"Then there's no problem. Congratulations on joining us; from now on, we're comrades."
"Don't act so chummy. Honestly, I find you utterly disgusting, Orochimaru."
Hiruko said bluntly.
"Doesn't matter, as long as I'm interested in you."
Orochimaru shrugged. Being hated was something he'd long since gotten used to.
After all, his Ninja Techniques style was like this: once he remodeled his own body, he had unconsciously become what he was now.
Of course, Hiruko's disgust for him was definitely not because of his Ninja Techniques style, but because he envied Orochimaru's talent as a Ninja.
Only the mediocre are never envied—Orochimaru took this as a twisted kind of praise and recognition.
Being the target of jealousy was one of a genius's troubles too, he thought with no small amount of narcissism.
"So what are you planning next? The organization always operates in pairs. Right now our manpower's not complete, and your squad currently has only you in it."
Orochimaru said this.
"Wasn't that job handed to those weird white creatures? They're in charge of intel work, right?"
Hiruko looked completely unhurried.
Before Orochimaru could finish, another voice came over.
"I don't mind switching partners and teaming up with you. I've had enough of this rotten snake."
Being stared at all day with that nauseating look, Sasori only felt revolted.
Hiruko might be relatively weak for now, but once he fused the abilities of five Kekkeigenka Ninja, his strength would naturally skyrocket.
Consider it an early investment.
"I don't have an artist's cells; we'd just end up clashing."
Hiruko shook his head and refused.
Sasori was a Puppet Master in pursuit of eternal art; with that level of obsession over art, unless the other person was also an artist, the two of them were bound to come to blows over some trivial crap sooner or later.
From an artistic standpoint, his compatibility with Sasori was even worse than with Orochimaru.
"Haha, rejected without a second thought."
Orochimaru laughed on the side.
"Shut up!"
Sasori glared at Orochimaru murderously, then turned and left.
"Well then, I'll take my leave too. I look forward to our next meeting."
In Hiruko's field of vision, Orochimaru walked farther and farther away, quickly disappearing together with Sasori.
◎
By the riverside.
The area was already shrouded in thick mist, turning it into a sealed-off battlefield.
"Water Style: Water Shark Bomb Jutsu!"
The river's current began to churn violently, instantly forming into a gigantic shark, jaws gaping to reveal razor-sharp teeth as it surged toward the enemy in a raging charge.
"Earth Style: Earth Flow—"
Before the earth wall could form, the shark broke through the defensive line first and slammed into that Ninja's body.
The man's body was sent flying far away, coughing up blood, but he still stubbornly pushed himself up from the ground.
What awaited him, however, was a sudden black shadow in front of him, and a huge bandage-wrapped blade mercilessly cleaving across his chest.
Kisame clearly heard the sound of the bones in the man's chest being snapped by his Great Sword Shark Skin. As the man's body was blasted away in a spray of blood and flesh, Shark Skin also conveniently sucked his Chakra completely dry in one gulp.
The man twitched twice on the ground, then lay there without another sound.
Kisame gripped the heavy Great Sword Shark Skin in one hand and effortlessly rested it on his shoulder.
"What, that's it already?"
There were a dozen or so Ninja corpses scattered around, all taken out by Kisame alone.
But after killing over ten Ninja, Kisame didn't feel the slightest sense of accomplishment.
The only thing to say was that these Ninja were incredibly weak, yet they still dared to swagger around inside the Land of Water, attacking villages and looting money and food—just a bunch of desperate idiots.
Still… lately there really had been a lot of rogue Ninja coming to this rather closed-off Country of Water.
They'd heard that because of internal unrest, the Hidden Mist Village's military strength had sharply declined, so they wanted to fish in troubled waters and stage a round of plundering within the Land of Water.
At the same time, there were also some Ninja Villages secretly fanning the flames from behind the scenes, probably wanting to probe the Hidden Mist Village's actual condition right now.
Regardless of whether the Hidden Mist Village had indeed been greatly weakened by internal strife, it was not some colossal beast that a bunch of third-rate rogue Ninja could afford to provoke.
In Kisame's view, these people coming to the Land of Water to wreak havoc had only one road ahead of them—death.
A sound came from his ears: footsteps.
A burly man with a cross-shaped scar and red stripes on his face walked over, looking annoyed.
He held a bloodstained Decapitating Carving Knife in his hand, also wielded one-handed, his strength astonishing.
Like Kisame, he was one of the current Seven-swords Ninja of the Hidden Mist Village, the holder of the Decapitating Carving Knife, Biwa Juzo.
Unlike someone like Kisame, who was working off his crimes and had a shady past, Juzo was one of the few members of the previous generation of Seven-swords Ninja whose status had been retained to this day without being revoked.
It was precisely because of his relatively clean political background that he'd won the trust of the new Mizukage in the current Hidden Mist Village.
For that very reason, he had been assigned to Kisame's side—on one hand, to properly educate this junior on how to be an excellent member of the Seven-swords Ninja, and on the other hand, to keep an eye on him and prevent any dangerous behavior.
After all, with a dirty past, it was only natural he needed to be monitored. Even so, the fact that Kisame was still listed among the Seven-swords Ninja left Juzo rather baffled as to what that dwarf Mizukage was thinking.