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Kisame Hoshigaki is widely regarded as one of the best villains in Naruto for his compelling characterization and effective fighting style. A member of the Akatsuki organization, Kisame became famous as “The Tailed Beast Without a Tail” for his immense chakra reserves. He wielded Samehada, a sentient sword capable of absorbing the opponent’s chakra, while performing powerful Water Release techniques to dominate the battlefield.
However, not even Kisame could win against Might Guy, who inflicted a crushing defeat on him. The Hidden Leaf jonin beat and captured Kisame, taking the Akatsuki member alive for later interrogation. As the Leaf ninjas were using a technique to read his mind, Kisame killed himself to prevent them from learning valuable information about the Akatsuki.
Although Kisame was a merciless and cold-blooded nukenin, his sense of honor was praiseworthy, especially as he maintained it to the very end. If steadfastness is one of Kisame’s hallmarks, another is his signature shark-like features. The Naruto series has never explained why Kisame looks like a shark, and the fact that he also has a shark-based moveset that includes a full-fledged shark transformation has led many fans to assume that these features may be related to some sort of Shark Sage Mode.
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Kisame's shark features in Naruto have always been controversial
What is Sage Mode in Naruto? A brief overview
Sage Mode is an empowered state that Naruto characters can enter by absorbing natural energy, subsequently blending it with their chakra to generate senjutsu chakra. This new chakra dramatically increases the durability, stamina, reflexes, perception, speed, physical strength, and power output of its users, while also allowing them to perform new unique techniques.
Natural energy vitalizes the bodies of Sage Mode users, who can thereby sense any incoming threat flawlessly thanks to a heightened sense of danger. Their quickness and muscle strength also skyrocket, and so do the force of their ninjutsu, taijutsu, and genjutsu. That said, learning to gather and balance natural energy isn’t easy, and it’s a process that presents precise requirements to begin with.
This includes possessing chakra reserves large enough to balance the natural energy, as well as having a body strong enough to withstand it. To this day, there are only two confirmed Sage Mode variants, the “frog” Sage Mode (learning place: Mount Myoboku) and the “snake” Sage Mode (learning place: Ryuchi Cave).
Sage Mode masters who trained at Mount Myoboku, like Naruto Uzumaki, can manipulate natural energy to increase the reach of their physical attacks by creating an invisible coating around their bodies.
Meanwhile, Sage Mode masters who trained at Ryuchi Cave, such as Kabuto Yakushi, can use natural energy to breathe life into inorganic substances, taking control of the surroundings.
Certain Sage Mode users weren’t able to perfect the balancing process, which is why their appearance took on several animal-like features whenever they entered Sage Mode. For example, when using Sage Mode, Jiraiya acquired toad-like eyes and nose, as well as sharp teeth, webbed feet, and a hunched posture generally resembling that of a toad.
This led many Naruto fans to believe that Kisame’s shark-like features were a result of him being a Sage Mode user who never learned how to perfectly balance natural energy with his own chakra. However, a shark-related Sage Mode was never mentioned in the series.
Kisame looked like a shark, and Naruto never revealed why
While the exact reason for this unusual appearance was never revealed, Kisame objectively looked like a shark. The character evidently had animal-like features like blueish skin, sharp triangular teeth, gills on his shoulders, as well as small, round eyes with curved facial markings under them.
It must be noted that these features were a permanent part of Kisame’s body. However, Kisame could become even more shark-like in appearance by merging himself with his sword Samehada. When Kisame activated this form, his hands would become webbed and he would also grow fins from his arms and a tail from his back.
Admittedly, Kisame looked like someone who was using Sage Mode, and his fusion with Samehada only gave further fuel to this assumption. It’s easy to liken Kisame’s situation to Jiraiya’s, especially as Kisame’s fusion with Samehada is very reminiscent of Jiraiya’s Sage Art: Amphibian Jutsu.
Jiraiya used this technique to fuse with Fukasaku and Shima, so that they would gather natural energy for him, allowing the former to enter Sage Mode. Based on this, the idea would be that Kisame came from a clan of people who were born with the innate ability to absorb natural energy, much like Juugo’s clan.
While neither Kisame nor any of the other Hoshigaki were ever able to truly learn how to use Sage Mode, they allegedly used the natural energy to increase their own chakra reserves. This would not only explain Kisame’s shark-like appearance but also why he possessed so much chakra.
Also, just like Jiraiya had many techniques based on toads, shark imagery was omnipresent in Kisame's character, even regardless of his appearance.
The name of his sword Samehada literally meant "shark skin", and most of his techniques were shark-oriented. He could form aggressive sharks out of the water by casting the Water Shark Bullet Jutsu. He could also raise the number of sharks to create a giant water wave and overwhelm the enemy with Water Release: A Thousand Hungry Sharks.
After fusing with Samehada, he could trap his enemies in water with Water Prison Shark Dance Jutsu. Even Kisame's absolute strongest technique, the Water Release: Super Shark Bomb Jutsu, involved him conjuring a gigantic shark out of water.
A fascinating but otherwise untrue fan theory
While certainly fascinating, this theory probably doesn’t correspond to reality. First of all, if a “shark” Sage Mode existed, it’s hard to believe that Naruto author Masashi Kishimoto never mentioned it, neither in the manga nor in the franchise’s databooks. Moreover, if Kisame’s animal-like traits are caused by an imperfect Sage Mode, this means that he was constantly in that state, as those features were permanent.
No matter how much chakra Kisame possessed, that seems hardly believable. Sage Mode consumes a lot of stamina, to the point where even characters with unreal chakra reserves, such as Naruto Uzumaki and Hashirama Senju, usually keep it active only for a relatively short amount of time.
In all likelihood, Kisame’s shark-like features are a result of Masashi Kishimoto’s original intent to make the Akatsuki an organization made up of monsters with almost no human characteristics. While the Naruto story took a clearly different direction, many Akatsuki members actually have monstrous features, such as Kakuzu having a creepy body, Deidara having mouths on his hands, Sasori being a human puppet, and so on.
In fact, except for Konan and Itachi Uchiha, all Akatsuki members have strange bodies, which makes Kisame hardly unique within the organization. Granted, unlike every other Akatsuki member, the reason for Kisame’s abnormal body was never revealed, but the lack of information is still not enough to corroborate the Sage Mode theory, which is otherwise devoid of confirmation or even any actual concrete basis.
In fact, a large part of the theory is based on the assumption that Samehada is what allows Kisame to use natural energy, causing the permanent shark-like features which escalate into the full shark transformation when Kisame merges with the sword. Essentially, Samehada would act as a catalyst for Kisame.
The issue is that Kisame looked like a shark even before obtaining Samehada. Kisame only acquired the sword after stealing its previous owner Fuguki Suikazan, and in both the Naruto manga and the anime adaptation it’s easy to see that Kisame already had his shark features before killing Fuguki.
The signature blueish skin, small eyes, gills, and anything else were already present before Kisame got Samehada, which objectively disproves the aforementioned theory. With this in mind, it’s entirely possible that Kisame was born with those traits, or got them after being subjected to some bodily modification during his time as a young Hidden Mist ninja.
In any case, Kisame remains a charismatic villain whom fans remember as one of the strongest and most loyal members of Akatsuki. Disillusioned with the ninja world, which he believed to be filled with lies, Kisame found a new purpose in life after meeting Obito Uchiha, who – posing as Madara Uchiha – told him about the Eye of the Moon Plan.
Enticed by the promise of a “truthful world”, Kisame joined the Akatsuki, unaware that Madara’s plan and everything surrounding it was just another lie. He served the organization faithfully for years and even gave his life trying to help it achieve what he believed was its goal.
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