Mei smirked as she watched everything unfold in front of her. She then addressed Kisame, Rangetsu, Ao, and Senma, saying, "Since Kisame has defeated the axe spirit of the Sea Spirit Village, only two of the Three Spirits remains alive." I and Rangetsu will target the sword spirit, while the three of you will focus on the spear spirit."
Kisame, Rangetsu, Ao, and Senma nodded their heads in agreement after hearing this, and then they all shunshin away to search for their targets.
_____:
With Mei and Rangetsu
It didn't take long for Mei and Rangetsu to find the sword spirit because he was sitting on top of the largest tower in the Sea Spirit Village.
The sword spirit is a young man in his early twenties. He has a quite handsome face, long brown hair tied in a ponytail, sharp brown eyes, sharp eyebrows, fair skin, and a lean, muscular physique.
He carries an ordinary-looking katana on his waist; it has a wooden handle with no guard and a wooden sheath.
The sword spirit was wearing an ordinary black shinobi outfit.
Rangetsu and Mei smirked when they saw the sword spirit of the Sea Spirit Village sitting calmly, uninterested in the chaos that was in front of him.
Rangetsu stepped forward and said to the sword spirit while smiling politely at him, "Kotaro Ashikaga, it is an honor to meet you."
Kotaro was surprised when he heard Rangetsu calling his full name; he then narrowed his eyes and began to leak his killing intent.
"You seem to know a lot about me, Kiri Shinobi. Explain to me now how you discovered my true name." Kotaro asked menacingly.
Rangetsu raised his two hands and replied to Kotaro, "Calm down, Kotaro-san. I don't mind answering your question. The reason that I am part of this mission in the first place is to negotiate with you."
Kotaro looked at Rangetsu in interest when he heard this and asked, "Oh, interesting, I am listening. What do you want to negotiate with me?"
After hearing Kotaro's response, Rangetsu began explaining to him, "Well, before I tell you about Mizukage-sama's proposal, I will explain how we determined your true identity."
"The Hidden Mist Village did a full investigation on you. You were considered a prodigy with the sword from a young age in the Land of Iron and became an apprentice of Mifune-sama."
Kotaro narrowed his eyes after hearing this, but Rangetsu didn't bother it and continued, "You went rogue after raping the Daimyo's daughter; no matter how many samurai were sent after you, you killed every one of them."
Kotaro started leaking his killing intent again and said, "Choose your next words carefully, Kiri ninja, or you are going to die under my katana."
Rangetsu chuckled, not bothered with Kotaro's threat and continued, "I am here to invite you to join the Hidden Mist Village upon your joining the Mizukage's promise that you will be granted the rank of Chunin."
Kotaro was stunned when he heard this; he then burst into laughter. "HAHAHA, I never expected this. Tell me, Kiri Ninja, why should I join?"
Rangetsu just smirked and replied to Kotaro, "Simple, you carved a good challenge and battles; the only reason you defected from the Land of Iron was because of how pacifist Mifune-sama and the Land of Iron Daimyo were."
Kotaro was silent after hearing this and Rangetsu continued, "According to Mizukage-sama, the third ninja war is on the horizon. I am sure you want to be part of this war."
Kotaro smirked viciously upon hearing this, and when Rangetsu noticed the smirk, he smiled and said, "We know why you decided to join this small shinobi village." You are interested in the ninja arts. These small shinobi villages lack the rich heritage that the five major hidden villages possess. If you join the Hidden Mist Village, you can practice and learn all kinds of ninja arts as much as you want. Our shinobi library is open to all our shinobi; however, the library resources have some restrictions depending on the shinobi ranks and the contributions the shinobi made to our village."
Kotaro felt a surge of emotion upon hearing this, and Rangetsu added, "Additionally, you might one day be able to become one of the 7 ninja swordsmen of the mist. I am sure you are aware of the prestige the 7 ninja swordsmen of the mist have in the Elemental Nation."
When Kotaro heard this, he burst out in laughter. He stood up and unsheathed his katana. He looked at Rangetsu and Mei while giving them a bloodthirsty smirk. He then said, "That is an intriguing proposal, but you will need to prove your strength against me. If you are able to satisfy me, I will not only join the Hidden Mist Village; I will also persuade two shinobi clans to join your village. One of them is from this village."
Both Mei's and Rangetsu's eyes brightened up when they heard the news and they nodded to Kotaro while smiling in satisfaction at him.
Rangetsu quickly unsheathed his katana and Mei started executing a series of hand seals.
After she finished executing the hand seals, she took a deep breath and mentally said...
"Lava Style: Lava Curtain."
Mei spat out a large amount of lava from her mouth and created a lava curtain.
The lava curtain fell with incredible speed toward Kotaro, blocking all his escape routes.
Kotaro smirked with excitement when he saw this; he swung his katana at the falling lava while wielding it with both hands.
"SHING."
Kotaro cut the lava curtain in half with his katana, stunning both Mei and Rangetsu.
Kotaro then vanished with pure speed and appeared in front of Mei while giving her a bloodthirsty smirk.
Mei's eyes widened in shock when she saw Kotaro suddenly appear in front of her and he was swinging his katana horizontally with the intention of beheading her.
"CLANK
"Oi, oi, Kotaro-san, have you forgotten that I am here too?" Rangetsu said this while giving Kotaro a playful smirk.
Kotaro burst out into laughter after hearing Rangetsu's words: "Not bad, not bad at all. You successfully blocked my sword strike using your own sword. Many samurai had failed to block a single sword strike from me in the past. You have potential. This battle will be so much fun. Let's continue."
Rangetsu and Mei smirked when they heard his words.
Mei leapt backward to create some distance between her and Kotaro while Rangetsu continued clashing with Kotaro using his own katana.
"CLANK, CLANK, CLANK, CLANK
_______
With Kisame, Ao, and Senma
Thanks to Ao's sensory ability, he was able to pinpoint the Spear Spirit of the Sea Spirit Village.
When Kisame, Ao, and Senma arrived in front of the Spear Spirit Ao took a step forward and said to him, "Spear Spirit Toshiro Mizukage-sama would like to invite you to join the Hidden Mist Village."
Toshiro scoffed in disgust when he heard this and said to Ao, "You want me to become a lunatic like you all? Over my dead body. How dare you invade the village I founded. I am going to send your heads back to the Mizukage."
Kisame and Senma smirked in amusement when they heard this and Ao shook his head in disappointment.
Kisame stepped forward and said to Ao and Senma, "Alright, you two heard his answer; let's finish this."
Toshiro scoffed and in the next second, he started executing a series of hand seals.
After finishing the hand seals, he slammed his spear hard on the ground and murmured.
"Earth style: Multiple flying spears."
"SWISH, SWISH, SWISH, SWISH."
Multiple rocks with very sharp edges flew at Kisame, Ao, and Senma; however, the trio easily dodged the rocks.
After dodging the jutsu, Senma started executing a series of hand seals.
After finishing the hand seal sequence, he said while smiling.
"Ice Style: Multiple Spinning Flying Kunais."
Dozens of ice kunais appeared around Senma in the air and the kunais started spinning at a high speed like drills.
"SWISH, SWISH, SWISH, SWISH."
Toshiro widened his eyes in disbelief when he saw the numerous kunai flying toward him while spinning like drills.
He quickly executed a series of hand seals, then slammed his palm on the ground and yelled.
"Earth Style: Great Rock Wall."
"PING, PING, PING, PING."
A large wall made of sturdy rock rose from the ground and blocked Senma's ice kunais.
Kisame suddenly shunshened behind Toshiro and started executing a long sequence of hand seals. After he finished executing the hand seals, he took a deep breath, opened his mouth, and spit out a large amount of water while yelling in his head.
"Water Style: Great Water Shock Wave Jutsu."
A huge wave of water rushed toward Toshiro with incredible speed; Kisame rode the water wave like a predator and wielded his katana.
He was giving a bloodthirsty smirk to Toshiro.
"Damn it, they are going to seal my earth-style jutsu. My mastery of my earth style isn't strong enough. I need to be on land to execute my earth-style jutsus." Toshiro thought to himself and he started executing another series of hand seals.
After he finished the hand seals sequence, he yelled after slamming his palms on the ground.
"Earth Style: Massive Rock Wall."
A giant wall made of rock, much larger than the previous one, rose from the ground and blocked the huge water wave that Kisame created.
Suddenly Ao appeared above Toshiro while wielding multiple shurikens. He then aimed the shurikens at Toshiro with great precision.
"SWISH, SWISH, SWISH, SWISH."
Toshiro widened his eyes upon seeing this; he dashed to the side and dodged the shurikens.
However, Senma appeared next to him all of a sudden by using shunshen while executing the ram hand seal.
Toshiro looked at Senma in shock and wanted to dash to the side again to create some distance between them, but Senma firmly grabbed Toshiro's wrist with his hand and proclaimed while smirking evilly at him.
"Ice Style: Ice Shell Prison."
"AAAAAHHHHHHHHH."
Toshiro started screaming in pain while Senma covering him with a thick layers of ice..
Toshiro loudly cursed Senma, saying, "Damn you, mist lunatics! I will hunt you down. Even if I die today, I will find a way to hunt you all down."
Senma, Ao, and Kisame smirked in amusement when they heard this.
After a few moments, Toshiro turned into an ice statue.
Senma clenched his fist, pulled his arm back, and punched Toshiro in the head.
"CRACK, BOOM."
The ice layer that was covering Toshiro's head started to crack like a spiderweb, and then his head exploded into small ice fragments in the air.
Senma sighed after killing Toshiro. He turned to Kisame and asked, "So what do we do now, Kisame? Should we go and support Mei?
Kisame nodded his head. He took two pills from his pouch and tossed one of them to Senma.
He then said, "Yes but first take the soldier pill Kotaro is the strongest of the three spirits, we must be ready for anything.
Senma nodded his head; in agreement, he and Kisame swallowed the Soldier pills. Then the trio turned around and walked away.
______
With Mei and Rangetsu
Mei was spitting out globs of lava from her mouth at Kotaro while he was clashing swords with Rangetsu.
Kotaro easily dodged the lava globs that Mei spit out without looking, which shocked Mei.
When Kotaro saw an opening in Rangetsu's defense, he swung his sword horizontally and cut him in half.
However, what Kotaro witnessed next forced him to widen his eyes in shock. He saw Rangetsu use his hydrophication kekkei genkai before Kotaro's sword touched him and his body turned into water when he was cut in half.
Rangetsu easily reformed his body after getting cut in half by Kotaro.
When Kotaro recovered from his shock, he burst out laughing, "HAHAHAHA, you are really interesting; your body is made out of water. I've never seen anything like this before. It seems I need to take you seriously now."
After Kotaro said these words, his eyes turned very sharp, like two sharp katanas, and the air around him became very sharp, like an invisible sword that could cut anything in its path.
Rangetsu could feel his instinct scream at him that the man in front of him was dangerous.
Mei's instincts were also warning her, and she quickly executed a series of hand seals.
"Lava Style: Multi Lava Glob Bullets."
Mei spat globs of lava from her mouth that traveled at high speed toward Kotaro.
Kotaro bent his body in a very unnatural way, dodging all the lava globs while advancing toward Rangetsu with incredible speed.
Rangetsu's eyes widened when he saw how Kotaro was dodging. He quickly formed a guns using his fingers with his two hands and yelled.
"Water Style: Multi Water Gun Jutsu."
Multiple water bullets shot out from Rangetsu's index fingers at Kotaro.
Kotaro swung his katana swiftly and with every swing, he created multiple afterimages of his katana.
He blocked every water bullets with his katana and he was cutting every lava globs that were flying toward him in half.
Mei and Rangetsu were shocked by what they were witnessing and when Kotaro arrived in front of Rangetsu, he disappeared in pure speed from Rangetsu's vision.
Suddenly, Rangetsu was beheaded by Kotaro but his head turned into water again and reformed over his headless body. .
Rangetsu then looked behind him and said to Kotaro while smiling at him, "you can't cut me with your katana I have inhirited the hydrafication kekkei genkai from the Hozuki clan I am immune to all physical attacks."
J
Kotaro chuckled when he heard this and replied to Rangetsu, "I must say your bloodline is very interesting but you are wrong about one thing a true sword master can cut anything even someone with your bloodline however I still have long way to go to reach that level."
Rangetsu widened his eyes when he heard this; he turned around and looked at Kotaro with respect.
Mei then stood next to Rangetsu and asked, "So what is your answer? Would you be interested in joining the Hidden Mist Village?
Kotaro chuckled upon hearing this and replied to Mei, "Of course I am going to join. I want to be part of the upcoming ninja war. I am also interested in you two, I can tell that you two were holding back against me just now, especially you, girl."
Mei and Rangetsu smiled when they heard this and Kotaro continued, "You two have forced me to go all out even when you two were holding back against me, I am not sure if I would have survived if you two had gone all out against me from the start."
"So I believe that if I want to grow stronger, my best option is to join the Hidden Mist Village."
After hearing this, Rangetsu stepped forward, extended his hand, and said to Kotaro, "I promise you, you will not regret your decision, Kotaro. Welcome to the Hidden Mist Village."
Kotaro chuckled and shook Rangetsu's hands.
Mei smiled as she saw Rangetsu and Kotaro shaking hands, and she thought to herself, "Things are going to be very interesting in the future."