In the distance, Hanzō and Sasori stood side by side, watching the battle-ready, murderous Iwa shinobi. The current situation, even for them, felt like unprecedented pressure.
"What do we do now?"
Hiruko's shell emitted a low, hoarse voice: "If that old man Ōnoki is genuinely unable to fight because of his back injury, then if you and I go all out and fight, there might still be hope."
Although his puppets were almost completely destroyed in the earlier attack on Iwagakure and the pursuit of Rōshi, he still had the Third Kazekage's Human Puppet unused.
"I cannot use my full strength while you are here," Hanzō shook his head. "Your puppets and chakra threads cannot withstand my poison."
"Furthermore, it's still uncertain whether that old fox Ōnoki is truly completely unable to act. He might just be waiting for a moment of complacency from us."
"Tch."
Sasori clicked his tongue in displeasure, but did not refute.
He had personally witnessed how terrifying Hanzō's fully deployed poison mist was.
Forget human flesh and blood; even rainwater, rocks, steel... and even the chakra threads he relied on to control his puppets would be corroded.
Only Hanzō himself was immune; their joint efforts would only hinder each other.
"You take the Four-Tails back."
Hanzō glanced at the device behind Hiruko sealing the Four-Tails, his voice calm: "I will stop them and buy you time to retreat."
"..."
Hearing this, Sasori, inside Hiruko, fell silent for a moment before speaking: "Are you serious?"
Hanzō did not answer, instead looking up at the sky.
The impatient Deidara was already swooping down, controlling his clay giant bird, scattering countless clay bombs from his hands.
Boom! Boom boom!
A continuous series of explosions erupted in front of Hanzō, kicking up dust again!
Seeing Hanzō take an unquestionable stance, Sasori knew this was no time for hesitation. If he didn't leave now, he truly wouldn't be able to escape.
"Hmph! Don't you actually die here."
With that, Hiruko no longer lingered, turning and bursting out with astonishing speed, racing toward the opposite direction of the Iwa main force.
"Deidara! Stop that guy, don't let him take the Four-Tails!" Ōnoki, sitting on Kitsuchi's shoulder, forced himself to endure his back pain and urgently shouted.
In the air, Deidara, controlling the clay giant bird, clicked his tongue in annoyance. His gaze swept between the solitary Hanzō below and the rapidly escaping Sasori in the distance.
The clay giant bird flapped its wings, intending to turn and pursue Sasori.
However, just as Deidara was about to move, Hanzō, who was left alone in place below, moved.
He bit his thumb, performed hand seals, and then slapped his hands on the ground.
"Summoning Jutsu!"
Bang!
As a burst of white smoke exploded, Giant Salamander Ibuse, which had been restrained by Kitsuchi's "Earth Release: Mountain Soil Technique," instantly vanished!
And almost at the same time, white smoke surged beneath Hanzō.
He stood atop the giant salamander's broad head, slowly reaching up to remove the gas mask he always wore.
Beneath the mask was an expressionless face.
From his right hand, which held the mask, dark, lifelike patterns began to spread from his palm.
They rapidly climbed along his arm, covering half of his body beneath his clothes, finally spreading across half of his cheek like a tattoo.
This was Kāma!
Boom!!
An incomparably powerful and terrifying aura of chakra suddenly erupted from within Hanzō!
A visible surge of air blasted out from him, kicking up crushed stone and dust, causing clothes to flap violently!
"What is that?"
"What's with this chakra?!"
Sensing the many times stronger chakra within Hanzō, the faces of the Iwa shinobi, including Ōnoki, drastically changed.
Hanzō stood on the giant salamander's head, performing hand seals across his chest. The raging chakra surrounding him began to frantically activate the poison sac within his body, extracting the deadliest poison concentrated to the extreme.
A deep purple poison mist, so thick it couldn't be dispersed, surged and erupted from Hanzō's entire body.
Simultaneously, Giant Salamander Ibuse beneath Hanzō slightly lowered its massive body, opened its massive mouth, and fiercely spat out a plume of foul-smelling poison mist. The two merged and surged forward.
Sizzle sizzle sizzle!!
Where the poison mist passed, pungent white smoke rose. The ground seemed to be washed by a strong acid, emitting a bone-jarring corrosive sound, like countless poisonous snakes flicking their tongues at once, sending shivers down the spine.
The entire area turned into a terrifying domain of deathly poison. Facing this tide of poison, which was utterly impossible for human strength to withstand, Hān did not hesitate and chose to enter his Full Tailed Beast Transformation.
"Roar!"
Accompanied by a deafening roar, Hān's figure was swallowed by chakra. His size rapidly expanded, instantly transforming into the gigantic Five-Tails Kokuō!
It possessed the head of a dolphin and the body of a horse, covered in pure white fur, with five bushy tails swaying and five massive horns on its head glinting menacingly!
Whoosh!!
The Five-Tails opened its mouth and spewed out extremely high-temperature, high-density, white boiling mist. Like a massive barrier, it met the surging purple poison mist!
The high-temperature steam and the deadly poison violently clashed, letting out a sharp, crackling zizzling sound. The intertwining of the two forces nearly warped the air, but the attack was ultimately blocked.
However, the relief in the Iwa shinobi's hearts was short-lived.
The surging poison mist, under Hanzō's control, rapidly condensed and split. A portion formed a grotesque purple poison dragon, fiercely rushing towards Deidara in the sky!
"What the hell is that thing?!"
Sensing the poison dragon's terrifying corrosiveness, Deidara's face changed drastically. He dared not take it head-on and frantically controlled his clay giant bird to escape to higher altitudes.
More of the poison mist condensed into the silhouette of a giant, constantly dripping viscous poison. The giant suddenly extended a massive hand, formed of the very poison, and grabbed the Five-Tails, which was fully spewing boiling mist!
Sizzzz!
Kokuō's Tailed Beast body, essentially composed of chakra, emitted a sound like it was being corroded the instant it came into contact with the giant poison hand!
"ROAR!!" The Five-Tails Kokuō and Hān inside it simultaneously let out roars of pain and alarm.
The Five-Tails wildly shook its head, using its massive body to charge at the giant poison construct. Its huge tails swept out, grappling and wrestling with the giant poison figure.
Each collision shook the ground. Poison and boiling mist scattered everywhere, utterly devastating the surrounding environment.
"Damn it! Since when did Hanzō become this strong?!"
Seeing the Five-Tails seemingly losing the upper hand, Ōnoki's face was grim. Forcing himself to ignore his back pain, he quickly performed hand seals and spread his hands. A cubic halo of blinding white light suddenly appeared.
Kitsuchi, seeing this, immediately understood. Without any hesitation, he too performed hand seals, slammed his palms onto the ground, and injected his incredibly profound chakra beneath the earth.
Ōnoki thrust the white halo in his palms forward with a fierce motion.
Dust Release: Detachment of the Primitive World Technique!
Buzz!
A cylindrical beam of Dust Release light, traveling faster than the eye could follow, instantly crossed the battlefield, shooting toward Hanzō, who was maintaining the poison dragon and the giant poison construct!
Hanzō's pupils sharply contracted. A lethal sense of crisis made the hair on his body stand on end. Subconsciously, he tried to drive the giant salamander to dodge...
Rumble!
The ground beneath the giant salamander's feet let out a protesting roar. The originally flat rock layer instantly twisted and swelled. A massive rock arm broke through the earth and grabbed the giant salamander's tail!
Hanzō, relying almost purely on instinct, violently pushed off the giant salamander's head with his foot...
Pfft!
Meanwhile, in a canyon within the Land of Earth, the light was dim, with only a few sparse rays of sunlight penetrating the narrow rock crevices.
A figure dressed as a monk could be seen sitting on a smooth rock, head bowed, eyes closed as if in meditation. His calm face was utterly devoid of emotional fluctuation.
He wore a white haori over which was a black cloak. His hair was meticulously tied on top of his head, with a thin braid hanging down the back.
Just then, a muffled boom echoed from a distance, vibrating the steep rock walls on both sides of the canyon.
The monk's closed eyelids trembled slightly. He opened his eyes, looking up toward the outside of the canyon. A distinct black, diamond-shaped mark was branded on the skin beneath his chin.
Undoubtedly, this mark was the Kāma!
And currently, in the entire ninja world, apart from Hyūga Kawa, there was only one being who could use Kāma.
—Ōtsutsuki Isshiki!
Ōtsutsuki Isshiki, who had come to this planet with Ōtsutsuki Kaguya to plant the God Tree, but was attacked by Kaguya and left near death at the critical moment when the God Tree fruit was about to ripen!
The barely escaped Ōtsutsuki Isshiki was severely wounded, having even lost half of his body. He was forced to shrink his body and enter the body of a monk named Jigen.
For a millennium, he had lived as a parasite within Jigen's body, absorbing nutrients to recover his strength.
Not long ago, he had dominated Jigen's brain and body and imprinted his own data into Jigen's body using Kāma, attempting to use Jigen's body to complete his resurrection.
However, he found that Jigen's body could not withstand his power and therefore could not serve as his "vessel" for reincarnation.
His original plan was to use Jigen's body and identity to establish an organization, continue planting the God Tree, harvest the Chakra Fruit, and search for a suitable "vessel" for reincarnation.
The reason he stepped out of his base today was merely to familiarize himself with this body and simultaneously gather intelligence on the ninja world.
However...
Looking up towards the direction where Hanzō and the others were, Ōtsutsuki Isshiki narrowed his eyes and murmured, "This aura... what is going on?"
A kin?
How can there be the aura of a 'kin'?
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