We entered the colossal tower via a crack in the wall where the serpent punched through what seems like ages ago. The material of the wall was easily shifted aside and expanded for our entry by the whims of the unagi guiding me.
Here, the serpent tail was smooth and grey rather than scaled as I'd expect an actual serpent and inside the tower was full of water as well, risen all the way to the ceiling. I worried about breath, I hadn't had a single one in close to twelve minutes and I was running out of time.
The first chamber we moved through was little more than rubble and the serpents tail running through, but as we journeyed through the next had significantly less water and more personality. There were carvings, some kind of hieroglyphs on the walls we passed. My 'escorts' weren't patient enough to allow me a more than a passing glimpse and neither was my waning breath.
Still, after three chambers and thanks to flora lamination, I got the gist of their story, specifically the fishmen's story. They were either the descendants of men who bargained with some gloriously powerful aquatic summon animal for power and failed or they were the men themselves, enslaved into an eternity of service and a lifetime of looking like that.
The fishmen were quite ugly, even the ones that had more man to their fish still had appalling features about them. Still, they watched me with interest and caution, herding me with their spears as the unagi swam faster than us all.
Despite edging ever close to a death by drowning, I didn't think the fishmen or unagi had it out for me. Their composure spoke entirely otherwise, the fishmen had a healthy bit of fear in them especially after Isobu flared his chakra and the unagi, well, it swam ahead with purpose and hadn't tried to eat me yet.
We continued chasing the unagi as it chased the turns and curves of the great serpent perforating the tower, we were headed upwards now and I could feel the weight of the water lighten as we travelled. Finally, we burst out into a chamber that could only be said to be on the brink of shambling over our heads.
The ceiling was only a few feet away from my head but that was more than enough to give my lungs a grateful taste of air. I breathed heavily and a part of me wanted to take a break there and then but we weren't the only ones in the new chamber.
Here, hovering above my heads were the mermaids and other fish blended humans coasting on floating objects of water like little islands. Some of them were clothed and clearly held a sense of civility while others well, their looks spoke for themselves.
The unagi soared and twisted until its head was nearly at the top of the cracked, water leaking ceiling. It hissed at the fishmen with me and they poked me out of my break, forcing me to swim away from the small gathering of onlooking, curious water folk.
"Wait.." I halted and looked up at the unagi who seemed to want to address the onlookers. I could speak now and since I didn't know what kind of watery place the next chamber would be I chose to, "Where are you taking me?"
The fishmen, though instructed to guard and shepherd me, faltered at my question. They glanced at each other and the unagi snaked around, ignoring the bubbling chatter of indiscernible language from the onlookers.
It reared its head down at me so I looked it in those deep green slit eyes, its barbels danced as a rumble erupted from its throat, "Where you asked to go."
I couldn't help but gulp at that. The fishmen's reactions and that response all but confirmed I would be heading to the same great beast whose coveted power turned them into denizens of this ocean world. But the wave of anxiety was a passing one, there was no great power without risk and if I could withstand Isobu then surely...
"Let's go then."
The unagi looked amused if that was even possible. It warped around and swam at speed down the corridor of water that held even more floating island mermaids, who, despite being just as ugly as their counterparts, didn't hesitate to flirt where they could.
I dived and chased after the unagi. My arms and legs were beginning to ache but I still had more than enough in me to see this to the end. I'm getting excited.
It's clear what was happening here, it's all too direct and true for it to be anything else. The fishmen might not be stone unagi statues but the legends craved into the walls of the tower, the giant as unagi and the multi-membraned serpent that wound itself through the tower.
It has to be Senjutsu. The power so coveted, the power turning men to fish, the power maintaining this whole world of water and a tower with a serpent sticking out of it. I knew the first step towards Senjutsu would be a summon contract but I didn't think it'd be so direct.
"Patience, Yagura, you have yet to hear the price for these creature's aid, if they will give it at all." Isobu said.
That's fair and I expected as much before we came here, should there be a blood price to pay then I'm a very wealthy man. Mangetsu and Zabuza were waiting for my return in the shinobi world and with them were five unfortunate enemy warships that were just waiting for their final doom. I just hope this isn't one of those realms where time works differently, I need to be back in three hours.
We continued through various watery chambers with mermen and maids. One chamber we erupted through was quite literally a breeding ground for the water folk and I shivered at the thought of swimming through their fluids. The things I do for power.
Another smelled completely of blood and was tainted pink with stripped flesh, bone and marrow of several creatures, none of which were unagi or fish folk by the looks of it. Each of these chambers grew in size, magnitude and allure as we travelled by. There were paintings on the walls now rather than just craved tales and the sense of civility continued unhindered.
The paintings were magnificent quite honestly. The blue strike of lightning illuminated the body of a feathered fin unagi as it leered gleefully at a ship tossed amongst whirlpools. I swam along, not having time to spare to admire the artisty when the softest voices wormed into my ear.
The unagi, fishmen and I were all underwater when the voices began and yet I could hear them as though they sang right beside me. The language they sang in escaped me but each word was deliberate, soothing, calming and as their crescendo grew as we erupted into another chamber, the song took on a clear meaning even to my illiterate mind.
The unagi noticed me with a grin that exposed its filthy row of teeth, it regarded the giant brown door we'd erupted in front of, it had an Uzumaki spiral right at the centre, like a lock. There were two more unagi like the one guiding me, their eyes peeking over the surface of the water as they watched us without leaving their posts at the door.
The unnerving vocals continued, it brought me some calm but it felt like poppy to a horse with a broken foot and the unagi grinning down at me seemed to relish I felt that way, it spoke, "Do you hear them? They are saying…welcome the champion who would be feasted upon."