Ninja World: I, Kisame Hoshigaki, am no longer human!

Kisame floated a hundred meters above the ground, his figure completely blending into the darkness, watching Natsumi on the ground from afar with his Byakugan, slowly following behind her.

After witnessing firsthand the Peacock Technique performed by Xia Ri, he became even more convinced that it was the chakra of the Ten-Tails.

It seems this trip wasn't in vain; he's determined to get this meteorite.

Half an hour later.

After winding through the woods in the summer, I finally arrived at a dense thicket of bushes.

She looked around again, making sure no one was following her, before forming a hand seal. As she channeled her chakra, the bushes in front of her parted to reveal the entrance to a dark cave, taller than a person.

Summer darted inside with a whoosh, and as soon as her figure disappeared into the cave, the bushes returned to their original positions, revealing nothing.

One minute later.

A dark shadow descended from the sky, and Kisame silently arrived in front of the bushes.

Facing the concealing thicket of bushes, Kisame simply pushed it aside and walked into the cave. He didn't care if he disturbed Natsumi, because from the moment Natsumi entered the cave, he had already seen her as a sitting duck.

Da da da.

Kisame's crisp footsteps echoed in the dark passageway. The passageway widened as Kisame walked deeper into it, from being only a meter wide and a little over a meter tall at first, until it ended with a huge cavern in front of him.

This is where Summer and the Firefly couple hide.

Inside the cave, there was some simple furniture, such as a table, wardrobe, and bed, and wall lamps hanging on the walls, emitting a warm yellow light.

At this moment, on a bed, lay a man with long black hair, coughing violently incessantly. He looked extremely weak and on the verge of death.

He is the firefly, the husband of summer.

Unlike a true genius like Summer, Firefly, although he also mastered the Peacock Technique through cultivation, did not have enough talent to control this power. Therefore, his fate was the same as those that Kisame had seen before: death.

As soon as Xia Ri returned to the cave, she hurried to her husband's bedside and took good care of him.

"Summer, I am so lucky to have you by my side during the last period of my life. I am so happy and I can die without regrets."

Firefly held his wife's hand, a faint smile on his face.

"Please don't say that!"

Upon hearing this, Xia Ri quickly covered her husband's mouth with her finger and said with a firm look in her eyes, "Firefly, don't give up. I will definitely find a way to cure your illness."

At this moment, their eyes met, perfectly illustrating the meaning of mutual support and companionship.

Unfortunately, this heartwarming and touching scene was ruined by an uninvited guest the very next second.

"Summer, watch out behind you!" Firefly's expression suddenly changed, and he shouted at his wife, because he saw a tall, dark figure appear at the cave entrance.

call out!

Without saying a word, Xia Ri threw a kunai at the dark figure.

Kisame stretched out a hand, caught the kunai that was attacking him, and casually tossed it aside, saying with a smile, "Looks like I've come at the wrong time, disturbing your sleep."

"Are you one of those people from earlier?"

Summer stood up, protecting her husband behind her, and said coldly to Kisame, "You've seen what happened to your accomplices. If you don't want to die, get out of here now, and I can give you a chance to live."

She could sense that the enemy before her was no ordinary person. Although she wasn't afraid of him, if a fight broke out here and Firefly got involved, the situation would be dire.

"Hand over the meteorite, and I'll leave immediately. By the way, it was that old man, the Third Hokage, who sent me."

As Kisame said this, he took a ring out of his pocket and threw it at Natsumi.

"This is... Xingying's ring?!" Xia Ri exclaimed in surprise after receiving the ring and seeing it clearly.

But she immediately frowned and retorted to Kisame, "What did you do to the Third Hoshikage? He would never allow us to return the meteorite."

"Don't you understand? Even if you two seal that meteorite, you can't protect it for long. Sooner or later, someone like me will come and take it away. I'll say it one last time: hand over the meteorite. My patience has run out."

Kisame was too lazy to argue with Natsume, so he approached her while talking.

"How arrogant!"

Summer just sneered, deciding to respond to Kisame's arrogance with her strength.

Then, she quickly formed hand seals again, and beautiful peacock tail feathers appeared behind her once more. That semi-transparent purple chakra was exactly the same as the chakra dragon spewed from the mouth of the Gedo Mazo.

"Roar!"

A loud dragon roar echoed in the cave. Summer transformed her chakra into a terrifying dragon, attempting to use her most powerful technique to directly annihilate the enemy before her.

Seeing Kisame standing still, seemingly stunned and at a loss by the chakra dragon, Natsumi couldn't help but curl up a confident smile.

As a once-in-a-century genius of the Star Ninja Village, she mastered the complete Peacock Technique at a young age and overcame the backlash of the meteorite's power.

Although she didn't want to boast, Xia Ri had never encountered an opponent worthy of her serious attention since mastering the Peacock Technique.

The Third Hokage once said that her power was already the strongest in Hoshigakure, and that she could stand on equal footing with the Kage of the Five Great Ninja Villages.

Then, in the next second, Xia Ri witnessed an unbelievable scene.

Facing the roaring chakra dragon, Kisame calmly extended one hand, which instantly grew larger, transforming into the shape of a flame fan. Then, he swung it forward.

The Uchiha clan rebounded.

Snapped!

The chakra dragon was slapped by Kisame, and to Natsumi's horrified gaze, it immediately turned around and flew back towards her, the caster.

not good.

In the sudden summer heat, facing her most powerful attack, she could only withstand it to protect her husband behind her.

She activated the peacock tail behind her, desperately parrying and trying her best to block the chakra dragon with her own body. However, under the powerful impact of this chakra, she finally couldn't withstand it and knelt on the ground with a thud.

"Summer, are you alright!" Firefly cried out anxiously, but could only lie in bed and watch helplessly, unable to do anything.

"hateful."

Summer gritted her teeth, braced herself with her hands, and shakily stood up. She never expected that the enemy's ability was so strange, that it could actually deflect her ninjutsu, and she suffered a great loss in a single exchange.

What she didn't expect was yet to come.

Shhhhhh.

Suddenly, strands of wood-style vines shot out from the ground beneath Xia Ri's feet, binding her tightly before she could react.

She was terrified and tried to use the power of the Peacock Technique to break free of the vines binding her. However, as she activated her chakra, the peacock tails behind her dimmed, and soon none of them remained.

That's because these seemingly ordinary vines actually originated from the First Hokage's Wood Release, which has the ability to seal chakra.

Summer is indeed very strong, possessing combat power at the level of an elite Jonin from a major ninja village. However, in the eyes of a powerful figure like Kisame, she is no different from an ordinary person without chakra; they are both ants.

Therefore, the battle ended in less than half a minute, in one round.

Kisame walked up to Natsumi.

"I am inferior in skill and admit defeat. Kill me, but I will not reveal the whereabouts of the meteorite."

Before Kisame could speak, she stubbornly said, looking as if she were ready to die.

Upon hearing this, Kisame ignored her and instead looked at her husband, Hotaru.

"Hand over the meteorite, or I'll kill her." He took out the Kusanagi Sword and held it to Xia Ri's neck, issuing the threat with a calm expression.

"Firefly, don't agree to him! Don't forget why we're here. Let me die with you and keep the secret of the meteorite forever, so it won't harm more people!" Summer shouted at her husband, unafraid of death.

Upon hearing this, Firefly shuddered, then finally smiled and said, "Summer, I understand."

Then, he looked at Kisame silently. Although he didn't speak, his mind was clearly made up.

"It seems I have no other choice but to kill your family of three and then go find the meteorite myself."

Kisame shook his head, preparing to act. Even if the Natsumi couple hadn't said anything, he would have found the stone sooner or later; it would just have taken a little longer.

"What did you say, a family of three?"

Summer and Firefly were both taken aback when they heard Kisame's words, not understanding what he meant.

"Oh? You didn't even know your wife was pregnant? No way."

Kisame looked at Hotaru in surprise, a strange expression on his face.

Upon hearing this, Yinghuo looked at his wife, Xia Ri, in astonishment, who also looked puzzled. She had indeed been feeling a little unwell recently, but hadn't considered that possibility.

Now, thanks to Kisame's reminder, the various abnormalities in her body actually matched the symptoms of pregnancy one by one.

But here's the question: how did Kisame know that?

Seeing the couple's expressions, Kisame chuckled, reached out and removed his mask, revealing the white eye with bulging veins around its socket.

"You should recognize this eye. It's the Byakugan of the Hyuga clan in Konoha. I took it as a trophy from a Hyuga main family elder on the battlefield. It can see through people, so I saw the baby in Natsumi's belly as soon as I saw it. It's about a month old."

Kisame gazed at the firefly on the hospital bed and clicked his tongue in admiration, "Brother, you're amazing. Even when you're this sick, you still have the energy to make a baby with your wife. It's a pity your child will never be able to open his eyes and see this beautiful world."

"Summer, is what he said true?" Firefly asked his wife in a trembling voice.

Xia Ri glanced at her stomach, and after a moment, silently nodded.

"So, do you want to reconsider? I can give you one last chance. Answer me in ten seconds."

Kisame gave Hotaru his final ultimatum, and then began a countdown: "Ten, nine, eight, seven..."

“I said.”

Hotaru struggled to sit up in bed, staring at Kisame. "I'll tell you the location of the sealed meteorite. But on the condition that you spare my wife and child's lives."

“Fireflies…” Xia Ri hesitated, wanting to speak but stopping herself. The unborn child in her womb was shaking her resolve to die.

"no problem."

Kisame readily agreed and immediately snapped his fingers, releasing the wood vines binding Natsumi.

Although he had killed many people, he was never one to indiscriminately kill innocents; he had only been trying to scare the couple. In fact, Kisame greatly admired their willingness to bear the stigma of being rogue ninjas in order to protect the villagers from the meteorites.

Ten minutes later.

With Xia Ri's help, the firefly arrived at a corner of the cave, in front of a large rock.

"drink!"

The couple shouted in unison, pouring their chakra into the boulder. Immediately, a sealing technique appeared on the stone's surface, followed by numerous cracks.

It turns out that the technique to seal the meteorite requires the chakra of both husband and wife to activate.

Click. Click.