Chapter 63 - Ch63. Salamander Realm 1

The body of the dead and bloody salamander boss summon appeared inside the Summoning Realm of Salamanders. It had many cauterized holes all around its body caused by Rei's lightning Jutsu that blasted it from inside out. A lot of salamanders looked at it with bewilderment clear in their eyes, never expecting the strongest salamander of the younger generation to die so brutally! But before they could react, the body exploded outwardly in a massive show of blood and gore, covering the closest ones in blood and gore while obstructing their vision.

As the salamanders were still shocked by the death of the boss summon, thousands of Rei's water clones burst out of the now exploded corpse and started to attack the salamanders with abandon, explosions filled the immediate surroundings and the battlefield started spreading further and further, the further the clones reached. But they were only a distraction. Rei covered himself up in nature energy and started sneaking around, evading the battle.

The entire Salamander Realm was turned upside down. Fighting resounded through the cavern system as water splashes and explosions were the most frequent sounds. It was then that the oldest and most experienced battle-veterans of Salamander Realm showed up and with them... water. Humongous amounts of water Jutsu started drowning the clones as the caverns started to be flooded. Rei didn't care, he located his target and was on his way towards it.

Axolotl Salamander as big as a building was smashing two clones right and left with his body, heavily relying on its regeneration. It was a magnificent sight. Axolotl had a massive regenerative factor by itself but when it got enhanced by nature energy, the beast became night unkillable unless he was struck in a vital area! Cut off his limbs or tail... heck! Destroy half of its brain or snap its spine and it could just regrow it or reconnect the nerves! Even puncturing the heart wasn't fatal.

This salamander was his goal. He needed a proper gift for Tsunade, after all. The Kaguya clan is good and all and their regenerative factor is amazing but even they can't survive with their heart or brain injured. Axolotl could. Axolotl filled with nature energy? 'Oh boy, Tsunade will have a field day with this guy!' Rei giddily thought. He naturally didn't want his girls in harm's way but he wasn't naive to think it would never happen. If he could help Tsunade to make a Jutsu that would make her semi-immortal ever-regenerating battle-monster? Why not? He was all for it!

The Axolotl just smashed a clone into the ground with his tail, cracking the ground, impacting the water there, sending it all around. Rei knew he had to sneak attack it. Fighting with it would attract attention and such a durable thing like the beast in front of him would have ample time to get reinforcements. He might be supremely strong but he had no idea what Salamanders could do and didn't like charging forward blindly. But then again, there was nobody who knew what Salamanders were capable of. Rei doubted even Hanzo was fully aware of their strength. After all, the guy was never taught Senjutsu, for one.

It was then... five of his clones jumped at the Axolotl from the sky, distracting it and Rei instantly used his very own improved Suiton: Water Dome to trap both him and the salamander inside. It was his own derivation of the Water Wall and raised a very dense and chakra-soaked Water Dome all around Rei. The Dome was quite durable and nothing short of borderline S-rank Jutsu could penetrate it which showed at the chakra cost of creating it. But Rei knew that direct confrontation against an ever regenerating opponent would last ages, a time he definitely didn't have, so he decided to be sneaky and for once act like a ninja. The second the wall covered both the Axolotl and Rei, tens of clones were made from its walls and jumped the Axolotl from every direction, distracting it with their attacks. The beast was instantly startled and started thrashing itself madly around in hopes to defeat as many clones. At least, it looked like a thrashing but by the number of clones that were already smashed, Rei surmised its some form of salamander taijutsu... He didn't create the clones for offense though. No, he created them so he could hide amongst them! The Axolotl was too focused on destroying the clones and Rei could approach it unseen. As he neared the side of the summoning beast, he smiled to himself.

The Axolotl indeed didn't notice the real Rei in the middle of his clones. Killing it would be so easy! Just separating the head from the body... no matter how big of a regenerative factor the beast had, it would not survive decapitation. Alas, he needed the beast alive so Tsunade can study it and that made his task so much harder. He decided to go for it quite brutally as he stuck his chokuto up to the handle into the side of the Axolotl. Before the beast could even let out a yelp of pain, however, Rei coursed finely-controlled raiton chakra through the blade, paralyzing it. From that point on, the clones jumped towards the paralyzed beast and quickly started drawing binding seals all over it. Two minutes of a dozen clones doing the seal work and the beast was prepared to go. Rei used a specially developed stasis seal for living beings to stash it away. It was kinda anti-climatic and was a stark reminder to not be conceited even when one is almost immortal. One sneak attack. That's all that's needed to end your life.

Rei's shoulders slumped relaxedly as he tried to sense the battlefield. "Damn, I already lost two-thirds of my clones? Now that's surprisi-" Suddenly his body tensed again and he frowned as he slowly turned his head to the right and quickly stepped to the side with his eyes widening. Not a second later, a stream of highly pressurized water cut straight through the water dome Jutsu, almost hitting him as it sailed through the spot he earlier stood at, and then effortlessly cut through the other end of the water dome. Seeing that, Rei's eyes twitched as he instantly prepared for a battle. It didn't take long for his water dome to fall completely and he saw two salamanders. One was completely black with watery blue streaks on its skin and the other was dull-green.

These two were obviously special as he instantly recognized the difference that set them apart from other Salamanders he saw so far. They both had light-green eyeshadows and as Rei felt the energy around them, his frown widened. These two... knew senjutsu. His expression twisted into a minuscule scowl as he realized that his chakra hiding technique through the nature energy might have backfired since the two senjutsu users clearly could pinpoint him even amongst tens of his clones.

But it was not the time to ponder about that weakness. He instantly schooled his expression and smiled cheekily. "Isn't that a bit too dangerous welcome, geezers?" Rei quipped towards the ancient Salamanders who eyed him warily under the guise of senility. He wasn't about to underestimate them due to that though. "Huh, no answer?" Rei nodded to himself. "Guess you aren't the most eloquent of your species then!" He exclaimed and fought the urge to smirk as he saw his words had an effect on the two beasts.

(Cliff-kun :D)