"Wait—he's actually coming toward us? Could this be a smokescreen?"
"Don't tell me Tsunade and that Gojo kid got exposed? They still haven't come back—something didn't happen to them, right?!"
At the command center of the Land of Fire border base, Orochimaru and the others received the news immediately as well.
Since the beginning of the year, Hanzō of the Salamander had been the brightest spotlight in the shinobi world. Every move he made wasn't just watched by the three neighboring great nations—there were likely also large numbers of informants from the faraway Land of Lightning, and even from the Land of Water off the continent, all monitoring this region's situation.
If even burrowing couldn't shake the scouts and Anbu of the great nations, then this kind of blatant, high-profile movement was even more impossible to hide.
Orochimaru and Danzō's first reaction—just like Chiyo's and Ōnoki's—was that Hanzō was setting up a smokescreen.
After all, the ones who attacked and slaughtered his village were from the Land of Earth. How could he not seek revenge on them, and instead provoke the strongest nation and village in the shinobi world?
Jiraiya, meanwhile, was worried about Tsunade and Gojo Yoru's safety.
Seeing how anxious he looked, Orochimaru frowned and comforted him, "Don't panic. At worst they've only been exposed. If something truly happened, the one coming wouldn't be Hanzō."
"They haven't returned yet because something probably delayed them."
Orochimaru—who knew exactly what card Yoru was hiding—was the calmest person present.
Even a monster like Phantom Rain Tokiya died to the first sight of Dimensional Slash.
In all of Amegakure, the only person who could truly pressure Gojo Yoru was Hanzō.
And a cautious person like Yoru would never arrogantly challenge the 'demigod' head-on.
If Hanzō really cornered him, Yoru would sooner die taking Hanzō down with him.
Since Hanzō himself was fine and still traveling this way, they must be safe.
Jiraiya found that logic convincing and relaxed a little.
"Whether they were exposed or not, whether they're in trouble or not, and whether Hanzō's move is a smokescreen—we still must prepare," Danzō said coldly. "My proposal is the same as Sunagakure's approach: disperse the combat forces completely. Leave only a few sensing teams and barrier teams, plus a Wind Release team capable of blowing away poison mist, and keep one or two commanders here at the border base."
"If Hanzō truly comes to declare war and our anti-poison measures begin to fail, we abandon the base and pull back to protect the nearest towns."
"And if Hanzō dares push deeper, we seize the opportunity to attack the Land of Rain and Amegakure—trade him a piece for a piece."
This was the tactic Sunagakure had developed—the best available response.
Orochimaru and the others couldn't think of anything better.
"Orochimaru, you all take the combat forces and leave. I'll stay and hold the base alone," Jiraiya volunteered.
"I'll stay with you," Orochimaru said.
He wasn't the kind of man who would abandon a comrade—though he also wouldn't admit he didn't fully trust Jiraiya to handle it alone.
"No. You can't stay," Jiraiya said sharply, giving his reason. "Just like you said: if Tsunade and the Gojo kid are delayed by something, when they return they'll teleport the same way they came—appearing beside you."
"If Hanzō really targets us, and we're fighting him when Tsunade and the kid suddenly blink back… what then?"
"That's simple."
Orochimaru pulled out a Flying Thunder God kunai from his tool pouch and said to Hatake Sakumo, "Sakumo-senpai, please swap Flying Thunder God kunai with me."
Sakumo didn't accept immediately. He volunteered as well. "Then let me stay. My Lightning Release, combined with the Wind team's wind, will make it hard for Hanzō to poison me."
"No," Orochimaru shook his head. "You and Danzō-sama aren't suited to stay here. You have more important work."
His gaze darkened. "If we really clash with Hanzō, the Land of Earth and the Land of Wind may use the opportunity to hit us."
"Normally, with this base as a command center, our combat units can respond in time."
"But now that both combat and support forces are forced to disperse, it becomes the perfect opening. If Ōnoki's true target is us, he will absolutely not miss this chance."
"And the Land of Wind has spent who knows how much extra military budget just to deal with Hanzō—they won't simply swallow it. Until now they've been forced to defend because we and the Land of Earth weren't officially in the war, so they had no opening."
"If we get tied down by Hanzō and the Land of Earth, do you think the Land of Wind will choose to take revenge on the Land of Rain… or seize the chaos to bite off a chunk of us?"
After hearing Orochimaru's analysis, both Sakumo and Danzō turned grave.
"I understand," Sakumo said.
He stopped hesitating, swapped Flying Thunder God kunai with Orochimaru, and added, "I'll take a squad specialized in nintaijutsu and swordsmanship and move toward the buffer region near the Land of Rivers."
"And I'll take a squad good at sensing and Lightning Release and move toward the Land of Grass," Danzō echoed.
"Then move," Orochimaru said. "Leave reporting and coordination to Jiraiya and me."
In that moment, Orochimaru felt more like the command center's supreme commander.
In him, Danzō saw not only Sarutobi Hiruzen's shadow—he even saw Tobirama-sensei's.
So—compared to Hatake Sakumo, Orochimaru was truly his greatest rival.
Danzō's wariness deepened.
It even birthed a dark thought:
If Tsunade and Gojo Yoru really got into trouble, how great would that be?
Then he could pin all the blame on Hiruzen and Orochimaru.
When the war ended, he would have cause to impeach that teacher-and-student pair and pressure Hiruzen to step down.
Without Orochimaru—the greatest rival—only Hatake Sakumo would remain to compete for the Hokage seat.
And Danzō had more than one way to defeat that rival easily.
No one knew Danzō's thoughts.
As orders went out, the border base's combat forces moved at once, splitting rapidly into three groups.
One followed Hatake Sakumo, quietly moving toward the Land of Rivers.
One followed Shimura Danzō, moving toward the Land of Grass.
The last group lay in ambush near the border between the Land of Rain and the Land of Fire, awaiting orders—either to strike the enemy or to withdraw and reinforce.
The enormous border base was left with only Orochimaru and Jiraiya—two elite jōnin—plus a few sensing teams and barrier teams, and a Wind Release team supporting them.
Since the sensing and barrier teams weren't expected to fight directly, they wore not only gas masks but full protective suits.
Only with that could they best resist the salamander poison mist.
The Wind Release team, which needed to cast jutsu, wore only gas masks and goggles.
That was Hanzō's strategic deterrence.
Without antidote, you couldn't use human-wave tactics against him—doing so was pure suicide.
Even with antidote, you only bought five minutes. If you couldn't drive Hanzō back or kill him in that time, once the salamander refilled its poison, you needed antidote again.
To buy more time, you needed not only antidote, but gas masks, goggles, even protective suits—all enormous additional costs.
Fighting Hanzō was burning money.
A prolonged war was draining national strength.
That was why no one in this world dared provoke him—and why he was called the shinobi demigod.
Because the last man with the greatest strategic deterrence—who could fight a nation alone, and whom even all nations united couldn't defeat—was the so-called God of Shinobi:
The First Hokage, Senju Hashirama.
From Amegakure to the western border of the Land of Fire, Hanzō took several hours.
As one of the best Body Flicker users in the shinobi world, if he went at full speed, he could enter the Land of Fire from the Land of Rain in a little over an hour.
The reason it took hours was simple: he was still human. A kunai to a vital point could kill him. An explosive tag could kill him.
The scouts and Anbu of various nations were always watching Amegakure in shifts. Even if they couldn't confirm whether Hanzō was the real body, if he used water-movement to blend into the rain or tried to burrow underground, they would still detect him.
And shadow clones couldn't last long.
Once Orochimaru confirmed Hanzō was real, he naturally wouldn't let Hanzō stroll into the border base like he was coming home.
The combat forces couldn't fight him head-on, but they could set traps along his likely path.
The Byakugan's long-range sight and penetration were their greatest advantage.
Unlike Sunagakure, which lacked powerful sensory clans, Konoha's preplanned traps truly caused Hanzō real trouble, forcing some chakra expenditure.
But with soldier pills, he could recover that cost while traveling—he just lost time.
At first, when he triggered those probing traps, Hanzō didn't use the shinobi world's common hand signs to signal goodwill or explain his intent to the scouts and Anbu watching him from miles away or via summons and animals.
Which made his hostile intent obvious—he might as well have a big "enemy" label slapped on him.
So the farther he went, the more traps he triggered.
When night fell, Hanzō finally reached the rocky region still belonging to the Land of Rain—the outer edge of the Land of Fire's western border. Ahead lay the Land of Fire's unique forests.
A landscape completely different from Rain Country—like two separate worlds.
On the Rain side: barren rock, pitted ground, light rain still falling, clouds and rain curtains hiding the stars.
On the Fire side: dense forests, a sky full of stars, and a bright full moon.
Standing atop a rock like a false mountain, Hanzō could even, from far away, see a tower-like structure rising from the forest.
That was the Land of Fire's western border base.
Crossing the forest would be the final obstacle.
The traps there would be countless times worse, and his every movement might be caught by invisible sensory barriers.
To Hanzō, none of that mattered.
He vanished from the rock peak and shot toward the forest.
BOOM—
Unluckily, he triggered another explosive tag trap. A mushroom cloud several meters high rose, with projectiles shooting out from inside.
From a puddle at some distance, water suddenly rose against gravity and condensed into Hanzō's shape.
Water Body Flicker!
One of Hanzō's signature techniques—and a basic extension skill every Rain ninja was required to master.
When struck, the user instantly liquefies and collapses into water, then reconstructs in another water source—combining instant relocation and escape.
In a country of year-round rain, this was a god-tier technique.
It was also why Hanzō could lay explosive flame arrays all over Rain Country.
Rain ninja who mastered Water Body Flicker weren't truly afraid of explosive traps if they stayed alert.
Such traps at most consumed their chakra.
Konoha ninja seemed to know that too: their traps used fewer explosive tags and relied more on projectiles.
But Hanzō's movement was too fast—before the tag even detonated, he was already outside the projectile range.
After reconstructing, he continued sprinting toward the border base.
Ssssss—
Passing a rock, Hanzō suddenly heard the hiss of snakes.
He didn't even look toward the sound—instinctively drawing his blade, coating it with nature transformation, and slashing wildly in that direction.
Shhk-shhk-shhk—CLANG!
First came a series of cloth-ripping sounds, then a huge metallic crash exploded across the rocks.
More than a dozen snakes burst out from inside the rock, trying to bite and coil around Hanzō—only to be cut down.
Then a figure rose from the rock and flicked a wind blade with his free hand—also blocked by Hanzō's sword.
The gust from the wind blade scattered the rain curtain, and the sharp pressure hidden within it was like countless invisible blades, forcing both men to leap backward and land on a rock several meters high, facing each other.
Seeing Orochimaru wearing a gas mask and goggles, Hanzō mocked, "Your Rock Concealment and earth-movement are so good that if I didn't know better, I'd think you were Ōnoki's student."
"If it works, it works," Orochimaru replied with an easy smile. "Even a strong man like you still relies on poison and explosive tags, doesn't he?"
"Is it just you?" Hanzō asked, though he clearly already knew. His hand inside his sleeve was ready to form seals.
"And me!" Jiraiya roared in a loud, heroic voice—nothing like Orochimaru's silent assassination style. "Ninja Art: Wild Lion's Mane!"
Countless white strands shot up from the ground, each as hard as steel. Their penetrating force smashed the rock beneath Hanzō like a net from below, trying to bind him.
Hanzō leapt again, forming seals—but instead of summoning his partner, he used Water Release.
Because the white-haired man below was already releasing a pre-charged technique.
"Fire Release: Flame Bullet!"
"Water Release: Water Formation Wall!"
Jiraiya on the ground and Hanzō in the air both spewed massive fire and water spheres like falling meteors.
They collided with a thunderous explosion, generating a huge cloud of scalding steam that swallowed the white hair strands.
Even though it was only B-rank, the heat wave created by powerful nature-transformation fire and water didn't destroy the iron-hard hair.
Instead, the steam cloud covered the hair like camouflage, letting it shoot toward Hanzō like a storm of arrows.
Hanzō had failed to use Water Body Flicker in time earlier, and now he was in midair with no flight ability. His one chance to act had been spent on Water Release and the collision.
He couldn't dodge.
Jiraiya couldn't help smiling—already imagining the "demigod" being killed or bound.
Shhk!
The sound of a weapon piercing flesh came from inside the steam.
Before Jiraiya's grin could widen, a pop—like a balloon bursting—followed.
A figure shot out before the steam could fully spread.
It was Hanzō, escaping through a shadow clone.
The moment he landed, Hanzō sensed something wrong.
His feet had sunk into a swamp.
The ground around him had transformed from solid rock into mud in an instant.
"ROAR—!"
With a terrifying roar, an earth dragon surged up from the swamp, jaws wide, trying to swallow Hanzō whole.
But Hanzō was the demigod for more than just strategic deterrence—his ninjutsu, taijutsu, and genjutsu were also at the pinnacle.
Otherwise, the one called demigod would be the salamander, not Hanzō.
The combo was fast. Hanzō's reaction was faster.
He formed seals with one hand—only four hand signs—then spoke the technique.
"Water Release: Water Dragon Bullet!"
Rain and moisture from the air gathered, forming even faster than the earth dragon. A massive water dragon collided with it.
Using the opening, Hanzō used Water Body Flicker to escape the swamp easily.
"Damn it! I finally coordinated tactics with you for once, and he neutralized it that easily," Jiraiya complained.
"Normal," Orochimaru replied. "If we could do it, Suna wouldn't be in such a bad spot."
When Hanzō landed atop another rock, the face-to-face standoff returned.
Looking at Orochimaru and Jiraiya—both wearing gas masks and goggles—Hanzō's eyes showed a flicker of admiration and regret.
Amegakure might not produce a successor like them in ten years.
A Five Great Village could produce one in a few years—sometimes several.
That was the gap between small nations and great nations.
If he had juniors like this, he wouldn't be fighting alone, nor would he fear sharing the salamander's contract scroll.
Remembering why he declared war in the first place, Hanzō quickly steadied his thoughts.
Wasn't he challenging the great nations precisely to break the reality where small countries are only oppressed and can't produce talent in abundance?
So Hanzō spoke first. "Is it only you two? Where are Princess Tsunade and that Flying Thunder God user?"
Orochimaru and Jiraiya's hearts tightened.
So they were exposed after all.
At the same time, they felt relieved.
If Hanzō was asking this, it meant Tsunade and Yoru had escaped. Their delay must truly have been due to something else.
Orochimaru, ever eloquent, deliberately ignored the question and tried to dissuade him instead, saying, "Hanzo-sama, I don't know what you intend, but Konoha has no desire to join the war. We blocked you only out of necessity. Please don't cross the line."
"Hmph. So you dare act but not admit it?" Hanzō sneered. "I crossed the line—what can you do about it?"
"Then we can only—"
Orochimaru subtly signaled Jiraiya to retreat, about to say the final word: "run."
In the next second, two figures appeared out of thin air beside Orochimaru with no warning.
Seeing them, Orochimaru's eyes lit up. He instantly overturned his original battle plan and told Hanzō, "Let us experience the strength of the shinobi demigod."
Jiraiya beamed. "Tsunade! Gojo kid! Great—you're fine!"
That line was like lighting a fuse. Tsunade roared back, "Nonsense! Who do you think I am—how could I be in trouble?!"
Jiraiya was stunned, scolded out of nowhere.
Looking closely, you'd see Tsunade also wore a gas mask and goggles.
So did Gojo Yoru.
"Orochimaru-sensei, Jiraiya-sama—this is the antidote," Yoru said, handing two tubes to Orochimaru and Jiraiya.
Orochimaru's eyes lit up again. "You got it?"
"Not sure," Tsunade answered. "We first went to Sakumo-senpai's place. We haven't checked yet."
Orochimaru glanced at Yoru—one look was enough to understand why they'd been delayed.
Crack!
Before they could say more, the ground suddenly fractured.
As if sensing something, the Konoha Sannin's expressions changed at once, and they all leapt into the air, scattering.
Yoru did the same.
"ROAR—!"
A massive salamander burst from the ground, spewing huge amounts of purple poison mist.
The mist expanded at a terrifying speed. Even if the four of them were airborne, even if they used Body Flicker on the ground, dodging would be difficult.
Because the poison wasn't aimed at them—it was expanding outward in all directions from the salamander's position.
Orochimaru formed seals while looking at Yoru, and Yoru looked back.
After nearly a year together, Yoru and Orochimaru had developed the same kind of wordless understanding that Yoru and Kushina had.
Seeing Orochimaru's first hand sign—its elemental meaning—Yoru instantly understood. He nodded at once.
Yoru vanished from the air with no warning and reappeared beside Tsunade and Jiraiya, teleporting both of them back to Orochimaru's side.
Only then did Orochimaru finish his seals and expel a stream of air.
"Wind Release—Pressure Damage!"
Unlike Wind Release: Great Breakthrough, which needed massive chakra to build power, this gust contained extremely strong nature transformation. The instant it expanded, it carried disaster-level force, blowing the poison mist apart in one shot.
The invisible blades hidden within the gale also tore open the ground, slicing apart the rocks in its path.
Because Orochimaru's target wasn't the mist—
It was the salamander.
That salamander—so hated and feared by every nation, considered even harder to deal with than tailed beasts and jinchūriki—wasn't something a single jutsu could injure.
The salamander was as cautious as its contractor. The moment it heard the wind, it burrowed underground to escape.
CLANG!
Before their feet touched down, the Konoha Sannin heard the sharp crash of metal.
Just like Orochimaru and Jiraiya's earlier coordination, while everyone's attention was pulled toward the poison mist and salamander—
Rainwater behind them suddenly condensed into Hanzō's figure, and a blade swung in.
If the poison mist had swallowed them, that strike would have been fatal—a first-encounter kill just like Flying Thunder God.
It was one of Hanzō's favorite assassination moves.
Tsunade had been "one-shot" by exactly this.
Even having suffered once already, Tsunade still couldn't react in time.
Orochimaru, focused on the salamander, couldn't either.
Only Gojo Yoru, with his sharp reflexes, and Jiraiya reacted.
Jiraiya was about to use his hair technique to protect them—
when Yoru raised something in his hand and fired a golden beam that blocked Hanzō's slash.
At the sound of impact, Tsunade finally reacted. Using Yoru as leverage, she wrapped her arms around him midair and kicked toward Hanzō.
"Don't—!"
Both Yoru and Jiraiya shouted at the same time, as if they sensed something.
Yoru grabbed Tsunade and blinked away.
Jiraiya used his hair technique to protect himself and Orochimaru.
BOOM! The failed assassination Hanzō suddenly exploded on the spot into a massive burst of flame.
It was a self-detonating clone.
The shockwave blasted the white "hedgehog" to the ground—yet still didn't break its defense, showing how insanely hard Jiraiya's hair was.
After landing, the hedgehog reverted. Yoru and Tsunade also reappeared.
Tsunade's face was slightly pale. Orochimaru said coldly, "Don't blame yourself. Shadow clones are hard to distinguish—even Byakugan can't reliably tell. It's not just you. Even I didn't react in time."
"Yeah," Jiraiya added. "That guy is the shinobi world's number one assassin. If you and the Gojo kid hadn't arrived, our original plan was to run."
Tsunade rolled her eyes. "I'm not as fragile as you think. I just got hit by the same move twice and it's a little—"
She stopped mid-sentence. Her eyes turned fierce as she warned Orochimaru and Jiraiya, "I didn't say anything just now. You didn't hear anything!"
Orochimaru turned his head away. Jiraiya looked enlightened and—under Tsunade's murderous glare—smilingly nodded over and over.
Beside them, Yoru stayed quiet, hands still in seal posture, and suddenly said, "It's coming again."
The Konoha Sannin's expressions shifted.
Orochimaru ordered, "Use Shadow Clone Technique."
All three understood instantly, creating multiple shadow clones and mixing their real bodies among them as they spread out.
Playing hide-and-seek with Hanzō while discussing tactics, Orochimaru asked, "Yoru—how's your chakra consumption?"
"No problem," Yoru answered. His smile at this moment looked incredibly confident.
Because space–time chakra carried its own high-dimensional "screening," even someone like Uzumaki Mito—with a level of Mind's Eye of Kagura—could only barely glimpse it.
At present, the only one who could instantly notice Yoru's abnormality was Katsuyu—whose split bodies were still the true body.
Without a sensor of Mito or the Three Great Sages' level, no one could detect the space–time chakra inside Yoru.
So neither the Konoha Sannin nor Hanzō noticed that beneath Yoru's clothes, near his chest, a black tattoo mark had appeared.
The blue chakra that once dominated his body was now being overtaken by black energy.
Gojo Yoru had unsealed—
the space–time Strength of a Hundred Seal.
Orochimaru suddenly threw out a question that shocked both Jiraiya and Tsunade:
"We'll cover you. Do you have confidence you can kill Hanzō… or that salamander?"
Jiraiya's eyes widened in disbelief.
If he didn't know Orochimaru never bragged and never did things without confidence, he would've thought his friend had hit his head.
Sunagakure, one of the Five Great Villages, and even Konoha's combat forces—had to avoid Hanzō.
The three of them, elite jōnin, nearly got played to death—yet Orochimaru was asking a genin whether he could kill the shinobi demigod or his summon?
Was Flying Thunder God really that strong?
Jiraiya suddenly thought of Minato. That student's Body Flicker speed was also ridiculous, and his reflexes were abnormal—sometimes even Jiraiya couldn't keep up.
Did that kind of talent qualify to learn Flying Thunder God?
Maybe after the war he should ask Sarutobi-sensei to let Minato try it?
After Tsunade's initial shock, her gaze turned meaningful as she studied the teacher and student pair, her curiosity about Yoru spiking again.
She remembered Katsuyu's evaluation.
A "new miracle of the shinobi world"—what kind of ability was worthy of being called a miracle?
And "new"—then who was the previous miracle?
Other than her grandfather, Tsunade couldn't think of anyone more fitting.
And her grandfather had Wood Release that could pacify an age.
So… was Yoru's hidden ability Wood Release?
But his chakra level—even with Wood Release—shouldn't amount to much.
And he wasn't an Uchiha.
Besides Madara's Sharingan, what power could contend with Wood Release?
What kind of power could make a genin believe he could kill a demigod?
And from Orochimaru's expression, he seemed to know Yoru's hidden ability too.
If circumstances allowed, Tsunade would have loved to jam herself into this discussion and dig out Yoru's biggest secret.
No one knew Jiraiya and Tsunade's thoughts.
Yoru felt his space–time chakra and gave an uncertain answer: "I don't know. But I can try."
"Good—then we'll try," Orochimaru said, not pressuring him. "We'll cover you. Find an opening. If you can't kill them, then leave a Flying Thunder God mark on the salamander's body."
"Understood," Yoru nodded.
The four exchanged a look. Then the Konoha Sannin all vanished into smoke at once.
So did the shadow clones scattered elsewhere.
With the feedback flooding back into their real bodies, their eyes sharpened, and they stopped running.
"Summoning Jutsu!"
The Konoha Sannin formed seals together and summoned Manda (not yet at full power), Gamabunta, and a Katsuyu split body.
Meanwhile, Yoru sent the Thunder God Sword to Orochimaru, drew his chakra blade, used Earth Body Flicker to sink underground, and then used intangibility to hide his presence.
"—Gone."
Hanzō's attention wasn't on the Sannin's bodies. He was watching Gojo Yoru, the Flying Thunder God user, the entire time.
When he sensed Yoru dive underground and then vanish completely, alarm bells rang in his head.
Even his own sensing couldn't detect it—this wasn't ordinary Earth Body Flicker, nor the usual earth-movement combo.
This kid had an even more frightening extension technique—movement and stealth beyond Flying Thunder God.
Naturally cautious, Hanzō's instinct was to retreat.
This short clash was already enough.
Yoru had used Flying Thunder God repeatedly. The scouts and Anbu of the great nations would surely have recorded it with special means.
If Hanzō went back and spread the news that Yoru was a Flying Thunder God user, it would quickly travel across the entire shinobi world.
But if he retreated now, he'd never learn what this other ability was.
If it was powerful, then once Konoha developed an antidote formula too, he might end up in a disadvantage.
Retreat… or continue?
Hanzō's mind raced, and he made his decision.
"Partner—sorry to trouble you."
He spoke to the salamander beneath his feet.
The salamander—nearly linked to him like one mind—made a strange amphibian cry.
Then it charged toward the three summoned beasts.
The three beasts immediately lost the "grand entrance" aura they'd had.
"Jiraiya, you bastard—are you trying to get me killed?!" Gamabunta roared, drawing his short blade. "That's a salamander! You want me to fight that poison monster?"
"Aren't toads poisonous too? You're scared of poison?" Jiraiya asked, baffled.
"Is that normal poison?!" Gamabunta shouted. "Ask that stinking snake whether he's scared!"
"Hmph. I'm not some useless toad," Manda sneered. "A little salamander poison—sleep it off and it's fine."
"Tsunade-sama, I'm glad you're safe," Katsuyu said gently. "But my split body can't last much longer either."
"It's fine. We only need to stall the salamander," Tsunade replied.
Orochimaru instructed, "Manda—force it underground if you can."
"I can help," Manda demanded, "but you owe me afterward. I want meat—preferably live."
"Fine," Orochimaru agreed readily.
At that moment, the salamander rushed in and spewed a massive cloud of poison, swallowing itself and the three beasts.
It swallowed Hanzō and the Konoha Sannin too.
This time there was no dodging, and the Sannin didn't even try.
With gas masks and goggles sealing their senses, the poison wouldn't enter their bodies quickly.
So the four shinobi and four summons plunged into a chaotic melee.
A beast's movement alone shook the ground. Four giant beasts fighting turned the entire field into ruin.
Despite the "fish" in its name, the salamander was a true four-legged beast, frighteningly fast, and just as cautious as Hanzō.
After releasing poison, it didn't foolishly brawl with the three beasts—especially since that toad had a blade.
It opened a mouth big enough to swallow a beast its own size, repeatedly gulped down rocks, chewed them, and spat them out like a storm of stone bullets.
The three beasts used various methods to resist the poison temporarily.
Katsuyu spat acid-like slime to block part of the barrage.
Manda whipped his steel-like tail and shattered the stones easily.
Gamabunta leapt with his blade, dodging and counterattacking.
Manda, fastest, followed up. Katsuyu moved more slowly.
Their contractors, meanwhile, had already dropped into the poisoned ground and begun fighting.
Tsunade—taijutsu specialist—charged at the front, each punch and kick heavy, but with clear wind-up.
Hanzō, master of movement, dodged easily every time.
Just as Hatake Sakumo was a nightmare for puppet users, Hanzō's "type" was exactly what Tsunade hated facing most.
In a one-on-one, Tsunade might already be wounded again.
But with Jiraiya and Orochimaru supporting her, Tsunade didn't need to think—she could simply swing.
The Senju's vast chakra made every strike crater the earth, blasting shockwaves that even dispersed poison mist around them.
Whenever Hanzō Body Flickered away and tried to strike from the side or rear, Orochimaru's Shadow Snake Hands and Jiraiya's hair would lash in.
Whenever distance opened up, the two would instantly fire ranged ninjutsu, even combining into coordinated techniques without speaking, forcing Hanzō to dodge or counter.
This level of taijutsu, this level of ninjutsu, this level of summons and teamwork—Hanzō saw the shadow of Ino–Shika–Chō.
Those three clans made even equal-level opponents despair with secret-tech coordination, and could even challenge above their tier.
The three in front of him were even better than Ino–Shika–Chō.
And remembering that Konoha also had the earlier-famous White Fang, Hatake Sakumo, and the younger Flying Thunder God user…
Jealousy suddenly burned inside Hanzō.
The previous generation, this generation, and the next—Konoha would have standard-bearers for decades.
Amegakure had only him—an old man who'd carried it for decades.
When he grew older, when his deterrence weakened, what would happen to the Land of Rain at the junction of three great nations?
At that thought, Hanzō's gaze toward the Sannin shifted—from admiration for talented juniors to boiling killing intent.
"Water Release: Hiding in Mist Technique!"
With one hand seal, Hanzō cast Kirigakure's specialty—a D-rank Water Release—creating a thick fog infused with chakra that even Wind Release couldn't blow away.
~~~
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