The clone wrapped in poisonous mist let out a cold laugh, enraging Hanzō until he nearly exploded. His heart was filled with killing intent.
Even if the poison mist would affect the village, he no longer cared. All he wanted was to kill the brat in front of him.
But unfortunately, everything he did was ultimately pointless.
"Yes, Hanzō, you really live up to the title of Demigod. After fighting for so long, are you having fun?"
A mocking voice suddenly echoed from midair, and the sound of it instantly twisted Hanzō's already furious expression into something even uglier.
To Gekko Chizan, that sudden shift in expression was almost laughable.
A puff of white smoke lit up inside the poison mist, and Hanzō's face darkened to pitch black.
Now he finally understood—he had been fighting nothing more than a shadow clone all this time.
And the real body…
Hanzō turned toward the sky—there floated Gekko Chizan, three long serpents coiled around him, their vertical pupils full of amusement.
That look drove Hanzō completely mad.
"Impossible! How could this be!?"
"You damn brat—just now it was only a clone!?"
Thinking about how he had struggled so hard, even filling the area with poison mist, only to kill a clone, Hanzō gnashed his teeth:
"Even so—you think this means you can defeat me?"
Gekko Chizan let out a light laugh.
"Hanzō, you're old. Your era has already passed."
As he spoke, his hands formed hand seals, and surging natural energy burst forth like a rising tide. The three Snake Princesses' vertical pupils flashed with a glint of light, and they transformed into human form, floating restlessly beside Gekko Chizan.
Hanzō snorted, raising his scythe as his giant salamander moved beside him.
"Hmph! Just like your teacher—reek of snakes. Disgusting."
"...So you start insulting my identity when you can't beat me, huh? I'm the successor of Ryūchi Cave, one of the Three Great Holy Lands. What's wrong with snakes? Aren't they better-looking than that salamander of yours?"
Gekko Chizan's usually cool demeanor completely cracked.
Not because he lacked composure—Hanzō's damn mouth was simply too annoying!
What's wrong with snakes? Compared to toads and slugs, snakes are a thousand times better!
One's slimy and squishy, one's sticky and gooey—who wouldn't be disgusted using them?
Jiraiya: ????
Tsunade: ????
There was nothing left to talk about. Gekko Chizan couldn't be bothered to waste breath. He pressed his palms together, and the three Snake Princesses launched the attack in his place.
Three chakra-formed serpents lunged toward Hanzō.
"Hmph!"
Chains swung the scythe as Hanzō leapt high into the air, slashing fiercely.
But facing attacks empowered by Sage Art energy, Hanzō found himself struggling.
Seeing this, he had no choice but to call his salamander beneath him. The giant creature suddenly pressed its four limbs into the ground and leapt high as well.
"Wow, this thing can jump? Just like a toad."
Gekko Chizan wasn't exaggerating—aside from having an extra tail, when the salamander jumped, it really didn't look much different from a toad.
"Hmph! Shine!"
"As if. Dream on!"
So what if the other side could jump? Without hesitation, Gekko Chizan released Sage Art energy and flew even higher.
This made Hanzō absolutely furious. His entire airborne strategy relied on jumping, yet the brat simply flew above him—what kind of fight was this?!
"Damned brat! If you've got guts, come down here!"
"Nope. If YOU'VE got guts, come up!"
The old and the young stared each other down, neither willing to back down.
Meanwhile, the clones within the village had almost finished looting and were beginning their retreat.
This was the whole reason Gekko Chizan revealed himself—he never intended to fight Hanzō head-on.
By flying just out of reach, he forced Hanzō to be unable to attack while letting the three Snake Princesses kite him endlessly.
The serpents formed from natural energy intercepted all of Hanzō's strikes one after another.
"Almost done. More than half the clones have already escaped Amegakure."
"Tagorihime, Ichikishimahime, Tagitsuhime."
"Give him a big one, then we're leaving."
Gekko Chizan spread his hands and quickly formed hand seals. As the last seal clicked into place—
His whole body began to radiate heat. The three Snake Princesses were startled, sensing that the natural energy and chakra within him were skyrocketing.
"Sage Art: Majestic Flame Annihilation!"
In truth, Sage Arts worked on a simple principle—just like ninjutsu.
At least, that was how Gekko Chizan understood it: replace the chakra normally used in a ninjutsu with natural energy, and it works very naturally.
But from the Snake Princesses' perspective, this was horrifying.
Because while the principle was simple, natural energy was incredibly difficult to control.
Mastering it required years of training.
Not to mention, Ryūchi Cave's sage energy was the most violent and most likely to stir the darkness within one's heart. They never expected Gekko Chizan to already be able to use it this proficiently.
The original Majestic Flame Annihilation gathered chakra in the throat and expelled a meteor-like fireball toward the ground, where it would spread into a sea of flames upon impact.
Enhanced by natural energy—
The flames carried the full violent nature of Ryūchi Cave.
The meteor-like fireball crashed downward. The heat alone made the salamander tremble uneasily.
"The power of this technique… I admit your strength has surpassed those three."
"The Twin Stars of Konoha—hmph, I suppose you deserve that title."
"But don't look down on me, Hanzō of the Salamander! I am the Demigod of the Shinobi World!"
"Water Style! Water Formation Pillar!"
Hanzō's hands blurred into afterimages as he completed the hand seals in an instant.
A huge meteor-like water sphere shot from his mouth.
Gekko Chizan sensed the technique through natural perception and couldn't help pausing.
Anyone who watched the anime knew—these two techniques were originally used against each other.
That was during the Fourth Great Ninja War, when Mizukage Mei Terumī used it to extinguish Uchiha Madara's Majestic Flame Annihilation.
He didn't expect it to be reenacted first here in Amegakure.
Water and fire collided—neither side retreating an inch.
"Tsk tsk tsk, Hanzō of the Salamander truly lives up to his name."
"But you'd better be careful. As a ghost, I could appear anywhere around you at any moment and stab you in the back."
"Hahahahahaha!"
Threat and laughter rang out together. Gekko Chizan abruptly canceled the technique and disappeared with Flying Thunder God.
As the flames were extinguished, Hanzō's expression did not relax in the slightest—if anything, it grew even gloomier.
Just as Gekko Chizan said, the boy's most terrifying trait wasn't the power of his ninjutsu—
It was his ability to appear and disappear like a ghost.
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Pls Drop some Power Stones
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