You're the one called Hanzo?

In the southern part of the Land of Rain, within the temporary Konoha encampment.

Tsunade was researching an antidote by analyzing the poisoned ninja tools and the corpses of those poisoned, both brought back by Hatake Sakumo.

"Tsunade, how much longer will the antidote take to prepare? The poisoned ninjas have wounds that are almost entirely festering, and even other parts of their bodies are showing varying degrees of necrosis. Several ninjas couldn't withstand the toxicity and have already died..."

Hyuga Getsumune, the current head of the Hyuga Clan, stood outside Tsunade's tent, urging her anxiously.

"Don't be so impatient. You must trust in Tsunade's abilities. Your constant badgering won't be effective, and if you accidentally distract her, it might actually hinder the efficiency of her research."

Listening to Akimichi Torifu's advice, Hyuga Getsumune understood the logic, but the thought of the main branch heir from the Second Elder's lineage lying in the intensive care unit made him too restless to calm down.

"It's all that old man's fault! If he had passed my proposal to increase the training of medical ninjas, the antidote would have been prepared long ago!"

Her voice preceded her arrival.

Tsunade emerged from the tent with her arms crossed, accompanied by an assistant. The ninja was carrying a crate full of test tubes; clearly, the blue-green liquid inside was the latest antidote for the Sunagakure toxin.

In the northern part of the Land of Rain, the sky was perpetually gloomy. Fine, needle-like rain drifted down, casting a hazy veil over the land.

On one side of the Land of Rain, Shimura Danzo and Salamander Hanzo were locked in a breathtaking battle.

Danzo's eyes were sinister. He performed hand seals rapidly, and countless invisible wind blades whistled out, sweeping toward Hanzo.

Hanzo moved with agility, weaving through the gaps in the wind blades like a phantom while performing his own rapid seals:

"Summoning Jutsu!"

A massive salamander appeared on the battlefield. Standing atop its head, Hanzo looked down at Shimura Danzo from a position of superiority.

"Go, Ibuse! Use Poison Mist!"

Purple smoke spewed from Ibuse's gaping maw, surging toward Danzo like a tidal wave.

"Ninja Art: Summoning Jutsu!"

"Baku, use Wind Style: Devouring!"

As Danzo finished his seals, a monster with tiger claws, an ox tail, an elephant trunk, and rhinoceros eyes appeared behind him.

Baku opened its mouth wide, instantly swallowing the poison mist whole.

Seeing the poison mist easily neutralized by Baku, Danzo let out a disdainful laugh.

"So you're the one they call Hanzo? Hmph! Watch me finish you in five minutes!"

The chain-sickle in Hanzo's hand glinted coldly in the rain. Seizing a moment when Danzo showed a slight opening, he charged forward like lightning, the blade's edge aimed directly at Danzo's throat with fierce momentum.

Danzo reacted with lightning speed, dodging to the side, but the blade still sliced his cheek, drawing blood instantly.

Gritting his teeth, he performed rapid hand seals once more.

"Wind Style: Vacuum Serial Waves!"

The battle reached a fever pitch, and both sides were blinded by the bloodlust of combat.

Hanzo unleashed powerful ninja-taijutsu, using the Water Flicker technique in tandem with his chain-sickle to attack with full force. Even with Danzo defending with all his might, he struggled to fully deflect the onslaught.

At this critical juncture, Hanzo spotted his chance and launched a fierce strike at Danzo.

"Ninja Art: Chain-Sickle Double Strike!"

Though Danzo, holding a kunai, blocked the incoming iron weight, he failed to dodge the second strike of the sickle. With a crisp "crack," Danzo's right arm was severely mangled; blood gushed out, and the limb hung limply at his side.

"I missed the kill. You won't be so lucky next time! Hmph!"

Seeing that his attack had only crippled Danzo's right arm, Hanzo let out a dissatisfied snort before launching another assault.

"Fire Style: Explosive Flame Formation!"

Watching Danzo finally forced into the designated position, Hanzo triggered the trap he had long been planning.

A massive number of explosive tags erupted from the ground, clinging tightly to Danzo's body.

Danzo attempted to use the Body Flicker technique to escape the trap, but due to the agony of his mangled right arm, he failed to evade the attack entirely.

His already bleeding right arm was now scorched to charcoal by the high heat of the exploding tags, and even the entire right side of his body suffered significant burns.

After severely wounding Danzo, Salamander Hanzo cast a dark, brooding look at Orochimaru and Jiraiya, who were slaughtering his Rain ninjas, as well as a small, red-haired figure. After much deliberation, Hanzo ultimately decided to let Danzo retreat in exchange for Konoha withdrawing their forces. Thus, the clash between the two sides came to a temporary end.

Danzo endured the excruciating pain, staring at his charred right arm with eyes full of resentment and malice. He clutched the wound with his remaining left hand, turned slowly, and vanished into the curtain of rain.

Hanzo stood in place, vigilantly watching the direction in which the Konoha ninjas had departed. Only after their figures had completely disappeared did he let out a long sigh.

"Compared to small nations, the great nations have far too many geniuses, especially Konoha. That red-haired brat from earlier—he was from the Uzumaki Clan, wasn't he? He looked to be at most eleven or twelve, yet he killed several Chunin and even a Special Jonin! Damn brat! Damn Konoha! Damn the great nations!"

In the northern part of the Land of Rain, within the temporary Konoha encampment, Orochimaru and Jiraiya returned with the severely wounded Danzo.

Seeing Danzo's wretched state, the Konoha members furrowed their brows, immediately dispatching personnel to treat him while convening an emergency meeting.

"This battle resulted in heavy losses. With Danzo so severely injured, it will likely be even harder to deal with Amegakure, now that Salamander Hanzo is holding the line," Jiraiya said, his face full of worry.

Orochimaru's eyes were cold. "We must reformulate our battle plan; we cannot continue to attack so recklessly. Furthermore, in Elder Danzo's current state, he is no longer fit to serve as the supreme commander of the battlefield. The priority is to petition Sarutobi-sensei to decide who will serve as the new supreme commander for the Amegakure front..."

"Let those guys from Root escort Elder Danzo back to the village. Regardless, that bunch of heartless people wouldn't be of much use even if they stayed on the battlefield. They not only refuse to save their Konoha comrades, but they even use them as bait. If it weren't for them, we wouldn't have suffered such heavy casualties during this time!"

Uchiha Tarken spoke with a look of pure resentment, his expression turning so ferocious at the mere mention of Shimura Danzo and Root that he looked as if he wanted to tear them limb from limb.

After all, from his perspective, Danzo's Root was nothing but a source of sabotage, especially after he had witnessed several of his clansmen being used as human shields by Root ninja, only to die in battle. A burning rage had ignited within him.

However, constrained by the ever-changing situation on the battlefield and lacking any concrete evidence, he had nowhere to vent the fury in his heart.

Ninja from smaller clans like the Gekko and Kurama fully agreed with Uchiha Tarken's words, yet due to Shimura Danzo's status as the battlefield commander and advisor to the Hokage, everyone dared to be angry but dared not speak out.

In truth, it went beyond that; Tarken deeply suspected that the mysterious disappearances of several other clansmen were also linked to Danzo, though he kept these thoughts to himself.

One had to understand that those missing clansmen were top-tier experts who had awakened the Three-Tomoe Sharingan. For them to simply vanish into thin air without a trace—Uchiha Tarken wouldn't believe a single word if someone claimed it had nothing to do with Shimura Danzo, the man responsible for issuing their missions!

After tending to his wounds, Danzo immediately set about preparing to summon everyone for a meeting.

Upon learning that all the jonin had already gathered in the central command tent, Danzo initially felt gratified, quite satisfied with their behavior in arriving early to await his orders.

That was until he discovered they were actually discussing the replacement of the Amegakure battlefield commander, at which point his previously pleased expression darkened instantly, as if it were about to drip water.