Godlike Power

"Hanzo, looks like you've got a troublesome opponent this time."

Ibuse rumbled beneath Hanzo.

"Heh. If I weren't facing a troublesome enemy, I wouldn't have called you out."

Taking in the Five-Tails Jinchuriki opposite him with a grave expression, Hanzo said firmly, "We have to win this battle. Only by proving that we can defeat a Jinchuriki and possess destructive power on par with one will the other ninja villages think twice before throwing their Jinchuriki into battle. That's the only way this war can continue."

As he spoke, Hanzo glanced back at the battlefield, where fighting raged behind him.

"Besides, we've finally gained an advantage in local combat by catching the Rock Ninja off guard with a surprise attack. If we win this battle, the Rock Ninja won't be able to launch another attack for a while."

"So this battle is important. I'm counting on you, old friend."

Ibuse gave a solemn nod beneath Hanzo. "Don't worry. I'll give it everything I've got."

Just as the battle was about to erupt, Hanzo caught sight of a convoy a thousand meters away from the corner of his eye.

"Civilians? What are civilians doing here?"

To keep their clash from affecting too many ordinary ninja, Hanzo and the Five-Tails Jinchuriki had tacitly chosen to stay clear of the main battlefield. The Rain Ninja and Rock Ninja had also made a point of avoiding the area where the two were fighting.

That was why there were practically no ninja fighting in this direction.

Even so, there should have been plenty of ninja battling on the outskirts.

Hanzo couldn't for the life of him figure out how those civilians had crossed the main battlefield and come running from that direction.

Little did he know that Xia Mu's group had gone to great lengths to get here precisely because fewer people were fighting in this area.

After only a brief moment of surprise, Hanzo put the matter out of his mind.

They were just ordinary civilians. Compared to the battle he was about to fight, they were insignificant.

It was unthinkable that Hanzo would delay his plans out of concern that some civilians might get caught in the crossfire.

He swiftly formed a hand seal and murmured, "Fire Style: Paper Style: Explosive Tag Formation!"

In an instant, countless explosive tags appeared beneath the Five-Tails Jinchuriki in front of him and wrapped around the Five-Tails.

The Five-Tails was not to be outdone and immediately unleashed its ultimate move.

"High-Pressure Steam Wave!"

"Hiss—"

Countless clouds of white, high-pressure steam spread across the entire battlefield in an instant.

"Boom!"

Staring blankly at the two enormous figures fighting in the distance, Chiba knew exactly who the combatants were.

One was Hanzo, the Rain Ninja leader known as the demigod; the other was the Rock Ninja's top fighter, the Five-Tails Jinchuriki.

At that moment, they were both among the strongest fighters in the entire Ninja World. Who could say how Chiba's group had gotten caught up in a battle like this—especially as ordinary people?

Watching their towering summoned beast and transformed form, each dozens of meters tall, and attacks that swept across hundreds of meters of battlefield with every clash, Chiba couldn't help trembling.

"This is... the power of a god."

Chiba knew that neither of them was anywhere near godhood, and that there would be many stronger fighters in the battles to come. But to Chiba, at that moment, the fighting power they displayed was no different from a god's.

After a brief moment of stunned silence, Xia Mu was the first to react.

Huge chunks of stone flew in every direction from the fighters' fierce clashes, and Xia Mu's eyes filled with panic.

"Go, hurry! This place is too dangerous!"

As he spoke, another enormous rock flew over their heads.

Only then did everyone snap out of it. They scrambled into their carriages and carts and fled for their lives.

Before long, the livestock, already exhausted from their frantic run, could go no farther.

Xia Mu was the first to jump down from the cart.

"Run! Keep going! Forget everything else—we need to get out of here!"

They ran again, covering several hundred more meters.

Just as everyone began to think they might finally be safe, something happened in the distance.

"Secret Technique: Poison Mist Spray!"

The dozens-of-meters-tall Ibuse beneath Hanzo drew in a deep breath, then exhaled, spewing out a torrent of green poison mist. It covered hundreds of meters of the battlefield in an instant and kept spreading outward.

Facing the intense poison mist, the Five-Tails felt a flicker of pressure and hurriedly used its signature technique, blasting the mist away with high-temperature steam.

"High-Pressure Steam: Boiling!"

"Hiss—"

As copious amounts of white steam poured continuously from the Five-Tails Jinchuriki's body, Hanzo's poison mist quickly thinned and drifted into the distance.

"Th-this is..."

Before long, Chiba and the others saw an endless expanse of pale green mist rolling toward them. The livestock they had abandoned along the way barely touched the mist before collapsing.

Everyone's faces changed, and they ran for their lives.

This time, they truly ran with all their might.

But the mist was moving far too fast, and it kept closing in on the group.

At last, the people who had fallen behind were overtaken.

"Ah—!"

A piercing scream rang out as several people at the back of the group collapsed, writhing on the ground. Before long, they stopped breathing.

Just then, Chiba, who had been running with Xia Mu holding his hand, suddenly felt a sharp stab in the wound on his leg, which still hadn't fully healed. He tumbled to the ground.

Xia Mu hesitated. He looked at Chiba, who had fallen several meters behind him, then at Izumi, who was even farther behind Chiba. Gritting his teeth, he scooped up the nearest children and continued running for his life.

When Chiba finally managed to struggle to his feet, still dazed, he realized what had happened.

With the green mist now right behind him, all that remained in Chiba's mind was a blank void.