Hanzo's Understanding of Half His Life

Zhou Yang had always felt that Hanzo, this so-called demigod, was somewhat undeserving of the title. In the original story, perhaps his only shining moment had been defeating the still-unknown Three Sannin. But now, Zhou Yang suddenly remembered that Hanzo had never displayed any assassination techniques in the original work. Whenever he appeared, he basically fought head-on. Yet as the leader of the Rain Ninja Village, wouldn't it be a little unreasonable if he knew nothing about assassination? Looking at the scroll in his hand with that in mind, Zhou Yang guessed that the Naruto world's setting was simply too vast, so it was inevitable that the author had made some oversights, misleading everyone about Hanzo's true strength.

Combined with assassination, that should have been Hanzo's real strength.

"How could Hanzo have become a demigod in an era that had the Third Hokage, known as the Professor of Ninjutsu; the Second Mizukage, Gengetsu Hozuki, with his Bloodline Limit; the Second Tsuchikage with a Bloodline Selection; the Third Kazekage, hailed as the strongest Kazekage; and finally the Third Raikage, known as the strongest spear and strongest shield? Perhaps with his assassination ability, he really could instantly kill Shadow Level experts."

With that thought, Zhou Yang continued reading. He took out the bamboo tube from his backpack. Nan had made it for him as a water flask, though he had designed its appearance himself, and the material was naturally those beads worth half of Hanzo's price.

He slowly poured water into his mouth while pulling the scroll open a little farther and continuing to read. But the moment he did, the next few words made him spray out the water in his mouth.

"Flying Thunder God Technique. User: Second Hokage. Creator: Second Hokage."

"F!" Zhou Yang blurted out a curse. "What? This jutsu is in here too? How did he get this!?" Zhou Yang eagerly opened the following contents, only to be deeply disappointed by what he found.

"I learned of this technique while traveling through the Cloud Ninja Village, when I questioned a middle-aged ninja who had protected the Second Raikage back then."

"Cough, cough, cough. Questioned? Uncle Hanzo really went and did it!" There was no need to think about it. This definitely had not come from any ordinary questioning. Nine times out of ten—no, one hundred percent—Hanzo had deliberately tracked the man down and tortured the information out of him.

He continued reading.

"By my estimation, this technique should not be a speed-type ninjutsu, but rather a form of spatial jump. One need only place a mark on the target to use this technique and teleport to the target's side. The conditions for performing it must also be extremely harsh, or Hidden Leaf Village could not possibly have had no news of anyone else learning it to this day. The foundation of this ninjutsu should be the Substitution Technique. I have already recorded the Substitution Technique earlier, so I will not elaborate further. Flying Thunder God Technique should enhance sustained combat capability on the basis of the Substitution Technique while also freeing the user from distance and usage restrictions. It can be used alongside all melee weapons and most ninjutsu, making it extraordinarily unpredictable. If one strike fails, one can flee immediately. It is simply the ultimate method of assassination. In my view, it can be considered the greatest of all support-type ninjutsu."

After reading the entire passage, Zhou Yang found no particularly useful information in it. There was more praise and envy than anything else. He could practically see Hanzo drooling when he learned of this ninjutsu. Unfortunately, it was of little use. Since the Second Mizukage's death, no one in the Ninja World had ever used it again. Most people had probably only heard the name; seeing it in person was simply impossible.

"Ah, although it's a little disappointing, it makes sense. Hanzo was already impressive enough to find someone who knew this information."

Zhou Yang had originally thought he had gained quite a lot today, but another string of words afterward caught his attention.

This technique was one he had never seen before. It was called the Shadow Substitution Technique.

When Zhou Yang saw the name, he thought it referred to the wooden logs used by the Substitution Technique to create a whole field of substitutes. He was thinking that Hanzo was far too bored, but as he read on curiously, his heart grew increasingly alarmed. This technique reminded him of Shisui the Teleporter—yes, the one known as the Uchiha Clan's greatest genjutsu prodigy.

"Shadow Substitution Technique. I would rather call it the Flying Thunder God Technique, because its combat radius is only as far as the Substitution Technique. All right, enough nonsense. Let us get to the point.

The Shadow Substitution Technique is a combined use of the Multiple Shadow Clone Technique, the Body Flicker Technique, and the Substitution Technique. The user must possess extremely high proficiency in all three ninjutsu to accomplish it. The principle is that after using the Multiple Shadow Clone Technique, all shadow clones, the clones' clones, and the original body use the Body Flicker Technique to move at high speed around the target, disrupting the target's vision. At the same time, every shadow clone within the area they cover can use the Substitution Technique to switch places with the original body, allowing powerful attacks to be launched anywhere within the covered range.

Note: This technique exists only in theory and has not been realized. The reason is that the requirements are too demanding, and I do not have the method for performing the Multiple Shadow Clone Technique."

"Holy crap! Hanzo's imagination is pretty good. He could even think of something like this! But that guy Hanzo is too rigid-minded. Why insist on using the Multiple Shadow Clone Technique? Wouldn't the Clone Technique work just fine? And the Clone Technique could even let the opponent destroy a few clones beforehand, lowering their guard."

Thinking of this, Zhou Yang unconsciously smiled, as though he had created another ninjutsu. He then picked up his brush and began writing on the scroll.

That night, Zhou Yang began hurting again. He closed his eyes and silently endured the pain while counting the time in his heart. When the final stage arrived, his true challenge descended.

Five minutes later, every muscle in Zhou Yang's body began to twitch, and veins bulged one after another beneath his skin. At last, it was the final stretch. The immense pain made him tremble, and his trembling made his bed creak.

"Hey, hey, hey! Person behind the wall, can you keep it down? People are trying to sleep here!"

"Yeah, why didn't you 'exercise' earlier? Starting only now—what were you doing before?"

Yet the noises upstairs did not stop because of the complaints from below. Instead, they only grew more intense.

"No, upstairs! You're going too far! Are you deliberately provoking us?"

Zhou Yang on the second floor had suffering he could not put into words. If he did speak, it would surely be a scream, and that would wake even more people. He could only grit his teeth and control himself as best he could.

Seeing that the commotion above had lessened, the people below assumed the person upstairs had backed down. They could not be bothered to keep warning him. Besides, it was already quite late, and they had no interest in competing with Zhou Yang, so they covered their heads with pillows and went to sleep with annoyed expressions.

About five minutes later, the noise finally stopped. Hearing the silence, the ninja downstairs smiled and said in a voice that was neither loud nor soft, "That guy—I thought he'd last a long time. Turns out he's just a weakling."

You're the weakling. Your whole family is full of weaklings! Zhou Yang silently cursed.