Kiyosuke picked up his pace. The figures behind him were growing clearer, and the mist around him was getting thicker by the second.
Someone from Kirigakure was using the Hidden Mist Jutsu to disorient him.
Did they really think his sense of direction was that bad? What a joke!
He was a ninja, damn it!
Five minutes later, staring at Yagura Karatachi, Kisame Hoshigaki, Mei Terumi, Ao, and a massive crowd of Kirigakure shinobi in front of him, Kiyosuke began to question everything.
So... is my sense of direction actually that bad?
"You can't run, Asakawa Kiyosuke!" Mei Terumi said.
Kiyosuke looked at her dejectedly.
"Mei... so you're the one they sent after me. I... I honestly thought you were a good person!"
"Don't try to fool me! You're from Konoha, I'm from Kirigakure—of course I'm coming after you. Who else would?"
Noticing the suspicious looks from those around them, Mei frowned and quickly clarified,
"Don't get the wrong idea! There's nothing between me and him!"
Even if there was, she couldn't admit it in front of all these people. Idiot!
She was getting anxious. Truth be told, she had mixed feelings about Kiyosuke. Calling them enemies didn't quite fit, since they'd saved each other's lives more than once. But calling them friends? Who tried to kill their friends like this?
This guy was too dumb for his own good. He'd exposed himself and didn't even try to sneak away.
She didn't want him to die. That was how she truly felt.
But she was a shinobi of Kirigakure, and she had to act for the sake of her village.
...Sorry.
Resolving herself, Mei's expression turned cold. When Kiyosuke saw the look in her eyes, as if she'd finally made up her mind, he smiled and said,
"That's more like it."
He looked around at the crowd of Kirigakure shinobi, their eyes burning with hatred, as if they'd tear him limb from limb.
And he laughed.
"I'm Asakawa Kiyosuke! Special Jōnin of Konohagakure! I stand here and welcome death—who dares to kill me?!"
His roar cracked like thunder, shaking the hearts of the thousand-plus Kirigakure ninja present. None of them had expected that this arrogant declaration would come from a boy no older than eleven or twelve.
Mei stared in a daze at the defiant figure before her. Was this really the same Kiyosuke she used to joke and laugh with?
He could've run...
But with this many people... could he really have escaped?
Yagura Karatachi took a deep breath and said in a low voice, "Kill him."
That was the signal.
Kisame Hoshigaki moved first. His massive sword, Samehada, swept out in a heavy arc—taking one of Kiyosuke's arms with it.
Kiyosuke looked at the flaming stump where his arm had been, then watched as the limb reformed.
"You're stronger than Fuguki Suikazan," he commented.
"To hear that from you is an honor," Kisame replied politely.
If it weren't for the terrifying shark face, one might have mistaken him for a courteous giant.
"You killed my predecessor. I've taken his place among the Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist. As a shinobi of Kirigakure, it's my duty to avenge him."
He grinned, flashing a mouth full of sharp teeth.
"Then come on. Samehada—do you dare strike me?"
Samehada, still in Kisame's hands, flinched. Though it lacked true intelligence, the chakra it had just absorbed and the sound of Kiyosuke's voice made it instinctively recoil—clearly, it remembered the pain it had suffered at his hands before.
"Samehada is... afraid of you?" Kisame blinked. He hadn't expected that.
"Of course it is."
"Boil Release: Skilled Mist Technique!"
A wave of corrosive slime shot toward him. Kiyosuke swept his arm, and a burst of flame erupted. Before the acid could fall, it was incinerated midair, leaving only a sour stench lingering in the mist.
As Mei and Kisame attacked, more Kirigakure shinobi rushed in to surround Kiyosuke.
"The more people, the stronger my destruction gets!"
Kiyosuke surged into battle. Flames burst from his body, igniting the grass around him in an instant.
But just as quickly, the fire was absorbed back into his body.
He raised one hand high. Above him, a massive fireball—like a miniature sun—took shape.
Many of the Kirigakure shinobi fell back in terror just at the sight of it.
Yagura Karatachi's expression darkened. "Kisame!"
"Understood!"
They moved at once, forming hand seals.
Yagura shouted, "Ao! Get them out of here!"
"Yes, sir!"
"Water Release: Great Exploding Water Colliding Wave!"
"Water Release: Great Exploding Water Colliding Wave!"
The Flame dropped like a meteor. At the same moment, Yagura and Kisame unleashed their jutsu—a twin tsunami crashing upward.
BOOM—!!!
Fire met water.
The collision exploded with a deafening roar, shaking the earth like a landslide. Steam hissed as water was instantly vaporized. A shockwave blasted through the mist, throwing people into the air and scalding many with boiling steam.
Yagura and Kisame knelt on the water's surface, breathing heavily, their chakra drained.
"That was intense," Kisame muttered. "Can a teenager really pull off that level of destruction?"
This power... it had to rival S-rank or even forbidden techniques.
Yagura said, "Stay alert. He's not going down that easily."
No sooner had he spoken than a voice called from behind, "Yagura-sama, behind you!"
It was Ao.
Kiyosuke had appeared behind Yagura, wrapped an arm around his neck, and dragged him underwater.
Glug glug glug...
Yagura thrashed wildly, but Kiyosuke locked his limbs around him, refusing to let go.
Just as things reached a critical point, a monstrous, half-human, half-shark figure surged through the water.
Kiyosuke recognized it immediately—Kisame, merged with Samehada, in his fearsome sharkman form.
Without hesitation, Kiyosuke released Yagura and kicked him hard in the back, sending him hurtling toward Kisame as a distraction.
Kisame, understanding the urgency, grabbed Yagura and pushed him to the surface.
Meanwhile, in the depths, Kiyosuke darted through the water like a torpedo, ambushing the Kirigakure ninja who hadn't escaped in time.
Blood began to bloom in the water.
Diving deeper, he whipped his tail and shot forward.
"You're not my match in the water," Kisame's voice echoed as he chased.
Kiyosuke rolled his eyes. How the hell was he even talking underwater?
He grabbed a Mist ninja nearby, slashed his throat with a kunai, then skimmed along the surface before bursting upward, moving at high speed.
"Water Release: Water Dragon Bullet Technique!"
"Water Release: Wild Water Wave!"
"—"
The moment he broke the surface, attacks flew at him from every direction, as if they'd been lying in wait.
But he wasn't about to go down so easily.
"Water Release: Water Formation Wall!"
"Water Release: Water Dragon Bullet Technique!"
"Wind Release: Wind Cutter Technique!"
A triple-jutsu combo—one defensive, two offensive—tore through the Kirigakure ranks like paper.
That kind of power came at a cost.
His chakra reserves were running low...
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Pls Drop some Power Stones
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