Naruto: reborn as an Uzumaki

"Gate of Healing, open! Gate of Life, open! Gate of Pain, open!" Maki continued to push herself, her body glowing with raw power. She was barely a blur of motion, her strikes coming from every direction.

Despite her newfound strength, Kisame's experience and raw power began to turn the tide. With a brutal counterattack, he caught Maki off guard, sending her flying with a powerful blow from Samehada. She crashed to the ground, struggling to get up.

"Maki, no!" Yuki cried out, rushing to her side. "You're going to pay for that." She growled, and suddenly Kisame got hit by a dagger made of ice.

"What?! Ice? You.... you have a kekkei genkai?!" Kisame said, pulling the dagger out of his shoulder.

"Yes. This is my kekkei genkai, ice release. Kisame Hoshigaki, this is the end for you." Suddenly, several ice daggers began forming around Yuki, pointed towards Kisame.

"Ice style: Ice crystal daggers!" Yuki raised her hand and pointed her finger at Kisame. One by one, the daggers flew towards Kisame, and he barely dodged them using Samehada.

Kisame: "Heh, not bad for a Leaf shinobi. But you'll have to do better than that to scratch me." He swung Samehada in a wide arc, the massive sword pulsating and eager to devour chakra. "Ice, huh? Let's see how it fares against the power of the sea."

Kisame quickly formed several hand seals, then slammed his hands on the ground. "Water Style: Exploding Water Colliding Wave!" A massive torrent of water erupted from beneath him, flooding the area and creating a small lake. Kisame stood on the surface of the water, Samehada at the ready, grinning widely.

"Let's see how your ice handles my ocean."

Suddenly, Yuki's body broke apart into ice fragments, floating around in the air. A few fragments came together to form her head several metres in the air.

"You'll have to do better than this to take me down." Yuki taunted. "Also I think you forget, water makes ice. And you just released a shitload of water." Suddenly, all the water Kisame had spewed began turning to ice, trapping Kisame's feet.

Kisame's grin widened, showing his shark-like teeth. "Oh, clever girl! But ice or not, you're still dealing with me." He tightened his grip on Samehada and, with a swift motion, brought the blade down on the ice trapping his feet. The sword's scales tore into the ice, shattering it.

"Samehada loves a good challenge." Kisame looked up at Yuki's floating head. "But remember, even frozen water is still water. And I have plenty more where that came from."

He formed more hand seals, his eyes never leaving Yuki's. "Water Style: Water Shark Bomb Jutsu!" A massive shark-shaped projectile made of water surged from his position, heading straight for Yuki, aiming to catch her off guard and disrupt her control over the ice.

"Let's see you handle this one!"

Yuki let out a sigh and just before making contact, Kisame's projectile turned to ice before breaking apart into ice daggers. Kisame's chakra which was present in the attack became absorbed by Yuki.

"We really are compatible, Kisame. Water and ice, two states of the same object. Only yours has the disadvantage. Did you forget? My fragments are in the air around us. Any water that those fragments touch, I can turn it to ice and use as my own."

Yuki's body began forming again but she stood on a platform of floating ice, and formed a hand seal. "This is the last one. You're done, Kisame. Ice style: ice crystal bullets!" Suddenly, thousands of small sharp spikes resembling bullets formed in the air, using the ice from Kisame's frozen water.

Kisame's grin never faltered, even as the sky darkened with Yuki's ice bullets. "Heh, I like your style. But I'm not going down that easily."

As the bullets rained down, Kisame rapidly formed hand seals. "Water Style: Water Wall!" A towering wall of water surged up around him, absorbing many of the ice bullets, but the sheer number and speed of the projectiles forced him to retreat, using Samehada to deflect what he could.

"Tch, impressive. But you're underestimating me and Samehada." He leaped out of the water wall's protection, landing on another patch of water, now partially frozen. "You might control ice, but I control the battlefield."

Kisame then let out a wild laugh. "Let's turn up the heat!" He began to spin, Samehada slicing through the air, creating a vortex.

"Water Style: Super Shark Bomb Jutsu!" A gigantic water shark, infused with Kisame's chakra, burst forth, targeting Yuki with immense power and speed, absorbing and neutralizing her ice shards as it went. "This one's got a bite!"

But just as the attack launched, it once again began turning into ice. Although not completely, nearly 70% of the shark turned to ice and broke off, and Yuki blocked the rest of it with an ice wall.

Her chakra seemed to be depleted as she came down to the ground, panting heavily. Just as Kisame attempted another attack, Itachi appeared behind Yuki and with a swift hit to her neck, knocked her out.

Kisame looked at Yuki's unconscious from and then back at Itachi, his grin still in place. "You're no fun, Itachi-san. I was just starting to enjoy myself."

He cast one last glance at Yuki, impressed by her tenacity. "She put up a good fight. Almost made me break a sweat."He swung Samehada over his shoulder and began walking towards the businessman.

Daichi saw all this with a mix of shock and fear as his vision began to fade. "I need to.. get.. up. I need to.. protect the... client."

Barely able to stay conscious,he forced himself to get up. He took out a kunai and turned to look at the businessman. "Why the hell are you still here?! Run!" But just as he turned his gaze back to Kisame, he realized that Kisame was standing right in front of him.

With a final, merciless swing of Samehada, Kisame ended Daichi's life. He turned to look at the incapacitated Yuki and the barely conscious Maki who was still trying to get up, shaking his head.

"What a waste. As much as I hate doing this," Kisame muttered, turning towards the businessman. "orders are orders. This isn't personal." With a single swing of Samehada, Kisame killed the businessman and then turned around.

"Did you bring that girl here?" Kisame asked, noticing Akane who was lying down beside Maki.

"Yes. But we are done here. Let's go, Kisame" Itachi said before turning away, followed by Kisame.

[End of flashback]

"So that's what happened." Maki said, not realizing that tears were already flowing from her eyes.

"I see. I'm sorry, Maki-san. It must've been painful." Kenshin said, reaching his hand out to hand her a handkerchief.

Maki was initially confused at his gesture but when she realized she was crying, she quickly looked away and wiped her tears. "It's just.... If I was stronger, then maybe I could've saved Daichi."

"The fact that you took on one of the seven ninja swordsmen of the mist and came out alive is a feat in of itself. And if I'm not wrong, this Kisame Hoshigaki was the one that killed the third Mizukage.

So I don't think you should blame yourself. You're incredibly strong. I respect that.

Also, I'm surprised that this Yuki-sensei is so strong. To be able to go toe to toe with someone of that calibre, it's incredible."

A/N: can someone suggest some free art generator sites for me? I've tried a few but I haven't gotten a good image for Yuki.

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