Chapter 71: Mifune vs. Hanzo – The Clash of Iaijutsu
"Three Ships! Hanzo should be here. I saw Amegakure ninjas at the border of the Land of Iron—they attacked directly without any intention of talking!" Naraku said quickly upon seeing Mifune again.
"What! My lord, this time I must fight for the Land of Iron with my life. I hope you will allow it! As long as I don't die in battle, I will serve you forever!" Mifune pleaded sincerely!
Naraku suddenly burst into laughter: "Hahahaha! Hahahaha!"
Mifune looked at Naraku's Uchiha-style mad laughter with some confusion.
After finishing laughing, Naraku said to Mifune: "Mifune! Do you think I have so little tolerance in front of you? Mifune, the very reason I was willing to accept you as my subordinate is because I value your loyalty and righteousness. So don't worry—I won't refuse.
Rest assured. In my opinion, Hanzo the Salamander's invasion this time is more about deterrence. Fight him with everything you have. No matter the outcome, I will help you! I'll back you up—Hanzo the Salamander won't be able to kill you! That's my word!
Besides, the current Hanzo the Salamander isn't the kind of person who kills indiscriminately! Next, give me an identity to appear under."
Hearing Naraku's permission, Mifune was deeply moved. Naraku's confident analysis in his words also eased Mifune's slightly panicked heart. Naraku's guarantee became his solid backing. He was prepared to fight desperately for the Land of Iron this time!
He thought to himself: his lord usually hides his true strength deeply—even the little he shows makes him the strongest forger in the ninja world. Surely his real abilities are incredibly powerful!
Perhaps he, Mifune, really could face this demigod of the ninja world—Hanzo the Salamander—and emerge unscathed.
Mifune said without hesitation: "My lord, next I will tell everyone that you are the military strategist. Is that acceptable?"
Naraku hadn't expected his first time leading others would be as a military strategist. Too bad there was no feather fan—otherwise he could have experienced the whole "feather fan and silk headband" vibe.
Afterward, Naraku watched as Mifune arranged his subordinates, united allies, and gathered the army.
...
The ninja world is never short of cowards afraid of death, nor is it short of reckless daredevils.
After Mifune spread the news that Hanzo the Salamander was leading an invasion, some shrank back and dared not go forward, while hot-headed fools refused to join the alliance.
They charged in alone, hoping to achieve immortal merit.
As time passed, different samurai groups gradually merged into the large force.
But because this army was spontaneously formed, no one submitted to anyone else.
In the end, due to Mifune's widespread reputation for benevolence and righteousness, as well as his overwhelming strength, he was appointed as temporary leader.
The group of samurai had no grand tactics—just sheer numbers.
They rushed en masse toward the border. In truth, with the strength of the Land of Iron's samurai, they might have been able to fight Amegakure to a draw. But Amegakure had Hanzo—this overpowered figure.
"Hanzo the Salamander is too terrifying! Everyone is dead! Everyone was poisoned and killed!" A warrior who had lost his armor and helmet ran madly toward the crowd.
Those still on the march heard this news and felt their hearts sink.
They had underestimated the power of ninjas far too much. The hot-headed ones who charged ahead weren't the strongest samurai in the Land of Iron, but they were still above average. Yet in such a short time, almost the entire group had been wiped out. This was undeniably bad news.
Mifune saw the morale dropping and that some were preparing to flee. He spoke in a deep voice: "If we encounter Hanzo the Salamander, I am willing to fight him alone! You only need to deal with the Amegakure ninjas!"
Mifune's words soothed the crowd to some extent.
Hanzo the Salamander looked at the dense mass of samurai troops and felt a bit surprised.
According to what he knew, the samurai of the Land of Iron were basically unwilling to submit to each other—internal strife was severe. Yet now they had united.
He immediately spotted Mifune at the front and wondered what was special about this samurai.
"Are you all coming at once, or one by one?" Hanzo said contemptuously to the enemy, as if the tens of thousands in front of him were merely a swarm of ants.
In truth, for Hanzo, fodder had very little effect on him. It was just that his salamander had only recently finished spitting poison. Otherwise, summoning the salamander to spit one mouthful of poison could kill a huge swath.
So even though he had killed too fiercely and ended up isolated deep in enemy encirclement, he felt no fear at all.
The crowd, hearing Hanzo's words, didn't dare step forward. If not for the sense of safety in numbers, they probably would have fled already. In these samurai's eyes, the age of the samurai had long passed—now was the age of ninjas.
Mifune slowly stepped out of the ranks and came before Hanzo, saying: "Lord Hanzo! Let me, Mifune the samurai of the Land of Iron, fight you!"
Hanzo couldn't help but admire this man's courage. At this point in time, Hanzo had not yet become the cowardly, fear-of-death old man of decades later. A large part of why he started this war was for the stability of the Land of Rain and a bit of his own ambition.
"Then let's begin!" Although Hanzo had some words he wanted to say, the characteristic of the ninja world is this: fight first, talk reason afterward. The dead have no right to reason!
Mifune slowly drew his sword—Tōya Lake!
Hanzo saw that Mifune was holding a wooden sword and couldn't help but be a little surprised.
This also sparked discussion among part of the samurai group.
"Are you looking down on me?" Hanzo said with slight anger.
Mifune gently stroked Tōya Lake and said: "This is no ordinary wooden sword! This is my strongest weapon!"
Hanzo looked into Mifune's sincere eyes. Plus he noticed that Tōya Lake seemed to have turned black, as if coated in steel. He also assumed a stance.
Both seemed a bit hot-tempered and assumed iaijutsu stances, as if intending to decide the battle with one slash!
"Sword Technique: Iaijutsu Slash!"
"Sword Technique: Iaijutsu Slash!"
Both unleashed their respective Iaijutsu Slashes at the same moment! Hanzo's scythe was coated with deadly poison!
Their weapons collided fiercely!
As a demigod of the ninja world, Hanzo's control over chakra and swordsmanship had reached the pinnacle. His chakra volume also surpassed Mifune's.
Mifune had honed his body and swordsmanship for many years. Although his reaction and insight were inferior to Hanzo's, he compensated for this shortcoming with Observation Haki—even holding a slight advantage in that aspect.
And Mifune's Armament Haki coating made up for the chakra deficiency.
Finally came the comparison of weapons. Even though Hanzo's weapon was an excellent one attached with a great deal of chakra metal, in front of Tōya Lake—made entirely of eternal adamantine wood—it was ultimately just a little brother!
In a single instant, both moved past each other to the opponent's back.
This time Mifune did not bleed and fall. Meanwhile Hanzo looked at his trusty weapon, which had accompanied him through countless battles, now visibly deformed—and a huge question mark appeared above his head!
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