The Land of Rain was in utter chaos.
Ibuse's rise had certainly given the Land of Rain a much-needed boost.
But after clashing with Konoha, that momentum had temporarily stalled.
Hanzo's original plan had been to crush Konoha's command structure in one fell swoop.
At first, everything had gone smoothly, thanks to Ibuse's poisonous gas.
Even Tsunade, who had developed an antidote to Chiyo's poison, had been helpless against him.
His poison wasn't difficult to cure, but preventing it from taking effect was another matter entirely.
With the Land of Rain's favorable terrain and weather on his side, the poison gas had spread over a vast area and inflicted heavy casualties on Konoha.
But who could have expected that the disciple of the "Shinobi Hero"...
would actually manage to gain the upper hand against him?
"Orochimaru, is it...? What an incredible shinobi."
At that moment,
he looked at the three young shinobi surrounding him,
and couldn't help feeling deeply moved.
Konoha really was too strong. Not long ago, the "Konoha White Fang" had routed the Sand Village.
And there was that Uchiha who had defeated Kumogakure.
Now there was another young shinobi capable of standing against him...
There was no one in the Land of Rain who could match him.
Salamander Hanzo was now in a difficult position.
After driving the Land of Earth's shinobi out of the Land of Rain,
the original plan had been to crush Konoha's command post, then surrender outright.
That way, at the very least, the Land of Rain would have kept its dignity.
Full of ambition, he had even planned to use the ceasefire with Konoha
to annex the surrounding small nations and make Amegakure the sixth great shinobi village.
But...
Orochimaru's arrival had turned all of that into a pipe dream.
That man