Under the moonlit sky, Kisame and a Mist ninja—each clutching the other's Kusanagi between their twin blades—locked arms in a death-grip. Uchiha Kaien grinned, unflinching.
"Can't one hand wield ninjutsu?" he taunted, his free hand weaving seals in the smoky air. Suikazan Fuguki's cold smile froze.
Konoha's cradle of geniuses, indeed. This youth's chakra reserves were terrifying, his Lightning-Style body technique mastery unrivaled. Had Kisame and his ally not embraced mutual destruction, they could never have pinned him down.
"So what if you seal with one hand?" Kisame mocked, knowing the power of the next jutsu.
"Water Release: Great Shark Bullet Technique!" Kaien roared. A colossal torrent, shaped like a toothy leviathan, surged forward.
"Earth Style: Multiple Earth Walls!" Fuguki snarled. Massive walls, each adorned with coiling serpents and the Uchiha fan emblem, erupted from the ground—but the Shark Bullet's chakra absorption devoured them in an instant.
With a thunderous roar, the beast of water smashed through, forcing Kisame's companion to flee—and Kaien admired the display. "An exceptional secret-level A-rank," he called.
Boom! Fuguki lunged, Samehada swinging in a deadly arc. One Mist ninja was cleaved in two; Kisame, thrown against a stump, spat blood—but lived on his prodigious constitution.
Kaien, bloodied and missing an arm, lifted his Kusanagi with grim resolve. Blade met blade, blood spattered on Fuguki's cheek, and the two-against-one struggle pressed Kaien's sword against his shoulder.
"Hahaha! This blade slices, it doesn't chop—let me sever your last arm," Fuguki jeered, eyes gleaming with sadistic delight.
Yet Kaien's lightning-quick reflexes and Kisame's coughing warning came too late. A crack of earth behind Fuguki—"Lightning Style: Chidori Sharp Spear!"—and a shaft of pure lightning struck his shoulder.
As Kaien emerged from the ground, electricity dancing around his form, Fuguki staggered back, clutching his wound in disbelief.
"This?" he roared. At his feet lay not Samehada but a serpent coiled in burning tags—Fuguki's prized blade consumed by the python.
"Orochimaru-style Substitution!" Kaien called, revealing the mud clone left behind. "Not my favorite jutsu, but lifesaving."
Kisame, propped against the tree, gasped, "A monster, truly!"
Kaien smirked at Fuguki's helpless rage. "Come fetch your toy, fat pig."
Enraged, Fuguki flung an explosive-tagged kunai and lunged, but Kaien's footwork snatched Samehada free as he dove aside. In the crater's gloom, Fuguki's narrowed eyes gleamed.
"Did you really think Samehada was yours to handle?" Fuguki hissed. He advanced, kunai tumbling toward Kaien—only to see Kaien's hand snatch it mid-air.
"Being a ninja is deception's art," Kaien murmured. "Or did the Mist's academy skip that lesson?" He unleashed Hidden Shadow Snake Hands—serpents burst forth, binding Fuguki's arms.
With a roar, Fuguki summoned a great water orb—Water Style: Water Prison Jutsu—encasing the tags in scalding steam. When the mist cleared, his arms were mangled, bone exposed and chakra meridians seizure-torn.
He spat blood, fury igniting his roar. "Brat, where's my Samehada?!"
Kaien raised his bloodied palm in answer, confidence blazing in his crimson eye. "Deception, fat pig—your clan's first lesson."
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