Encounter with the Sannin

After finishing the letter, Uchiha Chiba suddenly lifted his head.

A familiar chakra was gradually becoming clear.

Is it Hanzo the Salamander?

Has he come alone to kill me?

Uchiha Chiba dared not be negligent and immediately left the house. His figure suddenly appeared in the Great Forest of the Land of Rain. He had to escape the Land of Rain; as the current leader of Amegakure, Hanzo the Salamander must have ways to track his whereabouts!

"Water Style: Water Colliding Wave!"

A muffled voice came from beneath a mask.

BOOM!!!!

One terrifying pillar of blue water after another pursued him relentlessly as if they had eyes. Everywhere they passed, trees shattered and chaos reigned. The terrifying destructive power told the fleeing Uchiha Chiba that he was playing for keeps!

"Damn it, is Hanzo the Salamander trying to drive me toward the Konoha troops?" Attacks rained down behind Uchiha Chiba constantly. Even knowing Hanzo the Salamander's goal, he could only run in the direction planned for him—stopping meant death!

The next second:

"Fire Style: Fire Dragon Flame Bullet!"

A hideous, terrifying fire dragon radiated rolling heat waves. It was like a dragon biting the sun; the rain created wisps of steam upon its body, yet that did nothing to diminish its terror!

HUM!!!!!!

A massive explosion erupted beneath Chiba's feet.

Uchiha Chiba's body was sent flying backward.

Perhaps because he was unwilling to cross blades with the man who had bestowed power upon him, or perhaps because of the late Katsuzuki of the Salamander, Uchiha Chiba felt the scent of roasted meat rising from his legs. He merely glanced at Hanzo the Salamander behind him, then gritted his teeth and continued to run forward. His blood-red Three Tomoe Sharingan had already firmly copied that hideous fire dragon into his eyes.

Hanzo the Salamander did not speak, merely gripping his kusarigama. He launched attacks from time to time; his sickle quickly sliced open Chiba's back, the force of the heavy strikes deep enough to reveal Chiba's gleaming white bones.

Finally, the tents of the Konoha troops appeared in the distance.

Hanzo the Salamander looked at the fleeing Chiba, then at the Konoha tents. His gaze lingered on the Konoha insignia. At a distance where Chiba could not perceive him, he sighed, then formed hand seals.

"Salamander!"

A massive brown salamander burst from the earth, its terrifying form blotting out the sky. Then, it opened its maw wide. Chiba felt his hair stand on end, and he continuously used chakra to reinforce his speed.

Countless sprays of purple venom swept over.

The terrifying attack sent Uchiha Chiba flying.

THUD!!!!!

Chiba's body slammed heavily into a tree before sliding down. He felt the salamander toxin within his body gradually merging with his chakra. After all, in the beginning, this was how Hanzo the Salamander had treated Chiba's shattered dantian. With the enhancement of the toxin, the chakra within Chiba would only grow more concentrated as time passed.

"Fire Style: Fire Oil Flame Bullet!"

Jiraiya's figure appeared instantly. He arrived before Uchiha Chiba and formed hand seals, attacking the distant Hanzo the Salamander!

POOF!!!!

The giant salamander merely lifted its head, blocking all of Jiraiya's Fire Style!

"Hanzo the Salamander?" Orochimaru's voice reached Chiba's ears before anyone else, followed by his arrival alongside Tsunade.

Looking at the Sannin he had named not long ago, Hanzo the Salamander let out a cold snort.

"Uchiha brat... It's just a pity I couldn't kill you, the assassin, with my own hands. Consider yourself lucky to have run into them. If it were anyone else, I would have killed you... The debt of my daughter's death is irreconcilable!" Hanzo the Salamander made a move as if to attack again.

Orochimaru spoke slowly: "Aren't you here to retreat? If you continue to attack, we will fight to the bitter end. After all, Sunagakure isn't capable of making any waves right now."

Hanzo the Salamander's movements paused, as if he were truly considering it. He snorted coldly: "He killed my daughter and tried to kill me. How is this debt to be settled?"

"In war, casualties are inevitable. My brother also died at your hands," Tsunade said, arriving at Uchiha Chiba's side. Emerald green chakra radiated from her hands as she looked at Hanzo after hearing his words.

Uchiha Chiba wanted to speak, but found his body extremely numb. He could only keep his eyes open and watch, his Sharingan spinning frantically.

"Heh... kid, you have a lucky life," Hanzo the Salamander said, leaving behind those words before slowly departing.

On the spot, Orochimaru and Jiraiya came to Uchiha Chiba's side.

"Three Tomoe? To be Kage Level at such an age, what a genius," Jiraiya said with some surprise, as he did not belong to the genius category himself.

"A member of the Uchiha... hmm... what is your name?" Orochimaru's hoarse voice came through.

"Chi... ba..." Forcing himself through the numbness of his lips, Uchiha Chiba knew this was his only chance to enter Konoha. His forehead protector had long been lost; during wartime, losing one's forehead protector meant having no identity.

Then, Tsunade punched both Orochimaru and Jiraiya.

"You two, this child is poisoned so severely, yet you force him to speak," Tsunade looked at her teammates helplessly.

"I was just expressing my awe, I didn't even ask... ow, that hurts," Jiraiya said, clutching his head.

Orochimaru merely shook his head. "I am simply conducting a basic information investigation, Tsunade."

Following that, it seemed as if the toxins surged into his bloodstream, and Uchiha Chiba lost consciousness.

Sunagakure.

On the main battlefield between Konoha and Sunagakure, Sakumo Hatake sheathed his short blade and wiped the blood from it. He looked toward the nearly one hundred Sunagakure ninja behind him.

That murderous gaze was so intense that, for a moment, the entire Sunagakure unit took a step back in unison.

"If you dare not fight, then leave. I am not a man who thirsts for slaughter. Besides, your village should have intelligence regarding me; you are free to flee when you encounter me," Sakumo Hatake said indifferently.

Seeing that no one dared to step forward, Sakumo Hatake turned around, intending to leave the battlefield.

The next second, two puppets lunged out from the crowd.

BOOM!!!!

Blocking the attack of one puppet with his short blade, Sakumo Hatake used the momentum to leap into the air, kicking away the other puppet that was about to form a pincer attack from behind. A cold glint flashed across his blade, seemingly slicing through something, and several chakra threads fell from the head of the puppet in front of him.

Click-clack!

The puppet's joints rattled.

Then, hum! hum! hum!!!!

RUMBLE!!!!

Sakumo Hatake leaped away violently.

"Does destroying the chakra threads trigger an Explosive Tag?" Sakumo Hatake stood on high ground, looking down at the crowd below. Finally, he located the attackers: two figures draped in cloaks.

"You brought this upon yourselves," Sakumo Hatake shook his head and spun his short blade, White Fang.

The next second, a white figure instantly charged into the crowd.

"Hatake Style Kenjutsu."

With the short blade dancing in his hand, Sakumo Hatake locked onto the two puppeteers in an instant. Before they could even react, he immediately swung his blade with a backhand strike.

Blood splattered across the ground.