Uncle Hanzo of the Salamander

The rest of the journey was peaceful, with no ninja ambushes or anything of the sort, and they smoothly arrived at the Land of Rain's camp.

Chunin Akai went to hand over supplies and report on the battle situation, while Su Zheng was free to do his own business.

Inside a tent in the center of the camp, Hanzo of the Salamander sat in the head seat, with Jonin from the Hidden Rain on either side, discussing the battlefield situation.

The Chunin in charge of intelligence summaries introduced, "Currently, there have been 25 small-scale battles with the Sand Village, mostly involving small elite squads. The forces deployed are not large, and the Sand Village's top combatants, Chiyo and the Third Kazekage, have not appeared. Furthermore, intelligence indicates that the Leaf Village is also gathering forces and is poised to make a move."

The Hidden Rain ninjas were surprised by how urgent the situation had become and began to discuss it amongst themselves.

"Damn it, the Sand Village is stalling us, waiting for the Leaf Village's forces, intending to cripple us!"

"Exactly, we should engage in a decisive battle immediately and repel the Sand Village."

"The intelligence is unclear, and the Sand Village's main force hasn't appeared yet. Attacking rashly is very dangerous!"

"But we can't just sit here and wait to die, we should strike as soon as possible!"

Hanzo's pupils were cold as he looked at the arguing ninjas. He slammed the table, and a voice like cold heavy metal came from his mask, "Stop arguing! Since the Sand Village people won't show themselves, we'll force them to. Prepare the entire camp, we'll have a major battle tomorrow!"

"At the same time, notify the spy ninjas in the Land of Fire to gather intelligence on the Leaf Village's ninja forces. Report any developments immediately!"

Seeing Hanzo issue his orders, the ninjas stopped arguing and rose to make preparations.

"Lord Hanzo, your nephew Su Zheng is here!" Hanzo's guards recognized Su Zheng and immediately announced his arrival.

"Come in."

Su Zheng was very strict with his subordinates, but very lenient, even doting, on Su Zheng!

A robust middle-aged man sat at the table, with golden hair, wearing armor and a mask, exuding an unparalleled aura. This was the Ninja God of War – Hanzo of the Salamander!

Su Zheng entered the tent and saw Hanzo sitting alone in front of a map, analyzing intelligence. He stepped forward and said happily, "Uncle, our mission this time was to transport supplies to the front lines. I came specifically to see you. Are you doing well?"

"Good, good, good!" Hanzo asked gently, "Well, how was it? Did you encounter any problems on the way?"

"When we were in Tomo Town, we encountered a Sand Village squad, and we defeated them. It was just a bit strange!"

"Oh? What was strange?" Hanzo asked.

"The first point is that most of those Sand ninjas used Earth Style and Water Style ninjutsu. While the Sand Village certainly has such ninjas, why didn't they use their specialties?"

"Second, they seemed to know about our mission and had prepared for us there in advance."

"Third, they even went out of their way to extort money from civilians, and after being cornered, they voluntarily self-destructed, leaving no information. It all seemed rather unusual."

Hanzo pondered for a long time, his mind made up, but he showed no emotion on his face. He asked with concern, "Let me see if you're injured?"

"I'm fine. I took care of two of them, and I was injured slightly!" Su Zheng said shyly.

"Good, good, good! You truly are my nephew!" Hanzo patted his shoulder in encouragement.

Su Zheng hesitated. He felt that those ninjas didn't seem like people from the Sand Village at all. What made Su Zheng most suspicious was Kaiyu Rui's knowing smile when the mission was assigned. However, he couldn't confirm it was him based on such a vague feeling.

He needed to become stronger himself. Anyone who dared to provoke him, he would beat them up!

Hanzo saw Su Zheng looking like he had something to say but was holding back, and asked, "What's wrong?"

Su Zheng decided not to say anything for now. Not only was there no evidence to suspect someone, but even with Hanzo's affection, it was hard to say. The interests of major clans were deeply intertwined, and it was best not to venture into dangerous territory for the time being.

Su Zheng smiled, "It's nothing, I just have some questions about ninjutsu that I wanted to ask."

"I've finished learning all the ninjutsu scrolls you gave me before, Uncle. I've been researching a Lightning Style ninjutsu, which I've named 'Chidori', but I can't control it very well."

"Oh! Show me when you use it."

Su Zheng made hand seals: Ushi, U, Shin.

Hiss hiss hiss! Electrical currents, a transformation of chakra, gathered in Su Zheng's left hand. Su Zheng increased the chakra input, emitting a sharp hissing sound. Blue and white chakra danced on his palm, like the chirping of a thousand birds. However, the ninjutsu didn't last long before dissipating, and his fingers twitched slightly with a burning sensation.

Hanzo crossed his arms and asked, "What about its power?"

"Penetrating hard armor or walls is not a problem!"

After a moment of thought, Hanzo said, "The power is not bad. The short duration is because your chakra control isn't good enough yet."

"This technique requires both nature transformation and shape transformation of chakra to exist simultaneously, as well as very precise control. Otherwise, it will be like this, with a very short duration and self-inflicted damage."

"Furthermore, this technique has a major flaw: its attack range is very short, requiring a charge to get close to the enemy, making it easy to be countered and to injure yourself."

"Well, overall, it's not bad. Why did you think of developing a Lightning Style ninjutsu?"

Hanzo didn't want to dampen Su Zheng's confidence. After pointing out the key issues, he still offered encouragement.

Su Zheng blurted out, "Because in our Land of Rain, rain and earth are everywhere, making corresponding Style jutsu the most convenient. However, if we use Lightning Style, we can also utilize the rain to cause widespread control and damage."

"The idea is good, but it's relative. The power of a single ninjutsu release is usually sufficient, but after being transmitted through rainwater, the damage is also dispersed. This requires stronger Lightning Style and more chakra!"

Seeing Su Zheng pondering with his head down, Hanzo encouraged him, "How about this, I'll grant you access to the ninjutsu scroll archives. You can go and learn, and we can verify the pros and cons of various ninjutsu together, alright!"

"Yay! That's great, thank you, Uncle!" Su Zheng happily shook Hanzo's arm. (Inner shame!!!)

"Alright, Uncle still has work to do. I know you want to see your teacher, so go ahead!"

"Okay."

Watching Su Zheng leave the large tent, Hanzo's smile gradually froze. After some thought, he decided to first address the matter of the "Sand Village" squad. It wasn't time yet.

He shouted, "Ah Hui, go and preserve the bodies of those Sand Village ninjas who attacked the transport team. Don't let anyone touch them."

"Also, send out three squads to clean up the trash behind us, so they remember this lesson!"

"Yes!"

A ninja from the Hidden Rain appeared inside the tent and then vanished.

Su Zheng had no idea that his single sentence had caused those people such heavy losses, forcing them to postpone their plans. Hanzo was notoriously doting on his nephew!

In the forward intelligence room, Su Zheng met his teacher, Maki Jiro, a rugged man.

The two walked out of the tent, and Maki looked at Su Zheng, praising him, "Not bad, your strength is growing, you're almost catching up to me, your teacher."

Ever since Akai arrived, Su Zheng's feat of killing three Chunin and injuring one Jonin had spread, changing many people's preconceived notions. Maki, as his mentor, felt honored.

Su Zheng scratched his head sheepishly, humbly saying, "It's all thanks to my teacher's excellent guidance!"

"Hahaha! You just know how to say nice things. When I took you in, you could already release ninjutsu. I could only teach you the techniques I knew, and I never expected you to learn them all!"

"By the way, why aren't Shota and Maki here?"

"Oh! I forgot to mention, when we were in Yufu Town, we met two orphans and left them there to take care of them."

"Also, Teacher, I want to take in those two girls. Their parents died in the war, they're very pitiful."

Maki was silent for a moment, lit a cigarette, and took a long drag. "Alright, I completely agree. Does your uncle know?"

Su Zheng was a bit embarrassed and replied, "I haven't told him. You know, my uncle doesn't like children."

Maki nodded and said no more.

"Teacher, don't forget you still owe us a barbecue!"

"Mm."

In the afternoon, after completing the handover of supplies, Akai Squad and Su Zheng set off on their journey back to the village.

When they arrived at Yufu Town, the two girls and Maki had formed a friendship. Their laughter could often be heard, which made Su Zheng quite relieved.

The return journey was relatively slow because there were two girls, Konan and Haruna, both only five years old.

They didn't encounter any danger on the way back and successfully returned to the Hidden Rain Village.

Although the Hidden Rain Village couldn't compare to a major village like Konoha, it was much better than being in a place under war.

The two girls were full of curiosity. After handing over the mission to Akai Squad, they were led around the village.

When they left, they naturally didn't see the figure by the window in the second-floor office. Kaiyu Rui watched their retreating backs, recalling his shock upon receiving the intelligence: "Mission failed! Muramura is injured!"

Su Zheng, are you truly a genius! The figure vanished.