The inside of the white mountain had been hollowed out and transformed into a steel-filled, futuristic-looking base.
A large number of people were hidden within it, all of them busily and nervously adjusting equipment.
At the center, a suit of armor crackled nonstop with electricity.
"So this is the place."
Looking at the snow mountain before him, Hanzo muttered to himself.
Just to be safe, he decided to cut off the surrounding area first.
"Earth Style: Mobile Core"
The instant Hanzo slammed both palms onto the ground, the earth surged and stone rose. The once-prominent mountain peak was suddenly encircled by towering stone spires.
Compared to them, the white mountain now looked strangely small.
The interior space of the mountain was huge, but Hanzo only sensed a few dozen people inside. Most of the rest were guards outside.
The constant quakes rattled everyone within so badly they were left dizzy and disoriented. A large group of guards rushed out, only to freeze in shock.
The surroundings had already been completely transformed. The original snowfield was gone, replaced by canyon-like rocky terrain on all sides.
Before they could react, there came a series of sharp cracks against their foreheads, and fists the size of sandbags rained down on them. In only a few seconds, every last one of them was sprawled on the ground.
Several Shadow Clones followed Hanzo's senses and dragged all the researchers over.
"Lord Shinobi, what are you doing?" one supervisor asked in a trembling voice. "We're only researchers."
After confirming his identity, Hanzo was delighted.
"What exactly are you researching here?"
"Chakra Armor."
"And what does it do?"
"It can nullify part of ninjutsu and genjutsu, and greatly increase resistance to other ninjutsu and genjutsu."
"Don't be so nervous. You're valuable researchers. Your lives won't be in danger," Hanzo said, looking at him. "But starting today, you'll be changing workplaces. That's the condition for staying alive. Understood?"
Feeling the killing intent rolling off Hanzo, the researchers below him nodded shakily.
"Good."
Hanzo pointed at the equipment.
"For your research on Chakra Armor, what needs to be taken?"
"My lord, if you intend to continue the Chakra Armor research, then all of this equipment has to be taken," the supervisor said. "It took us two full years just to install all the experimental equipment here. If you start over from scratch, preparing the equipment alone will take another huge amount of time."
Hanzo turned and scanned the room, lit everywhere by lamps—wires of varying thickness, massive synthesizers, scattered workbenches...
Just dismantling it all would be a project in itself.
It wasn't as though he lacked storage scrolls, but fitting large-scale machinery into them clearly wasn't practical.
Taking everything wasn't impossible. The real problem was maintenance during transport. With the Land of Snow's brutal climate and the long distance to Amegakure, whether the equipment would even still work by the time it got there was questionable.
"Can these things be disassembled?"
"Apart from a few of the larger devices, yes."
"But the most important parts are those large machines. It took us about half a year just to calibrate them. If we disassemble and reassemble them, it'll likely take even longer."
"Can you reassemble them?"
"Yes. We assembled them all ourselves in the first place."
"I see. Then disassemble everything except those large devices," Hanzo told them.
Terrified, the researchers scrambled into action. Before long, the entire base was filled with the clatter of dismantling.
Wires, instruments, parts, every time they took one apart, Hanzo sealed one into a scroll.
A day later, aside from the central apparatus, the whole base had been reduced to a hollow metal shell.
The supervisor reminded him, "My lord, this is the core synthesis device for Chakra Armor. It's extremely delicate. Dismantling it would be risky."
"Fine. You don't need to worry about it anymore," Hanzo said. "Within a month at most, I'll have this device brought back. I've already made arrangements on the other side. Once you get there, you'll be properly settled."
"The conditions there are much better than here. Once you arrive, start by reassembling the other equipment."
Using Flying Thunder God, Hanzo sent all the researchers back to Amegakure in one go, then gave Kan and the others extra instructions not to relax their guard over them.
Amegakure's research facility had already long been planned, but it was still empty inside. Perfect timing. Hanzo dumped everything from the scrolls into it in one go and let the researchers handle the reassembly themselves.
After arranging everything, Hanzo used Flying Thunder God to return to the base.
Looking at the massive synthesizer at the center, Hanzo pressed a palm onto it.
"Earth Style: Lightened Boulder Jutsu."
"Water Style: Water Prison Jutsu."
The machine floated into the air and was wrapped inside a sphere of water. But Hanzo extracted the very center of the sphere into a vacuum, leaving the giant device suspended within it.
A machine and water sphere that large obviously couldn't fit through the door. Hanzo simply blasted a breach in the wall with Water Release, then walked out carrying the enormous water sphere with him.
Outside, the terrain created by "Mobile Core" had already vanished. The Snow ninja who had been knocked unconscious on the ground were nowhere to be seen.
A pity.
The spatial distortion caused by Flying Thunder God was too violent. The damage from spatial tearing wasn't as severe as the Heavenly Transfer Technique, but it still existed. A shinobi could resist that damage with chakra, but a machine like this obviously could not.
Even his clothes could be coated in chakra for protection—but this was a synthesizer. It didn't tolerate the slightest abnormality. The moment his chakra entered it, never mind anything else, recalibration alone would probably take another half a year.
With his strength, maintaining both Lightened Boulder and Water Prison for a month wasn't an issue. But humans had limits.
Even Naruto couldn't stay awake for an entire month without sleep or food. Even if the body held out, the mind would collapse first.
In the end, Hanzo still headed for the harbor.
...
The merchant ship he had arrived on had not yet left. Its horn had already sounded—it was on the verge of departure.
When the people aboard saw the giant water sphere in the sky, every one of them stared in utter shock.
"My lord, he's here," Fubuki Kakuyoku and Mizore Fuyukuma said as they led a group of Snow ninja hidden in ambush at the harbor. At the front stood Nadare Roga, gritting his teeth.
Even they couldn't help but feel afraid at the sight of the water sphere overhead. If that thing came crashing down, none of them would survive it.
"That bastard... he's actually this strong," Nadare Roga clearly refused to believe what he was seeing.
When he woke up, he had found that not only was he still alive, his body even felt lighter than before. So he had immediately rushed back to Snow Village.
Sure enough, the scroll containing their Ice Release secret techniques had already been taken. At that point, he guessed the enemy's next target would be the Chakra Armor.
But if they wanted to take that too, the equipment had to be moved. There was no time to lead a force to intercept it, so instead he brought men directly to the nearest harbor and laid an ambush.
He had thought the enemy had only succeeded because he was fast and caught him off guard.
Now, seeing this, he finally understood that wasn't all.
This man's strength was terrifying.
"We can't let him take those things back. Even if we have to destroy them, we can't leave them to him," Nadare Roga said to the Snow ninja behind him. "We have to show him Snow Village's resolve and will. If we don't, then this won't happen just once. Other nations and villages that smell profit will descend on us like wolves, and this will happen again and again."
"He's controlling that Water Release in the sky right now. He can't spare too much attention elsewhere. This is our best chance."
"Do not be afraid. Follow me!"
From the snow-white field, Snow ninja in white cloaks rose up one after another and charged at Hanzo.
But Hanzo's Sage Art had already detected them.
"With chakra this weak, and yet they can still overcome their fear and rush at me. Not bad."
Maintaining both Lightened Boulder and Water Prison with one hand, Hanzo formed a seal with the other.
"Today, I'll teach you one thing."
"When you understand your own weakness, don't make pointless sacrifices. Without conditions for accumulation and cohesion, quantity will never surpass quality."
"Sage Art – Water Style: Water Dragon Jutsu."
"Ice Style: White Whale Jutsu."
The instant Nadare saw Hanzo's hand seals, he used a jutsu of his own.
The ice underfoot shuddered. A slender icy spike burst from the frozen ground, followed by a thunderous roar as an enormous whale emerged.
Its whole body was made of ice. After leaping into the air, it crashed downward toward Hanzo and the machine.
At nearly the same moment, white mist formed beside Hanzo, then a pillar of water surged skyward. The top twisted into a dragon's head, which bit straight into the descending ice whale.
The instant the water dragon clamped down on it, half the whale's body shattered into chunks of ice and rained down, while the remaining half was forced backward by the dragon's power toward the Snow ninja below.
"Impossible!"
Looking at the whale being hurled back at them, Nadare's face was filled with shock.
His Ice Release secret jutsu was supposed to be highly effective against Water Release. How could it be completely overwhelmed?
"Ice Style: Dragon vs. Tiger!"
Nadare tried to freeze the descending water dragon. Frost gathered around him and spiraled upward toward the column of water.
"Naive."
Hanzo shook his head.
The quality of their chakra simply wasn't on the same level.
From a purely physical standpoint, Nadare's response was correct. His Ice Release really could freeze Water Release. But Hanzo's water had not been formed by drawing from the environment—it was created purely from his own chakra.
The immense density of chakra inside the water column neutralized the freezing effect. Nadare's Ice Release only managed to freeze the very tip before it exhausted itself.
Half an ice whale and a torrent of water crashed down onto the Snow ninja. Splintering water mixed with chunks of ice scattered everywhere, and every Snow ninja struck by it collapsed to the ground.
Nadare Roga was no exception.
Using that jutsu had wasted his last chance to escape. The water wave that smashed into him left him gravely injured.
Feeling the force of the aftershock, he finally understood how terrifying the opponent's jutsu really was. Every shinobi he had fought before was on a completely different level.
"Why...?" he called weakly as the figure passed before him. "Snow Village has no grudge against you. Why attack us?"
"Why? Ridiculous. You're this old and still asking me that kind of question," Hanzo said without stopping. "In the shinobi world, the strong live and the weak die. Snow Village has something I need. There's no consequence to targeting you, so I came."
"Don't blame yourself for being weak. It's simply that I'm too strong."
"Who are you?" Nadare twisted his neck to stare at the man in front of him, his face contorted. "A jonin? No... are you the Mizukage?"
Even now, the man was still under a Transformation Jutsu. Nadare did not even know what he truly looked like.
"Jonin? Kage..."
Hanzo thought for a moment, then finally answered.
"Sorry, but I'm neither a jonin nor a Kage."
"If I had to give you a rank..."
Hanzo paused.
"I'm a genin."
...
Ever since becoming a genin in Amegakure, Hanzo had gone wandering on his own. By the time he returned, he had become the village leader directly.
He had never once taken the Chunin Exams, nor had he ever gone through jonin promotion.
You could say that ever since becoming a genin, Hanzo had been matched against jonin and Kage-level opponents every day—but had never played a single ranked match to raise his official elo.
In terms of formal status, he really was just a genin. Really just a genin.
"A genin... from one of the Five Great Nations?"
Whether from shock or simple overstimulation, Nadare Roga coughed up blood and passed out once more.
Under the horrified gaze of everyone aboard the ship, Hanzo stepped aboard carrying the massive water sphere.
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