"The troublesome ones are gone."
Uchiha Sōgetsu adjusted his glasses and said leisurely, "Now then, shouldn't the main act be making an appearance?"
There was no need to worry about Little Hikari.
If he had not instructed her beforehand not to expose herself in front of Tsunade, then those rotten fish and shrimp would have been reduced to ashes by Amaterasu before they could even get close.
There were not many people Amaterasu could not kill, and fodder was certainly not among them.
"Mm, he's here."
No sooner said than done.
A figure was rapidly approaching.
When he came within roughly ten meters, they could both see each other clearly. Hanzo abruptly stopped, cautiously surveying the surroundings. Only after confirming that nothing was amiss did he ask, "What happened? Where's Tsunade?"
"Lady Tsunade's disciple was abducted by those people."
Uchiha Sōgetsu was likewise observing Hanzo.
Ten meters... it was quite an ambiguous distance.
Retreat, and one could withdraw quickly; advance, and one could land a killing blow.
Even if the enemy was merely a jonin, one had to be as cautious and careful as possible.
Even a lion hunting a rabbit had to give it its all.
Hanzo demonstrated that saying perfectly.
Uchiha Sōgetsu narrowed his eyes, unable to help feeling some admiration. As expected of an old hand who had survived the Second Shinobi World War—despite having the obvious upper hand, he could still remain so cautious.
"This person was one of them?"
Hanzo felt somewhat relieved after confirming that Tsunade was absent. Then he cast his gaze toward the ninja on the ground whose neck had been crushed beneath a foot and deliberately asked, "Did you find any information on him?"
"Yes."
Uchiha Sōgetsu nodded slightly.
"Oh? What information?"
Hanzo was not worried that the plan had been exposed. He knew the people from Root well enough. As he slowly approached, he put on the appearance of being concerned for an ally and hypocritically asked, "Do you know who he was? What was his purpose in coming to Amegakure?"
Just a little closer...
He could use the Body Flicker Technique to get over there and slit that Anbu's throat in one stroke!
Even the Sharingan could not possibly react in time.
"Oh, he said he was from Root."
Uchiha Sōgetsu tilted his head and stared at Hanzo with a half-smiling, meaningful look. "He also said..."
Bang!
Hanzo suddenly burst forward, the inner edge of his sickle slicing through the air as it swung straight for his throat.
There was no need to wait for him to finish. Hanzo already knew he had been exposed.
In that case, he might as well strike first!
However, Uchiha Sōgetsu had clearly been prepared. He gripped a kunai in a forward hold and swung it out.
Clang!
The kunai collided with the sickle, scattering sparks.
"The mighty leader of Amegakure actually attacked a junior from Konoha without saying a word."
Uchiha Sōgetsu narrowed his eyes and said with a hint of mockery, "If word gets out by accident, your reputation will be ruined."
"Ninja do not need reputations."
Hanzo's eyelids lowered, his voice hoarse and deep. "As long as I kill you, no one will know."
His weapon was rather strange. In his right hand was a long-handled sickle, with a chain attached to its end. At the end of the chain in his left hand was a solid iron weight.
Usually, after using the sickle to restrain an enemy, he would swing the chain and use the momentum to hurl the iron weight.
Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh—!
The heavy iron weight tore through the air, carrying a dull whistle.
Hanzo was very confident.
Even Konoha's Legendary Sannin were no match for him, much less a mere jonin Anbu?
He had even perfectly rehearsed every subsequent step of the battle process in his mind:
"Uchiha will choose to retreat, then use the Great Fireball Technique to intercept my pursuit.
But it doesn't matter. The instant I'm hit, I'll use the Water Body Flicker Technique to escape. Once he lets down his guard, I'll use Iaijutsu to cut off his head!"
But unfortunately... Hanzo had encountered a "Spectator."
Uchiha Sōgetsu's eyes narrowed slightly, shallow ripples reflected in his scarlet Sharingan.
Granted, the Spectator Pathway's frontal combat ability in its early stages absolutely did not rank near the top among the "22 Divine Paths." It could even be said to rank near the bottom.
What it gained in exchange was observational ability nearly akin to mind-reading.
From a target's hidden true emotions, the faint scents emitted by hormones, and even tiny facial expressions, Uchiha Sōgetsu could accurately infer every thought the target had.
If Hanzo was on the fifth floor,
Then he was probably in... the stratosphere!
As he turned sideways and lowered his center of gravity, he twisted his waist and drove his hips forward, delivering a powerful side kick directly into Hanzo's lower ribs.
Bang!
How could Hanzo have imagined that the battle scene rehearsed in his mind would not appear, and that he would instead be kicked flying?
That kick struck his liver dead-on.
The intense pain of a liver blow made cold sweat seep from Hanzo's forehead. The muscles in his face spasmed and twisted, and his mind nearly went blank.
"The legendary Hanzo of the Salamander is nothing special after all." Rather than pursue, Uchiha Sōgetsu remained where he was, as though waiting for Hanzo to recover. His eyes were filled with arrogance. "Sure enough, no matter how powerful a ninja is, they cannot withstand the passage of time."
"Brat."
Those words directly struck Hanzo's sore spot. "I'll make you regret saying that!"
"Oh? Is that so? Then I'll wait and see."
Uchiha Sōgetsu folded his arms across his chest, his arrogant attitude making Hanzo even more furious.
"Very good, brat. You have successfully angered this old man." Hanzo bit his finger and pressed it against the ground, killing intent thick in his eyes. "I originally did not want to make too much noise, but I've changed my mind. Summoning Jutsu: Salamander Ibuse!"
Bang!
A massive cloud of smoke appeared out of nowhere.
Then, accompanied by howling winds, the smoke dispersed, revealing an enormous black salamander standing upon the earth like a mountain.
"So this is the salamander?" Uchiha Sōgetsu examined the summoned beast without the slightest tension. "Hanzo's famed summon—let me see what it can do."
"Ibuse, Poison Mist Spray!"
Standing atop the black salamander's head, Hanzo issued the command coldly.
The salamander's abdomen swelled as it spat out a cloud of purple poison mist. Hanzo's Chakra was mixed within it, making it so dense that even the Sharingan could not see through it.
But the more troublesome issue was that, as time passed, the poison mist showed no signs of dispersing. Instead, aided by the wind, it spread farther and farther, nearly swallowing an area of a hundred meters around them.
"With this, your Sharingan is useless, brat."
Hanzo's voice echoed through the poison mist. His voice could be heard, but he could not be seen. "Ordinary people who inhale the salamander's poison for half a minute will have their bodies stiffen, their hearts paralyzed, and die!"
He had absolute confidence in the salamander's poison.
After all, it could be said that more than half of all his honors up to this point came from the salamander. It was precisely because of this troublesome poison that he had risen step by step to where he was today.
"Let me interrupt you."
Standing at the very center of the poison mist, Uchiha Sōgetsu said flatly, "Lady Tsunade developed an antidote for your salamander poison long ago. Do you have any fresher tricks?"
Hanzo fell into a long silence within the poison mist.
"Honestly, what am I supposed to say about you, Lord Hanzo?"
Even Uchiha Sōgetsu felt embarrassed for him. He held his forehead and sighed. "You did defeat Konoha's Legendary Sannin once, but that was six years ago. The salamander poison you're so proud of was cracked by Lady Tsunade long ago, yet you're still standing in place, even treating such outdated stuff as your trump card?"
"Shut up! Uchiha brat!"
Hanzo's defenses were utterly shattered. Veins bulged on his forehead, and blood vessels appeared in his eyes. "Just because you cracked the salamander's poison, do you really think you can defeat me?!"
Rumble!!!
The enormous salamander's limbs shook as it charged forward like a crushing black mountain.
"Heh."
Uchiha Sōgetsu snorted coldly, and something seemed to flash gold in the depths of his pupils.
Intimidation!
In an instant, the salamander stopped.
In its eyes, the tiny ninja before it seemed to transform into a gray dragon.
At the depths of those pale gold vertical pupils lay what seemed like an immeasurably deep black ocean. Furious, violent waves howled within it, exuding a terrifying pressure as profound as an abyss.
"Get lost!"
Uchiha Sōgetsu's eyes glowed pale gold. His lips parted slightly as he uttered a single word.
The violent mental impact was like a spear hurled by a god.
Bang!
Fear completely overtook its mind, and the salamander fled back to the summoning space in terror.
"???"
Hanzo, who had been left behind, was now full of question marks.
December 17th, sunny.
The boss held an all-staff meeting today and put everyone's salary from last month up on the screen. When it was over, I didn't see mine, so I asked why my salary wasn't there. The boss glanced at me: What was it you did again? Waaaaah... I'm so miserable. Please, kind sirs, spare me something~
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