The Name of the Three Sannin (Part 2)

In the Land of Rain, the drizzling rain gradually grew heavier.

This weeping nation had only two kinds of weather most of the time—heavy rain and light rain.

Hanzō stood in the rain atop Salamander Ibuse's head, looking at the three young people before him.

Tsunade stood at the center of the front line, with Orochimaru and Jiraiya stationed to her left and right. This was a formation they had been familiar with since childhood.

Tsunade, the strongest in taijutsu, took the front, serving as both tank and healer.

As the First Hokage's granddaughter, she had inherited part of his powerful physique. Combined with her monstrous strength, she was practically a Humanoid Tyrannosaurus.

Along with her formidable medical abilities, her presence directly determined the team's endurance.

Orochimaru's endless ninjutsu and terrifying number of Summoning Snakes handled ranged attacks while also taking care of control, harassment, and part of the damage output. He counted as the mage role.

Jiraiya was responsible for support and damage output, making him the warrior role.

When necessary, he could also fill in as the tank and give Tsunade a chance to catch her breath. His physical constitution was equally powerful, after all—he had been beaten by Tsunade's monstrous iron fists since childhood.

Hanzō had already sent his Amegakure subordinates away.

Amegakure had never had many people to begin with, and after being battered into an even more crippled state last time, they had no problem defending Amegakure. Hanzō could not bear to throw them into a Kage-level clash as cannon fodder.

After all, these were the only people under his command whom he could still use.

"Orochimaru, I didn't expect you to dare show yourself here again. What, have your injuries fully healed?"

Hanzō threatened.

After all, Amegakure was a small place. They had only heard of Medical Ninjutsu, never seen it, much less recovery speed enhanced by Dragon Yuan.

When Tsunade heard that Hanzō only had eyes for Orochimaru, her unyielding nature immediately flared up. She stepped forward and shouted:

"The Konoha Sannin have arrived! Hanzō, don't get too arrogant!"

Tsunade and Jiraiya had heard Orochimaru casually mention the title while chatting at an Izakaya. They thought it sounded good, so they adopted it.

"Hahaha, the Three Sannin? Some ninja game for three little brats? How laughable."

Hanzō felt that the name Konoha Sannin was rather unimpressive. If he had named them himself, it certainly would have sounded more imposing.

Though in truth, he was not particularly cultured either. At most, he could have come up with something similar.

In Hanzō's experience, Orochimaru was most likely just forcing himself to hide any abnormality, putting on the appearance of having recovered from his injuries to intimidate him and hopefully force him to retreat.

"Hanzō, stop wasting words. The three of us came here today for only one thing."

Orochimaru licked the corner of his mouth as he spoke.

"This old man will never retreat. Stop dreaming!"

Hanzō replied forcefully.

"No, no, we didn't come here to ask you to do anything. We only want to beat you to death, or... be beaten to death by you!"

The moment Orochimaru finished speaking, he immediately launched a sneak attack with Shadow Snake Hand. But Hanzō, who had long been on guard, noticed it and used the Body Flicker Technique to evade.

However, Orochimaru had not expected this strike to achieve any results. What he wanted was to force Hanzō to reposition.

Jiraiya and Tsunade, who had long shared a tacit understanding, began to move as well.

"Fire Style: Flame Bullet!"

Jiraiya activated his ninjutsu, intending to attack from the front. He drew the enemy's attention while covering Tsunade.

With a sweep of the sickle in his hand, Hanzō directly split apart Jiraiya's Fire Style attack.

Seizing the opportunity, Tsunade leaped forward and brought down a punch.

"Water Style: Water Body Flicker!"

Hanzō evaded Tsunade's attack, leaving only a massive crater in the ground.

Hanzō had trained the seemingly simple Body Flicker Technique to a level nearly unprecedented in history. Even the Third Hokage at the height of his prime was slightly inferior.

In present-day Konoha, perhaps only Hatake Shōsō could contend with Hanzō in terms of speed.

"Fire Style: Explosive Flame Formation!"

Before Hanzō dodged away, he had left behind a trap.

The ground beneath Tsunade's feet slowly sank, while numerous Explosive Tags surfaced.

Just as Tsunade was about to be injured by the blast, a mass of white hair rapidly shielded her.

Jiraiya, who had been supporting from the side and noticed the danger, used Ninjutsu: Hidden Needle to protect her.

Hanzō had no chance to press the advantage, because Orochimaru launched an attack with Shadow Many Snake Hands.

With the giant snakes already closing in on him, Hanzō had no time to use ninjutsu. He simply swung his sickle, drawing several flashes of blade light through the air and cutting the snakes into scattered pieces.

At that moment, Salamander Ibuse finally broke free from the entanglement of Manda and several other Summoning Beasts, then sprayed a massive mouthful of poisonous mist toward the battlefield.

Gamabunta and the others did not dare approach. Though the Slug could cure this poison, suffering from it would still be unpleasant and would greatly affect their combat strength.

Orochimaru and the others had already taken Antidote Pills.

Although Tsunade had yet to create a specific antidote for Hanzō's poison like Chiyo had, the Antidote Pills she had developed could suppress the vast majority of toxins.

She only needed to use the Delicate Illness Extraction Technique to draw out the toxins from Orochimaru and Jiraiya once their buildup began affecting their combat ability.

Under the cover of the poisonous mist, Hanzō swung his scythe, sending slash after slash at the three of them. The scythe was coated in deadly poison and could not be confronted head-on.

Jiraiya's hair dragged Tsunade out of the range of Hanzō's slashes.

Orochimaru spat out the Kusanagi Sword, sending it flying toward Hanzō.

Orochimaru was not worried about losing the sword. He had long since formed a summoning contract with the Kusanagi Sword.

"Taijutsu: Chain Scythe Double Strike!"

The chain in Hanzō's hand wrapped around the Kusanagi Sword, while his scythe cleaved down at Orochimaru from above.

"Bang!"

A cloud of smoke dispersed, leaving behind a wooden stump.

The time bought by the flying Kusanagi Sword had been enough for Orochimaru to use the Substitution Technique and evade Hanzō's attack.

"Lion Combo!"

Jiraiya did not retract his hair. Instead, it transformed into lion heads and tried to entangle Hanzō.

At that moment, Tsunade had one hand pressed against Jiraiya's back and the other against Orochimaru, who had arrived beside them after using the Substitution Technique.

The toxins had already accumulated considerably and had to be extracted.

But Hanzō was also a powerful ninja seasoned by countless battles. How could he possibly give his opponents a chance to recover?

Salamander Ibuse's enormous body charged toward the three of them.

Left with no choice, the three leaped away to evade it. Fortunately, more than half of the toxins had already been removed.

Seeing that the poisonous mist was gradually dispersing, Gamabunta and the others charged in again and held Ibuse down.

Smoke filled the air, and the sounds of blades clashing rang out from within from time to time.

Combined with the dazzling lights and effects of ninjutsu and the massive craters littering the ground, the battle between four powerful ninja and four enormous Summoning Beasts covered an immense area. Countless people who wandered into the area were caught up in it and killed.

This was a battle that would determine the future course of the Land of Rain, and even the Shinobi World!

"Rumble rumble~~"

The dull thunder continued rolling through the dark clouds, while soybean-sized raindrops joined into curtains of rain and battered the passersby.

Nagato, Yahiko, and Konan ran through the rain with huge emerald-green lotus leaves, washed clean by the rain, held over their heads.

Suddenly, a Kunai tied with an Explosive Tag fell from the sky. The three nearly got hit and could only hurriedly move far away.

"Yahiko, it's too dangerous here! Let's leave quickly!"

Konan shouted anxiously.

Seeing Yahiko standing there foolishly, staring at the massive battle ahead with longing for power filling his eyes, Konan and Nagato had no choice but to drag him away.

At the edge of the battlefield, within a pitcher plant, a half-black, half-white figure watched Nagato.

Or rather, he watched the eyes hidden beneath Nagato's long bangs.

It was Zetsu—Black Zetsu and White Zetsu.

The prerequisite for Black Zetsu's plan was the realization of Madara's plan.

Nagato, who had been implanted with Madara's Rinnegan, was the most crucial link in Madara's plan.

Nagato possessed extraordinary talent. Only a gifted member of the Uzumaki Clan like him had Chakra sufficient to support the Rinnegan.

But no matter how great his talent was, he still needed someone to guide him during the early stages of his growth.

And guidance from the strong was the best. Without an established legacy of ninja training like Konohagakure's Ninja Academy, only sufficiently powerful ninja could lay a solid foundation for Nagato from a higher perspective.

When White Zetsu discovered intelligence regarding the prophecy of Jiraiya's Child of Destiny, Madara had already formulated a plan—to pull a switch and turn the so-called Child of Destiny into one of his own!

Nagato, who possessed the Rinnegan, would certainly be regarded by Jiraiya as a possible savior.

The three children braved the rain and arrived beneath an eave to shelter from it. They had no key and could not enter the house.

After years of war, there were far too many unoccupied houses like this in the Land of Rain.

Some had left and never returned, choosing to abandon this nation ravaged by war.

Others had left and could never return. The Land of Rain was now the most dangerous place in the entire Shinobi World.

Even if there were rules forbidding ninja from interfering with civilians, if no one saw it, who would care?

Wasn't that exactly what had happened to Nagato's parents?

Moreover, vast areas of the Land of Rain were covered in traps. If even ninja could fall victim to such things through a moment of carelessness, how could ordinary civilians possibly have any chance of surviving?

"Who do you think is fighting over there?

They're such incredible ninja. I want to possess power as strong as theirs too!

Only then can I change this country!"

Yahiko, who had been huddling in the corner with Konan and Nagato to keep warm, suddenly stood up. Looking at the raindrops dripping from the eaves, he spoke with passionate fervor.

"One side was probably Hanzō, the leader of the Land of Rain's ninja village. I once heard my father talk about him."

Nagato paused. Because of Yahiko's antics, the tiny bit of warmth he had painstakingly gathered was blown away by the wind again.

He hunched in on himself and continued, "Father said Lord Hanzō is the strongest ninja in the Land of Rain, and also the strongest ninja in the Shinobi World. He has a salamander that fights for him."

"Ah, that salamander! I saw it too. It was really, really huge! You could tell at a glance that it was amazing!"

Konan had seen Salamander Ibuse as well.

"Let's go ask him to take us as disciples!"

Yahiko suddenly turned back and spoke firmly to his two companions.