Chapter 10: The Poker-Faced Acting Master, Kisame
"…That old man didn't lie to you."
Kisame suddenly spoke, still clutching a crumpled piece of paper in his hand. A few lines were scribbled on it.
It was something Shiromo had given him after they caught up. It was supposed to be… lines?
Kisame's words immediately drew everyone's attention.
"For the mission reward, we only accepted one ryo."
Kisame continued, reciting his lines in an emotionless tone.
Luckily, Kisame's natural "dead fish eyes" and his usual flat voice meant he didn't need to worry about acting with any emotion or drama.
"What?" Tazuna and Kakashi's team stared, bewildered.
A bowl of ramen costs 60 ryo, what can you even do with one ryo? Buy a piece of candy?
Was this some kind of charity organization?
"Hehe, old man, you have a daughter-in-law named Tsunami, right?" Kisame chuckled, continuing.
"What?! Did you do something to Tsunami?!"
Tazuna snapped back to reality, his face filled with grief and resentment as he rushed to ask.
"Nothing. I can only say that Tsunami... She's very smooth."
Kisame licked his lips as he spoke, his tone suggestive.
"Waaaaah, we've suffered so much!!"
Tazuna truly burst into tears this time, his wailing genuine.
"Old man, you also have a grandson named Inari, right?"
Kisame continued.
"What?! Inari? What happened to my precious grandson?!"
Tazuna stopped crying instantly, his eyes wide in disbelief.
Clearly, his daughter-in-law, Tsunami, wasn't his primary concern. After all, his son had passed away, and Tsunami had remarried. But his grandson? He was his heart and soul.
Could his grandson have been kidnapped?
"He's also very... well, you know."
"Huh?"
"..."
"Waaaaah, my poor grandson!!!"
Tazuna was stunned into silence for a moment after hearing Kisame's answer. He scrutinized Kisame's "perverted" appearance and quickly realized that the man was indeed capable of such things. A wave of despair washed over him, and he began wailing again, this time genuinely.
Kakashi sighed, walking over to Naruto and pulling him aside.
"Kakashi-sensei, what does 'very smooth' mean? And are they really not enemies?"
Naruto scratched his head, still confused, but Kakashi replied, "This isn't something you can understand right now. As for them... for now, they don't seem to be enemies. Otherwise, they had countless opportunities to kill our mission target just now."
Kakashi then walked over to Shiromo, glancing at Tazuna as the old man howled in the background. "Tazuna-san, please be quiet. If I'm not mistaken, these two were just joking with you."
Once things quieted down, Kakashi turned to Shiromo.
"What's the purpose of your appearance? Do you want us to abandon the mission and hand it over to you two?"
"Ah? That won't do, Kakashi-sensei… Waaah."
Naruto, hearing that his hard-earned mission was about to be lost, panicked. Just as he was about to yell, Sasuke quickly threw a shuriken at him, gagging him with a soldier's ration pill.
"Your mission is simply to escort this old man to the Land of Waves, right?" Shiromo asked.
"...The mission details are classified, but since you've asked, as the Jonin leading the team, I can answer. That's right."
"Whether you give up or not is irrelevant; the objectives don't conflict. However, I can give you a friendly reminder: among your enemies this time is one of the Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist."
"...Thank you for the information. I'll discuss it with my subordinates. Could you wait a moment?"
Kakashi pulled Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura aside to discuss. As for their target, Tazuna? He was left standing alone, ignored.
Before discussing with the three Genin, Kakashi had already done some mental analysis. The mention of one of the Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist and the appearance of one of the Seven Ninja Swordsmen here suggested that their enemies might have accepted the mission specifically for this reason. This would explain why they accepted such a strange reward as "one ryo."
It also hinted that their willingness to join the mission was possibly aimed at holding back other potential ninja enemies.
"Kakashi-sensei, we finally have a high-rank mission. We can't give it up! Sasuke, Sakura, say something! Do you want to go back to pulling weeds and helping that fat lady find her cat?"
Naruto shouted again, interrupting Kakashi's thoughts.
His shout left the other three speechless.
Their side discussion became meaningless, and everyone had heard their conversation.
"Alright, we're doing this," Kakashi said, nodding, "You two."
No further explanation was needed. Naruto's shouting had caused them to lose their composure, and it was clear that everyone knew what was going on.
"Kisame, use the Transformation Jutsu. You and Samehada are too conspicuous to the enemy," Shiromo instructed, nodding.
Kisame agreed and followed his orders.
The group continued on their journey.
---
A day passed.
Kakashi was teaching the three Genin how to walk on water when suddenly, a thick fog rose from the surface of the river. Kakashi instinctively glanced at Shiromo and Kisame, who were resting nearby.
This wasn't their doing, there was another enemy!
"Watch out, enemy attack!" Kakashi shouted to the three.
Shiromo and Kisame still showed no signs of attacking, leaving Kakashi to face the enemy alone.
"This Hidden Mist Technique is the signature ninjutsu of Kirigakure, right? So how do you guys see the enemy?" Shiromo asked as he ate a bite of dry rations.
"We can't see them. We rely on experience and training, perfecting one of our senses, either hearing or smell, to the extreme, and then we can use the Hidden Mist Technique to assassinate enemies..." Kisame explained.
"Then, if you encounter the Byakugan, wouldn't using the Hidden Mist Technique just make it easier for them to find you?"
"Uh... yes," Kisame admitted, slightly embarrassed.
"No wonder Kirigakure treats the Byakugan like a treasure. But that Aō hasn't really been developed much yet, they can only rely on it for intelligence gathering," Shiromo mused.
"Hmm... it really is Zabuza," Kisame agreed.
"By the way, when you Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist select members, is the most important criterion whether their name contains fruit?"
"..."
Shiromo's question left Kisame speechless once again.
The real key point seemed to be that the selection of the Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist was based on factors like seniority, talent, and strength, not abstract ideas like whether a name contained fruit.
And yet... all of their names had fruit in them.
It felt like an invisible hand of fate was at play.
After chatting with Kisame for a while, the battle on the other side came to an end.
---
Ding!
Just as Kakashi was about to finish off Zabuza, Kisame intervened, his Samehada slicing through the kunai in Kakashi's hand with ease.
Kisame's sudden attack caught a masked man hiding in the shadows completely off guard. The man had been preparing to feign death and seal Zabuza's pressure points with needles.
(End of this chapter)