Chapter 13: Orochimaru Is Also Ridiculous
The two of them bumped fists. There was no alcohol, but it still felt like something was missing.
But training days passed fast. Another month went by, and Zabuza felt like his strength could no longer improve.
The gap between him and Shanks was obvious. One was a top-tier genius of the shinobi world, perhaps even among the greatest in its entire history. Zabuza was just someone who would turn into dust in the pages of history.
By now, Zabuza had completely mastered Moonwalk.
For Zabuza, it was a huge leap. But the real reason he wanted to leave was not that. Someone had found this place.
Zabuza carried the hilt and went to the shore.
The place where he had come ashore back then no longer showed any trace of what had happened.
"I didn't expect you to find me."
Zabuza did not turn around. Not far behind him, a man in a black cloak with red clouds crawled out from a water pit on the beach.
"Sharks can smell your blood in the sea. If it weren't for Jiraiya, we wouldn't have arrived so late."
The man was Kisame Hoshigaki, Zabuza's former comrade. Like Zabuza, Kisame had also betrayed Kirigakure.
"It's been almost three months, and your blade is like this? After leaving Kirigakure, you don't want to be an executioner anymore?"
Kisame mocked him. They had once been comrades, but their relationship was not good.
Simply put, Kisame felt someone like Zabuza was not worthy to stand with him.
Zabuza also looked down on Kisame, especially now. Kisame Hoshigaki thought he was above him? They were both once among the Seven Swordsmen. With Zabuza's current strength, Kisame dared to look down on him?
"That's not it. Some people just don't deserve it. Even without a blade, I can still kill."
"I came to find you for something. But if you want a fight, I'm happy to oblige."
Kisame's pale right hand tightened around the handle of Samehada. Happy to oblige, but both of them knew it clearly. A fight was inevitable.
"Then try."
Zabuza stepped forward. The air under his foot exploded as his body shot straight at Kisame.
In the last few months, he had grown much stronger.
Kisame did not hold back either. Trying to show off? Charging in without a blade?
Boom!
Chakra erupted from Kisame. Samehada, which absorbed chakra, swelled five or six times in an instant. The pressure around it surged as it swung, smashing straight toward Zabuza.
"No-Blade Style: Bare-Handed Blade!"
Zabuza chopped with both palms. A cold sheen glimmered over his pitch-black hands. In the next moment, blade light flashed. The chilling arc was blocked by Samehada, but not completely.
A thin wound opened on Kisame's right arm. More than ten meters behind him, two clean cut marks appeared across a reef.
In the next instant, Kisame jumped back and instantly pulled away from Zabuza.
Absurd. That was the only thought in Kisame's mind.
He never imagined that among the Seven Swordsmen, there could be someone this outrageous.
"To reach this level with taijutsu… Has Zabuza been hiding his strength this whole time?"
Samehada could not absorb chakra from Zabuza, and it could not absorb the attack either. That meant only one thing. What Zabuza used just now was not a technique. It was pure taijutsu.
And Zabuza had even blocked Samehada's swing with his bare hands.
A cold sweat slid down Kisame's forehead. Zabuza's abilities were wildly different from the intelligence Kisame knew.
On the other side, Zabuza pulled his legs out of the sand, shocked as well.
He had thought all of the Seven Swordsmen were the same as he used to be. He never expected Kisame to be this strong.
If his taijutsu had not been hammered into shape by Shanks for more than two months, and if he had not trained those specific taijutsu methods Shanks taught, Kisame would have been enough to force Zabuza to spend another two months recovering.
"This guy's strength is not at the level of the Seven Swordsmen. So he was hiding it back then."
Zabuza's eyes turned serious. His hands hurt like hell, but in front of Kisame, he had to keep his pride.
Kisame, watching Zabuza not even prepare any techniques, knew this would be trouble.
But just as the two were about to clash again, a third person appeared.
"Kisame, are you recruiting him?"
Itachi's sudden appearance interrupted their standoff.
Zabuza's gaze moved to Itachi. He wore the same uniform as Kisame. The same organization.
"Someone from the Uchiha Clan?"
"Our organization has been recruiting lately. We happened to hear you defected from Kirigakure. Your strength isn't weak. I don't want you as a colleague, but you do meet our needs."
Kisame explained. As an underground organization operating in the shadows, Akatsuki lacked manpower, especially top-tier fighters.
At this time, Akatsuki was gathering strong people across the shinobi world. Deidara and Hidan also joined around this period.
Now that Zabuza's strength had been acknowledged, he had the qualifications too.
Fighting Kisame was personal grudges, but it was also a test from Akatsuki.
"Your organization… You're not going to talk about bonds, bringing happiness to everyone, and protecting villages, right?"
Zabuza sneered. He had just defected from Kirigakure. There was no way he would go risk his life for someone else again.
"Of course not."
"Even though our goal is to build a better world, what we do right now is…"
Kisame's shark-like face showed no expression. His tone stayed calm.
"Overthrow regimes and take control of those nations from the shadows."
"If you join us, aside from certain missions where you must act, you can do whatever you want the rest of the time."
Itachi added from the side.
"Overall, joining us has no downside."
Kisame added.
"Then what if I want to leave?"
"You'll be hunted by the organization."
"Why?"
"There wasn't a rule like that, but after Orochimaru defected last time, he took the organization's money from Kakuzu. The organization asked him to do research, but he had been using it for his own techniques research the whole time.
So now we have a rule."
Kisame said it expressionlessly. Even Itachi beside him looked a little awkward.
Most of Akatsuki's funds were handled by Kakuzu. Orochimaru had been paired with Kakuzu before, and Orochimaru was also responsible for certain research tasks.
In the end, Orochimaru spent all that money on himself.
This was not something from just one or two years ago.
Orochimaru's mind was ahead of his era by hundreds of years. When he ran experiments, he would start a project, then start pulling money.
What kind of people were in Akatsuki? All combat power. Did they understand research? Not at all.
Especially Konan, one of the leaders. With billions of paper bombs, she still could not even calculate how much to detonate. Checking accounts was impossible.
Orochimaru did not only cheat Akatsuki out of funds. Even after leaving Konoha, Orochimaru still had contact with Danzo.
Danzo would cheat the Third Hokage out of money, then Orochimaru would cheat Danzo out of money. The Uchiha Clan had been wiped out for years, Danzo's transplantation procedures still were not complete, and Orochimaru kept dragging it out, delaying and delaying.
That was how bold researchers could be.
But Orochimaru overlooked one thing: Itachi.
After one incident with Itachi's genjutsu, Orochimaru felt Akatsuki was no longer safe, so he pulled off a big move and swindled Akatsuki completely empty.
"Hah? You want me to join an organization like that? Forget it."
"I'll just be a pirate, honestly."
Zabuza refused outright. He was not going to join an embarrassing organization like that.
"But if you plan to make a move against Kirigakure, I can help you. When the time comes, just come find me."
With that, Zabuza turned and left.
Itachi and Kisame did not stop him. After Zabuza left, Kisame looked at Itachi beside him.
"That man in the forest is strong. Even if the two of us go together, we still won't be his match."
Hearing Itachi, Kisame nodded.
The two of them left as well.