Thinking about the consequences of failing to deal with Terumi Mei this time, Kisame felt a chill run through him, and his body began to tremble slightly.
He took a deep breath and steadied his somewhat unsettled thoughts. Only then did Kisame reveal the bearing of a strong man—especially one who had emerged from Kirigakure's Bloody Mist Era, a ruthless strong man...
"Heh heh heh, Terumi Mei, I really don't know whether to call you stupid. If you hadn't said those things just now, and hadn't exposed our identities, we brothers might have held back a little for the sake of Kirigakure's future. Even if it meant disobeying the Fourth Mizukage's orders, we might have secretly spared your life.
"But now you've torn away the thin veil between us, exposed our identities, and loudly declared that you'll take revenge on us. Since that's the case, we won't hold back in the battle to come!
"Even if we don't kill you, we have to protect ourselves from future threats. You won't be leaving this forest alive today. Prepare to die, Terumi Mei!"
"Water Release: Exploding Water Colliding Wave!"
After a cold laugh, Kisame swiftly formed hand signs. A massive, deep-blue wave appeared in midair and surged toward Terumi Mei.
But at that moment, after hearing Kisame's words, Terumi Mei was already regretting her decision. She had thought she'd come up with a good plan: deliberately identifying Kisame and the others, then emphasizing her own identity as the Fifth Mizukage Successor, hoping to make them wary and stop them from trying to kill her.
But it seemed her words had achieved the opposite of what she'd intended. Not only had they failed to make Kisame and the others hesitate, they had even extinguished the last trace of sympathy they might have felt. Now, all that remained was a bone-deep bloodlust!
At the thought, Terumi Mei was consumed with regret and blamed herself bitterly...
How could a genius girl, renowned in Kirigakure for her intelligence and ability, who had astonished the entire village at the age of fifteen, have made such a serious mistake?
But Kisame's attack had already arrived. Regretting what she'd done wouldn't change anything. He had already said they wouldn't hold back.
Losing focus in battle would only get her killed faster!
Terumi Mei quickly forced down her regret and unease, making herself return to the calm state she'd been in before. Narrowing her beautiful eyes, she watched the enormous wave hurtling toward her.
She took a deep breath. Her adorable cheeks puffed out slightly, and then a stream of translucent white, gelatinous substance shot from her rosy lips.
"Lava Release: Lava Monster Technique!"
After Terumi Mei spat the translucent white substance onto the ground, it quickly gathered into a mass, taking the shape of a humanoid monster. Waves of astonishing heat radiated from its white body. Its two white hands, resembling human arms, began to flail wildly.
"Pfft—splatter!"
The next moment, Kisame's powerful Water Release technique, Exploding Water Colliding Wave, crashed directly into the lava monster standing in front of Terumi Mei.
Yet the powerful Water Release seemed to have no effect on it. In fact, because of the astonishing heat radiating from the monster's body, the enormous wave formed by Exploding Water Colliding Wave evaporated within moments of striking its white, gelatinous body, turning into a vast cloud of steam that dispersed into the air.
Kisame had known for a long time that Terumi Mei possessed two Kekkei Genkai—Lava Release and Boil Release. But after witnessing the incredible power of her Lava Release firsthand, his face darkened.
He hadn't used his true strength in the earlier pursuit, so he hadn't known how powerful Terumi Mei really was. But even from this brief glimpse, and without yet seeing her Boil Release, he could tell that this one technique alone would one day let her reach the pinnacle of the Ninja World.
"That woman's a real handful. If we aren't careful, she might escape us. But for our own safety, Ichiro Watanabe, it's time to use that move!"
Kisame's face darkened. He suddenly turned to the short, rat-faced man beside him, whose eyes were filled with lecherous malice, whose mouth was lined with three whiskers on either side, and whose face bore a malicious grin. At a glance, he looked like a thoroughly rotten little man. Kisame quietly gave him an order.