jin. “I, Black Zetsu, can finally fulfill my dream…”