His vision shifted, and Yōkō returned to several days prior.
He had just received the mission and was about to leave the village with Danzo to negotiate with Hanzo in the Land of Rain.
[Mochizuki's Arc activated!
The host has only one resurrection opportunity per month. Upon death, you will revive on the previous full moon night.
Reward: One lottery draw opportunity:
1 - Sword Art: Chain Scythe Two-Stage Strike;
2 - Poison Mist Spray;
3 - A-Rank Water Release: Water Body Flicker (Beginner).]
The first option was a scythe sword art developed by Hanzo, used in conjunction with a chain, making it elusive. The scythe often appeared behind the enemy, attacking their vulnerable back.
This sword art was useless to Yōkō; he didn't want to carry a scythe and chain around all the time.
The second option, Poison Mist Spray, was incompatible with his current ability system, so he wouldn't choose it either.
The third option, A-Rank Water Release: Water Body Flicker, made Yōkō's eyes light up.
This was Hanzo's core ability.
Body Flicker Techniques were rare abilities in the ninja world.
As the saying goes, in the world of ninjutsu, only speed is unbreakable.
As long as you were half a step faster than the enemy, you could suppress them everywhere.
No matter how strong a ninjutsu was, if you didn't even have time to form hand seals, you'd be stabbed to death by a kunai the moment you raised your hand.
The essence of ninja combat was to deliver a kunai into the enemy's heart in the shortest possible time.
Yōkō chose Water Release: Water Body Flicker and instantly mastered this Body Flicker Technique.
He understood clearly that this technique must be used when the ground was covered with water.
By attaching chakra to the surrounding water, when attacked, he could form a single hand seal, his body instantly dissolving into liquid and collapsing, while the water in a nearby location instantly reformed into his body.
Taijutsu Body Flicker involved exerting force downward, jumping and moving quickly. In contrast, the Water Body Flicker involved exerting force upward, causing the body to rapidly liquefy and collapse downward, merging with the water on the ground.
It not only had the Body Flicker effect but, because the body turned into water, it also had an escape effect.
Yōkō's Earth-Style Rising Spears had trapped the Salamander, but Hanzo used the Water Body Flicker not only to dodge the Fire Release but also to free the Salamander simultaneously.
The difficulty of this technique mainly lay in the instantaneous liquefaction of the body.
This brief liquefaction effect was surprisingly similar in concept to the Hōzuki clan's Hydrification Technique.
The Hōzuki clan's Hydrification Technique could be maintained for a relatively long time, while the Water Body Flicker's liquefaction only lasted for an instant.
Amegakure and Kirigakure ninja were both proficient in Water Release, and Hanzo's Water Release talent was so high.
Fortunately, his talent was now all mine.
Yōkō had mastered another ninjutsu that couldn't be revealed openly.
Those who could use the Water Body Flicker had to be, at the very least, Hanzo's biological son; even a closed-door disciple wouldn't be qualified.
Should Yōkō go investigate Hanzo's life story to see if there was a woman he couldn't forget from his youth?
A ninja's trump card would never be easily passed on to others.
Yōkō felt some regret. This technique was powerful, but it couldn't be used as a conventional means, only secretly employed in desperate situations.
Arriving at the front-line camp, the Fox Squadron was replenished with new members like White Sheep.
Afterwards, Danzo led the Yellow Dog Battalion into the Land of Rain.
The ground was covered with puddles and flowing water. Yōkō tried to attach his chakra to the water on the surrounding ground.
If someone attacked him now, he could form a single seal and immediately Body Flicker to another location, even appearing behind the enemy.
In a water-filled environment, this was like a poor man's version of the Flying Thunder God Technique.
Danzo found Hanzo outside the capital of the Land of Rain and began negotiations.
Hanzo, of course, wouldn't admit he had been fooled by Ōnoki. The conversation turned sour, and they directly started fighting.
Exactly the same as the previous timeline, Yōkō used Earth-Style Rising Spears to trap the Salamander, and Hanzo used the Water Body Flicker to evade all attacks.
Before the Yellow Dog Battalion Commander used his Fire Release, Yōkō had already prepared the hand seals for the Earth Clone.
Hanzo and the Salamander Body Flickered behind Yōkō, the chain scythe hooking towards his neck.
However, the scythe only caught a puddle of mud.
Yōkō had used the Earth Clone to swap places with the soil underground, simultaneously using the Earth Release: Fish in Earth Reflection Technique to travel swiftly underground.
"Hmm?"
Hanzo, having missed, let out a puzzled sound.
Even the Salamander seemed surprised, shaking its head as it searched for the Konoha Anbu who had turned into mud.
The Yellow Dog Battalion Commander, seeing his Dragon Fire Technique only hit a large puddle of water, quickly turned his head and saw Fox, who had dodged Hanzo's attack.
"Well done, Fox!"
Making Hanzo miss his attack was a great morale booster.
The Yellow Dog Battalion Commander used Fire Release again, attacking Hanzo and the massive Salamander.
By the time the fireball struck, the Salamander had already spewed poisonous mist, instantly killing a squad of ninja.
Yōkō looked over and breathed a sigh of relief; it was a squad from the Hippo Squadron, not from the Fox Squadron.
He got up from the ground and quickly formed hand seals to use Earth Release: Earth-Style Rising Spears.
Hanzo and the Salamander used the Water Body Flicker several times, disappearing and reappearing; Yōkō's Earth Release couldn't keep up at all.
Not just Yōkō, even the Yellow Dog Battalion Commander's Fire Release couldn't keep up with Hanzo.
In just over ten seconds, the Yellow Dog Battalion had lost three squads.
This was the strength of the Demigod of the Ninja World; the Water Body Flicker and poison were too powerful.
Danzo, positioned at the very rear of the team, spoke up to deploy tactics: "Use Lightning Release."
Three Anbu ninja, hearing this, hurried forward and used Lightning Release techniques on the ground.
"Lightning Release: Earth Running!"
Lightning crawled over the ground like a spider web, indiscriminately attacking everyone's feet.
The numbness in his feet made Yōkō feel reassured.
Sure enough, the next time Hanzo and the Salamander appeared, they kept their distance, far away from the range of the Lightning Release.
Both sides created some distance.
Just as everyone was slightly catching their breath, Danzo abnormally jumped backward.
Somehow, many explosive tags had appeared in the puddles on the ground.
"Exploding Flame Formation!"
The explosive tags detonated, killing the three Anbu Lightning Release users.
Hanzo was not only proficient in poison mist and Water Release; explosive tags were also one of his specialties.
After Danzo jumped back to avoid the explosive tags, he stood on a tree trunk and said to Hanzo:
"Hanzo, I can't do anything to you, and you can't do anything to me either.
Think carefully. Don't think that just because your strength is top-tier in the ninja world, you can do whatever you want.
In Ōnoki's eyes, you're just a foolish, usable thug.
Cease hostilities. Do not interfere with Konoha's attack on the Land of Earth and Iwagakure.
If you come to your senses, send someone to contact me at any time."
Having said that, Danzo jumped down from the tree trunk and turned to leave.
"Wait!"
Hanzo called out to stop Danzo.
Everyone looked at Hanzo, unsure what he intended to do.
Hanzo looked at the corpses of his fallen Rain ninja subordinates on the ground.
He wasn't afraid of anyone from Konoha, but the quality of the Rain ninja was far inferior to that of Konoha shinobi.
Hanzo said:
"Your Konoha has vast resources and a great foundation; you can easily rebuild even if all your Anbu are wiped out.
My Amegakure's reserves are not as rich as Konoha's. These subordinates of mine were all carefully selected, and now they've all been killed by your Anbu.
Danzo, my subordinates cannot have died in vain."
He took out a scroll and threw it towards Danzo.
"These are my terms."
The scroll flew swiftly but was intercepted midway by the Yellow Dog Battalion Commander.
If it turned out to be a scroll full of explosive tags and Danzo got blown up, that would be laughable.
Yellow Dog opened the scroll to inspect it, then Body Flickered to Danzo's side and handed it over.
The scroll stated that after Amegakure declared war on Konoha, quite a few Suna-nin had appeared in the southern part of the Land of Rain.
The Suna-nin were lurking suspiciously near the Yoshimizu River in the Land of Rain.
Hanzo's meaning was for Konoha to help deal with the Suna-nin; in return, Amegakure would withdraw from this war and no longer interfere with Konoha's actions against Iwagakure.
Things were getting more and more chaotic. Sunagakure had also entered the Land of Rain. The Land of Rain truly lived up to its name as the crossroads of the ninja world, the land of constant conflict.
Hanzo had one core demand: drive the Suna-nin out of the Land of Rain.
Danzo thought for a moment and handed the scroll to Yellow Dog: "You handle it."
***
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(Chapter End)