"No. I just ran out of the cheap stuff."
Kisame's grin didn't widen this time. It flattened.
He gripped Samehada with both hands and rolled his wrists. The heavy bandages encasing the sword tore further apart, exposing a long, brutal stretch of jagged blue scales. The air around the weapon grew heavier, the chakra density thick enough to stir the water pooling around their ankles.
Kisame crossed the flooded clearing faster than a man of his size had any right to move. Kenji caught the first angle and slipped left, but Kisame didn't follow through. He stepped straight into Kenji's evasion and turned the abandoned swing into a tight, rising backhand with Samehada's handle.
Kenji vanished through Hiraishin a fraction of a second before the handle would have shattered his jaw.
He appeared near the tree line, but Kisame was already tracking the flash of displacement. The massive sword swept horizontally through the air, obliterating the hidden kunai marker and forcing Kenji to drop beneath the blade.
Kenji rolled through the shallow water and came up in a crouch. "You were much friendlier five minutes ago."
"You violated the friendship," Kisame said, stepping forward.
Kakashi almost said something from the edge of the clearing, thought better of it, and kept his eye locked on Itachi.
Kisame didn't give Kenji room to breathe. The heavy sword became a blur of blue scales, forcing Kenji backward across the uneven ground. Kenji read a descending strike and stepped inside the guard, aiming a coated fist at Kisame's ribs.
Kisame dropped his shoulder, took the glancing hit, and ripped Samehada upward in a brutal counter.
Kenji twisted his torso, pulling himself backward, but the edge of the blade caught him. The scales tore through his jacket and dragged across his side.
Black material surged beneath the torn jacket before the cut could widen, spreading across Kenji's ribs just as Samehada dragged free. It held there for a moment, then slipped beneath his clothes again.
Kisame paused, the tip of Samehada resting in the water. His eyes dropped to the tear in Kenji's clothes.
"There's more of it."
Kenji looked down at his ruined jacket. "Unfortunately, there is less of this."
Kisame lifted his free hand, weaving a tight, one-handed sign. The flooded water around them began to pull backward, gathering around Kisame's boots in a dense, swirling current.
"Kisame."
The single word cut quietly across the clearing.
Kisame lowered his hand. He looked over his shoulder, clearly irritated by the interruption. "I was getting somewhere."
"You've seen enough," Itachi said.
Kenji stood in the ankle-deep water and brushed a wet leaf from his sleeve. "I agree with the quiet one."
Kisame gave him a deeply offended look.
Kakashi did not relax. He shifted his weight, his hand dropping closer to his kunai pouch, because Itachi had finally stepped away from the oak tree and was walking toward them.
Itachi didn't rush. He moved with slow, deliberate steps until the distance between the four of them shrank to something much closer than Kakashi liked.
Kenji kept his gaze carefully angled downward, tracking the high collar of Itachi's cloak rather than looking anywhere near his face.
Itachi stopped. "Still avoiding my eyes."
"I learn from my mistakes," Kenji said.
"You haven't made that one."
Kenji kept his gaze low, but Itachi wasn't making the conversation easy. When Kenji finally glanced upward to read his posture, his eyes crossed the spinning red tomoe of the Sharingan for barely a fraction of a second.
The sound of water vanished first.
Kakashi and Kisame disappeared from the edges of Kenji's vision, and the trees surrounding the clearing seemed to pull farther away with every blink. For the briefest instant, he was standing alone in a place that only looked like the same forest.
[Hostile Mental Interference Detected.]
[Gamer's Mind — Mental Intrusion Rejected.]
Reality snapped back into place.
The water sloshed against Kenji's boots. The wind rustled the leaves. Kakashi was standing ten feet to his left, and Kisame was still resting Samehada against his shoulder.
Kenji was standing in the exact same position, his pulse perfectly steady. He blinked once, then deliberately lowered his gaze back to Itachi's collar.
"Rude."
Kakashi's stance tightened.
Kisame's grin faded slightly as he looked from Itachi to Kenji. "Huh."
Itachi said nothing. The tomoe in his Sharingan turned once more.
The edge of Kenji's vision warped again.
This time the System rejected the intrusion before the clearing could change at all.
Kenji kept his eyes lowered. "You're going to keep doing that, aren't you?"
Itachi didn't answer.
"Apparently," Kisame said.
Kakashi stepped between them, his posture aggressive enough to draw a line in the dirt. His own Sharingan spun rapidly in his left eye.
"We're done," Kakashi said quietly.
Itachi looked at him, and Kakashi didn't give an inch. Kenji knew where this could go. He had no interest in watching Kakashi spend another stretch in a hospital bed because Itachi decided to prove a point.
"You already checked on Sasuke," Kenji said.
The words weren't loud, but they carried perfectly across the water. Itachi's attention shifted back to him.
"He's alive," Kenji continued, his voice calm. "He refused Orochimaru. You don't need to put anyone else in a coma to confirm it."
Kakashi's head turned sharply toward Kenji.
Kisame looked between the two of them, his grin slowly fading.
Itachi went completely still.
"What do you know?" Itachi asked.
"Enough to know you got the answer you wanted," Kenji said.
"And what answer was that?"
"That your brother didn't choose Orochimaru."
Itachi stared at Kenji for several seconds. Kenji didn't elaborate, and Itachi didn't ask again.
"We're leaving."
Kisame looked disappointed. "We're leaving?"
"Yes."
Kisame sighed and hoisted Samehada fully onto his shoulder. He looked at Kenji.
"I'll miss you too," Kenji offered.
Kisame pointed the bandaged tip of the sword at him. "Next time, I'm breaking those fingers first."
Kenji looked down at his two index fingers. "Understandable."
Itachi and Kisame turned south and disappeared gradually between the trees. None of the hidden ANBU moved to intercept them, and Kakashi stayed where he was, watching the black cloaks recede into the forest.
Just before they vanished from sight entirely, Itachi glanced back over his shoulder.
Kenji waited until the last trace of the black cloaks vanished before exhaling. He pinched the torn edge of his jacket between two fingers and inspected the damage.
"He could have just stabbed me. This was custom."
Kakashi stood beside him in the water. Silent.
Kenji noticed the quiet. He looked over. "What?"
Kakashi kept looking at him.
"'Enough to know you got the answer you wanted?'" Kakashi repeated, his voice dangerously even.
Kenji stared at him for a moment. "You have a very good memory."
"Kenji."
Kenji looked toward the dirt road leading back to Konoha. "Can we discuss this after someone buys me a new jacket?"
Kakashi didn't answer.
Kenji started walking anyway.
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