Featured Naruto Character: Kisame Hoshigaki

Kisame Hoshigaki is a missing-nin from Kirigakure and was partnered with Itachi Uchiha within Akatsuki. Kisame is a former member of Kirigakure's Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist, an ever-changing group of ninja that wield particularly large weapons in battle. Kisame later joins Akatsuki and was partnered with Itachi Uchiha. Pain states that his reason for joining Akatsuki is "Spite".

Kisame is a very tall and strong shinobi with a distinctive shark-like appearance, complete with pale blue skin, small white eyes, gill-like facial structures, and sharp triangular teeth. Even his name, Kisame , means "Demon Shark". Kisame also wears a dark purple nail color, like Itachi.

Kisame is said to be the strongest of the Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist. He has been seen displaying astonishing speed and incredible physical strength. At one point Gai battled a clone of Kisame's with 30% chakra-supply, and Gai was forced to open his Sixth chakra gate in order to survive.

Kisame's weapon is called Samehada, a sentient, scale-covered sword that shaves skin instead of cutting it. Samehada is also capable of absorbing chakra, but requires Kisame's own chakra to perform such feat. Only Kisame is allowed to wield Samehada; if anyone besides him tries to pick it up, spikes protrude from its handle and it returns to Kisame's side.

Kisame has the largest chakra reserve in all of Akatsuki (according to Pain). Karin, upon sensing Kisame, states she has never seen so much chakra in one place. Even when he fights at 30% power in one instance his chakra supply is compared to that of a Nine-Tailed Demon Fox-enhanced Naruto Uzumaki during the Chunin Exams.

Kisame's shark-like attributes carry over into his battles, for he even shapes his water release attacks into sharks. He is also able to alter the entire battlefield by using his Water Release: Exploding Water Colliding Wave to create a lake's worth of water to give him the field advantage and to use for attacks.