Clang! Clang! Clang!
With several dull impacts, the iron weight at the end of Hanzo's chain avoided the sharp edges of the incoming shuriken and struck them from the side, knocking them all away.
But in that brief delay, the Baku had already opened its massive jaws.
A terrifying suction force erupted from its mouth, devouring everything in its surroundings.
The purple poison mist in the air surged toward it like a reversing river, all being drawn inside.
That same force pulled at Hanzo's body, dragging him forward.
"Wind Release: Vacuum Wave!"
At that moment, a figure appeared behind Hanzo and exhaled a sharp, blade-like gust of wind—like a weasel's slicing claw—straight toward him.
Boom!
The powerful wind blast struck Hanzo, blowing his body apart into splashing water.
"A Water Clone?"
Danzō frowned slightly. His gaze quickly shifted in another direction as he formed hand seals.
"Wind Release: Vacuum Bullets!"
He fired rapid bursts of compressed wind from his mouth like a machine gun, each shot infused with Wind Release chakra.
"Water Release: Water Formation Wall!"
The Vacuum Bullets came in relentless waves, covering a wide area and making evasion difficult. Hanzo was forced to defend.
Wind slammed into water, sending sprays in every direction.
Danzō's mastery of Wind Release—and the nature transformation of wind chakra—was exceptional, far beyond that of ordinary jōnin.
If not for Hanzo's equally formidable Water Release, blocking this attack would have been difficult.
Hanzo used the Body Flicker Technique to pass through the water curtain, his sickle slicing forward with fierce momentum toward Danzō's face.
Danzō's expression didn't change. He swiftly drew his sword and blocked the strike.
The two crossed paths, separated, and turned to face each other again.
Hanzo narrowed his eyes.
Danzō's arms were intact. There was no sign of poisoning.
Izanagi…
Hanzo's gaze shifted to the eye concealed beneath Danzō's bandages.
At this point, Danzō had not yet implanted the arm filled with Sharingan. The only possibility was the eye hidden beneath those wrappings.
Which meant—
He could only use Izanagi once.
And its duration was about one minute.
Judging the timing, Danzō was likely still within that window.
Realizing this, Hanzo immediately changed tactics and charged toward the remaining Root shinobi.
After the Explosive Flame Formation and the poison mist, over half of Root's elite had already been wiped out.
And after Hanzo's rampage within the toxic fog, only a handful remained.
Worse—they were all suffering from varying degrees of poisoning.
Now was the best time to eliminate them.
Only by doing so could he deal with Danzō properly.
"Damn it!"
Danzō saw through his intention and rushed after him.
Though his face remained expressionless, his heart was already burning with rage.
That had been a Mangekyō Sharingan!
An eye he had painstakingly obtained from his former comrade, Uchiha Kagami.
And now—it had been wasted without even using its true power.
His anger was immeasurable.
The deaths of his Root elites made it even worse.
This was the foundation he had built over decades—his most loyal and powerful force.
Now it was being torn apart.
And Hanzo was about to kill the rest—right in front of him.
How could he accept that?
More importantly—
Danzō knew that alone, he was no match for Hanzo.
If all the Root shinobi died here, he would be next.
No matter what, he had to stall until the poison in this area dissipated.
"Wind Release: Vacuum Serial Waves!"
Danzō formed hand seals and unleashed multiple slicing gusts, sweeping across Hanzo's position.
Hanzo's Body Flicker was too fast—Danzō couldn't keep up.
So he resorted to wide-range attacks to slow him down.
But—
This was exactly what Hanzo had been waiting for.
In an instant, Hanzo shifted to the side of the attack, pulled down his mask, and formed hand seals.
"Fire Release: Great Flame Bullet!"
Though best known for Water Release, Hanzo was also highly proficient in Fire Release.
And among the five nature transformations—
Fire counters Wind.
Wind feeds fire. Fire grows stronger with wind.
When two equal-level techniques clash, Wind doesn't suppress Fire—it amplifies it.
And that was exactly what happened.
Hanzo's flames merged with Danzō's wind, instantly expanding into a roaring inferno.
Its target—
The Baku.
Compared to the remaining Root shinobi, the Baku was the greater threat.
Its suction nullified Ibuse's poison mist—removing Hanzo's greatest advantage.
Once it was gone, the battlefield would once again belong to poison.
"ROOOAR!!"
The suction only accelerated the flames.
Within moments, the fire engulfed the Baku, causing it to howl in pain.
Unable to continue, it vanished.
"Damn it! Wind Release: Vacuum Blade!"
Realizing the trap, Danzō infused wind chakra into his sword, forming a cutting edge of compressed air.
He swung—
A massive wind blade shot forward, slicing across the battlefield.
Hanzo tilted his body slightly.
The blade passed by with barely a hair's breadth to spare, carving a smooth trench into the ground.
Danzō pressed forward again.
Hanzo tore off his cracked mask and tossed it aside, charging to meet him.
At this point, the poison had already spread everywhere—there was no need to worry about restraint.
Their figures crossed.
Though Danzō blocked the sickle, the iron weight behind it slammed into his chest.
Thud!
He staggered back several steps.
At least two ribs were broken.
In terms of taijutsu and weapon combat, Danzō was no match for Hanzo.
Hanzo moved to press the advantage—
But several figures rushed in, restraining him.
The surviving Root shinobi.
They had temporarily suppressed the poison with antidotes.
Though Ibuse's toxin was deadly, it was biologically produced and relatively uniform—many villages, including Konoha, had developed countermeasures.
"Jōnin-level stay with me! The rest—kill that beast!"
Danzō issued orders quickly.
The antidote wasn't absolute.
Once toxin levels accumulated beyond a point, it would fail.
It was simple—
One dose couldn't neutralize five doses.
Quantitative change led to qualitative change.
And Ibuse needed about five minutes between poison releases.
They had to kill it before then.
The encirclement shrank to just three jōnin assisting Danzō.
It made his heart ache.
Jōnin were the backbone of any village.
Root had fewer than thirty.
Now—
Only three remained.
"Watch his poison! Don't get cut by that sickle!"
Danzō warned as he rejoined the fight.
Hanzo's poison was far more complex than Ibuse's—no standard antidote could counter it.
Danzō knew this firsthand.
"Water Release: Water Shockwave!"
With three jōnin restraining him, even Hanzo began to take minor wounds.
Nothing critical—
But enough to show the pressure he was under.
He unleashed a surging wave, forcing Danzō to retreat.
In that instant—
Hanzo vanished.
A flash—
One jōnin was cut clean in half.
The chain followed—
The iron weight smashed another's skull mid-motion.
Two kills in an instant.
But the price—
The last jōnin drove a lightning-infused kunai straight through Hanzo's shoulder.
"AAAGH!!"
A scream echoed.
The jōnin who struck him was splashed with Hanzo's blood—
His body began to corrode, eaten away by deadly toxins.
Hanzo himself was a living poison.
Even he had to be wary of his own blood.
With a kick, Hanzo sent the corpse flying—
Then raised his sickle to block Danzō's incoming blade.
The battle had reached its peak.
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