On the battlefield, Kusagakure Ninjas and the samurai of the Land of Iron were locked in a fierce struggle. One moment an enemy was killed, the next moment one was killed by an enemy; this was a common occurrence on the cruel battlefield.
"Fire Release: Demon Lantern!"
A Kusagakure Ninja formed hand signs.
"You think you can form hand signs and release Ninjutsu in front of me?"
Mifune charged with his sword, taking a step forward, and thrusting his blade. The samurai sword, infused with Chakra, effortlessly pierced the Kusagakure Ninja's chest, interrupting his unreleased Fire Release Ninjutsu, and then he decapitated him with a single swing.
Water converged, forming a towering water vortex. Hanzou and Ibuse the Salamander appeared within the water vortex, attracting the attention of the Kusagakure Ninjas and the samurai of the Land of Iron.
"Everyone, stop!"
Hanzou stood on Ibuse the Salamander's head, surveyed his surroundings, and sternly pointed at the people in front, saying, "Get out of the Land of Rain! The Land of Rain is not your battlefield! Otherwise, you will become enemies of the Land of Rain!"
"What can you do by yourself!"
A Kusagakure Ninja waved his hand, throwing a Kunai, then attacked a nearby samurai from the Land of Iron. His actions were like adding new fuel to the recently quelled flames of war.
Hanzou tilted his head, dodging the incoming Kunai, and watched as the Kusagakure Ninjas and the samurai of the Land of Iron, ignoring his warnings, started fighting again.
"Is this your choice then… In that case…"
Hanzou leaped up, and Ibuse the Salamander, in perfect sync with him, opened its mouth and spewed purple poisonous mist. The deadly, wide-ranging poisonous mist quickly spread across the battlefield.
The Amegakure Ninjas who had rushed over saw a battlefield shrouded in poisonous mist. Even with several times their courage, they dared not approach rashly. They stared blankly at the scene, watching the Ninjas and samurai fall in agony within the poisonous mist.
"Should we go back?"
An Amegakure Ninja looked at his companion.
"Y-yes, let's go back."
"Right, we still have important work to do."
The Amegakure Ninjas, who had originally intended to help Hanzou, retreated once again.
Mifune watched the rapidly spreading poisonous mist, seeing the Ninjas and samurai struggling in agony and dying within it. He quickly swung his samurai sword, attempting to disperse the mist, and shouted loudly, "Retreat! Retreat! Quick, retreat!"
The Kusagakure Ninjas were not fools. Faced with the wide-ranging poisonous mist spewed by Ibuse the Salamander, they had long lost the will to fight and fled out of the mist with all their might.
"Don't think you can escape!"
Hanzou watched the Ninjas and samurai trying to flee. How could he let them go so easily?
What did they think the Land of Rain was? A place where they could come and go as they pleased?
What a joke!
It would be one thing if they were Great Nations that the Land of Rain couldn't afford to provoke!
Hanzou knew very well that if he didn't scare them off this time, they might still use the Land of Rain as a battlefield. This time, he also wanted the Ninja World to see his strength, so that even the Great Nations would think twice about using the Land of Rain as a battlefield!
"They're chasing! They're catching up!"
The Kusagakure Ninjas, seeing Hanzou, like a Shinigami, with a scythe in his right hand and a chain in his left, ran even faster, throwing out their Ninja tools in desperation.
exploding tags, burning, detonated, creating a large amount of smoke. Hanzou burst out of the smoke, swinging the chain in his left hand and throwing it, wrapping it around a slow-running Kusagakure Ninja, pulling him over, and then slaying him with his scythe.
Soon, Hanzou pursued them into the Land of Grass. The Kusagakure Ninjas fled towards their village. After a brief hesitation, Hanzou chased after the samurai of the Land of Iron.
In his opinion, these samurai from the Land of Iron were particularly detestable. They had fought their way from across the Land of Waterfall and the Land of Grass to the Land of Rain with the Kusagakure Ninjas. If he didn't teach them a good lesson, they would still think the Land of Rain was easy to bully!
Hanzou pursued the samurai of the Land of Iron from the Land of Grass all the way to the Land of Waterfall.
Mifune, seeing Hanzou catching up, gritted his teeth and stopped.
"Lord Mifune!"
The samurai looked at Mifune, who had stopped, in confusion.
Mifune waved his hand and said, "You all, escape quickly! I will buy you time!"
The samurai hesitated for a moment, then chose to flee. Not a single person stayed behind to face the pursuing Hanzou with Mifune.
"Have all your samurai fled?"
Hanzou stopped, and the rushing waterfall nearby made a roaring sound.
"I told them to flee."
Mifune gripped his samurai sword with both hands, injecting Chakra into it, preparing to fight Hanzou to the death.
"Is that so… After I kill you, I will kill them before they escape back to the Land of Iron."
"Before that, you need to kill me first!"
Mifune gripped his samurai sword tightly with both hands and charged at Hanzou.
Hanzou charged forward upon seeing this, and their figures crossed.
Clang—!
The sound of clashing metal rang out, and a broken blade flew through the air, embedding itself in the ground.
Mifune's eyes widened, blood gushing from the wound on his face. He struggled to get up, looking at the broken sword in his hand.
"Man is a sword. It seems I was merely a dull blade."
The poison from the poisoned scythe quickly spread throughout his body via his bloodstream. In just a few breaths, Mifune lost his ability to move and collapsed to the ground.
"There's something I want to tell you: a person's end is not death, but when they lose their conviction. So this is also troublesome, because it's hard to judge from appearances. I will declare you a hero to the world."
Hanzou greatly admired Mifune's spirit, willing to sacrifice himself for his subordinates.
"I wish to use my death… to obtain a promise from you."
Mifune struggled to raise his head, looking at Hanzou who was walking past. It was his blind arrogance that led him to chase the Kusagakure Ninjas into the Land of Rain; this was a leadership error on his part.
Hanzou paused, looking at Mifune.
"Speak."
"Don't… kill my companions."
Mifune hoped to exchange his life for the lives of the samurai he had brought to the Land of Grass through his stubbornness.
Hanzou looked at Mifune, moved by his words, and took out the antidote he carried with him.
"This is the antidote…"
Hanzou squatted down, pulled out the wooden stopper of the antidote, and fed it to Mifune.
"I just said, it's hard to judge from appearances whether a person has conviction, and some things can only be seen clearly through battle. People like you are rare. I will let you go this time."
"Don't come to the Land of Rain again. I will only let you go this one time."
Hanzou glanced at Mifune out of the corner of his eye. His antidote had been improved by scientists from White Snake Pharmaceutical Technology Company; otherwise, the antidote alone might not have saved Mifune's life.
Hanzou formed a hand sign, transforming into a puddle of water and disappearing before Mifune's eyes. He still had very important things to do next, which was to settle accounts with Kusagakure in the Land of Grass.
Don't think he knew nothing; he had always been monitoring all nations. As a small nation sandwiched between Great Nations, he was well aware of the importance of intelligence.
Therefore, the most important reason he let Mifune go was that using the Land of Rain as a battlefield was not Mifune's original intention.
Returning to the Land of Rain, Hanzou rested briefly, then single-handedly charged into the Land of Grass, poisoning many Kusagakure Ninjas before leaving.
Meanwhile, after returning to the Land of Iron, Mifune publicly declared that the Land of Iron would remain permanently neutral and no longer participate in any wars.
Hanzou, when he didn't act, was silent, but when he did, he made a name for himself, spreading the renown of Hanzou throughout the entire Ninja World.
Who would have thought that in the Land of Rain, a small nation sandwiched between Great Nations, such a powerful individual would emerge? Ibuse the Salamander and the poison he used had killed countless Ninjas and samurai.
Kusagakure was helpless against the poisoned Ninjas. Despite all their efforts, they could only barely keep these poisoned Ninjas alive. In desperation, they could only seek help from the peace-loving Konoha.
Land of Fire, Konoha, Hokage Building.
"Hiruzen Sarutobi, couldn't you just send anyone? Why does it have to be me!"
Tsunade slammed her hands on the desk, extremely unwilling to go to Kusagakure to save people.
"There's no choice. Kusagakure has sought help from Konoha. As one of the Five Great Ninja Villages, we cannot pretend not to see it."
Hiruzen Sarutobi said with a helpless expression. Hanzou's poison was too potent. The Medical Ninjas of Kusagakure had exhausted all means but could not detoxify it, only slowing the spread of the toxin.
"So… why did you drag me here? Tsunade, isn't this your mission?"
Orochimaru had just finished teaching a class to the students of the Ninja Academy's Sealing Team, and after finally shaking off those children who had become his fangirls, he was dragged to the Hokage Building by Tsunade.
"Orochimaru, you come with me. If you don't go, I won't go! Find someone else for this mission!"
Tsunade crossed her arms and turned her head away.
"Orochimaru…"
Hiruzen Sarutobi looked at the willful Tsunade, then helplessly at Orochimaru, with a hint of plea in his eyes.
"I'll consider it if it's an A-rank mission."
Orochimaru seized the opportunity. Even a small mosquito has meat; she didn't lack this money, but that didn't mean she didn't want it. Even one Ryo had its place to shine.
She had long thoroughly researched Hanzou's poison and even improved the antidote. She had even developed more potent poisons based on Ibuse the Salamander's venom.
If Hanzou and Ibuse the Salamander agreed, Orochimaru could transform Ibuse the Salamander into an even more powerful Summoning Beast. At that point, it might not even be a salamander anymore.
"A-rank..."
Hiruzen Sarutobi really didn't want to give this A-rank mission. It was just to detoxify people in Kusagakure in the Land of Grass; there was no need to fight enemy Ninja. It wasn't that he couldn't afford it, but he was reluctant to spend the money.
Friction between the Various Ninja Villages of various countries was constant, and the Village spent money like water. Most of the money was used to pay the Ninja of the Village. They couldn't just let them do missions without paying, right?
If there were casualties, the severance pay would be another large sum.
"Alright, an A-rank mission to support Kusagakure."
Hiruzen Sarutobi still compromised. Orochimaru clearly didn't want to go, which was why she asked for an A-rank mission.
"No time to lose! Let's get ready and set off!"
Tsunade's expression changed rapidly, and she dragged Orochimaru out.
Orochimaru, being pulled by Tsunade, looked disheveled. Based on her understanding of Tsunade, it wouldn't take long for her to formulate an antidote for Hanzou's poison.
Orochimaru truly didn't want to go to Kusagakure. Her impression of Kusagakure was very poor; Karin's mother and Karin's experiences in Kusagakure left a deep impression on her.
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