173 -=Reaching for something impossible=-

'Something is not right...'

Naruto thought, he couldn't quite put a finger on what though

He felt a chakra that could only be called 'evil' exuding from Kisame's sword

A sword in fact, Kaede didn't know where he got from, since she absorbed the Samehada a long time ago

"Luna..."

Hearing Naruto calling her, Luna snapped out of her complicated thoughts about Kaede and looked at him

Seeing his serious face,.she immediately got on guard too

"How many?"

She asked, thinking that reinforcements arrived to help Kisame and Itachi

"None... I just feel this was way too easy..."

Hearing that, she couldn't help but agree

Well, sure, Kaede did put up a fight against Kisame, but...

'it was... Wasn't it?'

Thinking back to it, even while weakened, one attack shouldn't be enough to end Kisame

Thus, he was probably luring them into a false sense of security

Seeing his plan being seen through, Kisame *somehow* exited the samehada that he *somehow* still had

Looking at Naruto and Luna with a big shark-like grin

Do sharks even grin?

"Ehehe... It seems my little act couldn't fool you two"

He said, in a better mood now after having already dealt with one of the three enemies

But it was too quick for his taste, too painless

His sword doesn't cut, it tears through flesh

The perfect way to end someone in his view

Taking the sword back into his hands, he smiled as he looked at his next 'prey'

Naruto on the other hand was furious

He had enough of the sharkboy's antics already

'breathe in... Breathe out...'

He remembered what the monkeys taught him

'be one with nature, move unconsciously...'

Easier said than done

Water gushed around Kisame, recreating the 'ocean' from earlier

It required an insane ammount of chakra to do so, but for the 'tailless tailed beast' that chakra was nothing

'water... Move fluidly... Without restrictions'

Naruto remembered the time he was with his team and Kaede on top of the hokage monument

Luna struggled to keep herself and Kaede afloat

Kaede had saved her before, she was just repaying the favor. Nothing more

Kisame was about to attack Luna and the unconscious Kaede when he felt a part of his 'ocean' leave his control

'what is that brat doing?'

He wondered, changing his target

Kaede was already out, and Luna would soon be too, with her chakra being drained by his water

Swimming around Naruto pike a true shark, Kisame observed him

The water around him was moving on its own, as if to avoid touching him

A weird sight, but he wasn't alien to such things

Dashing at Naruto, he tried to claw him

But to his surprise, Naruto avoided the attack, even with his eyes closed

'what? A sensor type?'

Annoyed, Kisame tried again, and again, and again and again

Hit after hit, failure after failure started to get to his nerves

He then switched his target back to the two girls

He can't hit Naruto for some reason, but what about it?

The kid is obviously the type who cares about his companions

Kisame's favorite

How many times he made such types despair by attacking others?

'1 minute... Should be my limit as of now, huh?'

Naruto thought as he saw Kisame move away

His body was constantly moving, never stopping, but doing so was extremely tiring and hard to do

On top of Kisame's 'ocean' Luna was extremely tired

Keeping herself and Kaede from sinking would already be hard enough if her chakra wasn't being constantly drained

Her vision was starting to blur, he hands had already lost their sense of touch

She wouldn't be able to remain like this for much longer

'Come on Naruto... How much longer do you need?'

As if to answer her inner thoughts, Kisame jumped from the water, aiming a strike at her

He could have easily hit her from underwater, but this way would make her despair more, forcing Naruto to act

And act he did

A fist made of water hit Kisame mid-air and sent him flying

Naruto soon followed him, a platform of water following under his feet as he basically ran on the sky

Kisame fell on top of the water, but didn't sink back in

Or more precisely, he couldn't sink in

Naruto fell a few meters in front of him

Not wasting time, he dashed at Kisame, hitting him with a punch

"Urgh!?"

To Kisame's surprise, he felt pain from that

Even though Naruto's attack didn't do much external damage...

'An internal attack, huh?'

He had fought people who could do the same before, namely Hyugas though

Kisame counter attacked with a claw attack to Naruto's left, but his body moved out of the way in a fluid manner, hitting Kisame with another punch mid dodge

A claw to the head, an uppercut to the chin

A kick to the stomach, a jump kick to the chest

Whatever Kisame did, Naruto dodged and counter attacked

Wherever Naruto hit, would become lethargic, weaker

50... 51... 52...

Kisame was in a bad spot, not being able to fight back at all

This was a first for him

55... 56... 57...

At some point, he stopped attacking Naruto all together, and was receiving a one sided beat down

58...

A punch to the face, a.kick to the stomach, a back handed hit to the neck

59...

Like Luna's, his vision was starting to blur, he was feeling weaker by the second, even the regeneration provided by the Samehada wasn't doing much to help

It was as if Naruto's attacks lingered in his body after the hits

60

Naruto's 'warrior mode' ended, exactly one minute after it started, just like he thought

That made him miss his last attack that would knock Kisame out

Seeing this, Kisame kicked Naruto into the air and sank into the water, swimming incredibly fast towards Luna and Kaede

"Stop!"

Naruto shouted, but he couldn't do anything as he was still airborne

Kisame smiled

Killing the two sitting ducks would surely demoralize the kid, making it a pleasure to end him slowly afterwards

He approached the two girls with a savage look in his face, made even weirder by the deformation Naruto's attacks left in his body

Readying his claws, he would make sure to end both with one single attack, in the most painful way possible

*CLANG*

It took one moment, less than a second for his claw to connect with something

But it wasn't flesh as he hoped

A purple chakra skeleton was what he hit instead

'what?!'

It was.too sudden, in just a moment his face went from a devilish grin to a confused frown, to then a pained cry

His body caught fire, a weirdly purple and black mix of fire

He couldn't comprehend how, but he sunk deeper into the water to extinguish it

But instead, it just made the water itself caught on fire, increasing the temperature around him

He wanted to scream, but his vocal cords had been burned

He rose to the surface, seeing a gigantic purple chakra skeleton holding Naruto in its left hand, and standing on top of his now burning ocean

Akin to a god of fire, standing proud above a sea of flames, untouched, unbeaten, unscathed

'DONT UNDERESTIMATE ME''

His mouth opened to scream, but no sound came out

In front of his enraged eyes, the chakra skeleton grew muscles, and was soon clad in armor, growing another pair of arms somewhere in the middle of that

Sasuke's uncaring eyes scanned Kisame's form

A second after, he punched at the shark, who tried to block

*BAM*

But the punch sent him flying

Ame-no-tejikara

Sasuke and his gigantic chakra skeleton switched places with Kisame, who was now flying towards Sasuke instead of away from him

*BAM*

Another punch, another repeat of the previous events

*BAM* *BAM* *BAM* *BAM* *BAM*

Punch after punch, teleport after teleport, every hit seemed to hurt less and less to Kisame

Was he getting used to it? No

Instead, he was loosing feeling as his body burnt amidst the purple-black flames

'is this... How I'll die?'

Kisame wondered

Another flurry of punches answered his question

'heh... Hehehe... I see... That's what you meant Itachi, huh?'

He remembered Itachi's words and understood them

Only in death he understood the reason of his life

Raising his arms with difficulty, he reached for something

Not something physical, but something metaphysical

*BAM* *BAM* *BAM*

In the end, he couldn't reach it...

-=-