Konoha's Three Ninja, Part Two

Jiraiya slammed both hands onto the ground. Summoning Jutsu—Gamabunta descended from the sky.

The moment Gamabunta came crashing down, the ground exploded as if struck by a cannonball. Mud and shattered stones sprayed in every direction, forcing Hanzo's ANBU to scatter under the sudden impact.

Gamabunta drew the short sword at his waist and swept it toward Hanzo head-on. Gamabunta's blade struck Hanzo's, throwing up a spray of sparks. Hanzo took half a step back, and before the clash of blades had faded from the air, Orochimaru's attack filled the opening created by his retreat. Summoning Jutsu—Manda twisted his enormous body through the void and smashed down onto the ground, opening his huge jaws to bite at Hanzo's foothold.

Just before those jaws closed, Hanzo leaped into the air. His toes lightly tapped Manda's upper jaw, and he flew over the range of Gamabunta's sword before landing atop a massive boulder.

"Ibushi."

Hanzo's voice was quiet. The instant his palm touched the ground, a huge shadow appeared across the earth, and Ibushi the salamander burst violently from underground.

Ibushi was even larger than Gamabunta. His dark, poison-gland-covered skin was covered in uneven lumps, while four short legs supported his heavy body. The instant he appeared, the scent in the air changed drastically. Rain carried a dense, nauseating stench of deadly poison rising from every poison gland on Ibushi's skin, condensing into a purple-black poisonous mist amid the downpour.

Tsunade's expression changed. Better than anyone, she knew this was no ordinary poisonous fog—the toxins in the air could paralyze the nervous system in an extremely short time.

"Jiraiya! Get your giant to fall back! Nobody hold your breath—cover your mouths and noses with wet cloth! The poison fog is spreading through the rain!"

The poisonous mist Ibushi spewed was no longer drifting aimlessly through the air. Instead, it condensed into an extremely thin yet highly penetrating column of poison that blasted toward Gamabunta's head.

Gamabunta's skin began to blacken and soften wherever the poison seeped in. The poisonous mist flowed too fast—so fast that Gamabunta's massive body had no time to evade effectively. Tsunade's slug split off part of its body from Gamabunta's side, opened its soft mouthparts, and sprayed a stream of highly corrosive white liquid at the poison column. The slug's Tongue Tooth Sticky Acid collided fiercely with Ibushi's poisonous mist several meters in front of Gamabunta's face. The air let out a piercing hiss as corrosion and poison burned through it together. White vapor and purple-black poison gas churned ceaselessly along their point of contact, neither able to overpower the other.

Taking advantage of the opening, the three quickly adjusted their positions and formed a tighter triangular formation.

"You are indeed strong." Hanzo's voice came from beneath his mask, heavy and metallic. "But not strong enough."

Hanzo's chain sickle shot out from his waist.

The chain was far longer than normal, its tip fitted with a large double-edged sickle blade. Every edge was coated in salamander venom. In Hanzo's hands, the chain sickle moved like a living snake, spinning at high speed through the air with a terrifying shriek. Its reach and force were immense.

Jiraiya made his judgment immediately. He could not let the chain sickle get close. His hands formed seals, and he used Needle Jizo. His long silver hair instantly hardened into sharp steel needles, forming a metallic protective shell over his body.

The tip of the chain sickle lashed against Needle Jizo with a strange metallic screech. Jiraiya was sent stumbling back several steps before he regained his footing. A faint white mark appeared on the hardened hair's defensive layer.

Orochimaru attacked during the instant the chain sickle was retracted. His hands rapidly formed seals, and a swarm of snakes spilled from his mouth. Massive snakes surged toward Hanzo like a tide from every direction. At the same time, Manda suddenly appeared beneath Hanzo's feet amid the blazing light of a huge summoning seal, opening his jaws to bite down.

Hanzo rose into the air. The chain sickle in his hand flipped and extended, its chain spiraling into a dense loop that precisely wrapped around Manda's neck.

Manda's body twisted once, then again, before he let out a low, muffled hiss.

Chakra from the Yin Seal flooded Tsunade's limbs like water bursting through a broken dam. She ran up Manda's spine and punched the handle of Hanzo's chain sickle. Hanzo's wrist shifted slightly under that monstrous force, and the chain loosened a little.

In that brief opening, Manda desperately twisted his massive body, breaking free from the chain's restraint and rolling away.

Gamabunta's long blade cleaved toward Hanzo's face from another direction. Hanzo raised his chain sickle to block it, then formed a seal with his left hand. Fire Style: Explosive Flame Formation.

The ground beneath the three exploded, and bursting mud, stone, and blazing flames swallowed every route of retreat.

Snake and toad crossed paths amid the lingering heat of the flames. Tsunade charged out from the deepest part of the inferno, burned but unyielding, chakra concentrated in her right hand as she drove a punch into Hanzo's chest.

Hanzo had not expected Tsunade to face the damage from the Explosive Flame Formation head-on. The punch landed squarely over his heart, sending his body staggering backward, but he did not fall. The light armor over his chest caved in under the monstrous force, fragments embedding themselves in the fibers of his combat uniform.

He raised a hand and seized Tsunade's right wrist before she could pull it back.

I can't let him get a solid grip!

Before Hanzo's fingers could close, Tsunade twisted like a slippery fish. Her wrist slipped from between his fingers, and she retreated several steps to open the distance.

Orochimaru flashed out of the sea of fire. The Kusanagi Sword slid in its entirety from his sleeve into his palm, precisely aimed at Hanzo's vital point. As Hanzo tapped the ground and retreated, he flicked the blade with a finger, evading Orochimaru's attack.

At that moment, Jiraiya completed another combination of ninjutsu. "Fire Style: Toad Oil Flame Bullet!"

An astonishing amount of chakra had been poured into this strike. Turbid, scorching flames surged toward Hanzo head-on. Even Hanzo's formidable strength forced him to retreat temporarily. Hanzo stomped his foot and used the Water Body Flicker Technique, passing straight through the flames.

But the three gave him no chance to catch his breath.

Jiraiya slapped his palm against the ground. "Earth Style: Swamp of the Underworld!"

The solid ground beneath Hanzo's feet turned into a vast swamp. Soft, rotten mud and water wrapped around his soles and dragged him downward. The instant he leaped up, Orochimaru thrust the Kusanagi Sword from the front while Tsunade brought down a long-prepared monstrous punch from the right. Hanzo's chain sickle carved an arc through the air, blocking both the Kusanagi Sword and Tsunade's fist at once. Then his body forcibly twisted to an unbelievable angle midair. The chain sickle flew out again, winding around a distant tree branch. As the chain tightened, his body shot backward out of the three's encirclement.

Hanzo's eyes beneath his mask swept across the three young fighters. That string of attacks had made him understand something. He, Hanzo, could fight all three of them alone and win for certain. But to "cleanly kill any one of them" while avoiding the other two's desperate attempts to trade their lives for his, the risk had become high enough that he needed to reconsider the meaning of this battle.

Besides, Hidden Sand Village had retreated, Hidden Stone Village was watching from the sidelines, and it was still unknown how long it would take for the supply problems in his own territory to recover. Konoha had already won this war. Killing these three would not change that outcome.

"Your courage is commendable. I will give you a chance to live. You are no longer nameless nobodies in the ninja world. From today onward, you are Konoha's Three Ninja."

Hanzo said nothing more. His blade had returned to its sheath, and his chain sickle had coiled back around his waist. He gave Jiraiya one final look, then turned away.

The mist closed over the mountain ridge once more. Ibushi's figure slowly sank below the valley horizon as Hanzo departed. The remaining elite ANBU followed behind Hanzo, gradually becoming blurred outlines in the fog. The outlines became shadows, and the shadows were swallowed by the mist.