"Let me do it."
Kisame grinned, taking down Samehada from his back.
Itachi shook his head slightly.
"No, I'll deal with him. You go kill Tazuna."
"Alright!"
Kisame nodded, dragging Samehada and charging directly towards the workers behind Jokichi.
"Do you think I'll let you pass?"
Jokichi chuckled, his hands forming seals.
"Shadow Clone Jutsu."
Poof!
Accompanied by the explosion of white smoke, an identical clone appeared beside him. Furthermore, it held a palm-sized round mirror in its hand.
Both Kisame and Itachi noticed this mirror. Although their expressions didn't change, they became more vigilant inwardly.
"Disappear with me for a while first!"
The shadow clone gave a sinister laugh and aimed the mirror surface at Itachi.
Just as Itachi wanted to dodge, he suddenly heard the shadow clone's words. His movements involuntarily slowed by a beat.
Itachi's figure was reflected in the mirror. Next, the shadow clone and Itachi disappeared from the bridge together.
"What!?"
The sudden turn of events startled Kisame, and his footsteps rushing towards Jokichi involuntarily stopped.
"Do you have the time to worry about others?"
Jokichi used the Body Flicker Jutsu to appear in front of Kisame, kicking him off the bridge.
He took out the Book of Omniscience and checked. Gato was leading a large group of people hurrying this way, two of whom were heading towards Tazuna's home.
However, Naruto was also hurrying towards the bridge.
Calculating the time, distance, and speed of both sides, Naruto would arrive a long time earlier.
Mhm! There's no need to worry about the mission target's safety for now.
"Uncles, don't run around!"
Jokichi instructed Tazuna and the others, then vaulted over the guardrail and chased down.
The range of Kisame's ninjutsu was too large. If they fought on the bridge, none of these workers would survive, and the unfinished bridge might also be destroyed by the aftermath of the battle.
Jokichi ran all the way down along the bridge pillar, his gaze already cast towards the sea surface. Kisame was dragging the giant Samehada, standing leisurely on the distant sea surface waiting.
He was a Water Release ninja; the ocean was his home ground.
Jokichi wanting to fight him on the sea perfectly suited his wishes.
Bang!
When he was five or six meters away from the sea surface, Jokichi kicked off with his legs, flying directly towards Kisame in the distance.
"Did you throw yourself out like a baseball?"
Kisame grinned, gripping Samehada's hilt with both hands. He raised Samehada like holding a baseball bat, and when Jokichi got close, he swung it fiercely.
Unexpectedly, the fiercely approaching Jokichi's body was exceptionally agile.
Before Samehada swung over, he flipped in mid-air, kicked both legs onto Samehada's body, and then used the momentum to do a backflip. He landed steadily in front of Kisame. The long sword hanging at his waist was drawn with his left hand, and he executed a horizontal slash, looking to cut Kisame in half at the waist.
Kisame pulled in his stomach and bowed, narrowly dodging it. He raised Samehada high with one hand and then smashed it down mercilessly!
Samehada was massive in size. Slashing down, the momentum was heavy, and even the air was torn, producing a shrill whistling sound.
I can't block this head-on!
The thought flashed through his mind, and Jokichi instinctively pulled back to retreat.
Boom!
Samehada missed, smashing into the water surface and kicking up water waves several meters high.
Before the water waves could fall, Kisame's figure dragging Samehada with one hand burst out from within.
"Kid, what did you do to Itachi-san?"
Before Jokichi could find his footing, Kisame had already rushed in front of him, smashing Samehada fiercely towards him.
Helpless, Jokichi could only raise his sword to block.
Clang!
As the weapons clashed, Jokichi only felt a matchless, tremendous force transmit from the sword. The sea surface beneath his feet sank abruptly and then exploded outward.
And Jokichi was knocked entirely into the seabed, the calm seawater beginning to surge.
Kisame could fight evenly with Might Guy who had opened the Seventh Gate, could catch Guy's Leaf Hurricane with one hand, and could break free from the bindings of Wood Release with his own strength. Purely in terms of speed and strength, Jokichi was indeed not his match right now.
Not to mention, he had evenly divided half his chakra to the shadow clone.
However—
A ninja's battle is not just about speed and strength!
Jokichi looked at the swaying figure on the sea surface, preparing to counterattack with ninjutsu. Unexpectedly, before he could act, the opponent had already used ninjutsu a step ahead.
"Water Release: Five Feeding Sharks."
Kisame squatted on the sea surface, his hands forming seals. Then, he pressed one hand onto the sea surface, and five streams of chakra flowed from his five fingers into the sea, turning into sharks that chased towards the deep sea.
Jokichi didn't care at all. He clapped his hands, and a massive amount of chakra erupted.
"Wood Release: Deep Forest Emergence."
Countless saplings raised their heads from the seabed, then grew at a visible rate. The branches lifted Jokichi upward, piercing and popping the sharks. In an instant, they shot out of the sea surface, growing into towering giant trees.
A towering giant tree required five or six people to wrap their arms around, and the crown area was massive. Dozens of such towering giant trees squeezed together formed a forest.
On this sea near the Land of Waves, a water forest grew in an instant.
"This is, this is the First Hokage's Wood Release!"
Kisame, having retreated to a safe area, looked up, his expression extremely solemn.
Wood Release was a physical ninjutsu. He couldn't weaken the enemy's ninjutsu power or strengthen his own by absorbing the opponent's chakra.
Originally full of confidence, he was now facing a formidable enemy.
Jokichi walked out of the forest, standing on the outermost branch, looking down from high above at Kisame.
"Continue the fight!"
Kisame ignored Jokichi's provocation, just frowning and staring into the forest. Inside, it was pitch black and silent, like a monster opening its giant mouth waiting for prey to enter.
Suddenly, he began forming seals, then slapped one hand on the water surface.
"Water Release: Rain Water Shark Wave."
Boom!
The seawater on all four sides of Kisame exploded, and four giant sharks leaped out, biting towards Jokichi.
Jokichi was expressionless, standing quietly on the branch. Four thick vines extended from behind him, whipping and popping the sharks before they got close.
Unexpectedly, the popped sharks turned into countless drops of seawater, and the seawater then turned into countless small shark water bullets, charging in swarms toward the forest.
"Do you think this is enough?"
Jokichi sneered coldly, his face showing no fear.
Sure enough, at the moment the small shark swarm approached, the forest behind Jokichi seemed to come alive, extending countless vines. They were densely packed, even more numerous than the shark swarm.
No matter how hard the shark swarm tried, they were whipped and popped before they could get close.
Although the vines would also be blown apart by the explosion of the shark water bullets when popping the sharks, they quickly grew back.
"That forest can indeed be freely controlled by him."
With his attack thwarted, Kisame didn't feel discouraged at all, but rather felt a trace of relief.
"This forest looks no different from an ordinary forest, but once someone other than the caster enters, all the large trees will attack as if possessing autonomous consciousness. If I rushed in recklessly, I'm afraid it would be ill-boding."
Kisame was very confident in his strength, but not arrogant at all. He never thought he could handle continuous attacks from all directions.
"I have to use a massive ninjutsu to destroy that forest entirely." Kisame made his decision, clapping his hands together.
"Water Release: Great Shark Bullet Technique."
A massive amount of chakra erupted, and a super-large shark-shaped water bullet broke through the sea surface, leaping toward the forest ahead.