Hmm…

Mangetsu raises his head. He notices a giant lava ball moving towards them. ​​

"Get on your guard… it is an enemy attack."

Mangetsu cups his hands together and stretches them towards the lava ball.

"Water Release: Water Hail"

He fires a barrage of small water bullets from his hands. The bullets nullify the lava ball.

"Ice Release: Shard Hailstorm"

Multiple ice shards attack them from all directions.

Kisame jumps in front of the attack and makes multiple hand signs.

"Water Release: Exploding Water Colliding Wave"

He spits out a great volume of water from his mouth. The water surges towards the ice shards and blocks the attack. The ice hail freezes the entire water, leaving behind a large trail of ice.

Renjouro swings his blade Hiramekarei, releasing multiple light blue senbons towards the ice. The senbons pierces through the ice, shattering in the process.

"… the surprise attack was a failure. I never expected the enemy to be this skilled.���

Mei frowns as she warily inspects the group of Mist Swordsman in front of her.

--------Flashback-No-jutsu-----------

Mei and the group dashes through the forest to intercept the enemies.

"It will take too long for us… to catch up with the group." Izuna comments.

"… then do you have a faster way to reach there?" Mei anxiously asks him.

'… well If I use my normal speed… then it won't take me long to catch up with the group… but I am hiding my identity here… Oh! I almost forgot about it.'

Izuna makes some hand signs and slams his palm on the ground.

"Summoning Jutsu"

A large summoning seal appears on the ground."

Poof…

A giant brown eagle appears inside the smoke. Izuna jumps on its back and signals Mei and Zengetsu.

"… Hop on… It will be much faster through the air."

"…"

"You should have done it earlier," Mei complains.

"I almost forgot about it." Izuna scratches the back of his head.

"… well… it's not too late. Hold tightly… we are going full speed." Izuna instructs them. He gently pats the eagle's head.

Scree…

The eagle screeches and instantly speeds up.

"… fast… that's too fast."

Mei grabs his waist to take support. Zengetsu grabs his leg to support himself.

"…"

'What's with this situation?... Anyway… it was a nice idea to form a summoning contract in Shikkotsu forest. Well… I formed a summoning contract with all the summons of the Shikkotsu forest.'

Whoosh…

The eagle increases its speed by another notch and whizzes through the air. It reaches supersonic speeds and breaks past the sound barrier. Mei tightly hugs his waist as she looks around.

"At this rate… we will be able to overtake the father's group in a few more moments. But at this speed… I can't spot a thing." Mei sighs in relief.

Whoosh….

The eagle continues to soar for half an hour.

"Found them…"

Izuna stops his eagle above the clouds as he observes Fuji and his group moving towards the center of the Land of Waves.

"They are right below us…"

Izuna points out the location of Fuji to Mei and Zengetsu.

"Man… you have quite the sharp eyes." Zengetsu stares at the escort group as they appear as small as ants in his vision.

"I just have good eyes." Izuna chuckles and turns towards Mei.

"So… do you want to group up with your father?"

"No…" Mei shakes her head in denial.

"He won't allow me to… he is worried about my safety… and would probably send me back. We should move forward and ambush the enemy." She suggests to them.

"Are you sure… it is a good idea? What if the enemies outnumber us?" He questions her decision.

"It is fine… we have your eagle with us. We will survey the situation from above… and if there are too many enemies… we will retreat and regroup with Father's group to support them." Mei forms a plan.

"Well… you call shots here… so it's fine with me." Izuna pats Eagles' head.

The eagle speeds and disappears on the horizon.

The group moves for another hour before they spot the Mist Swordsman.

"Enemy!... up head…" Izuna warns them.

Mei frowns and questions him.

"How many?"

"I can see three people with peculiar swords in their hand." Izuna describes their appearance to them.

"It is them… the newly formed Mist swordsman." Mei recognizes the features of one of them.

Zengetsu clutches his blade.

"The time for our showdown has finally arrived."

"Let's engage them… I think we have a chance against them." Mei signals Izuna.

Izuna lowers the altitude. Mei jumps from the top of the eagle and makes some hand signs.

"Lava Release: Lava Meteor Shower"

She fires a giant lava meteor ball towards the enemy group.

----------------

At present,

Izuna and Zengetsu jump behind Mei and groups with her. The eagle nods its head and disappears in a poof of smoke.

Kaching…

Zengetsu draws out his blade from the sheath and points towards Mangetsu.

"He is mine… don't interfere in our battle."

Zengetsu dashes towards Mangetsu with a blade in his hand. Mangetsu frowns as he notices Zengetsu.

"I will handle this bastard."

He makes some hand signs.

"Water Release: Water Gun"

Bang…

He shoots a small water bullet from his finger.

Kachin…

Zengetsu slices the water bullet with his sword. He makes some hand signs in retaliation.

"Water Release: Water jet pistol"

Zengetsu points his sword towards Mangetsu and fires a jet of high-pressure water.

Bang…

Mangetsu blocks the attack with his sword and engages Zengetsu in a sword fight.

"I have some questions to ask from him." Mei points towards Renjouro.

"Boil Release: Corrosive Mist Breath"

She releases a highly acidic mist from her mouths.

"Hiramekarei: Release"

Renjouro swings his sword and disperses the mist. He dashes towards a hill and Mei follows after him.

"So… I guess… you will be my opponent then." Kisame stars at Izuna.

"Well… I don't know… how to feel about it…" Izuna cracks his neck and stares towards a tree.

Hmm…

'So both Obito and Black Zetsu are monitoring the situation. As much as I would like to kill them now… if I did so… I might spark the attention of Isshiki Otsutsuki… Black Zetsu is Kaguya's will and Isshiki was her partner… I don't know… if he is aware of Black Zetsu… and is monitoring him through some secret techniques.'

Kisame places his blade beside him and quickly makes multiple hand signs.

"Water Release: Four Shark Shower"

He slams his palm on the ground.

Rumble… Rumble…

A large surge of water erupts from the ground. The water forms a group of four water sharks which rushes towards Izuna.

Izuna makes some hand signs and stretches his hands towards the sharks.

"Ice Release: One-horned White whale"

He creates a humongous ice whale. The whale slams into the water sharks and freezes them.

Shatter…

The ice whale and the water sharks shatter into multiple ice shrapnel which launches towards Kisame.

Clang… clang… clang…

Kisame blocks the ice shrapnel with his blade.

Haha…

Kisame grins as he looks towards Izuna.

"It has been a while since I came across such an opponent. Even Samehada is happy to fight against you. Entertain me while you can…"

He grabs the giant shark blade and swings it towards Izuna.

Clank…

Izuna blocks the attack with a kunai.

Clank… clank…

Both of them exchanges a few blows.

Skkiirr…

The shark's skin rips apart the bandage tied on the blade and attacks Izuna.

Clank…

Izuna makes an ice kunai and blocks the attack.

"Oh… no one has ever been able to escape unscathed from this surprise attack. You are the first person to do so." Kisame is surprised to see Izuna block his attack.

Fwoosh…

Kisame performs a backflip and creates some distance between them.

He makes multiple hand signs and directs his palm towards Izuna.

"Water Release: Water Shark Bomb Jutsu"

He manipulates a large amount of water and directs it towards Izuna. The water shapes into a giant water shark and opens its enormous mouth to bite Izuna.

"Let me see… how are you able to dodge this?"

"You talk too much." Izuna makes some hand signs and thrusts his hand forward.

"Ice Release: Ice Dragon Blizzard"

He sends a gigantic dragon of ice to intercept the shark.

BOOM…

The shark and the ice collide with each other and explodes.

Haah…

Kisame smirks and makes a ram hand seal.

The water droplets in the surroundings turn into multiple small sharks and attack Izuna.

"Water Release: Thousand Shark Shower"

In response, Izuna clasps his hands together.

"Ice Release: Swallow snowstorm"

Many surrounding ice splinters turn into small ice swallows and collides with the small water sharks freezing and shattering them in the process.

"No one except Mangetsu has been able to make me sweat this much in a while. What's your name?... I will remember you as a worthy opponent before I kill you."

Kisame question him.

"You seem pretty confident about killing me."