At a cliff covered in dense forest within the Land of Earth.
Gentle breezes blew past as Uchiha Itachi sat quietly at the edge of the cliff.
He was not slacking off, merely waiting for his partner, Kisame Hoshigaki.
Kisame had volunteered to handle Roshi, the Four-Tails' Jinchūriki, alone.
Uchiha Itachi had no objection. He disliked slaughter, and seemingly cared about nothing except his younger brother.
Behind him, Kisame Hoshigaki and Roshi stood facing each other.
Kisame Hoshigaki gave a leisurely, vicious grin. "Finding you took me quite a while. I'm in a hurry now, so could you just come with me? Hehehe..."
Roshi's expression was grave. "Although I don't know who you are, let me tell you this: challenging me is a mistake!"
"I'll turn you to ashes... in an instant!"
Roshi attacked first, rapidly forming hand seals as he puffed out his cheeks and shouted:
"Lava Release: Scorching River Rock Technique!"
Several fiercely burning balls of magma shot from Roshi's mouth.
With a cold chuckle, Kisame gripped Samehada behind his back and swung hard, blocking all the magma balls beneath him.
"Waaah~"
Samehada howled excitedly. Its blade absorbed all the flames on the magma balls, converting them into its own chakra.
"Tsk, tsk. Looks like my great sword Samehada really likes your chakra. Come on, let it have some more."
"Hmph!" Roshi's face darkened as he replied in a low voice, "Judging by your forehead protector and sword, you must have once been one of Kirigakure's Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist. In that case, your techniques would seem to be Water Release, too?"
Kisame said, "You even figured that out. Not bad, not bad~"
Every word Kisame spoke dripped with mockery.
"You brat! You'll pay for this!"
"Hah!"
The furious Roshi roared, and in an instant, searing-hot