"Sasori, it seems like this guy wants to fight us. What should we do?"
Watching Itachi approach step by step, Kisame turned to Sasori and asked softly. He wanted to see Sasori's reaction.
"What's the matter, Sharkman? Are you scared? He's just a bounty hunter."
Sasori's tone carried a hint of annoyance at Kisame's remark.
"Yeah, I'm so scared, really…"
Hearing Sasori's words, Kisame slowly drew his weapon, Samehada, from his back.
As he pulled out Samehada, he hesitated slightly, a thought flashing through his mind.
The organization was currently short on members, and they hadn't found anyone good enough to fill the spot. This man, called Blood Moon, looked pretty promising.
…
Recalling the grand vision his boss had described to him, Kisame suppressed his excitement and decided to test this man's abilities.
"Blood Moon, huh? Do you dare to fight me in hand-to-hand combat?"
This time, Kisame didn't hesitate. He raised Samehada and gave it a light swing, pointing the blade directly at Itachi.
The silver serpent glimmering in Itachi's eyes paused slightly.
With a wave of his hand, countless snakes surged forward, flooding toward Kisame like an unstoppable tide.
The attack wasn't just aimed at Kisame—it was targeting Sasori as well.
This displeased Sasori, making him feel underestimated. Chakra surged rapidly within his body as Hiruko emitted the sounds of its mechanisms clicking into action.
"Sasori, leave this to me."
Noticing that his partner, who might be either a kid or an old ghost, was preparing to strike, Kisame spoke with some irritation.
Facing the dense swarm of snakes flying toward him, Kisame swung Samehada wide, almost hitting Sasori in the process.
It wasn't that Kisame had lost control of his attack range—Itachi's move was just overwhelming in number. Meanwhile, Samehada, no longer maintaining its large blade form, revealed its true form in excitement.
It opened its massive mouth and began devouring Itachi's snakes.
But as it consumed them, Samehada froze, stunned.
What it had eagerly gulped down turned out to be nothing more than air…
…
Seeing that the snakes couldn't break through Samehada's defenses, the serpent forms before Itachi began to stop and slowly dissipate.
Knowing they were ineffective, Itachi saw no need to continue the attack.
Under the cover of his cloak, Itachi's fingers moved subtly, forming a complex series of hand seals that seemed almost like illusions, hidden perfectly beneath his oversized sleeves.
"Hey, brother, is that all you've got? If this is it, you might end up dead," Kisame taunted, watching Itachi, whose body was enveloped in a powerful silver chakra, standing motionless.
Internally, however, Kisame was fully prepared to counter a sudden strike.
"Oh? *Sage Art: Great Dragon Fire Technique!*"
A massive dragon head made of flames erupted from Itachi's mouth. For some reason, perhaps because of its B-rank classification or other factors, the fire dragon lacked a body.
The head was sharp and distinct, but the absence of a torso gave it a strange appearance.
Even so, the sheer power of Itachi's ninjutsu drew the attention of both Kisame and Sasori.
Kisame grew frustrated seeing that Itachi only used long-range attacks. He craved the thrill of close combat.
The massive fire dragon head roared toward Kisame. Its overwhelming heat painted Kisame's entire body a glowing red, and it felt as if all the moisture in his body was about to evaporate.
Quickly forming hand seals, Kisame leaped into the air.
"Water Style: Exploding Water Colliding Wave!"
Chakra gathered in Kisame's throat as he spewed enough water onto the ground to form a lake, aiming it at both Itachi and the fire dragon head.
…
"What incredible chakra," Itachi murmured softly, watching Kisame leap into the air.
But his hand didn't hesitate, summoning another wave of snakes to charge at Kisame midair.
The water from Kisame's technique was vast, nearly overwhelming, but ordinary water seemed insufficient to extinguish the fire dragon head, which was only about ten meters in diameter.
With the boost from sage techniques, even basic ninjutsu could be enhanced severalfold in power and carry additional attributes.
Watching the stalemate between his water and the fire dragon head, Kisame was at a loss.
"What the heck is this? One ninjutsu after another—without even forming hand seals?" Kisame muttered as the approaching snakes closed in. Yet, he showed no fear. After all, his weapon was alive and didn't require constant control from him.
"If you think you can take me out while I'm busy forming seals, you've got it all wrong," Kisame said smugly.
Samehada, resting against Kisame's back, writhed and opened its massive mouth again.
As the fire dragon head, formidable as it was, began to weaken against the overwhelming water, it started to break apart, leaving Kisame feeling triumphant as the water surged toward Itachi below.
Kisame spoke confidently, "See? You can't beat me with this."
Itachi's expression remained calm and unreadable. The red, single-horned serpent's phantom around him let out a roar, charging forward with reckless abandon.
It seemed intent on clashing with Samehada.
"Kisame Hoshigaki, you've lost…"
Just as the crashing waves extinguished the water dragon and prepared to unleash a devastating flood upon Itachi, he spoke softly.
A massive water dragon materialized behind Itachi.
Enhanced by sage techniques, it appeared fiercer than ever.
Kisame: "Another ninjutsu? Casting back-to-back jutsu without forming seals? What kind of absurd genius is this???"
The crimson spectral serpent clashed violently with Samehada, ferocious and relentless.
Small snakes began crawling all over Samehada, biting into the deep blue barbs on its surface.
A few of the snakes latched onto Kisame's arm and started rapidly devouring his chakra.
This was the first time Kisame had his chakra drained by someone else, leaving him completely stunned.
The colossal water dragon, enhanced by sage techniques and Kisame's own Water Style, was ferocious beyond compare...
Under Kisame's bewildered gaze, it charged straight at him.
He hadn't even unleashed his ultimate move yet. What was this? Were they really going all out to kill him already?
"Bro, I thought we were just sparring here..."
Kisame internally grumbled as he stared at the approaching water dragon, an artwork of destructive beauty.
"Hiruko: Thousand Poison Needles."
Just as Kisame was about to meet his end, Sasori's voice rang out.
Hiruko's left arm mechanism fired a cannon loaded with a dozen or more poison-laced needles. As they launched, the cylindrical device fragmented, scattering the needles in all directions like a shotgun blast.
Unlike the Needle Barrage, which focused on firing highly concentrated poison needles in a straight line, this mechanism scattered the needles to cover both a wide area and precise points, ensuring almost certain poisoning.
"Kisame, you might as well stop calling yourself Kisame and just go with Mizukame (Water Shark) from now on."
Sasori, completely disregarding the imminent attack on Kisame, instead had Hiruko unleash its ultimate move straight at Itachi.
His timing was impeccable.
If just one needle hit Itachi, and his body lacked resistance to poison, he'd have no choice but to say farewell to this blood moon for good.
"Such a fine puppet you'd make..."
Sasori couldn't help but imagine Itachi turned into one of his prized puppet collectibles.
The water dragon charging at Kisame in mid-air abruptly turned to shield him from Sasori's poisoned needles.
Aware of how deadly Sasori's poison was, Itachi manipulated the water dragon to coil in front of him, blocking all the needles.
Itachi's maneuver left Sasori dumbfounded.
"Wait, what? Isn't the Water Dragon Bullet Jutsu supposed to charge straight ahead? When did water dragons become controllable? This is just a B-rank ninjutsu! What the hell!"
Sasori internally raged. What kind of sorcery was this?
Are we even using the same ninjutsu anymore?
This is way too damn ridiculous!