Stalemate

Hanzo hid in the water, his face grim as he looked at the enormous crater in the distance. Clutching his chest, he spat out mouthfuls of dark blood.

Why is he showing no signs of poisoning? Did he somehow neutralize This Old Man's poison? Impossible. I need to stall a little longer.

That posture... is it the legendary Susanoo of the Uchiha Clan?

But it isn't as massive as the records describe. I'll need to find information to verify it. Ōnoki might know something.

With that speed and strength, I'll have to use that technique if I want to kill him.

Hanma sensed the Chakra returned by Blood Qi, locking onto a current of water. Surprise appeared on his face.

"Hanzo, do you have Hozuki Clan blood too? Why not acknowledge your ancestry and return to Kirigakure?"

That heavy punch earlier had been launched while Hanzo was still unfamiliar with Hanma's newly increased speed.

Under normal circumstances, it should have hit him solidly.

Yet when Hanzo used the Body Flicker Technique to evade it, he had actually transformed into water.

Using the abundant water in the environment and his superb Body Flicker Technique, he had forcibly avoided most of the blow's force.

Hanzo glared darkly at Hanma, his body numb all over.

Hanma's powerful Lightning Release Chakra was extremely effective against his Water Transformation Technique.

His top priority now was to calm down, carefully analyze Hanma's information, and find an opening.

"If you ask me, you should just go to Kirigakure and become the Mizukage. Over there, whoever has the biggest fists gets the final say. That Third Mizukage looks like a fraud to me anyway. You're better than him!"

"You're fighting Konoha to the death here, but do you even have the strength for it? Stop clinging to your current village. Just land troops and attack Kirigakure—that's the right way to do it."

"You need to get out there to have a better future. I'm pointing you down a bright path here, so think about whether I'm right!"

"Why not go out and swallow up the Five Great Nations to make a name for yourself? Instead, you're here plotting against someone else's vassal state. Where's your ambition? Why are you so unmotivated?"

Hanma drew on the skills he had honed over the years bantering with old men and women at the market, chatting about trivial family matters.

One piece of trash talk followed another as he tried to mess with Hanzo's mindset.

It was not that Hanma had forgotten the rule that villains died from talking too much. Hanzo's highly concentrated deadly poison was becoming too much for him as well.

With the boost from Savage Growth, his body was slowly developing poison resistance.

Ibuse's poison was gradually having less and less effect on him.

But if he inhaled such a massive amount of poison at close range again, Hanma could not be sure whether he would withstand it.

The defense granted by the Blood Lightning Armor allowed him to completely ignore Hanzo's Kusarigama and Explosive Tags.

Hanzo's only effective means of harming Hanma was Ibuse's poison.

Stall him. Stall a little longer. Improving his poison resistance required time.

His body's own detoxification ability was also working constantly. Time was on his side.

Listening to Hanma's half-serious suggestion that he launch a surprise attack on the Land of Water, Hanzo grew even angrier.

What did he mean by plotting against someone else's vassal state?

Damn Konoha. They occupied the richest land in the entire Shinobi World and controlled numerous small grain-producing nations.

They ate until their mouths were dripping with grease, yet they did not care whether anyone else lived or died?

Had Konoha's territory not been conquered through war?

What did the Land of Rain attacking the Land of Rivers have to do with you?

If Konoha would not let the Land of Rain prosper, then they would fight a vicious battle!

Hanzo steadied his breathing. The purple glow in his eyes intensified, and disregarding his already sunken chest, he drove Ibuse forward to attack again!

Hanma narrowed his eyes as he watched Hanzo constantly flicker about. Chakra erupted from his entire body as he charged forward.

Enhanced by the Blood Lightning Armor, Hanma's defense and speed rose dramatically.

Every punch and kick produced terrifying sonic booms. The mist clouds formed by those booms stretched into a long white trail behind Hanma.

"Bang—!!!"

Another heavy punch slammed down. After several exchanges, the ground was already covered in deep, massive craters.

Like he was playing whack-a-mole, Hanma's every punch and kick had become enough to threaten Hanzo.

As long as he landed one solid punch at close range, he could declare victory in this fight.

Hanzo, however, paid no heed to so-called pride or dignity, constantly using the Body Flicker Technique to evade Hanma's attacks.

When he truly could not evade, he used the Water Transformation Technique to become a stream of water and slip into the craters, absorbing most of the damage.

Hanzo's methods of attack also became direct and singular. He simply used the poison mist surrounding his Water Release Chakra Mode: Mixed Poison Form to continue deepening the poison's erosion of Hanma.

Hanma searched for an opportunity to kill with a single blow, while Hanzo waited for the poison mist to prove effective. The two fell into another stalemate.

Hanzo's complexion had turned an unnatural deep purple. His ribs and upper arm were already broken.

His left hand hung limply at his side, while the poison sac inside his body sent out faint stabbing pains.

Although the combination of his Water Transformation Technique and Body Flicker Technique was perfect and could avoid nearly all physical attacks,

Hanma's power was simply too overwhelming. Even the vicious winds from his punches carried lethal force.

Hanma held his breath to avoid inhaling the poison mist as much as possible, but he could not stop his pores from breathing, and his poisoning symptoms became increasingly severe.

The poisonous fog on the battlefield had grown so thick that the ground was nearly impossible to see. Thanks to the efforts of its own leader, Amegakure's environment had once again irreversibly worsened.

Who would have thought that what I thought was a simple assassination mission would make me run into Hanzo so early? What rotten luck.

That son's self-destruction technique earlier was probably taught by this old man too.

Hanzo probably can't self-destruct, right? He should have ambitions now, so he probably can't.

Still, if Hanzo forcibly gets close and self-destructs with me, that would indeed be troublesome.

Hanma proactively widened the distance and studied Hanzo. In truth, he had no particular reason to insist on killing him.

And the sluggish sensation in his body was growing heavier.

If Hanzo self-destructed and blew him half to death, Hanma could not expect Konoha to compensate him for much.

After all, when his father, Kagami Uchiha, died, it seemed his family had merely received a few extra crates of fruit.

Unbeknownst to him, Hanzo had the same thoughts.

This man's body is extraordinary. Ibuse's poison is actually having no effect on him. What a nuisance.

Iga's death cannot be avenged today. This Old Man will remember it, cursed Konoha.

Konoha's strength is expanding more and more. This will be difficult to handle.

With this clash, ripples had spread across the timeline, and the landscape of the Second Shinobi World War quietly changed.

In the original story, Hanzo alone had intended to display his strength, annexing the Land of Birds beneath the Land of Wind and the Land of Rivers beneath the Land of Fire, then leaping into the ranks of the six great shinobi villages.

But with the additional Hanma, a Konoha ninja capable of killing him, invasion had already become empty talk.

If I want to tear a piece of flesh from Konoha, it seems I'll have to call in starving mad dogs like the Sunagakure Ninja.