Clang!
Mifune slashed through Hanzo's mask with a single clean stroke. Yet, Hanzo remained unharmed.
Hanzo turned around in disbelief. "How... is this possible?"
His eyes fell on Mifune's sword. It shimmered with brilliance—refined, resolute, unwavering.
Mifune said calmly, "You must have forgotten the words you told me when we once fought. Back then, you defeated me. But you said, 'A person's death is not the end. The real end is when they give up their beliefs. At that point, they become like a dull blade.'
"You were struck down by me because you lost who you were. You abandoned your ideals and became that dull blade. But I did not falter. I kept sharpening my spirit. I continued to fight—for what I believe in."
As Mifune spoke, he sheathed his katana with practiced grace, his gaze steady.
Hanzo's eyes widened with the weight of realization. Memories of his former self flooded back—the man who once admired Hashirama Senju's ideals, who dreamed of peace among the Five Great Nations. But over time, disillusionment consumed him. He'd formed secret pacts with Danzo, crushed movements for peace, and betrayed his own values.
He remembered Yahiko of the Akatsuki. Yahiko had once admired him but eventually opposed everything Hanzo had become. Even in death, Yahiko's ideals endured.
Hanzo whispered, more to himself than to Mifune, "I see now... It wasn't that I couldn't see through anything. I just gave up. I gave up my faith. And when belief dies, so does true power."
Taking a breath, Hanzo stepped forward toward his severed kusarigama. It now lay broken on the ground. He knelt beside it, picked up the dagger hidden within, and said, "I once told you... if my mask is ever broken, and the mechanism within pierced, even I will not survive. Use this moment. Seal me."
Mifune hesitated but bowed slightly. "Hanzo-dono."
Behind them, a few samurai rushed forward with urgency.
"Mifune-sama! We must retreat! The poison in his body will spread upon release!"
Mifune raised his hand. "Stay back! Hanzo-dono is preparing to take his own life. Prepare the sealing scrolls!"
Hanzo took the dagger and thrust it into his stomach in a swift act of seppuku.
Shhhk! The poison sac inside his abdomen ruptured, and a wave of toxic gas billowed into the air.
Mifune stood still, watching solemnly.
Hanzo looked up one last time and shouted, "Mifune! I entrust my will... to you!"
Mifune clenched his fists, eyes gleaming with respect. Even Kabuto, observing through Edo Tensei, scowled in frustration.
"Tch! Another pawn lost to free will!"
Mifune waved his hand. "Seal him!"
Whoosh! The sealing team deployed the scroll, and with a flash of sealing jutsu, Hanzo's form was pulled into the parchment.
Mifune knelt beside where Hanzo had stood, picking up a piece of the broken mask.
"Rest well, Hanzo-dono. I'll honor your name. I'll ensure you're remembered as the man who once sought peace."
---
Nearby, Shadow Clone Naruto continued his battle against Granny Chiyo.
Though she deployed her finest puppets, she couldn't land a hit. Naruto, in Sage Mode and drawing on the Nine-Tails' chakra, danced through her attacks with flawless precision.
"I never thought you would grow this strong," Chiyo muttered.
Naruto destroyed one of her puppets with a Rasengan. "To face the unknown future, I had no choice but to grow."
Meanwhile, Kimimaro tore through samurai with brutal elegance. Bone spurs erupted from his body, and his Shikotsumyaku overwhelmed the defenders.
Samurai corpses littered the battlefield.
Kankuro finally recovered from Hanzo's poison, his fingers twitching with rage. He summoned his puppet—Scorpion—and charged into battle.
"Enough! You bastard!"
He had watched thirty samurai fall to Kimimaro. Their deaths weighed heavy on his soul.
Kimimaro leapt into the air, preparing to strike again, but—
Clang!
Mifune intercepted him mid-air, slicing across Kimimaro's bone-covered forearm.
Three bone spikes shattered instantly.
"Huh?!" Kimimaro's eyes narrowed. Few had ever broken his defenses.
Chiyo responded swiftly. She threw chakra threads toward fallen samurai, reanimating ten of them with her puppetry.
"Tch. Granny Chiyo, your opponent is me!" Naruto shouted, racing forward.
Chiyo dodged, letting Kimimaro intercept Naruto.
Ten reanimated samurai charged Mifune.
The samurai commander gritted his teeth. He couldn't bring himself to strike down the bodies of his own men.
Kankuro raced in, launching shuriken from Scorpion. They severed Chiyo's chakra threads.
The samurai puppets collapsed immediately.
"What is this?" Mifune asked.
"High-level puppet masters can control human corpses using chakra threads. But if the threads are cut, the control ends," Kankuro explained.
Mifune nodded. "I understand."
Kankuro narrowed his eyes. "Naruto! Step back! Granny Chiyo... let me handle her. I want to test my puppetry against hers—just once."
Naruto nodded and turned to face Kimimaro alongside Mifune.
Kankuro advanced, his Scorpion puppet snapping into combat mode.
Granny Chiyo looked at him and then at the puppet.
Her heart sank. She recognized it instantly.
Scorpion—her grandson Sasori's puppet form.
Granny Chiyo's breath caught in her throat. Memories surged: regret, shame, loss. Sasori had been her greatest failure. The puppet was not only a weapon—it was a symbol of her past mistakes.
Naruto had once helped her find redemption. But seeing Sasori's puppet again brought all those failures to the surface.
Granny Chiyo smiled bitterly.
"So this is my penance. To see again the consequences of the wrong path I once walked."
She looked at Kankuro—not just a Sand shinobi, but the inheritor of the future.
In Kankuro's puppetry, and in Naruto's growth, she saw hope.
And in Sasori's puppet body, she saw... the wrong self she used to be.
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