Originally, Hanzo of the Rain Village believed that if he personally intervened, this robbery operation would have a high chance of success. And once they intercepted such a large sum of money, Amegakure's current predicament would significantly improve.
The whole Land of Rain might finally start heading in the right direction.
That's why the leader of an entire village like himself had decided to personally lead this mission.
But when Hanzo discovered someone like Haseo among Konoha's team, he realized immediately that the difficulty level had just sharply increased.
Fast ninja are always very troublesome opponents because "speed" is a trait that can nullify numerical advantages... Just like The Fourth Hokage, without Flying Thunder God, his combat abilities wouldn't be much stronger than regular Jonin, but with Flying Thunder God, he could dominate the battlefield completely, and even against enemies he couldn't handle, those opponents wouldn't be able to do anything to him either.
Haseo was also a speed-type ninja, and among all the ninja Hanzo of the Rain Village had fought before, Haseo was by far the fastest and most unpredictable in terms of speed.
Getting backstabbed really is terrifying. Even if a ninja has countless battle experiences throughout his life, his most vivid memories are always the moments when he nearly died from sudden attacks.
So every time Hanzo saw Haseo, it felt like a huge red "Danger" sign was floating over his forehead.
Yet despite the difficulties involved, Hanzo still needed to keep trying. Otherwise, should he—the leader of a whole village—just retreat immediately upon encountering a tough opponent while leading a mission? How would he ever maintain his reputation afterward?
Besides, using his Poison Mist, Hanzo believed there might still be some effect.
Hanzo's thinking and actions weren't wrong at all. He simply didn't expect that the ninja who ended up fighting him wouldn't be Haseo, but instead another young Konoha ninja whose name he didn't know. As a result, the person ultimately pinned down wasn't Haseo, but himself...
And if Haseo was free to move now? That'd be a total disaster.
Indeed, Haseo quickly whipped up some kind of gas mask, rendering Hanzo's hoped-for effective Poison Mist utterly useless?
Even though Hanzo started overpowering the young Konoha ninja, his mission was already doomed. Just as he was about to finish off the ninja, Haseo suddenly shouted a warning.
Hanzo immediately sensed danger—and then what did he see?
He saw a wide-area attack sweeping across the battlefield.
Weren't they all ninjas here? Shouldn't they all share the same worldview? So why was everyone suddenly throwing around magic spells like it's nothing?
This complaint definitely wouldn't come to mind in time for Hanzo.
Without doubt, he was right within the range of Haseo's technique.
At this moment, how could Hanzo possibly have any time to deliver the finishing blow to Sakumo Hatake? Instead, he immediately threw away his long blade and, as if rushing to reincarnate, formed hand seals at the fastest speed possible in his life.
[Ninjutsu: Summoning Jutsu]
That special summoned beast instantly appeared beside Hanzo, then immediately swallowed him whole.
Almost simultaneously, Haseo's technique had completed half a rotation, positioning him exactly where Hanzo stood. The outer edge of Kurika - Grand Heavenly Phenomenon even grazed the summoned beast's skin.
Next came an agonized scream from the summoned beast — the so-called 'poisonous fish' — followed instantly by a popping sound as it vanished completely, taking Hanzo with it. The Summoning Jutsu was entirely dispelled.
The other surviving Amegakure ninja — those who had narrowly escaped death… maybe thanks to sheer luck or poor timing — perhaps they just happened to throw themselves flat on the ground and barely avoided total annihilation, or maybe they were at the very edge of the technique's range and managed to react in time. Either way, the survivors quickly began retreating.
At this point, their mission had clearly failed.
After Sanshouo disappeared, the poison mist also started rapidly dissipating.
With one move having driven away the enemy, Haseo casually ended the Summoning Jutsu as well, sending Katsuyu back. He instinctively clenched and then relaxed his fist — honestly, releasing that much power just now had felt damn good.
Of course it did. When you could freely wield Two-Tails' chakra and cause destruction on a "heaven-shaking, earth-shattering" scale, how could it not feel great?
Tailed Beast chakra was a fiercely violent energy. However, as previously anticipated, Haseo adapted quite well to it. First, he had long suffered from chakra corrosion; whether he'd grown accustomed to it or developed some resistance over time, he didn't feel any special harmful effects from the Tailed Beast chakra — though its power was indeed immense, far surpassing that of ordinary ninja chakra.
Secondly, Haseo himself possessed unique qualities. Although he never wanted to become a jinchuriki, adapting to Tailed Beast chakra wasn't difficult for him.
Then Haseo approached one of the nearby enemies who was still "standing," ready to assess the damage caused by his previous attack.
Thanks to the boosted Tailed Beast chakra, this Lightning Release hit way harder than usual. Setting aside its direct physical devastation, its energy erosion capability was particularly critical — what remained was black, odorless, and surprisingly clean — practically eco-friendly.
So in comparison, [Lightning Release] could be considered a relatively civilized type of ninjutsu. If Haseo had used Wind Release: Tenpen'usha - Grand Heavenly Phenomenon instead of Kurika - Grand Heavenly Phenomenon, the battlefield wouldn't have looked so neat — it would've reduced the enemy to mincemeat in an instant.
That kind of aftermath might've looked more appetizing, like mincemeat, but definitely too brutal.
As for the trees and vegetation caught within the attack radius? No need to dwell further. After all, when using wide-area attacks like this, if the local environment didn't change slightly, could it really be called a map-wide strike? (what Western players call an AoE or Area of Effect move?)
After finishing his survey, Haseo then strolled leisurely toward Sakumo Hatake, who still lay motionless on the ground.
"Dead yet?"
Sakumo Hatake's heavy breathing indicated he was alive, while blood seeping out from under his gas mask revealed the extent of his injuries.
The two Hyūga ninja finally snapped out of their shock. Their first reaction was fear — thinking how, had they not dodged in time earlier, they definitely wouldn't have survived either. In that case, their Byakugan would've turned into nothing but black eyes.
A Hyuga ninja squatted down. Instead of flipping Hatake over immediately, he began examining the injuries first.
"Lord Haseo," the ninja said, "his wounds are serious. The external injuries and blood loss are severe, but those are actually the easiest to handle. What's more concerning is that two of his ribs appear to be broken—I'm not sure if there's internal bleeding. More importantly, he's been poisoned. It wasn't a large dose, but it's very troublesome."
Haseo crouched beside him as well. He noted that Hatake was still breathing steadily—his physical constitution as a ninja was indeed impressive.
Sighing, Haseo spoke, "Hatake, someday when you've grown up, you'll understand—the immense sorrow in life that even tears cannot wash away, the unforgettable pain that makes you want to cry but unable to shed a single tear. That's why truly strong people are the ones who laugh the hardest when they most want to cry. Carrying your pain and sadness inside, they keep moving forward with a smile anyway... Oh, that was something a samurai once said."
In truth, the emotional damage from defeat could wound Sakumo Hatake far deeper than any blade. However, failure isn't something one can't endure. Though Sakumo Hatake had no reason to laugh now, crying wouldn't help either. His mood wasn't nearly as severe as Haseo made it out to be.
Besides, Sakumo Hatake had already grown up.
The Hyuga ninja started treating Sakumo Hatake's external wounds. The enemies had already withdrawn, and it was best to handle Sakumo Hatake's condition promptly.
"Lord Haseo," the ninja urged, "he's still alive for now, but if we delay much longer, he really could die."
His tone implied Haseo should stop talking so much—if he had free time, he should lend a hand instead.
At this moment, Haseo looked around. The mist had mostly cleared out, which made sense since they were at the outermost edge of the poison fog to begin with.
He removed his own gas mask and took several test breaths. Finding nothing wrong, he then carefully took off Sakumo Hatake's mask too—and then...
Haseo began pulling bottles from his ninja tool pouch on his back. As he kept pulling them out, more and more appeared—one after another until there were nearly twenty different vials altogether.
The two Hyuga ninjas stared wide-eyed. Was the world really this unfair? Why would some ninja receive such an excessive amount of medicine before a mission?
Haseo selected about ten of the bottles—these were all different antidotes—and proceeded to pour each into Sakumo Hatake's mouth one by one.
"You've got blood filling your mouth already, right? Perfect—saves me the trouble of mixing it with water. Just swallow them all together; this is what they call 'using the poison to fight the poison.'"
Of course, Sakumo Hatake would need proper detoxification treatment later, but these antidotes from Haseo would significantly ease his symptoms.
There was no way he was going to die.
"You two should take one too—it won't hurt to get rid of some toxins."
After finishing with Sakumo Hatake, Haseo popped one pill himself and handed each of the Hyuga ninjas a pill as well... His attitude toward medication seemed questionable though—this wasn't candy that you just casually eat because it won't kill you, right?
But both Hyuga ninjas obediently swallowed the antidote pills too. Still, who really cared about "every medicine carries some toxicity"? It couldn't be worse than the poison mist itself anyway.
They finished wrapping Sakumo Hatake's wounds and staunched the bleeding. His breathing grew steady soon after.
"Lord Haseo, Semi-Hide's Hanzo...he escaped, but your previous attack was clearly lethal. I thought we had agreed that Hanzo shouldn't die considering the current situation in the Ninjutsu World?"
A Hyūga ninja, who had just finished tending to his injuries and now had some time to speak, asked curiously.
He couldn't quite make sense of Lord Haseo's actions.
"Because I believe Hanzo has enough strength to escape."
"What if he-"
However, another Hyūga ninja, who had been listening, seemed to grasp Haseo's thinking more clearly. He spoke up first, "I know. If anything goes wrong, it just means Lord Haseo was mistaken about his strength… I never thought even Lord Haseo could be wrong about someone."
Haseo: "..."
You see? Even among Hyūga, not everyone thinks the same way. The second one clearly has more promise.
"Alright, put Hatake on your back. Let's continue our return journey. Hopefully, we're done dealing with nuisances like that."
Haseo swiftly cut off the conversation. He had the distinct impression that the Hyūga ninja had just subtly insulted him.
<><><><><><><><>
Thank you for reading! Your support will keep me updating!
~ Every 50 Powerstones = **4 Bonus Chapters** this weekend!
<><><><><><><><>
~ 100+ Advanced Chapters Available on Patreon!
~ More *Free* Chapters and Books Available on Patreon!
patreon.com/Tansnovel
<><><><><><><><>