Chapter 102: Tailed Beast Without A Tail, Real Man Hoshigaki Kisame【subscribe】
Sunlight filtered through the treetops, dappling on the female ninja’s body, plating her with a layer of soft glow that caused a subtle tremor in Kisame Hoshigaki’s long-sealed heart.
From childhood to adulthood, due to his special appearance, Kisame Hoshigaki had always been isolated from the crowd; no one was willing to talk to him, let alone be friends with him.
“She seems to be called Mei Terumi, the Hozuki Clan ninja who was promoted to chunin at eighteen.” Kisame Hoshigaki’s mind recalled the other’s information.
“No need.” Kisame Hoshigaki didn’t pay attention to this concern and just said coldly: “Please don’t get too close to me.”
Although rejected, Mei Terumi was not discouraged and instead sat beside Kisame Hoshigaki, taking out her rice ball and dried rations, eating on her own.
Kisame Hoshigaki’s hand holding the water canteen paused slightly.
The two just sat side by side at a slight distance like this, which was an unprecedented experience for Kisame Hoshigaki.
The other few ninjas curiously glanced over here, seeing the two just sitting together eating, with no further exchange, and couldn’t help but show bewilderment on their faces.
For this mission’s captain Kisame Hoshigaki, they both respected and feared him somewhat due to his appearance, so no one was willing to say much more to this captain.
After lunch, everyone rested for a moment, and Kisame Hoshigaki ordered to continue setting out for the patrol mission.
The six Kirigakure ninjas followed behind Kisame Hoshigaki, speeding quickly through the treetops in the coastal forest, but deliberately keeping a certain distance.
Kisame Hoshigaki had long grown accustomed to this daily isolation.
“Captain Kisame!” Suddenly, Mei Terumi with a pair of bright and captivating large eyes and a head of brown long hair accelerated to ride alongside Kisame Hoshigaki.
The called-by-name Kisame Hoshigaki slightly turned his head, his pair of shark-like small eyes looking at this Mei Terumi who had actively approached him to talk twice, remaining silent.
“The thing I mentioned earlier, after the mission ends, it should be fine, right.” Mei Terumi gazed at Kisame Hoshigaki with a hint of expectation.
Kisame Hoshigaki, who was not good at communicating with people, was invited out by a girl for the first time in his life and didn’t even know how to refuse this time.
——————
A certain coastal port in the southwest of the Land of Water.
On a merchant ship under the Kado Group’s shipping company, Menma, carrying the great sword Samehada and Kubikiribocho, found Orochimaru who was continuing to use rhetoric to lure the orphans he had abducted this time.
“Handled it?” Orochimaru saw Shura return, told the children to return to their respective cabins to rest, prepared to set sail for their new home, then looked at Shura, his snake pupils under his long hair interestingly sizing up the two ninja swords Shura was carrying.
“These are two of Kirigakure’s seven ninja swords, right.”
“Indeed, you don’t have a single injury; those wastes from Kirigakure are nothing more than that.” Orochimaru was not surprised by Shura’s safe return.
Even when he had fled from Konoha back then, he was severely injured,
yet Shura could actually retreat unscathed after causing a huge commotion inside Konoha Village, showing his formidable strength.
During the last Ninja World War, Orochimaru had clashed plenty with Kirigakure ninjas and had a deep understanding of the strength of the Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist.
Now seeing Shura return carrying two ninja swords, he couldn’t help but take interest, stuck out his tongue to lick his lips, and said to Shura: “I’ve heard that each of Kirigakure’s seven ninja swords has its own characteristics, among which the great sword Samehada and Kubikiribocho are the most distinctive; if you don’t mind, could you let me research them?”
Ninja tool research wasn’t Orochimaru’s specialty, but Orochimaru also had some attainments in ninja tools; for example, he had once used Nine-Tails Chakra to research Mech Naruto and Mech Nine-Tails, which at least had elite jonin combat power.
“Talk about it when you can mass-produce three-tomoe Sharingan.” Menma did not agree to Orochimaru’s request and walked straight to the depths of the room.
“Don’t bite off more than you can chew, Orochimaru.” As he passed by Orochimaru, Menma added this sentence.
“Heh.” Orochimaru didn’t take it to heart.
His desire to figure out all the unknowns in this world was too strong; this thirst for knowledge was precisely the driving force that motivated Orochimaru to seek the way of immortality.
Menma took out a storage scroll and sealed the great sword Samehada and Kubikiribocho into it.
This way, when he needed them, he could summon them out through the storage scroll.
The sealing scroll for the seven ninja swords mastered by the Hozuki Clan was also just a similar storage scroll; it neither had summoning contracts signed with the seven ninja swords nor could they be summoned in other ways.
Like during the Fourth Great Ninja War, the reanimated Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist only had four ninja swords, all summoned by Mangetsu Hozuki using the sealing scroll; the other three ninja swords were not collected because they had successors using them.
The ship was about to depart, Orochimaru was very satisfied with this Kirigakure trip, glanced with his vertical snake pupils at Shura sitting quietly in the room, still unable to see through the mystery behind that white three-eyed fox mask.
Afterward, Orochimaru also left this cabin to check on those children he had abducted.
The commotion outside the cabin grew louder, more and more passengers boarded, and the ship was about to set sail.
Menma activated Kagura Shingan to probe the surrounding situation.
Although he had defeated the remaining three Kirigakure Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist, it couldn’t be ruled out that Obito would send White Zetsu to track them, or even continue to have Yagura send Kirigakure ninjas to their deaths.
Menma also knew that Obito had been weakening Kirigakure’s strength, suppressing ninja clans one by one, creating the Bloody Mist Policy, all to avenge his Rin.
So after killing Jūzō Biwa and Suigetsu Hozuki, he didn’t pursue the fleeing Mangetsu Hozuki; a living Mangetsu Hozuki returning might accelerate the internal contradictions in Kirigakure.
“Hm?” After activating Kagura Shingan, Menma soon detected several chakra fluctuations dozens of kilometers away.
“Such massive chakra.” Among them, the person at the forefront of this ninja squad had the strongest chakra fluctuation, almost comparable to the chakra amount of a Tails.
But this chakra wasn’t the tailed beast chakra familiar to Menma; it was just ordinary ninja chakra, yet extremely vast, making Menma involuntarily think of Kisame Hoshigaki, known as the “Tails without a Tail.”
“Could it be the one Obito sent?” Menma remembered that Kisame Hoshigaki’s rebellion should be after Itachi Uchiha joined Akatsuki.
Because Itachi Uchiha’s first teammate after joining Akatsuki was Jūzō Biwa, and only after Jūzō Biwa’s death came Kisame Hoshigaki.
After pondering slightly, Menma decided to go meet Kisame Hoshigaki.
After all, in the original plot, Kisame Hoshigaki was also a true man full of tragedy.
He had always walked in the darkness protecting Kirigakure’s secrets, even performing slaughter when Kirigakure ninjas were surrounded by enemy ninjas, only to later discover his superior was an inner ghost who sold Kirigakure intelligence to neighboring countries, causing Kisame’s belief in protecting the village to collapse.
At that time, Obito, manipulating the Fourth Mizukage Yagura, appeared before him, claiming to be Uchiha Madara, expounded on creating a peaceful world without war and slaughter, the “Eye of the Moon Plan,” and invited Kisame to join.
Kisame was also the only one in Akatsuki loyal to Obito, or rather to Uchiha Madara, always striving for the peaceful world created by that “Eye of the Moon Plan.”
Even after being defeated and captured by Might Guy and others in the end, to avoid leaking intelligence on Uchiha Madara and Akatsuki, Kisame Hoshigaki chose to summon sharks, letting them bite him until no bones remained.
For such a true man, Menma was very keen to recruit him under his command.
