Kisame Hoshigaki

, feared as the, was an S-rank missing-nin from Kirigakure's Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist and was partnered with Itachi Uchiha when the latter joined Akatsuki.

Background
Originally, Kisame was to guard the Cypher Division under orders from his superior, Fuguki Suikazan of Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist. When the group was cornered by Konoha-nin under Ibiki Morino during a mission, Kisame chose to kill the Cypher Division members to keep their intel from being leaked out through Ibiki's interrogation, as instructed by Fuguki.

Eventually, learning that Fuguki was selling information to other ninja villages, Kisame killed him and took Samehada for himself while replacing his superior as one of the Seven Swordsmen. Since then, Kisame was given the title of "Monster of the Hidden Mist", and formed a connection with Suigetsu Hōzuki and Mangetsu Hōzuki.

While approached by the Fourth Mizukage Yagura to be commended him for his loyalty to Kirigakure, the ordeal from killing his fellow Kiri ninja to reach his status as a Mist Swordsman caused Kisame to become disillusioned and see himself as living a lie. It was soon after that Kisame met a mysterious ninja who was manipulating Yagura from the shadows and called himself Madara Uchiha. Learning of the Eye of the Moon Plan, Kisame was at first sceptical of the mysterious ninja but the notion of a "world of truth" enticed him to become one of the first and most loyal members of the Akatsuki.

Eventually, Kisame became a missing-nin when the Land of Water sought him for plotting to overthrow its government and being involved in numerous assassinations that include another country's daimyō. As a full-time member of Akatsuki, Kisame was partnered with Itachi Uchiha. Though they initially greeted each other with hostility, they became good partners.

Personality
Kisame loves to fight and would not hesitate to mutilate his opponents, as seen when he suggested cutting off Naruto's legs to make him easier to carry, to prevent the latter from escaping on foot. Despite his aggressive nature, Kisame is very perceptive in battle, able to deduce the basics behind an opponent's technique and react to any potential danger he is aware of. However, being paired with Itachi, Kisame is usually unable to finish his battles with Itachi around, and he would inform his opponents that they "don't know how lucky they are". Kisame also has a deep loathing for Might Guy since their first encounter, with Guy's inability to remember Kisame prior to his death agitating him.

Originally when first partnered, Kisame warned an equally hostile Itachi to be careful of him. But in time, Kisame became one of the few members of Akatsuki that got along well with his partner despite the fact they had opposite personalities. The only common ground between both ninja being that they betrayed those close to them, Kisame is loyal to Itachi as he would only not take action unless ordered or after being given permission, but express concern for his friend's well being. Despite his pride, Kisame acknowledges Itachi as the stronger of the duo, evident by Kisame saying to Itachi that he himself couldn't defeat Jiraiya, but stated his certainty that Itachi could go one-on-one with the Sannin. In the anime, Kisame appeared saddened upon hearing of Itachi's death. Kisame ultimately considered Itachi as a good friend, even thinking of him in his last moments.

Other than believing everything he knew was a lie and desiring to see Tobi's "world of truth", Kisame lived strictly to protect valuable information as reflected in killing the Cypher Division to keep their intel from Konoha and executing Fuguki for selling their village's secrets; on a related note, he refused to bond with his team-mates when they were on a mission together. This ideal became his philosophy, ultimately motivating his assisted suicide when left with no other choice.

Appearance
Kisame was a very tall and muscular shinobi, and was the tallest member in Akatsuki. He had a distinctive shark-like appearance, complete with pale, green skin, depicted as blue-grey in the anime, small, round, white eyes, gill-like facial markings under his eyes, and actual gills on his shoulders, and sharp triangular teeth, much like the other members of the Seven Swordsmen of the Mist. He also styled his blue hair in the form of a shark fin. As a member of Akatsuki, he also wore dark-purple nail polish. During his time as a Kirigakure shinobi, he sported the standard outfit of the village, complete with a flak jacket and a forehead protector. Later, he donned what appears to be the standard attire of the Seven Swordsmen which consists of: a dark sleeveless shirt paired with matching pants, provided with a waist guard, and striped arm and leg-warmers typical of his village. He also switched to a modified version of Kirigakure's forehead protector, which covered his ears as well. He kept this very same attire, under his Akatsuki cloak, even after defecting from the village, with the only differences being his leg-warmers, which were substituted by the organisation's standard ones; though later on, he also removed the shirt from its attire, remaining bare-chested. He wore his Akatsuki ring on his left ring finger, bearing the kanji for which was yellow in colour.

Abilities
Kisame was a very powerful and dangerous S-rank missing-nin, whose strength earned him admittance into the Akatsuki. As a former member of the Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist, Kisame is one of the most powerful shinobi ever produced within Kirigakure; in fact, he was able to easily kill his former master, who was a member of the Seven Swordsmen generation said to be the strongest in the history of the village, despite Samehada being in the opponent's hands at the time. He also successfully captured the Four-Tails' jinchūriki Rōshi by himself, despite noting his target's exceptional powers. Though a difficult task, by his own admission, Kisame merely complained that he was "a bit tired". He also claimed that he was the best in the Akatsuki at capturing targets alive as seen when he was able to capture Rōshi alive leaving him only "on the brink of death". During battles with Might Guy — one of Konoha's top shinobi — Kisame proved to be more than a match for him. He was even able to force Guy to open six of the Eight Gates while he was only at 30% chakra, and seven gates against the real Kisame.

Kisame also showed a keen intellect in battle, an example of which is deducing the nature of Killer B's attacks and tactics behind them during their first encounter.

Physical Prowess
Unlike his partner Itachi, Kisame preferred direct physical combat, with which he has repeatedly been shown to be very proficient and dangerous. Generally while fighting, he combined strong taijutsu strikes with powerful slashes from Samehada. He has been seen displaying astonishing raw speed and immense physical strength, which combined with his high taijutsu prowess allows him to directly overpower most opponents, as shown when he overpowered Might Guy, a very powerful taijutsu master, during their battle. A single punch from Kisame was able to smash Might Guy to the bottom of the lake and displace the water around the area. He also managed to overpower another skilled melee-weapon user, Asuma Sarutobi, by using only the tip of Samehada (wielded with one hand), against Asuma's two blades, which he held overhead using his body as extra support. He has also demonstrated especially fast hand seal prowess.

Aside from his brute strength, Kisame also has matching durability and endurance. He managed to survive one of Killer B's Version 2 Lariat, that had completely destroyed his entire ribcage. He was also able withstand what was usually a one-hit instant kill technique from Guy, and retained enough strength to break free of his restraints even though Yamato was suppressing his chakra, showing not just powerful raw strength, but also massive endurance.

Stamina and Chakra Absorption
Kisame had a massive amount of chakra, even by Akatsuki standards. Karin, upon sensing Kisame, stated she had never seen so much chakra in one place. Even when he fought at 30% power in one instance, Neji compared his chakra supply to that of Naruto. Chōjūrō claims that Kisame is a, due to his superhuman chakra level and combination with Samehada.

Aside from his own massive reservoir, Kisame has been shown to absorb chakra even without Samehada, while he is in a water source. Aoba Yamashiro discovered this when he used his Secret Technique Stone Needles in an attempt to paralyse Kisame, who instead just sucked the chakra through the threads and exhausted him. He can even steal chakra from Samehada by simply grabbing onto it.

Kenjutsu
As his speciality, Kisame was a very powerful swordsman, and favoured the use of brute strength and melee fighting in battle. Before killing his master, Kisame was wielding a normal katana, with which he was proficient enough to kill all of his comrades on one mission. After slaying his master with the said katana, Kisame's signature weapon became Samehada, a sentient, scale-covered sword, that shaves flesh instead of cutting it. Samehada is also capable of detecting and absorbing chakra. However, it seems to be unable to automatically absorb ambient chakra, judging by the fact that all instances in which it has used the ability have either been when the opponent had a visible aura around them or when direct physical contact had already been established. When Samehada absorbs chakra, its scales grow and it slowly begins to unwrap itself, revealing a mouth with several rows of shark-like teeth.

Kisame could heal injuries and replenish his chakra by temporarily fusing with Samehada. He could also fuse fully to further increase his power, and expanding upon his shark-like appearance. When fused with Samehada, he gains the ability to breathe underwater using gills which form on his neck. While using his Water Prison Shark Dance Technique, he could take full advantage of that ability by drowning his opponents while remaining unharmed. In this form he can sense other people's chakra, and absorb it just by touching the foe with any part of his body. He can also hide within Samehada, which he states is flawless due to the fact that he and Samehada have identical chakra, to the extent that not even sensors can detect him.

Only Kisame was able to wield Samehada; if anyone besides him tries to pick it up, spikes protrude from its handle, and it returns to Kisame's side. Samehada's loyalty seems to be due to the sword's liking of Kisame's chakra. If it finds a ninja with better chakra, it may betray it's owner in favour of the new ninja, as demonstrated when Samehada protected Killer B from Kisame's attempt to slash off his legs. Despite its wavering loyalty, Kisame was capable of wielding Samehada against its will. Chōjūrō describes the Samehada as the most terrifying sword of the Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist.

Nature Transformation
Kisame was a master of Water Release techniques, being able to alter an entire battlefield by using his Water Release: Exploding Water Colliding Wave to create a large volume of water to give him the field advantage, and to use for attacks. Kisame's shark-like attributes carried over into techniques, for he even shaped his Water Release attacks into sharks. He could also use this skill as a means for transportation, riding inside of a water shark. Against stronger opponents, he increased his field advantage even further by creating a giant dome of water around himself, forcing his opponents to battle him underwater. He was able to make many sharks that overwhelmed Might Guy's Morning Peacock, producing more than all the blows Guy could unleash. He was also proficient with Earth Release techniques, able to use Earth Release: Subterranean Voyage to travel under the earth, with the tip of his sword, Samehada, jutting out making him look like a shark swimming towards his prey.

Summoning Technique
In keeping with his shark theme, Kisame had shown the ability to summon sharks for both battle and message sending purposes, and can combine the one summoned shark with the Water Release: A Thousand Feeding Sharks as a way to conceal the messenger shark location and allow it to escape. He also used them with the Water Prison Technique to commit suicide.

Search for Tsunade Arc
Kisame accompanied Itachi to Konoha to help kidnap Naruto Uzumaki. After the two gained attention due to their unusual clothing, they were stopped by Asuma Sarutobi and Kurenai Yūhi. Asuma and Kurenai found themselves outmatched, but Kakashi arrived to help balance the odds. Asuma was able to distract Kisame while Itachi fought Kakashi. He waited patiently for Itachi's victory, but before Itachi delivered the final blow, Kakashi remembered Jiraiya's warning and recognised the duo as members of Akatsuki from their black cloaks. Itachi changed his mind and ordered Kisame to kidnap Kakashi and kill Asuma and Kurenai. Before he could do so, however, Might Guy showed up and kicked an attacking Kisame in the face. Following Guy's arrival, Itachi ordered Kisame to retreat, not wanting to start a large-scale battle. Kisame seemed quite annoyed with Itachi's idea, as he desperately wanted to fight the Konoha shinobi.

Itachi and Kisame then continued to hunt Naruto, finding him under the protection of Jiraiya. After Itachi hypnotised a woman to distract Jiraiya and leave Naruto alone, Kisame and Itachi confronted Naruto in a hotel hallway. Kisame considered cutting off Naruto's legs so he could not run away, though Sasuke, Itachi's younger brother, showed up and drew their attention from Naruto. When Naruto attempted to fight, Kisame used Samehada to absorb all of Naruto's chakra. Kisame then attempted to cut off Naruto's arms so he wouldn't put up a fight. Before he could do this, however, Jiraiya arrived, and had the toad Gama defend Naruto. Following the encounter, Kisame and Itachi were driven off by Jiraiya's Summoning: Toad Mouth Bind, failing in capturing Naruto.

Sasuke Retrieval Arc
At the end of Part I, Kisame made a cameo appearance as a silhouette during an Akatsuki gathering where they discussed Orochimaru's taking of Sasuke Uchiha as well as the capturing of the Nine-Tails and the furthering of their plans.

Kazekage Rescue Arc
While Akatsuki extracted the One-Tailed Shukaku from Gaara's body, they learned that Team Guy was nearing their location. Remembering his last encounter with Guy, Kisame volunteered to keep them occupied while the sealing was completed. Pain used the Shapeshifting Technique to make a duplicate of Kisame's body that would be remotely controlled by Kisame. The clone located and confronted Team Guy, but was disappointed that Guy didn't remember him. He converts the surrounding desert into a lake to give him a battlefield advantage and attacks Guy. Guy's students defend him, prompting Kisame to make water clones that then trap them with the Water Prison Technique.

Guy, meanwhile, manages to take Samehada from him and tries to use it against Kisame, but Samehada does not allow it and returns to Kisame. Kisame proceeds to launch a volley of attacks at Guy, forcing Guy to open the sixth gate. Doing so forces away the surrounding water and allows Guy to strike Kisame with the Morning Peacock. The clone is killed. Kisame voices his regret to Itachi that the clone had only 30% of his chakra and thus was not as powerful as the real Kisame was.

Hidan and Kakuzu Arc
Kisame was present during the sealing of the Two-Tails.

Itachi Pursuit Arc
Later, Kisame successfully managed to capture the jinchūriki of the Four-Tails, his assigned tailed beast, without a scratch. During the following Akatsuki meeting to seal the Four-Tails, Kisame and Itachi were informed of Hebi's formation, with Sasuke as its leader. They are soon afterwards told that Sasuke has been killed, and Kisame tries to comfort Itachi for finally being the last Uchiha. Itachi replies that Sasuke is not dead. After a brief sparing session with Itachi, Kisame is instructed to stand guard outside the Uchiha Hideout and to let only Sasuke through. Kisame openly admitted he was somewhat saddened to be parting with his long time companion. After Sasuke left the rest of Hebi, Suigetsu, being an old acquaintance of Kisame, exchanged words with him, and then the two started fighting, with Suigetsu wanting to claim Samehada as his own. It was later revealed that Zetsu had stopped the fight.

Invasion of Pain Arc
Following Itachi's death, Kisame is confronted by Tobi, who revealed his true identity. Recognising him and addressing him as the "Mizukage" and Madara, Kisame commented that he felt a lot better knowing that he was the one who was pulling the strings. Tobi apologises for leaving Kisame the last member of Akatsuki to know his identity when in fact he is closest to Kisame. Kisame later assisted with the sealing of the Eight-Tails captured by Sasuke. When this turns out to be a fake, Kisame notes that the Eight-Tails' host, Killer B, fooled Sasuke.

Tsuchigumo Kinjutsu Arc
After Utakata was captured, Kisame is seen along with the other Akatsuki members sealing the Six-Tails from him.

Five Kage Summit Arc
Because of Sasuke's failure, Tobi ordered Kisame to capture the Eight-Tails by himself. Kisame used Samehada to find Killer B, being drawn to B's immense chakra. When he arrived at their location, Kisame was immediately attacked by Ponta, who he quickly defeated. B and Sabu then join forces, B even entering a four-tailed form. Kisame fended them both off and absorbed B's chakra cloak. He then removed the bandages from Samehada, noting that it liked the "taste" of B's chakra.

Killer B entered a version 2 form and used his Lariat to destroy Kisame's entire midsection. Kisame fused with Samehada to heal his injuries, becoming a monstrous shark-like creature. After trapping Killer B, Sabu, and Ponta inside a giant, movable dome of water, he continued his assault on Killer B. B was forced to throw Sabu and Ponta from the dome to save them from drowning, allowing Kisame to overpower him. He dissipated the dome and moved in to finish the job, but was stopped by Samehada, who protected B and gave him some chakra. He kicked Samehada away and prepared to try again with one of B's own swords.

Using the chakra he got from Samehada, B attacked Kisame. Kisame barely evaded the attack and tried to cut off B's legs, but was stopped by the arrival of B's brother: the Fourth Raikage, and his two bodyguards. They thank Kisame for creating the water dome, as it can be seen from far away and allowed them to locate B. Samehada then gives some chakra to B and he and the Raikage join forces against Kisame. Kisame attempts to counter with Water Release: Great Shark Bullet Technique, but before he could finish the technique he was decapitated by their Double Lariat. With his last breath, he stated with a grin that their lightning-quick speed was simply too fast for him.

Zetsu later revealed that the decapitated body was one of his clones, which switched with Kisame when B obscured the water dome with his ink, and that the real Kisame was hiding inside Samehada in order to infiltrate Kumogakure. The sword itself was taken by Killer B, who planned to use it as his new weapon. While B attended but does not pay attention in a meeting of tactics for the approaching Fourth Shinobi World War, Kisame took notes on the village's plans and military strength.

Confining the Jinchūriki Arc
To protect them from Akatsuki, B and Naruto Uzumaki were sent to the island in the Land of Lightning. After B helped Naruto to tame the Nine-Tails, Naruto was able to sense Kisame's hatred within Samehada, despite his and Samehada's identical chakra. Discovered and outnumbered, Kisame took Samehada and tried to escape, but Naruto used the new speed granted to him by the Nine-Tails to stop him. Naruto was so fast, in fact, that his foot got stuck in a wall, allowing Kisame to continue his bid for freedom.

As soon as he exited the Falls of Truth he ran into and was attacked by Might Guy, who believed Kisame was his inner self. Although Guy realised Kisame was not his inner self, he still didn't remember him, instead believing him to be a blowfish. Samehada abandoned Kisame and returned to Killer B. Kisame stole some chakra from the both of them to revitalise him after being within Samehada for so long. Aoba Yamashiro tried to neutralise him with Secret Technique: Stone Needles, but this only enabled Kisame to absorb his chakra as well. Kisame then swam away and tried to make it off the island, and when he reached the shoreline, Kisame summoned a shark and gave it a scroll filled with the information he had gathered.

Guy tracked him down and, seeing what Kisame was doing, tried to stop the shark. Kisame then used Water Release: Thousand Feeding Sharks to conceal it and overwhelm Guy. When Guy's Morning Peacock couldn't destroy all of the sharks, he opened the seventh chakra gate, blocking the sharks' route. To get rid of Guy, Kisame used Water Release: Great Shark Bullet Technique, and Guy countered with his Daytime Tiger. Although the Great Shark Bullet grows stronger when used against chakra-based attacks, Daytime Tiger was composed of "youthful" air pressure. It overpowered and defeated Kisame, as well as destroyed all of the remaining sharks.

Though defeated, Kisame was annoyed that Guy still could not remember him and tried to continue fighting, but was knocked unconscious by Guy. Yamato restrained Kisame to allow Aoba to read his mind in order to gather intelligence on Akatsuki. When Aoba came across memories of Tobi's face and his promises of ending the "world of lies", Kisame bit his own tongue to force himself awake and broke free of his restraints. The Kumo and Konoha-nin tried to subdue him, but Kisame trapped himself with the Water Prison Technique.

Before he was completely immobilised, he summoned three sharks and allowed them to devour him. Within his final moments he remembered his first meeting with Itachi and realised that he was not as terrible as he once thought, as he was willing to give his life to protect the cause he believed in and died with a smile on his face. This act of conviction caused Guy to gain new respect for his adversary and vowed to always remember him. He and the others then attempted to read the scroll that Kisame tried so hard to send, but found that it was booby-trapped; they were each caught in a Water Prison with a shark. Another shark took the scroll and swam away with it, which eventually found its way to Zetsu.

Legacy
Due to Kisame's efforts, the entire force of the Allied Shinobi Forces and its organisation were revealed to Akatsuki, along with Killer B and Naruto Uzumaki's location, allowing Kabuto Yakushi to chase after them. In addition, this information allowed Tobi to create a strategy to draw the jinchūriki out of hiding which included forcing the Allied Shinobi Forces to use Naruto's new ability to sense negative emotions to take out the transformed white Zetsu clones who were wreaking havoc during the night.

Trivia

 * means "demon shark", and means "dried persimmon"; like all members of the Seven Ninja Swordsmen, his surname is derived from a type of produce.
 * Kisame's birth date, March 18th, makes his Western astrological sign Pisces, or fish.
 * Kishimoto first intended to make Akatsuki's members monsters with almost no human traits. Zetsu, Kisame and Kakuzu (and, to a lesser extent, Deidara and Sasori) are prime examples of this.
 * It is shown in an anime special that Kisame is insecure of his blue skin. This is portrayed when Deidara commented on how handsome his partner was, and how that must make him popular with women. Kisame sulked, and replied with, "After all, I'm strangely coloured".
 * Kisame has been impersonated twice in battle, first by a shapeshifted Mukade against Team Guy and later by one of Zetsu's clones against Killer B and A.
 * According to the databook(s):
 * Kisame's hobby was taking care of his sword, Samehada.
 * Kisame wished to fight anyone.
 * Kisame's favourite foods were shrimp and crab, while his least favourite, predictably, was shark fin soup.
 * Kisame had completed 332 official missions in total: 3 D-rank, 68 C-rank, 154 B-rank, 78 A-rank, 29 S-rank.
 * Kisame's favourite phrase was ; this is a Japanese idiom for survival of the fittest.

Quotes

 * (To Asuma) "My massive blade Samehada, doesn't slice… It shreds you to ribbons!"
 * (To Killer B) "I get stronger in direct proportion to how strong my opponent is. I do not tire, and cannot be defeated."
 * (To Yagura) "I knew that from the first time I had to kill my comrades… Kill a Kiri ninja as a Kiri ninja. What does that make me? Am I a friend or foe? What is my purpose and my position? Where do I go? Where can I go? I'm well aware that my entire life has been one giant lie."
 * (To Itachi) "Sharks start out as eggs, but incubate and hatch in the womb. Sometimes the number of pups is less than the number of eggs that were fertilised. Do you know why? Cannibalism. The pups start eating each other within the mother's womb the moment they hatch. They start killing their siblings the moment they enter the world, viewing everything they see as nothing more than prey. As of today you and I are fellow members of Akatsuki. So be careful… of me."
 * (Last words) "Itachi… It seems that in the end… I'm not so terrible after all."