He had absolutely no freedom to speak of. Blaze had no gratitude for him as a life-saver whatsoever, completely treating Hanzō as a mere tool to be ordered around. They had traveled everywhere, north and south.
Ultimately, they decided to return to the most familiar Amegakure.
Blaze also greatly valued this place, as it was where she suffered her first defeat, and she wanted to wash away the shame of that year here.
To this end, she even learned a new secret technique and a method for refining a secret medicine.
Right now, the first stage had been successful, and the second stage was underway. It was up to Hanzō to choose.
Hanzō coldly snorted, "Less nonsense. The only reason we failed back then was because so many Kage besieged us, and Amegakure was stolen by you! Now, with just the three of you, you think you can turn the sky upside down!"
Hanzō's choice greatly pleased Blaze, but she also knew in her heart that Hanzō couldn't possibly defeat Kumotsuru Torifu.
She could only have him stall for more time. Blaze also prepared to speed up the absorption, to see if she could minimize the time needed.
Blaze had absolutely not anticipated that such a secret underground cavern would be discovered by them. There were no signs whatsoever, yet they suddenly attacked.
"Damn it! If only they had given me one more day, I might have been able to absorb the chakra within the altar perfectly!"
The second stage of the plan was on the brink of failure, and she had no Kage-level ninja left to command.
Everything depended on how long Hanzō could hold out.
Blaze knew that complaining was useless, so after only one curse, she began to rapidly absorb the chakra from the altar.
On the surface, Torifu and the others did not get the answer they wanted, so there was nothing more to hesitate about. They would all directly take down Hanzō, and then kill Blaze. That would solve everything.
The peace of the ninja world for the next few years, or even decades, was right before their eyes! No one wanted to give up.
Hanzō stood on the Salamander's head, holding his sickle, glaring angrily at the three people in the sky.
"How did you discover this place? I clearly avoided all of your Crystal Flowers!"
To this day, Hanzō still didn't know how he was exposed. He felt extremely confused by the enemy suddenly showing up at his doorstep.
Torifu was naturally too lazy to explain to him. With a wave of his left hand, countless crystal shards shot out from his hand!
They swept towards Hanzō like flowers scattered by a heavenly maiden.
Hanzō instantly became serious, not daring to be careless for a moment, and used his sickle to block the crystal shards.
But after only blocking a few times, Hanzō inwardly cursed the bad situation.
He found himself struggling unusually hard. It clearly looked like just a probing ninjutsu, so why was it so powerful!
Hanzō naturally knew that Kumotsuru Torifu's strength was the best in the ninja world, but it shouldn't be strong to this extent.
He was clearly not at this level during the last battle.
"Damn it!" Hanzō cursed, but it didn't solve any of the problems.
At the same time, the Kazekage and Ōnoki also began their attack. One used the Light Weight Rock Jutsu to fly in the sky and continuously cast Earth Style ninjutsu, using massive rocks to strike Hanzō.
The Kazekage, meanwhile, used Magnet Style to control Iron Sand from behind, harassing Hanzō while the other two attacked.
The cooperation of the three, while not perfectly coordinated, was still somewhat effective, and their strength was immense. In just a few exchanges, Hanzō was physically and mentally exhausted.
He was also unable to perfectly defend against the trio's offensive.
Wounds, both large and small, appeared on his body.
Blaze in the underground cavern clearly observed all of this, but she could only worry anxiously, unsure how to help Hanzō.
If the enemy was about to kill him, wouldn't her second stage plan fail instantly?
Even if she accelerated the absorption speed, she couldn't possibly finish absorbing everything in a few minutes.
Seeing Hanzō rapidly retreating, Blaze concentrated her energy and, risking a backlash, spat out a mass of spectral blue flame.
This flame flying out instantly weakened Blaze quite a bit.
Fortunately, with the continuous energy from the altar, she was able to recover in a short while.
"Excellent, no backlash. It seems luck is on my side!"
The spectral blue flame didn't even need Blaze's control. It flew directly out of the cavern, secretly appearing in a place where Torifu and the others hadn't noticed.
It instantly drilled into Hanzō's body. Immediately, he felt a chilling sensation, as if he were in an ice cave.
But his physical injuries were continuously recovering, and the chakra in his body had mostly recovered, and was even more concentrated than before.
"What is going on!" Ōnoki looked at Hanzō in front of him, who had suddenly returned to his peak state, and was somewhat confused. How did he suddenly recover?
"It must be Blaze's doing. I saw a ball of flame drill into his body. However, this also proves that she is bound by something and can't break free for a while."
Hanzō alone posed no threat to them. Even if he had recovered now, he was only prolonging the struggle.
"Crush Hanzō with full force. He seems to be buying time for Blaze. We cannot let them succeed!"
Hearing Torifu's words, Blaze underground gritted her teeth fiercely. "That guy!"
Hanzō, having recovered to his full power, instantly gained a huge boost in confidence. He quickly formed hand seals, and a towering Water Curtain instantly rose behind him! It crashed towards Torifu and the others.
However, the three of them showed no intention of dodging. Torifu simply raised his hand and pointed. A pale blue light beam flew from his fingertip, accurately striking the Water Curtain.
The Water Curtain then began to freeze rapidly. In less than a few seconds, the massive Water Curtain was completely broken by Ice Style.
Ōnoki controlled the rock giant to charge, directly penetrating the ice wall. But even so, it did not stop, heading straight towards Hanzō.
Seeing this, the Salamander immediately swung its slimy tail, trying to swat Ōnoki away.
But it found that no matter how hard it tried to control its tail, it couldn't.
It turned its head and saw that the black Iron Sand had already locked its tail firmly to the ground.
In desperation, the Salamander stood up immediately! The rock giant violently crashed into its body!
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.