Shinobi World No. 1, Land of Rain, Amegakure.
Towering steel buildings pierced the ceaseless, lead-gray curtain of rain. Cold, damp, oppressive.
This was the territory of the "demigod," Hanzo of the Salamander, a ninja village struggling to survive between three great nations through iron-fisted rule and poison techniques.
At that moment, inside the reception room on the top floor of the "Rain Shadow" tower, the village's most central and heavily defended location, the atmosphere was even grimmer and darker than the weather outside.
Hanzo of the Salamander sat upright in the seat of honor, his face covered by a breathing mask that revealed only a pair of sharp, weathered eyes filled with deep exhaustion and vigilance.
He wore Amegakure's distinctive dark combat uniform, and his signature chain-linked sickle stood beside him.
Even seated, the powerful presence of someone who had long held authority and survived countless bloody battles still permeated the entire room.
Opposite him sat Shimura Danzō, who had secretly infiltrated the Land of Rain.
Danzo wore no conspicuous Hokage robes, only an unremarkable dark-gray traveling outfit. Yet his sinister lone eye, the cane he leaned on, and the three elite Root operatives standing behind him like shadows, their auras cold, all proclaimed that he was no ordinary visitor.
What secretly alarmed Hanzō even more was his vague sense that outside this tower, perhaps even in the nearby curtain of rain, several immense yet extremely well-concealed chakra signatures lurked, sending chills down his spine. One of them was cold and sharp, bearing an almost lawlike sense of order that reminded him of a terrifying legend long since dead.
"Lord Hanzō," Danzo spoke first, his voice hoarse, but his tone carried the sincerity of an equal, even a hint of flattery.
"Forgive the intrusion, coming here in the rain. The