Ibuse let out a guttural, almost disgruntled rumble, its massive head tilting slightly toward Hanzo. Hanzo's sharp eyes immediately caught the look and understood. The salamander's ambush had failed.
It hadn't taken him long to realize why. In fact, he had seen it in the final moment before Ibuse's jaws could snap shut. Just as Antares was about to be swallowed whole, Guy had appeared in a blur of motion, teleporting directly to his comrade's side. With one swift, explosive kick, he sent Antares flying through the narrow gap between Ibuse's closing jaws, barely clearing it before the monstrous mouth slammed shut. In the very next heartbeat, Guy vanished again, reappearing safely outside before Ibuse's poisonous breath could engulf him.
The manoeuvre was risky, but absolutely necessary. Antares, with his incredible defences, regenerative power, and immunity to poison, might not have been killed immediately inside Ibuse's stomach. But the truth was harsher—those abilities were fuelled by chakra. Trapped inside, he would have been forced to pour chakra endlessly into resisting Ibuse's digestive poison and repairing the damage.
And even for an Uzumaki, chakra reserves were not infinite. At best, Antares might have lasted an hour, perhaps an hour and a half, before depletion. When that happened, his regeneration would cease, his resistance would falter, and Ibuse would digest him alive. Guy knew this. That was why he had intervened at all costs.
Now the two of them stood side by side, Guy and Antares, positioned at Hanzo's left flank. Hanzo's gaze flicked toward them, his senses sharp.
Hanzo shifted his Kusarigama slightly, preparing to strike again.
By now, both Guy and Antares were breathing heavily, sweat glistening on their brows. The constant strain of using their techniques—Guy's teleportation and relentless firestorms, Antares's regeneration and destructive power—was beginning to weigh on them. Their bodies still held strength, but the drain on their chakra was merciless.
At this pace, they could endure perhaps thirty… forty more minutes at most. Beyond that, their stamina would collapse, and Hanzo would overwhelm them.
Any ordinary Jonin would have already broken by now, their chakra long exhausted. But Guy and Antares were Uzumaki. Their reserves ran deeper, their willpower stronger. That was the only reason they still stood, teeth bared and fists clenched, ready to keep fighting despite the crushing odds.
Just as Antares and Guy steadied themselves, preparing to either launch their counterattack or brace against Hanzo's imminent strike—his stance already coiled and ready to unleash—another presence lingered not far away.
A short distance from the battlefield, carefully hidden where their chakra signatures would not be detected, the legendary Three Sannin observed in silence.
Tsunade's sharp eyes followed the clash intently. At last, she exhaled heavily, her tone edged with urgency.
"We can't wait any longer. They're in real danger now. If this continues, they won't last. We should move in and help immediately."
Beside her, Jiraiya gave a slow nod, his usual easygoing demeanour absent. His expression was serious, even grim, as he studied the fight.
"They've held out far longer than I expected," he admitted.
Both he and Tsunade had been impressed earlier. The Uzumaki siblings had faced Hanzo with a unity and ferocity few could match, managing not only to endure his overwhelming power but even to wound him—however slightly. Against someone of Hanzo's caliber, that alone was no small feat.
But the tide had shifted.
Hanzo was no longer testing them with mere weapon skill, brute force, or straightforward ninjutsu. He had called upon Ibuse, the giant salamander, and that fact alone spoke volumes. Until now, he had fought to measure them, to crush them with orthodox mastery. But the moment he invoked his summon, it was clear—even he recognized that defeating the ten Uzumaki through conventional methods alone would not be easy, nor quick.
"They've pushed him further than most could ever dream," Jiraiya muttered, watching Guy and Antares square off against Hanzo's relentless form.
Yet, no matter how remarkable their resilience, the outcome was undeniable. In the end, Hanzo would prevail. His experience, versatility, and sheer lethality were unmatched. It was only a matter of time before the Uzumaki siblings' stamina broke under the pressure.
Just as Tsunade and Jiraiya prepared to move, Orochimaru suddenly extended an arm, halting them. His golden eyes gleamed with a cold intensity as he spoke.
"Wait. I don't think we should intervene."
Tsunade's brow furrowed in irritation. She turned sharply toward him, her voice rising with frustration.
"What are you saying? If we don't step in now, do you expect us to take revenge after they're slaughtered by Hanzo?"
But Orochimaru only shook his head slowly, his expression unreadable. His tone was calm—almost unnervingly so.
"No. Watch carefully. Do you see it? Look at their faces. Have you seen even the slightest trace of fear in them?"
Both Tsunade and Jiraiya glanced back toward the battlefield. The Uzumaki siblings stood battered, their breaths ragged—but their eyes still burned with resolve.
"They know they're losing," Orochimaru continued. "They've acknowledged it. Yet not one of them carries the look of someone resigned to die. That means they have not yet shown all their cards. There is still something left… something they can use to survive this."
For a moment, silence hung between the Sannin.
Tsunade's anger wavered as her sharp gaze softened into thought. Jiraiya, too, folded his arms, his expression contemplative. After a few moments of reflection, both realized Orochimaru was right.
Yes, the Uzumaki siblings were frustrated—some by defeat, some by wounds, some by the relentless pressure of the battle—but none bore the hollow, vacant look of shinobi awaiting death. They were not finished. They still carried the will to fight and the conviction that they would live to see another day.
That alone meant they had a way out.
The battle between Antares and Guy against Hanzo dragged on for several grueling minutes, and throughout that span, Hanzo remained the overwhelming force on the field. His speed and power were relentless. Every crushing blow of his fist shattered the hardened scales across Antares's chest and shoulders, splintering them like brittle stone. Yet each time, Antares's regenerative ability flared to life, repairing the damage at the cost of searing pain and mounting exhaustion.
Even so, Antares refused to fight passively. Flames roared from his hands and mouth in bursts of fire magic, forcing Hanzo to shift his stance or alter his rhythm. Guy, darting in from the flanks, hurled his own waves of fire magic to harass Hanzo, creating narrow openings for Antares to recover. Alone, either of them might have been crushed within minutes, but together, they began to find a rhythm—however fragile—against the Salamander of Amegakure.
The brutal rhythm Hanzo had established at the start—where every one or two seconds Antares was struck down and forced to regenerate—had begun to falter. Now, with Guy's interference and Antares's stubborn resilience, Hanzo could land a solid blow only once every half a minute, sometimes longer. Each second of reprieve was hard-earned, and though they were still badly overmatched, it was undeniable: the two Uzumaki were adapting.
Hanzo narrowed his eyes. His strikes, though still devastating, no longer carried the same crushing inevitability. Antares's body still cracked under his fists, but the tempo of the battle had shifted ever so slightly.
And then, at that exact moment—
Erza, who had just finished purging the last traces of venom from Makima's body, rose to her feet. Her eyes locked onto the chaotic clash ahead. With a voice sharp enough to cut through the roar of combat, she shouted:
"Stop!"
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