The Stoic Actor - Kisame

"...That old man didn't lie to you."

Kisame suddenly spoke.

He still held a piece of paper in his hand, with a few lines of text written on it.

This was something Shirozumi had given him after he caught up.

He said it was... a script?

As soon as Kisame spoke, everyone's gaze turned to him.

"For the mission reward, we only took one or two."

Kisame continued reciting the script.

Fortunately, Kisame himself had dead fish eyes and a voice devoid of emotion, so he didn't need any emotion or acting skills.

"What?"

Tazuna and Kakashi's team were stunned.

A bowl of ramen cost sixty ryo, what could one or two ryo do? Buy a candy?

Was this some kind of charity organization?

"Heh heh, old man, you have a daughter-in-law, named Tsunami, right?"

Kisame smiled and continued speaking.

"Nani?! Did you do something to Tsunami?!"

Tazuna instantly snapped back to reality, suddenly understood, and asked with a face full of grief and indignation.

"We didn't do anything. I can only say, Tsunami, she is very... moist."

As he spoke, Kisame licked his lips.

"Wuwuwuwu, we are truly suffering!!"

Tazuna finally burst into tears.

"Old man, you also have a grandson named Inari, right?"

Kisame continued.

"What?! Inari? What happened to my precious grandson?!"

Tazuna stopped his wailing and howling instantly, his eyes wide open.

Clearly, his daughter-in-law Tsunami was not what he cared about the most.

After all, his son was dead, and his daughter-in-law had remarried.

But his grandson was the apple of his eye.

Could it be that his grandson had been kidnapped?

"He's also very smooth."

"Huh?"

"..."

"Waaaaah, my poor grandson!!!"

Tazuna was stunned and silent for a moment after hearing Kisame's reply.

After sizing up Kisame's "perverted" appearance, he felt that the other party was indeed capable of such a thing. Despair instantly surged into his heart, and he started wailing and howling again.

His current cries were finally sincere.

"Teacher Kakashi, what does 'very smooth' mean? And are those two really not enemies?"

Naruto walked to Kakashi's side, scratching his head and asking.

"This is not something you can understand now. As for them... it seems they are not enemies for the moment, otherwise, they would have had countless opportunities to kill our mission target just now."

After explaining to Naruto, Kakashi walked to Shirozumi and glanced at the old man who was howling: "Mr. Tazuna, please be quiet. If I'm not mistaken, those two were just joking with you."

After things quieted down, Kakashi asked Shirozumi: "What is the purpose of your appearance? Do you want us to abandon the mission and hand it over to you two?"

"Huh? That won't do, Teacher Kakashi... Mmph."

Naruto, hearing that the hard-won combat mission was about to be lost, panicked and was about to shout when Sasuke used a shuriken to throw a soldier's pill to shut him up.

"Your mission is simply to escort this old man to the Land of Waves, right?"

"...The mission details are classified, but since you asked, as the Jonin in charge, I can answer that it is indeed."

"Then it doesn't matter whether you give up or not, the targets don't conflict anyway.

However, I can give you a kind reminder, one of the Seven Ninja Swordsmen is among your enemies this time."

"...Thank you for the information. My subordinates and I need to discuss it. Could you wait a moment?"

After receiving an affirmative answer, Kakashi pulled Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura aside to discuss.

As for the mission target, Tazuna?

He was naturally tossed aside, all alone.

Before discussing with the three Genin, Kakashi had already conducted an analysis in his heart.

The other party said that their enemies in this mission would include the Seven Ninja Swordsmen, and one of them was holding a ninja sword.

This indicated that the other party might have accepted the mission because of this "enemy."

This was the only way to explain why the other party accepted the mission for a strange reward like "one or two."

And they were willing to travel with them, likely to have them tie down any other ninjas who might appear...

"Teacher Kakashi, this is a rare high-level mission, we can't give up!

Sasuke, Sakura, say something! Do you want to go back to pulling weeds and helping that fat aunt find her cat?"

Naruto shouted again while Kakashi was thinking.

At Naruto's shout, the other three had black lines appear on their faces.

Their act of going aside to discuss was instantly rendered meaningless.

Fortunately, after spending some time together recently, they had all gotten used to each other's personalities.

"I agree with the dead last."

Sasuke glanced at Kisame and Shirozumi in the distance.

He carried a deep-seated hatred and felt that carrying out those low-level missions was a waste of his life.

Naturally, he was unwilling to give up.

"I, I agree too."

Sakura actually wanted to give up, but since Sasuke had decided not to, she could only grit her teeth and agree.

"Alright then."

Kakashi nodded, turned around, and looked at Shirozumi and Kisame: "Gentlemen."

There was no need for further explanation.

Naruto's earlier shouting meant they hadn't held back their voices, and everyone had heard the result of their discussion.

"Kisame, use the Transformation Jutsu. You and Samehada are too conspicuous to the enemy,"

Shirozumi nodded, then instructed Kisame.

The group resumed their journey, setting off.

One day passed.

Kakashi was teaching the three genin to walk on water when suddenly a thick fog appeared on the river's surface.

Kakashi subconsciously glanced at Shirozumi and Kisame, who were sitting on the ground resting on the other side.

It wasn't those two, there was another enemy!

"Be careful, enemy attack!"

Kakashi shouted to the three.

On the other side, Shirozumi and Kisame still showed no signs of making a move, so Kakashi could only choose to face the enemy alone.

"This Mist Technique is the Kirigakure's signature ninjutsu, right? So how do you guys see the enemy?"

Shirozumi took a bite of his dry rations and asked Kisame.

"We can't see, it's based on experience, training. By training one sense like hearing or smell to the extreme, you can assassinate enemies using the Mist Technique..."

"Then if you encounter the Byakugan, isn't activating the Mist Technique equivalent to giving the opponent an advantage?"

"Uh... yes."

Kisame's expression held a hint of embarrassment.

"No wonder Kirigakure treated a single Byakugan like a treasure. But that 'Ao' didn't develop it much either, he could only use the Byakugan to gather intel."

"Hmm... the person who came is indeed Zabuza."

"Speaking of which, when you Seven Ninja Swordsmen select candidates, is the most crucial condition whether their name contains a fruit?"

"..."

Shirozumi's question left Kisame speechless again.

It seemed to be true.

Obviously, the selection for the Seven Ninja Swordsmen considered factors like seniority, talent, and strength.

Abstract and meaningless factors like whether a name contained a fruit were not considered at all.

But it was true that all their names contained fruits.

It felt like an invisible hand of fate was controlling things.

After chatting with Kisame for a long time, the battle on the other side was coming to an end.

Ding!

Just as Kakashi was about to finish off Zabuza, Kisame made his move, Samehada instantly slicing through the kunai in Kakashi's hand.

Kisame's sudden attack confused the Masked Man Loli, who was hiding in the shadows, originally planning to use needles to seal Zabuza's pressure points and fake his death.