Sigurd hovered in the air, looking down at Salamander Hanzō as he slowly said, "I am Sigurd, merely a nobody."
"I've long heard of the Demigod of the Ninja World. Seeing you today has been a great disappointment."
"You're asking for death!"
At those words, Salamander Hanzō's eyes blazed with fury. He quickly formed Hand Seals and cried, "Summoning Technique!"
After a burst of white smoke, a massive gray-brown salamander covered in boils appeared.
Since the battlefield was atop a tower, there wasn't enough room for it to land.
So the salamander could only cling to the tower wall, making for a very bizarre sight.
Though the salamander had no eyes, its head remained fixed on Sigurd.
The salamander was named Ibuse. It was Hanzō's summoned beast, capable of spewing out vast clouds of poisonous mist. During the Second Ninja War, it had given the Konoha Sannin no end of trouble.
At the sight of the salamander's sudden appearance, Sigurd's gaze sharpened.
It wasn't that he was afraid. They were in the heart of Amegakure, and if he let the salamander release its poison, who knew how many people would die?
At the thought, Sigurd already began to consider retreating.
He'd come here only to make a big enough commotion to attract the attention of Nagato and the others lurking in the shadows, not to kill civilians.
While Sigurd was weighing his options, Salamander Hanzō had already leaped onto Ibuse's head.
Seeing this, Sigurd could only shrug helplessly and say, with some regret, "Looks like we won't find out who's stronger today."
With that, the thrusters beneath Sigurd's feet powered up, and he shot into the sky.
Seeing this, Salamander Hanzō immediately shouted, "You bastard! Are you trying to run away?"
At those words, Sigurd stopped climbing and looked down again at the tiny Salamander Hanzō. He scoffed. "Run away? No, no. I'm sparing your life. You should thank me."
With that, Sigurd conjured his Sun Demon Sword Gram and aimed the entire blade at Hanzō below.
"The Magic Sword is complete. Let me see your pride, then. Behold, the dawn of destruction—Bolverk Gram!"
As the words left his mouth, Sigurd slammed his fist into the hilt of the Magic Sword.
In an instant, the entire sword shot forward like a cannonball, straight toward Salamander Hanzō below.
When Salamander Hanzō saw the attack coming and sensed its overwhelming force descending from the sky, his heart lurched with shock.
The sight brought back the terror he'd felt when he was once dominated by the chakra dragon Nagato had summoned.
Sensing danger, Hanzō quickly formed Hand Seals and used the Water Body Flicker Technique, fleeing from the top of Ibuse's head in an instant.
With Hanzō gone, Ibuse was the one left to suffer. Sigurd's attack came too fast for it to dispel the Summoning Technique in time.
Rumble!
A tremendous explosion rang through the sky, nearly destroying the entire tower. That was even with Sigurd having reduced the amount of sunlight he'd poured into the attack.
If he'd infused the Magic Sword with more solar energy, the destruction would have been far greater.
The explosion swept up most of the Rain Ninja inside the tower. The casualties would surely leave Salamander Hanzō in a great deal of pain.
As for the salamander?
The initial explosion from the Magic Sword badly wounded it, but at that very moment, it dispelled the Summoning Technique, barely managing to save its own life.
Still, given the injuries it had sustained, it wouldn't return to the battlefield for at least a year or two.
Though the salamander had involuntarily released some poison when the explosion hit,
the residents below had already evacuated because of Sigurd's battle with Hanzō.
As a result, the escaping poison only affected a few unlucky Rain Ninja and didn't harm a single civilian.
Sigurd was satisfied with the outcome. After taking one last look at Amegakure below, he turned and flew into the distance.
Watching Sigurd's figure disappear over the horizon, Salamander Hanzō was so furious his eyes nearly bulged from their sockets. His breathing grew ragged beneath his mask.
He stared coldly in the direction Sigurd had gone, fury and hatred raging in his heart.
He silently swore that the next time he saw Sigurd, he would make him pay dearly.
"Someone!"
At Salamander Hanzō's call, a Rain Ninja appeared at once.
He knelt behind Salamander Hanzō and said respectfully, "Lord Hanzō, what are your orders?"
"Assess our casualties, then issue a warrant for that man. Also, circulate his portrait to all the major villages."
"Yes!"
The Rain Ninja vanished as soon as the exchange ended, leaving Hanzō standing alone in the rain.
That night, in the southern part of the Land of Rain, there was a secluded cave that also served as Nagato and Konan's temporary base.
Nagato sat inside a specially made apparatus. His entire body had withered to a frightening degree, clearly drained by the Demonic Statue of the Outer Path.
He was fiddling with a corpse in front of him, inserting special Black Receivers into its body. He was evidently making the Six Paths of Pain.
Konan stood beside a cultivation pod, silently watching the orange-haired youth inside, who looked as if he were asleep.
Just then, a half-black, half-white humanoid figure slowly emerged from the ground. It was Zetsu.
"Leader, something interesting happened over in Amegakure. I think you'll want to hear about it," Zetsu said hoarsely.
Nagato showed no reaction and continued working on the corpse in his hands.
Konan, however, walked over to Zetsu and asked, "Zetsu, what happened in Amegakure?"
Zetsu smiled faintly. "From what I've learned, a man named Sigurd attacked Salamander Hanzō in Amegakure at noon today."
When he'd first heard the news, he'd intended to tell Obito, whether to recruit Sigurd or eliminate the threat.
Unfortunately, Obito was currently in Kirigakure, playing at being someone else, and couldn't return anytime soon.
So Zetsu had no choice but to settle for telling Nagato and the others.
After all, news of this level was easy enough to learn just by going out and asking around. He couldn't let something like this create a rift between him and Nagato.
Nagato was, after all, the most important piece in his plan.
At Zetsu's words, Nagato finally set aside his work and looked at him.
Seeing this, Zetsu chuckled. "I knew the leader would be interested in this."
Nagato replied in a low voice, "Cut the nonsense. Tell me exactly what happened."
Zetsu said no more and simply told Nagato and Konan how Sigurd had attacked Hanzō and escaped unscathed.
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