Chapter 61: Kyosuke vs. Kisame Hoshigaki
The moment Kyosuke finished speaking, Kisame drew the strange weapon from his back and charged at him.
"His speed is average," Kyosuke commented, standing his ground with his Sharingan activated.
Hmph, what an arrogant brat. People who underestimate Kisame pay the price, Mei thought with a sneer, watching his calm demeanor.
But then, her eyes widened in disbelief.
Just as Kisame was about to reach Kyosuke, he, who had been standing still, suddenly opened his mouth and spewed a large mouthful of fire.
And Mei, whose eyes had never left him, had not seen when he had formed the hand seals.
This surprise attack was, of course, thanks to Kyosuke's one-handed seals.
As soon as Kisame had started to advance, his right hand, hidden in his sleeve, had quietly formed the seals, just waiting for him to get close to give him a surprise.
If it had been anyone else, even if they weren't defeated outright, they would have likely been at a disadvantage for the rest of the fight.
But Kisame, as the wielder of Samehada, had his own unique way of dealing with this.
Seeing the Great Fireball coming at him, he showed no signs of panic.
He raised his right hand, which held Samehada, and with a simple downward slash, he split the Great Fireball in two.
He had effectively used Samehada's ability to absorb chakra to absorb the ninjutsu directly.
Although this method of absorption would cause some damage to Samehada, Kisame couldn't be bothered with that now.
Just as he was about to take advantage of the enemy's failed ninjutsu to launch an attack, he was surprised to find that the enemy before him had vanished.
"Kisame, watch your feet!" Mei suddenly shouted.
Hearing his teammate's warning, Kisame's pupils contracted slightly. Without a second thought, he leaped up, hoping to dodge this attack.
The moment Kisame leaped, Kyosuke's figure shot out from the ground. His kunai, glinting with a cold light, was aimed at Kisame.
If it hadn't been for Mei's warning, Kisame's foot would have been crippled.
But even so, Kisame was still in danger.
Seeing Kyosuke coming at him from below, a ferocious grin spread across Kisame's face. He raised Samehada and thrust it at him.
He was clearly planning to trade blows to repel Kyosuke's attack.
Of course, Kyosuke, who was well aware of his characteristics, knew that Kisame would probably prefer for him to continue his attack. If that were the case, in a brief moment, all of Kyosuke's chakra would be absorbed by him.
But Kyosuke still chose to continue his attack.
Schlick!
As the kunai successfully pierced Kisame's right foot, Kyosuke was also hit by Samehada.
But with a poof, Kyosuke's entire body vanished.
It turned out that the Kyosuke who had stabbed Kisame was a shadow clone.
This ninjutsu, which had shone so brightly in the original story, was a technique Kyosuke had successfully mastered in the past few days.
And it had proven effective in its first use against an enemy.
But that wasn't all. Where Kyosuke's shadow clone had disappeared, a nearly burnt-out explosion tag was floating in the air.
Boom!
With the violent explosion, Kisame was sent flying.
But that still wasn't the end of it.
As Mei was watching Kisame's figure with concern, Kyosuke's real body suddenly appeared below his landing spot.
With a slight raise of his hand, countless poisonous snakes shot toward Kisame's falling figure, binding him tightly.
At the same time, Kyosuke's free hand began to quickly form hand seals.
He knew that the reason he was able to pin Kisame down was because he had seized the initiative with his surprise attack.
Once he allowed him to recover, the sheer volume of his ninjutsu would be more than enough to give Kyosuke a hard time.
At this point, Kisame, who had been dazed by the explosion tag, finally recovered.
He looked at the poisonous snakes coiled around him, and the right hand holding Samehada twitched, preparing to absorb their chakra to break free.
But just then, Mei, who was standing to the side, suddenly spoke. "Stop!"
Hearing her voice, Kisame's expression changed several times, and then his grip on Samehada loosened.
It was clear he had given up the fight.
But Kyosuke was now hesitating whether to take this opportunity to cripple him, to save himself the trouble of dealing with him later.
Especially now that Kisame had given up the fight. As long as he released the ninjutsu he had already prepared, there was no way he could survive.
Mei and Ao both sensed that something was wrong. Startled, they also began to quickly form hand seals, in case Kyosuke's sudden killing intent was real.
And at this point, because the snakes' poison had already entered his body, Kisame could no longer even hold onto Samehada.
Samehada fell to the ground with a thump, which also successfully snapped the pondering Kyosuke back to his senses.
Just as he was about to say something, Hyuga Yōmyō, who was standing to the side, suddenly spoke urgently. "There's a group of people rushing toward us... it's the Sand ninja team."
Hearing this, Kyosuke, with a slight exertion of his hand, threw the now-unconscious Kisame toward Mei and Ao.
At the same time, he exchanged a look with his two teammates, and they all retreated.
If the Sand ninja arrived, and with the Mist ninja's attitude still unclear, they would be at a disadvantage in a many-against-few situation. So, they had to retreat for now.
Although he hadn't been able to take out the Mist ninja, he hadn't come away empty-handed.
He was sure that after this battle, if the Mist wanted to cause trouble for him again, they would have to think twice.
At the same time, after the brief exchange, he had a rough idea of Kisame's strength.
Perhaps because he hadn't had Samehada for long, Kisame's strength was not as great as he had originally thought.
Although he couldn't say for sure that he would win in a fight, at least in terms of psychological advantage, he was already in the upper hand.
He was confident that if the two of them were to fight again, Kisame, with fear in his heart, would be lucky to use even eighty percent of his full strength.
As Kyosuke was thinking to himself, he accelerated once again, speeding off into the distance.
He was sure that once the Sand ninja discovered the battle between them and the Mist, they would definitely choose to continue pursuing Kyosuke's team.
So, at the very least, he had to wait until his depleted chakra had recovered before facing the Sand ninja's attack.
Only then would he have the confidence to win.
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