The rain seemed to grow viscous in that moment.
Hanzo of the Salamander stood at the center of the Land of Rain, no longer moving. The message had already reached the Amegakure Ninja. Now he had to hold this position and buy time for the other Rain Ninja to escape!
Amegakure was already a village in name only.
Without him, no one in Amegakure could stand against Ōnoki, Sarutobi Hiruzen, or the Third Kazekage.
The poison in Hanzo's body was taking effect.
The wound in his abdomen wasn't large, but his damaged poison sac was continuously releasing the deadliest paralytic toxin into his bloodstream. His limbs were growing heavy, and his chakra was flowing noticeably more sluggishly.
He knew he couldn't escape.
Hanzo stopped in the middle of Amegakure's widest plaza.
Around him, some of Amegakure's elite jōnin were ready. There weren't many—only a dozen or so.
This was all the high-level combat strength Amegakure had left.
"Seijou! Seisei!" he called in a low voice.
Two figures appeared beside him in an instant, emerging from the curtain of rain. They were the two Rain Ninja jōnin who had confronted Orochimaru earlier.
Hanzo didn't turn around. His gaze pierced through the rain, fixed on the front. The Konoha Ninja had caught up and were surrounding him in a half-moon formation.
The Konoha Sannin, and that assassin who had appeared at the end—
—every one of them would likely become a renowned figure in the history of the Shinobi World.
Yet Hanzo's gaze passed over the ninja and finally landed on the boy who seemed the least remarkable, standing subtly protected at the center of the group.
"Brat, what's your name?!"
"In a battle this brutal, you found an opening and managed to land a potentially fatal attack on me—"
Hanzo's voice