Kisame had dedicated his life to the Akatsuki, protecting Obito's secrets until his very last breath. He was a true shinobi. As long as his loyalty wasn't betrayed, he was the perfect subordinate—strong, mission-focused, and absolutely devoted. Given these traits, Menma naturally wanted to recruit him.
"You want me to be your subordinate?"
Kisame grinned at the words. A wave of relief washed over him. It seemed Menma wasn't hunting him to kill him; he actually wanted him! He was about to offer a smooth refusal to avoid angering the other man, but Menma spoke again before he could.
"Don't rush to refuse. I know your past. I understand your loneliness and the emptiness inside you."
Menma's tone was sincere. "Therefore, I can give you everything the person behind you has promised, and I'm even more honest about it. I won't hide my true identity."
As he spoke, Menma reached up and touched his mask.
"I, like you, am a victim of this hypocritical world—a victim of its corrupt and backward rule."
The mask came off, revealing golden hair that had once been black. Azure eyes and a familiar face appeared before Kisame's widened gaze.
"It's you..."
Kisame's massive eyes widened in disbelief. "The Nine-Tails Jinchuriki?!"
He never imagined a Jinchuriki would infiltrate an organization dedicated to capturing the Tailed Beasts. And he'd even managed to capture the Eight-Tails and was about to capture the Nine-Tails himself? Most importantly... wasn't the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki a member of the Uzumaki clan? Why did he possess the Sharingan, let alone the Mangekyou Sharingan?
However, if he was the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki, it completely explained why Samehada was terrified of him. It also explained that inexplicable feeling of familiarity Kisame had felt the moment he first saw him.
Though Kisame's mind was in turmoil, Menma's appearance had completely overwhelmed him. He forced a strained smile and spoke in a low voice.
"What exactly do you intend to do? Revealing your true identity so easily makes me uneasy."
Menma put his mask back on, his tone remaining sincere. "This is my sincerity. It's greater than that of the man behind you—the one calling himself Madara, yet daring not to show his true face."
"I will give you a place to stay and guide you to find your true self, just like Kakuzu, Sasori, Deidara, and Zabuza." Menma extended his right hand toward Kisame. "So... become my subordinate. Become my comrade."
"I will shatter the crumbling order of this false world, destroying the arrogance, decay, and disdain of those great ninja villages. Finally, I will bring new life to this world, bringing truth. And we will be the masters of this new world—masters no longer fooled by others, masters of our own will!"
"Masters of our own will...?"
Kisame fell deep into thought.
In the past, as a Hidden Mist ninja, he had been forced by his superiors to pledge allegiance to the village, constantly killing his fellow Hidden Mist comrades. In the end, his superiors betrayed him, selling information to another nation and creating a conflict with the will imposed upon him. This left him confused about who he truly was.
Was he friend or foe? What were his goals and his stance? Where did the future lie? Where could he find refuge? He knew nothing of this; only emptiness and a sense of falsehood remained.
This emptiness and falsehood reached its peak when he discovered the Fourth Mizukage was also being controlled. It was then that the man controlling the Fourth Mizukage—who called himself Madara—gave him support.
The Eye of the Moon Project—a plan that could create a unique, authentic dream world for everyone. A place to belong.
Even if no one could understand the feelings he had when he killed his comrades. Even if no one could understand the feelings he had after diligently completing his mission, only to discover it had been betrayed, that his efforts were a joke. In the dream world, all of this would be resolved. Things would become beautiful, and even past events would be changed!
Therefore, he yearned for that beautiful world. And he wouldn't betray Obito—the one who believed in him, described this plan to him, and gave him a place to belong.
Having thought it through, Kisame already had his answer.
"If I had met you before meeting Obito, perhaps I would have joined you and found a place to stay. But now... I'm sorry. I'd rather see the world Obito spoke of, and I won't betray him."
"What a pity..." Although he knew this would be the outcome, Menma was still somewhat disappointed. "Since you've made your choice, you understand what your fate will be, right?"
"Of course." Kisame grinned and nodded, his eyes firm and unwavering. "But I still want to thank you for your trust and consideration."
"No need for thanks. I don't have a penchant for accepting gratitude from the dead..."
Whoosh!
As he finished speaking, a pitch-black bone palm suddenly appeared behind Menma, striking toward Kisame.
Anticipating this, Kisame retreated to dodge—but Menma had more than one bone palm. Another instantly appeared, striking the direction he had dodged. Unable to dodge any longer, he could only raise Samehada to block. However, the instant they touched, Kisame mysteriously dissolved into a puddle of water, scattering on the ground.
It was a Water Clone Technique.
"A pointless struggle."
Accompanied by Menma's voice, his dark eye power surged and covered the ground like raging fire. In an instant, it constructed a gigantic half-body Susanoo with flesh and blood. The next second, a fist the size of a house crashed down.
BOOM!
Countless huge boulders flew up from the ground. The terrain within a hundred meters instantly cracked and collapsed, revealing Kisame, who had been hiding underground via burrowing.
At this moment, Kisame had fused with Samehada, transforming into a half-human, half-shark form. A shark, summoned by magic, stood beside him. Seeing he had been discovered, Kisame quickly shoved the scroll in his hand into the shark's mouth. He knew he was doomed and couldn't escape, so he had to deliver this last piece of information to Obito.
However, just as he was about to stuff the scroll fully into the shark's mouth to carry it away, his body inexplicably lost control. The hand holding the scroll tore it to shreds.
"What's going on?!"
Before Kisame could register his shock, a jet-black longsword pierced his chest and abdomen, almost cleaving him in two! Instantly, copious amounts of crimson blood gushed from his mouth and wounds. His fusion form with Samehada vanished in an instant, and he reverted to human form.
"Nagatsu Hiko-no-Mikoto."
"The Mangekyou Sharingan."
Menma's voice rang in Kisame's ears as the life drained from him.
"Remember not to be so stubborn in your next life. Remember to be flexible."
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