Tsunade vanished in a blur of motion.
Might Duy's eyes snapped forward, his body transforming into a green streak as he pursued her.
"Still coming?" Hanzo removed his mask slowly, drawing his chain sickle with practiced ease.
The air shattered without warning.
Hanzo wrapped the chain around his left hand and raised the sickle, bringing it down in a vicious arc toward Tsunade. She met the blade head-on with her fist.
The impact sent a shockwave rippling outward. Hanzo's expression flickered as the force drove him backward through the air—like he'd punched a charging bull.
"You've grown considerably," Hanzo said, recovering mid-air with fluid grace. "Your strength is far greater than before."
"Eight Gates Activation: Daytime Tiger!"
Might Duy suddenly filled Hanzo's vision.
"Where did this fool come from?" Hanzo couldn't help but laugh at the dramatic technique announcement. He raised his left hand, and his chain whipped out, coiling around Duy's glowing green leg.
"An unknown should exit the stage early," Hanzo said coldly, exhaling a cloud of poison gas.
Though Duy had taken an antidote beforehand, the toxin still made his vision swim.
Just as Hanzo prepared to finish him, wind whistled behind him.
Having already felt Tsunade's overwhelming power, Hanzo didn't hesitate.
"Water Style: Water Teleportation!"
His body dissolved into liquid, and Tsunade's fist passed through empty space. She didn't miss a beat—grabbing Duy and pulling him back while tossing him an antidote pill.
"Thank you, Lady Tsunade!" Duy swallowed it immediately, clarity returning to his eyes.
"Tsunade, your new teammates are pathetically weak compared to Jiraiya and Orochimaru," Hanzo said, reforming himself with a disdainful sneer.
"I'm sorry, Lady Tsunade!" Duy's shame was immediate.
Tsunade didn't respond. Her body suddenly trembled, as if the earth itself was shaking beneath her feet.
Hanzo glanced over and raised an eyebrow.
A slug—massive, easily rivaling the salamander in size—materialized from nowhere and crashed into the giant toad with the force of a landslide. The two colossal summons grappled like titans, their collision sending tremors through the ground.
"You've chosen a capable apprentice," Hanzo observed with a slight chuckle.
The slug Hanekawa had summoned was no smaller than Tsunade's own—a testament to his chakra reserves.
"I'd say so," Tsunade replied, a slight smile playing at her lips.
"Unfortunately for you, he dies today," Hanzo said coldly.
Tsunade's expression darkened instantly. "We'll see about that."
Wind tore through the air as she closed the distance again.
---
"Move out!"
Konan's voice cut through the rain as the Hidden Rain Village forces finally reached the Akatsuki base.
"Fire Style: Dragon Fire Technique!"
Nagato led the assault, a dragon-shaped inferno tearing through the rain curtain.
"Water Style: Water Dragon Bullet!"
Yahiko followed with his signature technique, water spiraling upward to meet the flames.
Konan didn't bother with hand seals. She simply waved her hand, and paper kunai scattered like a deadly swarm.
The Akatsuki members responded in kind, their combined ninjutsu creating a chaotic rainbow of clashing chakra.
The Rain Village ninjas didn't retreat. Instead, they drew black umbrellas in perfect synchronization.
"Ninja Art: Thousand-Blade Umbrella!"
The umbrellas spun skyward, opening to spray thousands of water streams like a deluge. These weren't ordinary tools—they combined defense and offense, a specialty of the Hidden Rain.
Behind the umbrella formation came a tsunami of water-based jutsu, waves merging into an unstoppable tide.
Screams erupted. Bodies fell. More rushed forward.
The battlefield fractured into three distinct zones: the massive melee at the Akatsuki base involving thousands, Hanzo's duel with Tsunade and Duy, and the colossal struggle between the salamander, slug, and Hanekawa.
---
Standing atop the slug, Hanekawa fought to maintain his balance as the creature bucked and twisted beneath him. He felt like an ant caught between two mountains.
No wonder the ninja world fears tailed beasts, he thought grimly. Most shinobi have no answer for something this massive.
Only Hashirama's Wood Style, sealing techniques, or a Mangekyō Sharingan could truly restrain them.
Hanekawa's eyes narrowed. The salamander hadn't opened its mouth in several minutes.
Poison accumulation.
He remembered the original timeline—the salamander needed five minutes to gather enough toxin. He had to force it open.
Hanekawa stepped off the slug and sprinted toward the salamander, launching himself into the air.
The massive tail rose to intercept him.
A terrible sound split the rain.
"Strange Power!"
Hanekawa's fist met the tail head-on. The air exploded outward, tearing a temporary hole in the rain curtain. The impact sent him flying backward—but the salamander's tail recoiled equally.
Hanekawa's body sank into something soft. The slug had caught him.
"Thanks," he gasped, immediately vanishing with the Body Flicker Technique.
"Chidori Flow!"
Lightning engulfed his entire body as he reappeared on the salamander's back. Its tail was still rising—too slow.
Gripping the Fire Sword in both hands, Hanekawa fell like a meteor. The combined force of his strength and gravity drove the blade deep into the salamander's hide.
The creature roared, and all the accumulated poison erupted from its mouth in a toxic deluge.
Hanekawa yanked the sword free and sprinted away. The poison fog rose like a mushroom cloud.
The slug split into countless smaller versions, scattering at impossible speed before reforming at a safe distance.
The salamander shrieked and charged like a living battering ram.
The slug intercepted it immediately.
The collision was apocalyptic. The ground couldn't withstand the impact—it shattered, revealing a chasm beneath.
Hanekawa stepped back instinctively as the salamander raised its front legs and smashed downward. But slugs were boneless, malleable—they simply split and reformed, negating the physical assault.
This stalemate won't work, Hanekawa realized. Its hide is too thick for normal attacks.
His eyes fixed on the creature's open mouth.
The stomach. That's the weak point.
But it was filled with poison.
Only one way.
"Master Slug! Use your acid attack!"
Hanekawa flickered to the slug's head and shouted the command.
The slug's mouth opened, and corrosive liquid poured out like a waterfall. The pale yellow acid ate through the salamander's flesh, creating wounds that bled profusely.
The creature went berserk, thrashing wildly. But the slug split into fragments, rendering every attack useless.
As the acid stopped flowing, Hanekawa saw his opening.
"Now!"
He activated the Body Flicker, his form becoming a lightning bolt.
"Chidori Flow! Thunder Release Armor! Eight Gates: First Gate!"
His speed transcended normal limits. He became pure velocity, a lightning strike that pierced straight into the salamander's mouth.
"Water Style: Water Blade!"
The Fire Sword channeled a cutting stream of water. Hanekawa held it like a drill, boring through the creature's interior.
The poison gas engulfed him instantly. His vision swam. He swallowed an antidote pill without hesitation, but the dizziness remained.
The salamander didn't die. Its eyes turned blood-red, and it fixed its gaze on Hanekawa.
It screamed—a sound like thunder that cracked the earth.
But before it could move, the slug stopped it cold.
Countless smaller slugs merged into one colossal form. Without finesse or technique, it simply raised its massive body and pressed down.
BOOM.
The ground exploded. Gravel scattered. The salamander's already-wounded abdomen took the full force of the impact, driving it deeper into the earth. Blood sprayed like a fountain.
Its roar became a wail.
Hanzo's head snapped around. His eyes widened at the sight.
Impossible.
During the Second Ninja War, he'd fought the Three Sannin alone while his salamander battled three summons simultaneously. Now a single slug was destroying it?
This child is insane.
Tsunade saw Hanekawa—covered in blood and filth—and her expression hardened.
She understood what he'd done. It was reckless beyond measure. Even she wouldn't attempt it without both the ability to detoxify and the raw power to tear through a salamander's interior.
A chill ran down her spine just thinking about it.
That brat is getting the lecture of his life when we get back.
"Ibushi!" Hanzo called out desperately, his composure finally cracking.
He needed to reach his summon. His reputation as a demigod relied as much on the salamander's poison as his own strength. Losing it would cripple his deterrent power.
"Not happening," Tsunade said, moving to intercept.
"Now, Duy!"
"Yes!" Duy roared, his body convulsing with power.
"Eight Gates: Open!"
The air itself screamed. Wind rose in a column, forcing the rain backward.
"What—?!" Hanzo tried to dodge, but Duy was already there, blocking his path.
He was terrifying now. His face was twisted, veins bulging grotesquely, blood vessels visible beneath his skin. Blue steam enveloped him like an aura, and the air crackled with barely-contained force. The ground fractured beneath his feet.
"Daytime Tiger!"
Duy's eyes turned crimson. He pressed his palms together, compressing countless air waves into a single point.
"Roar! The springtime of youth!"
He released everything at once.
White light erupted skyward, comparable to the salamander's own luminescence. The air cannon expanded outward like a tiger's roar, overwhelming Hanzo beneath its force.
The shockwave spread in all directions, a gale that knocked unprepared fighters to their knees.
Everyone on the battlefield froze, staring.
Tsunade's chakra flared, keeping her grounded. Even Hanekawa, at a distance, felt his hair and clothes whip violently.
This was the Daytime Tiger—the technique that in the original timeline had repelled even Uchiha Madara's Susanoo and the Eight-Tails.
Though Duy wasn't his son, and Hanzo was far inferior to Madara, the display was still devastating.
The war involving thousands came to a halt as everyone steadied themselves.
"What happened?" Yahiko stared in shock.
Nagato's expression shifted. How is this Konoha ninja in green so powerful?
"Why haven't we heard of him?" Konan asked, genuinely confused.
---
[More Chapters are Coming]