Kisame Hoshigaki's body returned to human form as the fins, tail, and gill slits slowly vanished, revealing his original appearance.
Samehada, which had fused with him, flowed out from his left arm like liquid and regained its shape.
The barbs on Samehada's body trembled slightly as it opened its huge mouth, seemingly excitedly sticking out its tongue.
Kakuzu walked over and looked at Jiraiya, whose body was covered in puncture wounds, whose chakra was nearly depleted, and who was still gasping heavily. A hint of interest appeared in his blue-green eyes as he let out a hoarse laugh. "Yo, not bad. You actually took down Jiraiya, one of the Sannin."
Bare-chested, Kisame Hoshigaki hoisted Samehada onto his shoulder. His shark-like eyes glanced at Kakuzu, and he said with a trace of dissatisfaction, "You make it sound like I took him down by myself."
Strictly speaking, this battle had not been fair.
Although Jiraiya had the help of two Toad Sages to enter Sage Mode, Kisame's side had both the advantage of the terrain and top-tier shinobi like Kakuzu and Hizashi.
Hizashi's Byakugan and long-range sniping in particular had been the key breakthrough in the battle.
If Hizashi had not taken out Sage Fukasaku with that shot, preventing Jiraiya from maintaining Sage Mode and forcing him into the water to fight Kisame, the battle would likely have lasted much longer.
Kakuzu lowered his head to look at Jiraiya, and a dangerous glint flashed through his eyes. "This guy isn't dead yet?"
As he spoke, Kakuzu stepped forward, seemingly intending to finish Jiraiya off for good.
However, Kisame took a step sideways and blocked Kakuzu with Samehada.
A stern warning filled his shark-like eyes as he told Kakuzu, "Put away your little schemes. He's Lord Minato's teacher, after all."
"Tch." Kakuzu clicked