Zetsu, who was observing the fight, felt something and turned its head around. Its eyes immediately widened as it thought, 'Not good. We can't stay here.'
Kisame turned his attention towards the remaining two clones as all the bandages around his sword were torn apart by Samehada. Neither clone had made any move. He wondered, 'Why are they just observing like they want to test out my abilities? I thought that he wanted to buy some time.'
The clones received the memories of the dispelled clone and realized, 'It looks like the Senju Taijutsu style is ineffective on him. No, rather, it benefits him instead of harming him. And he also absorbs the chakra flow from my swords. Sigh, what an annoying fighter. Apart from those annoying Mangekyou and Rinnegan users, Kisame might be the toughest opponent for me.'
Immediately, a sword appeared in each clone's hands as they prepared for another clash with Kisame. Kisame weaved hand signs rapidly.
'Water Release: Shark Bomb jutsu'
Immediately, the water around Kisame transformed into 5 sharks and moved towards the clones rapidly. Both clones just slashed their swords, generating wind slashes that destroyed the sharks. At the same time, both flickered away from Kisame as a lot of water was flooding towards them from behind the sharks.
Kisame riled up his chakra and was about to attack when he suddenly stopped and looked behind. From the ground, two Venus Flytrap-like extensions emerged before Zetsu became visible.
Immediately, the eyes of Fujin's clones began glowing as they observed Zetsu, or more specifically, Black Zetsu. One of the clones muttered aloud, "What kind of freaks do you have in this organization? What is that? A Venus Flytrap?"
Zetsu ignored Fujin and said in an urgent tone, "Kisame, you need to retreat. A large number of Kirigakure ninjas are rushing towards us."
Meanwhile, Fujin's clones observed, 'He has such a strange body. I can barely detect anything from him. I wonder if the Sharingan or the Byagukan can see more. Probably not considering how much Madara trusted him and that no Hyuga mentioned anything odd about him. I'll need someone like Orochimaru to dissect him and study him properly.'
Kisame was surprised. He looked at Fujin's clones and said, "I see. So you retreated on sensing them."
Kisame had felt Fujin's chakra field while approaching that place. So, he was aware of how large the range of his sensor ability was.
One of Fujin's clones nodded and answered, "Yes. Though I wasn't sure who it was, I guessed it was Kiri. However, I'm surprised that you want to retreat so quickly. Aren't you just an undercover Kiri ninja? I thought that you would ally with them and outnumber us."
Kisame understood that Fujin's clone was talking because he wanted to waste time and keep Kisame there until the Kiri ninjas arrived. He said, "I will remember you. Next time, you won't escape so easily."
Fujin's clone chuckled and replied, "If there is a next time, that is. Do you think that escaping will be so easy?"
Immediately, both clones flickered and peppered Kisame with Vacuum Bullets. They had only one goal, and that was to delay Kisame. Though they were just Shadow Clones, Kisame couldn't dispel them easily as they kept their distance from him and dodged all attacks. He tried escaping in other directions, but the clones would always follow him and slow him down.
Half a minute later, another figure appeared on the battlefield. He observed, 'Kisame? What is he doing here? Didn't Mitsuru say that Juzo was the one attacking him? Where are he and Juzo? And who is that masked ninja making Kisame retreat?'
Zetsu had already disappeared under the ground. So he wasn't seen by the newcomer. His appearance immediately attracted Kisame and Fujin's clones' attention. Fujin's clones thought, 'Ah, he is the one leading them. Not bad, he is quite strong. It'll be interesting to see how this goes.'
Meanwhile, Kisame had a serious face as he muttered, "Hozuki Mangetsu."
Fujin's clones immediately flickered and moved to a location such that Kisame would be between them and Mangetsu. They launched supercharged Infinite Breakthrough jutsu at Kisame, cutting his path off and forcing him to defend.
As Kisame defended, Fujin's clones observed Mangetsu. To their disappointment, Mangetsu didn't make a move to attack Kisame and instead observed the situation carefully from a distance. The clones realized, 'I see. He is unclear about what the situation is. Or perhaps he wants us to fight it out and then take advantage of our weakened state.'
They understood Mangetsu's thoughts as Fujin would have had similar thoughts had he been in Mangetsu's place. Immediately, one clone looked at Kisame and loudly declared, "You are lucky that your allies have arrived. Next time, I will kill you and take your sword!"
In an instant, both clones disappeared by using Wind Instantaneous Body jutsu and escaped in opposite directions.
Kisame was incredibly annoyed. He thought, 'What an annoying piece of shit! Kill me my ass! Had he stayed, he would have been the one to die. He just wants to force a conflict between me and Mangetsu and reap benefits without risking anything.'
Mangetsu heard his words and thought, 'So my presence forced him away? No matter. Seeing his speed, catching him would be impossible anyway. And without an unknown factor, Kisame wouldn't be able to escape me.'
Mangetsu flickered and appeared behind Kisame in the blink of an eye. Unlike Fujin, he wasn't wary of stepping into the water while fighting Kisame. He was more proficient than Kisame in fighting on water. Kisame immediately turned around and swung his blade to block the incoming strike.
A large sword hit the Samehada and immediately a series of explosions took place, forcing Kisame to retreat. Both Mangetsu and Kisame moved away from each other. Kisame looked at Mangetsu and the Shibuki sword he was holding. He said, "Mangetsu, I didn't expect to meet you here."
Mangetsu looked at Kisame and said, "I didn't expect to meet you here either. I know Fuguki was a traitor. So I won't hold you to his murder. But I want the Samehada back. Give it up and you can go."
Kisame grinned and asked, "Do you think you can take it from me?"
A massive amount of chakra was released from Kisame. The chakra was so intense that even Mangetsu was surprised for a moment. His expression changed to normal immediately as he threatened, "If you don't hand it over obediently, then I will have to take it from your corpse."
As soon as Mangetsu finished his statement, several figures appeared. In a second, they became visible. Kisame became serious as he observed, '24 Hunter ninjas…'
Though Kisame's display of his chakra surprised Mangetsu, he wasn't worried about taking him on due to the backup he had. Both sides immediately entered into an intense conflict. The two sides battled for about half an hour before the battle concluded. Unknown to any of the parties involved, a pair of eyes observed their entire battle.
Fujin's squad kept moving rapidly through the Land of Hot Water. As everyone had eaten soldier pills and frequently used the Body Flicker jutsu, they moved very quickly. They weren't too far away from the border with the Land of Fire. Suddenly, Fujin's eyes widened as he received new memories.
He realized, 'I see, so they were all Hunter nins from Kiri and were led by Mangetsu. Still, Kisame still managed to escape. And he also killed 7 Hunter nins before getting away.'
Fujin analyzed, 'That was expected though. I don't see Kisame being killed so easily. I am surprised that he had to face as much trouble as he did. Mangetsu is quite strong. And, he also has several of the seven swords. Even without the reinforcements, he would have managed to hold Kisame back for a long time.
Kisame's performance was surprisingly underwhelming against the Kiri ninjas as compared to me though. But it is probably due to our fighting styles. My Taijutsu and Sword skills were completely nullified by him. And, the large amount of water allowed him to create sufficient distance from me, giving him plenty of time to dodge or stop my Wind attacks.
By comparison, Kiri ninjas who weren't afraid of stepping into that water were able to give him a tougher fight. And since they don't use chakra flow or supercharged jutsus, they don't provide Kisame with a lot of opportunities to absorb their chakra.
Of course, the biggest factor was Mangetsu himself. He has mastered all 7 swords. So it is likely that he has raised special forces to target the Seven Ninja Swordsmen members who went rogue, kind of like what Iwa did against me.
This fight also made me realize. I completely overlooked an important aspect during my training. Now that I think about it, I was lucky that I didn't manage to kill Juzo quickly and hence got to fight Kisame. Otherwise, I wouldn't have thought of it even though it was so obvious.'
