This blow nearly took half of the Salamander's life. Blood spurted from its mouth. Hanzō felt immense pain in his heart at this sight.
But he dared not make any move, as a slight lapse in concentration could instantly result in decapitation.
Although the Salamander was heavily wounded by the impact, it was not killed, and its recovery speed was relatively fast. As long as it wasn't completely dead, it would eventually recover.
Therefore, it continued to fight alongside Hanzō, but its only role was now to absorb damage for Hanzō.
The toxins and such had absolutely no effect on Torifu and the others.
After the collision, Ōnoki immediately used an Earth Style jutsu to escape underground, otherwise, he would have definitely faced the risk of being double-teamed.
"Phew, that thing's skin is so thick."
Ōnoki, having returned to his teammates' side, complained. In order to land a fatal blow on Hanzō, he had covered the rock giant with sharp earth spikes.
But hitting the Salamander felt just like hitting a rubber ball—it was incredibly resilient and couldn't be pierced at all.
Hanzō, at his full strength, couldn't possibly tolerate his beloved summoning creature being injured. After rapidly forming a hand seal, a massive Water Dragon Bullet rose from beneath his feet!
The fangs of the gigantic water dragon were as long as a person, and it roared as it struck.
Torifu did not repeat the same trick. If he froze a Water Dragon Bullet jutsu, it would immediately become an Ice Dragon Bullet, and its power would double.
He could only use other methods to block it.
Torifu curved his index finger and placed it near his mouth, pushing against it with his thumb: "Fire Style: Great Fireball Jutsu."
A Great Fireball a size larger than the water dragon was released. The scorching heat made the faces of the Kazekage and the Tsuchikage ache.
The Water Dragon Bullet, upon encountering the flame, did not immediately extinguish but collided and stalled.
However, Torifu's fireball was superior, forcing the water dragon back and causing an explosion.
The force of the blast snapped the trees within several hundred meters, and Hanzō also took the impact.
Luckily, the Salamander protected him from behind, otherwise, he would have been knocked down and tumbled several times.
"We can't drag this on any longer. Just kill him."
Torifu said indifferently. The Tsuchikage and the Kazekage naturally wanted to, but killing a powerful, veteran Kage-level ninja was easier said than done, especially one who had been enhanced.
His recovery speed and chakra had both increased significantly.
Hanzō was greatly enraged upon hearing this. "Big talk! I am currently at my peak. You won't be able to kill me that easily!"
With that, Hanzō took the initiative to attack. He felt an overflowing, inexhaustible power within his body, which also made his mind less than perfectly calm.
This surge of power changed his mental state.
The sickle in his hand spun as it flew toward Torifu, while he was rapidly forming hand seals.
The Tsuchikage and the Kazekage prepared to intercept, but Torifu held them back. "I'll handle it. We can't let him stall for too long, or we'll fall into Blaze's trap."
Hanzō's ninjutsu was fully sealed, and he rushed toward Torifu with a confident smile on his face.
Yet, Torifu's expression remained as calm as ever, without any hint of panic.
Torifu watched Hanzō running toward him, and lightly snapped his fingers.
Instantly, a dazzling light flashed beneath Hanzō's feet. A large-scale light array completely enveloped him.
One second later, the light vanished, replaced by a pale pink crystal over ten meters tall.
Inside the crystal was Hanzō, still running, his slightly bewildered expression frozen forever.
"Perfect, that settles it. And we've also gained a piece of art for the central city." Putting the former owner of the central city in the middle of the city sounded like a decent decision.
Or sending it back to Konoha to be a museum collection wouldn't be bad either, considering this was a criminal who had repeatedly plunged three countries into war.
There was no pity in his death.
The Tsuchikage and the Kazekage looked at the crystal before them, momentarily unable to believe that Hanzō had died just like that, especially since his expression in the crystal was so realistic and vivid.
"Alright, Hanzō is dead. You two go and kill that Salamander, or capture it and figure out a way to breed it. In the future, it might become a stable summoning creature business."
But no sooner had Torifu finished speaking than the Salamander broke free from the Kazekage's restraint, burrowed into the ground, and vanished.
The scene immediately fell silent. Torifu was slightly embarrassed and coughed twice. "Ahem, well, it seems it wasn't too keen on the idea. Then let's get ready to continue the fight. The main event is next."
Torifu tucked Hanzō's crystal into his ring. He genuinely planned to take this thing back to collect.
He would treat it as buying a figurine.
"So how do we lure Blaze out?" the Kazekage asked. According to Torifu's detection, Blaze was about thirty to forty meters underground, and the space was very confined. If Blaze released a large amount of fire directly, they would die down there.
Torifu shook his head. "No need to lure her." With that, Torifu performed the Shadow Clone Jutsu, sending two shadow clones to enter the cavern, one after the other, to find Blaze and force her out.
Blaze, who was absorbing energy underground, naturally knew what was happening outside. She naturally felt regret over Hanzō's death. After all, they had spent so much time together; there was some feeling there.
However, after only a brief moment of regret, upon hearing that Torifu had sent people down to attack her, Blaze already started to end the energy absorption on her own.
If Torifu's clones were to directly knock her off the altar, the combination of backlash and the attack could easily cost Blaze half her life.
Her self-termination was quick. In less than a minute, Blaze retreated from the altar.
At this moment, her mood was at rock bottom. The altar had a cooling-off limit, and it couldn't be used a second time within a month.
And she now had to face Torifu and settle the score with him, otherwise, if this plan failed again, she would lose her life.
Yet, the plan she had prepared for so long, sacrificing so many lives, had provided no substantial help to her in the battle.
Although she had been absorbing for a few days, she had only absorbed ten percent, equivalent to the chakra capacity of ten Kage-level ninja.
If she could have absorbed everything, Blaze would have been absolutely certain she could take Torifu back.
But now, everything was ruined, and her only and most capable subordinate was also killed.
Blaze was unprecedentedly furious. The rage within her body had solidified into a tangible form. When the two clones arrived before her, the intense flames instantly ignited them.
In just a moment, the two clones were completely defeated and destroyed.
This gave Torifu on the surface a fright. "Get ready. That guy is angry. Let's deal with her according to the way we discussed before."