Chapter 23: The Serpent's Dance
The mist on the cliffs swirled, heavy with unspoken threats. Gin stood as a lone barrier between the Akatsuki and his village, his smile a thin, sharp line cutting through the tension. He had made his declaration, a quiet line in the sand.
"Unfortunately for you," he repeated, his voice a silken purr that belied the danger in his eyes, "Yagura is a critical asset to the new Kirigakure. I'm afraid I can't let you have him."
Kisame's grin was a gash of predatory teeth. "Can't let us? Seijuro, you were always a strange one, but you were never a fool. Look at us. Look at you. The odds aren't in your favor." He hefted the bandaged Samehada, the greatsword seeming to hum with anticipation.
"My, my, so confident," Gin replied, his hands still tucked into his sleeves. "And you, Itachi-kun? Nothin' to say? ou've been awfully quiet."
Itachi's expression remained a neutral mask, but his Sharingan was spinning, analyzing every subtle shift in Gin's posture, every flicker of his Reiatsu. "There is nothing to say," he stated, his voice calm and even. "Kisame. End this quickly."
That was all the prompting the shark-man needed.
"Water Style: Water Shark Bullet Technique!"
Kisame slammed his palm onto the damp cliffside, and the moisture in the air and rock coalesced. A massive, roaring shark of pure, high-pressure water erupted, launching itself at Gin with the speed of a torpedo.
Gin didn't move. He didn't even take his hands out of his sleeves. He just watched the aquatic predator close the distance with that same, infuriating smile.
Just as the shark was about to swallow him whole, he vanished. Shunpo.
He reappeared high in the air above them, seemingly standing on nothing. The water shark, deprived of its target, crashed into the cliff face behind where he'd been standing, shattering tons of rock and sending a shower of debris into the chasm below.
"Tsk, tsk. So destructive, Kisame-kun," Gin chided from above. "You're gonna ruin the lovely scenery."
"Get down here and fight!" Kisame roared, already forming new hand seals.
"As you wish."
Gin fell. He didn't dive; he simply dropped from the sky like a stone. Halfway down, his hand finally slipped from his sleeve, revealing the hilt of his wakizashi. With a soft shing, the blade was drawn.
He aimed the tip of the blade at Kisame.
" Shoot to Kill, Shinsō."
The blade glowed with a stark white light and then it was gone. It extended with a speed that defied the eye, a silent, white needle of death piercing through the mist. It wasn't aimed at Kisame's heart or head. It was aimed at his shoulder, the one holding Samehada.
Kisame's eyes widened. He had no time to dodge. He brought the massive, bandaged form of Samehada up in a desperate block.
CLANG!
The sound was like a temple bell. The force of the impact was immense. Kisame, a powerhouse of raw strength, was driven back a step, his sandals digging into the stone. The tip of Shinsō had struck Samehada dead center.
"Hmph. That sword of yours is tough," Gin commented, his body still in freefall.
The blade retracted as quickly as it had extended. But Gin wasn't finished. As he fell, he swung the now-short blade in a wide, horizontal arc.
"Shinsō!" he called out again.
The blade extended once more, but this time it was a sweeping, hundred-meter-long scythe of white light aimed at both Akatsuki members.
Itachi acted. He blurred forward, grabbing Kisame's cloak and pulling him back with a powerful leap. The blade of Shinsō sliced through the space they had occupied a microsecond earlier, carving a deep, perfectly clean line through the cliff face behind them.
Gin landed lightly on the ground, his smile widening. "My, my. Good reflexes, Itachi-kun. I'm impressed."
"His speed is not in his movements," Itachi stated, his gaze locked on Gin's blade. "It's in the weapon itself. Do not let its tip point at you, Kisame."
"I figured that out," Kisame growled, rubbing his shoulder. The impact had left his entire arm numb. "What a troublesome ability."
"Oh, you haven't seen anything yet," Gin purred.
He dashed forward, not with Shunpo, but with a shinobi's speed, his blade held in a reverse grip. He closed the distance on Kisame, who met him with a powerful swing of Samehada. Gin ducked under the massive sword, the wind from its passage rustling his silver hair. He came up inside Kisame's guard, his wakizashi aimed in a blindingly fast upward thrust.
But it wasn't Kisame he was aiming for.
Itachi was already there, a kunai in his hand, intercepting the thrust. The screech of metal on metal was deafening. Itachi's Sharingan followed every twitch of Gin's muscles, predicting his every move.
"Predictable," Itachi said, forcing Gin's blade back.
"Was it?" Gin replied, his smile turning wicked.
The tip of Shinsō, locked against Itachi's kunai, began to glow.
"Shinsō!"
It extended while still in the clash. It was a point-blank, impossible-to-dodge attack. Itachi's eyes widened in the barest fraction of a second—the only sign of his surprise—and he threw himself backward, abandoning the clash entirely. The blade shot past his face, so close it sliced a few strands of his dark hair.
Kisame capitalized on the opening, swinging Samehada down in a brutal overhead chop.
Gin simply let his blade retract, using the backward momentum to spin away from Kisame's attack, which smashed into the ground and shattered the rock. He came to a stop a dozen meters away, not a single scratch on him.
This was his dance. A deadly waltz of extension, retraction, feints, and impossible speed. He was a serpent, constantly coiling and striking.
"He's toying with us," Kisame growled, his frustration mounting.
"He is analyzing," Itachi corrected, his gaze never leaving Gin. "He is gauging our reactions. Our speed. He's looking for the perfect moment for a single, fatal blow."
"Then let's not give him one!" Kisame roared. "Water Style: Exploding Water Colliding Wave!"
He spewed a massive torrent of water from his mouth, not a single shark, but an entire ocean that flooded the clifftop, turning it into a churning, watery arena.
Gin landed effortlessly on the surface of the water.
"Oh, I do love the water," he said cheerfully.
From beneath him, Itachi's voice echoed. "Water Style: Water Fang Bullet!"
Dozens of high-pressure, spinning projectiles of water erupted from the depths, shooting upwards to impale Gin from below. At the same time, Kisame summoned five water sharks that began to circle him, creating a vortex.
It was a perfectly coordinated trap.
Gin's smile finally, truly vanished. His sky-blue eyes were wide open, cold and sharp as chips of ice.
"Bankai," he whispered, a word so quiet it was almost lost in the roar of the water. "Kamishini no Yari."
His wakizashi didn't change. There was no explosion of energy. Nothing.
Kisame and Itachi both hesitated, confused. Had he done anything at all?
Gin raised his blade. He didn't swing it. He didn't thrust it. He simply held it.
And then the world was cut in half.
"Butō."
It was not a slash they could see. It was not a beam they could dodge. One moment, Gin was standing there. The next, a line of utter devastation had been carved through the entire battlefield. The vortex of water sharks, the rising water fangs, even a huge chunk of the cliff itself beyond them—all of it was bisected by a single, invisible, instantaneous thrust.
The water dome collapsed, pouring into the chasm below. Kisame and Itachi landed on the now-slick rock, staring in stunned silence. The sheer, incomprehensible speed of the attack was beyond anything they had ever witnessed.
"W-What was that?" Kisame stammered, the first hint of genuine fear in his voice.
Gin stood on the far side of the clearing, his blade already back to its normal size, his smile having returned.
"That," Gin said, his voice dripping with mock sweetness, "was me gettin' a little serious." He raised his blade again. "Now... who's next?"
Tbc