With the appearance of Hanzo of the Salamander, the atmosphere instantly turned suffocating.
A person's reputation is like the shadow of a great tree—impossible to ignore.
The current Hanzo was hailed as a "Demigod of the Shinobi World," a figure standing at the absolute pinnacle of power. Taijutsu, ninjutsu, swordsmanship—his mastery in every field was flawless.
Paired with the massive poison-spewing salamander, Ibuse, beneath his feet, he was nothing short of a harvester of human lives.
The moment Hanzo appeared, his gaze locked onto Danzo, his eyes burning with undisguised hatred.
"Danzo, you bastard. You repeatedly come to my Land of Rain to sow chaos. Today is the day you die."
Danzo snorted coldly, ignoring Hanzo completely. Instead, he turned to Gisei and revealed the eye he had been covering all this time.
"Look. Can this eye of mine still be saved?"
Gisei examined it carefully, then frowned. "A poison needle?"
Danzo nodded.
"It's hopeless. The eyeball is already necrotic. If it isn't removed immediately, the toxin will spread to the brain. Then you won't just be blind; you'll be dead."
Actually, it could still be treated. Gisei just didn't want to treat it.
If Danzo didn't go blind, how could he eventually set his sights on the Uchiha? Gisei, for one, despised the Uchiha quite a bit and didn't mind speeding up their inevitable clash.
He deliberately stated the worst-case scenario to force Danzo into a quick decision.
Hearing this, Danzo's expression finally turned ugly. He took a deep breath, his face twitching slightly. "Do it!"
A hint of a smile appeared in Gisei's eyes beneath his mask. He extended his hand.
His fingers suddenly clamped down, and with a wet squelch, the bloody eyeball was gouged out and held in his palm.
The veins on Danzo's forehead bulged from the sheer pain, and a fierce, terrifying killing intent shot out from his single remaining eye.
Gisei casually threw the eyeball onto the ground and stepped on it.
Pop. It burst like a ripe grape.
The killing intent in Danzo's remaining eye intensified, thick enough to choke a lesser man.
But Gisei felt nothing.
He was already strong—strong in every sense of the word. If he wanted to, he could release a killing intent far sharper than Danzo's.
After a quick burst of medical ninjutsu, Danzo's complexion gradually improved.
Hanzo, standing atop Ibuse, watched the entire scene with cold detachment. He stomped his foot lightly. "Do it, Ibuse."
The salamander opened its massive maw.
A thick purple poison mist sprayed out, rolling toward them like a tidal wave.
Seeing this, Gisei immediately pulled out a gas mask and strapped it to his face. His teammates did the same.
This wasn't just paranoia. The current Gisei was a master of poison himself. If he didn't carry a gas mask, he might accidentally kill himself one day with his own experiments. After suffering through a few accidental exposures, his teammates had learned to carry masks too.
The poison mist spread rapidly. Danzo couldn't afford to wait for any further treatment.
"Retreat!"
Danzo led his Root ninjas away without looking back, and Sakumo Hatake signaled his team to follow, fleeing toward the Land of Fire's border.
Because of the salamander's poison, the Rain ninjas didn't dare approach too closely and could only trail them from a distance.
Hanzo, however, followed closely on his summon, his gaze fixed tight on Danzo's retreating back.
Seeing this, Danzo glanced back at Sakumo's squad.
"Sakumo, I'm counting on you."
Gisei rolled his eyes beneath his mask.
I knew it would be like this.
There wasn't much he could say; after all, he wasn't the captain.
Sakumo stopped, drawing the white chakra saber from his back to face Hanzo. Hanari, Shintori, and Gisei stopped with him, turning to confront the Demigod.
The salamander's toxin was potent; even with gas masks, they couldn't stay in this mist for long. They had to end this quickly.
"Captain," Gisei muttered, his voice muffled by the mask. "What did I say? Meeting up with Danzo was guaranteed to end like this."
"Only we have gas masks," Sakumo replied calmly. "This is the best tactical decision."
"Alright, stop complaining," Hanari cut in. "Let's figure out how to end this fast."
"I'll hold off Hanzo," Sakumo said, his grip tightening on his blade. "You guys deal with the salamander."
Gisei shook his head. "It's useless. That salamander can burrow underground. Besides, Captain, do you really have the confidence to defeat Hanzo quickly?"
Sakumo fell silent.
I knew it. Gisei sighed internally.
Sakumo was a close-combat specialist relying on taijutsu and kenjutsu. So was Hanzo.
When ninjas of this type faced inferior enemies, they were slaughter machines. But when they faced someone of equal skill, it turned into a grinder—either trading injury for injury or getting stuck in a stalemate.
The best outcome here would be a draw.
And Hanzo wasn't alone. Although many Rain ninjas had chased after Danzo, Gisei could sense at least a dozen more lurking nearby. They were concealing themselves, waiting for an opening.
If Sakumo tried to trade injuries, even if their squad managed to push Hanzo back, they wouldn't be in any shape to handle the reinforcements.
Unless Gisei was willing to reveal all his trump cards. Which, unfortunately, he wasn't.
There was no other way. Gisei watched the approaching Hanzo, a dangerous glint flashing in his eyes.
"Let me try. See if I can make him back off."
The other three looked at him in surprise.
"Your Lightning Body Flicker is fast," Sakumo said, shaking his head, "but in close quarters, you can't beat Hanzo. Have you forgotten how many times you lost when we sparred?"
"He's right," Hanari added. "It's better to let the Captain handle it. Even if he gets injured, with your medical ninjutsu, we can patch him up. It's the safest bet."
Gisei frowned. "Hanzo isn't that simple. If the Captain could just trade injuries and win, fine. But if he fails, he'll be completely pinned down. Are we supposed to abandon him and run then?"
"Here, only I can approach Hanzo quickly. And even if I fail, I can disengage just as fast."
Sakumo took a deep breath. "What's your plan? Unless we set up a Lightning Formation for you, how do you plan to disengage?"
Gisei pulled out a few shuriken, invisible chakra threads extending from his fingers to connect them.
Seeing the threads, Sakumo seemed to realize something. "You can use Lightning Body Flicker with chakra threads now?"
Gisei nodded. "Captain, I'm not the kid from five years ago anymore."
"I'm very strong now. Strong in every sense. Especially when I get serious."
As he spoke, Gisei released the seals on five of his acupuncture points.
The amount of chakra in his body skyrocketed instantly.
A powerful, suffocating aura erupted from him!
Sensing the sudden spike in power, a grave expression appeared on Hanzo's face. He stopped his approach, eyeing the boy warily.
"Such massive chakra... on a kid like you? Konoha really does produce monsters generation after generation."
Sensing the sheer volume of Gisei's chakra, Sakumo, Hanari, and Shintori exchanged glances and fell silent.
Gisei sighed. It wasn't that he wanted to show off, but they had reached a breaking point. A decision had to be made.
If Sakumo really got entangled with Hanzo, saving him would be a nightmare. This was the Land of Rain's border—home turf for Hanzo. The longer they dragged this out, the deadlier it became.
He wasn't the kind of fool who would watch his team die just to keep a few secrets. Revealing one or two trump cards was better than losing everything.
He knew the difference between what was important and what wasn't. When a decision needs to be made, hesitation is fatal.
Stepping forward two paces, Gisei spoke, his voice amplified by chakra.
"Hanzo of the Salamander. Do we really have to take it this far? Do you truly want a full-scale war with Konoha?"
Hanzo snorted coldly. "You know very well how excessive Konoha has been. If I let you continue, the Land of Rain will never have its moment to rise."
Gisei shook his head. "The rise of the Land of Rain will inevitably impact the balance of the Five Great Nations. Are you really unaware of the consequences?"
"Consequences? Ask the blade in my hand about the consequences!"
Hanzo unslung the kusarigama from his back, his body radiating intense killing intent.
Gisei exhaled a breath of turbid air.
Well, Talk no Jutsu failed.
The current Hanzo hadn't yet been beaten down by the harsh reality of the world. He was still a man of conviction, bent on forging a path for his country.
Later, when he helplessly accepted reality and lost this will, the Demigod would become human again—just a paranoid old man waiting to die.
But this Hanzo? This Hanzo was undoubtedly at his peak.
Can I really gain an advantage against him?
Gisei didn't know. But he wanted to try.
He raised his hand and nailed a shuriken into the tree at his feet, instantly connecting the chakra thread.
Sakumo understood the strategy immediately but still looked worried. "You have to split your focus to maintain the chakra threads during combat. Do you really have that level of control?"
"Don't worry, Captain. I'm a person who is very afraid of death. I don't do things I'm not sure of."
Gisei laughed, a sound full of confidence.
The four butterfly seeds in his body had fully matured. In terms of raw chakra control, even compared to Madara Uchiha, he wouldn't be far behind.