In Spite of it all (BOOK TWO)

Chapter 33

Kisame was fucking strong.

Both he and Deidara were brash, and reckless, and proud, and although Deidara was a relatively good tactician in battle, Kisame caught me at every turn.

I didn't even want to go full Bijuu on him, despite the temptations. If I released too much of Kurama's chakra, I'd only be feeding him more power. The last thing I wanted was for him to turn our own chakra against us.

That stupid sword was sentient, from the looks of it. It jumped at every bit of chakra like a starving dog, sucking in whatever scraps it could find. Kisame let it. Whatever chakra Samehada ate was his to use after all.

I whirled around as a swirl of water threatened to overtake me from behind. A wall of Kurama's chakra shoved it back, only for me to be face to face with Kisame. His beady eyes fixed onto mine just as I reflexively jumped back. A smirk pulled at his lips, revealing a glint of jagged teeth.

I stopped just in time as a landmine threw up a spray of dirt.

"Art!" Deidara yelled as he flew around on his clay bird. 

I felt my lip beginning to curl in irritation and pushed it down reluctantly. If I lost my cool, there was no way I was winning this fight.

Then Kisame turned into a shark.

Water was everywhere at this point. He managed to flood the entire area, the water being deep enough that I couldn't even touch the bottom when I stood in it.

He leapt in and out, his water sharks darting around with him in an attempt to corner me. I didn't like that it was closer to working than I hoped, especially with Deidara dropping bombs everywhere and limiting my movements. I couldn't fight Kisame and keep an eye on Deidara the whole time.

"Ey, there he is!"

Kurama's chakra flared around me in an automatic response at the new voice. I turned just in time to see Killer Bee and a small group of Kumo shinobi. I was occupied enough by Kisame and Deidara that I didn't even sense them coming.

"YOOOOOO!"

I had the sense to move out of the way as Killer Bee transformed. A massive eight-tailed ox-octupus rammed into existence, and much of the water that Kisame tossed around crashed through the forest.

I took that opportunity to transform as well, Kurama's chakra wrapping around me and forming his avatar.

"His sword, Samehada, eats chakra. Keep that in mind." I told him, and from there on there was no conversation. For someone who I barely met, Killer Bee and I cooperated in battle well.

Killer Bee could hold his own. I knew that. It would also be easier to eat mine and Kurama's chakra since my tailed beast transformation was just a chakra avatar, which worked well in flexibility and varying uses but only made it easier for Samehada to eat my chakra. Gyuki's transformation was more solid. 

With the help of the remaining Kumo ninja, we managed to get Deidara surrounded. He couldn't drop bombs to big because of the risk of harming Kisame, and he began to get desperate when he realized he was trapped. Still, he was dangerous.

And then the fucking Raikage arrived and the damn bastard decided fuck my teammate and dropped a C3, which was massive.

"Baka-yarou! Kona-Yarou!" Killer Bee shouted.

"Transform back, Bee!" I yelled, and thankfully he listened, albeit with a pause.

In a flash of panic, I located each of the shinobi around me and tossed up a blanket of Kurama's chakra over us, dense and strong, to shield us from the blast.