The pale purple, lethal poison mist churned and spread like a living thing, turning the heart of the battlefield into a domain of death where vision was blurred and perception obstructed.
Orochimaru, Jiraiya, and Tsunade stood back to back. Though they held their breath and used chakra to shield themselves, their skin still felt the faint yet all-pervasive stinging corrosion of the poison mist, while warning signals constantly blared from their nerve endings.
"The visibility is terrible!"
Tsunade growled. She tried using chakra perception, but the poison mist seemed to mildly interfere with chakra flow as well. Hanzo's powerful, icy chakra flickered in and out of the fog, making it difficult to pinpoint his position.
"He's moving... fast."
Orochimaru's serpentine instincts and golden slit pupils gave him a slight advantage in the poison mist, allowing him to catch a blurred trajectory.
Before he finished speaking, a piercing shriek tore through the air.
A massive scythe spun out from deep within the poison mist to their left without warning, like the kiss of the reaper, aimed directly at Jiraiya, who stood slightly ahead of the other two.
The chakra coating its blade was incredibly sharp, even briefly parting the poison mist in its path.
"Jiraiya!"
Tsunade cried out.
"Earth Release: Earth-Style Wall."
Jiraiya reacted swiftly, completing his hand seals almost the instant he sensed the killing intent. A thick earthen wall surged up with a rumble. However—
"Clang—crack!"
The scythe slammed into the wall, slicing through more than half of the hard rock as if it were tofu, its momentum unabated.
Jiraiya rolled backward in a scramble, barely avoiding the blow. A lock of white hair at his forehead was severed.
"His strength is too great! And this poison mist is his home ground." Jiraiya was still shaken.
"We can't just