Under a perpetually gray sky, the rain of Amegakure fell without end, as if mourning the misfortunes of its people.
Konoha, Iwa, Suna… all sought to expand their borders, to increase their power. And to avoid soiling their own lands, they had chosen the perfect battlefield: the Rain, a small nation trapped in the heart of the continent.
Armies marched along its roads, burned its villages, cut down its harvests. Each drop of rain seemed to carry more blood. The Kage presented themselves as protectors of their people… but here, they were nothing more than invaders.
In the midst of this chaos, Hanzo the Salamander was not yet the tyrant history would remember. He was a leader who, every day, saw his people, his shinobi, his children die. His nickname of "Demi-God" was not born of overblown ambition, but of the shield he had been forced to forge so that predators would think twice before attacking.
When he faced three young shinobi from Konoha — Jiraiya, Tsunade, and Orochimaru — and let them go alive, it wasn't arrogance. He knew that killing such prodigies would only bring more reprisals upon his already ravaged land.
But years of war change a man. Betrayals, manipulations from the shadows — especially those of Hiruzen and the other Kage, always hungry for power — made him wary, isolated, almost paranoid.
To the world, he became the enemy. But to those who had lived under Ame's relentless rain, he remained a leader who had tried, against all odds, to keep his village standing… in a war that had never been his, until he finally succumbed to his own demons.
"But I… I will change that. My Amegakure will be the strongest."
---
"Shōsen Jutsu!"
Her hands, glowing with vivid green chakra, healed a gravely wounded ally behind her in an instant.
Without a word, Tsunade launched forward, her boots splashing through the mud.
Then, without pause, she leapt at Hanzo, fist raised.
Hanzo swung his scythe in a horizontal arc to intercept the strike, but Jiraiya appeared on his left, his fingers weaving through hand seals.
"Katon: Endan!"
A torrent of flames erupted from his mouth, bathing the rain in a crimson glow.
Hanzo pivoted, absorbing part of the blaze with the shaft of his scythe — but that was when Orochimaru struck, his hissing voice echoing like a serpent.
"Sen'ei Jashu!"
A swarm of snakes shot from his sleeves, lunging toward Hanzo. He spun his scythe, slicing the reptiles apart, but one of them brushed his shoulder armor, leaving a faint numbness in his arm.
Tsunade seized the opening to attack.
"Tsūtenkyaku!"
Her heel slammed into the ground where Hanzo had stood an instant before, shattering the earth and sending mud and water spraying upward.
Hanzo landed to her right and swept his scythe low, aiming for her legs. Tsunade blocked with her forearm, the steel biting into her guard with a sharp clang.
Barely had she pushed the weapon away when Jiraiya dropped to one knee in the mud, hands joined.
"Doton: Yomi Numa!"
The ground beneath Hanzo turned unstable, sinking into a viscous swamp that tried to swallow him whole.
"I've got you…" Jiraiya grinned.
Hanzo replied, unshaken:
"Not yet."
With a violent twist, he wrenched his legs free from the muck, splattering mud in all directions, and stepped back sharply to create distance.
---
Orochimaru struck next.
"Kusanagi no Tsurugi: Nobi!"
His blade extended like a steel serpent, aiming straight for Hanzo's mask. Hanzo turned his head just in time, the edge grazing his cheek and leaving a thin scratch across his mask.
He caught the sword in the crescent of his scythe and tried to twist it away, but Orochimaru pulled back as Tsunade was already upon him, her fists tearing through the air.
"Raiken!"
Her blows, fast as lightning, pounded against the guard of his scythe. The impacts reverberated through Hanzo's bones, but he absorbed them, stepping back just enough to avoid a hook aimed at his jaw.
Jiraiya pressed in again with a swift set of seals.
"Suiton: Teppōdama!"
A compressed ball of water shot toward Hanzo, who deflected it with the blade of his scythe, the impact exploding into fine mist around them.
---
The trio chained their attacks without giving him a moment's rest. Tsunade smashed through his guard with raw power, Jiraiya controlled the battlefield with ninjutsu, and Orochimaru probed for the slightest gap with precise, venomous strikes.
Even with his inhuman reflexes and Hanzo's experience, the Shadow Monarch could feel they had a slight advantage in raw power and coordination.
They're pushing me into a corner… If this keeps up, they'll take full control of the fight.
---
Determined to regain the initiative, Hanzo leapt, the chain of his scythe spinning in a perfect circle.
"Reaper's Spiral!"
The deadly ring forced the three Sannin to scatter.
Hanzo landed near Orochimaru and attacked instantly. The pale Sannin dodged the chain with fluid motion, but Hanzo followed with a knee to the gut, sending Orochimaru stumbling back.
Tsunade appeared, grabbing the scythe with both hands to halt its swing. With a sharp motion, she slammed her fist into Hanzo's breastplate, the impact echoing like a cannon blast.
---
Seizing the moment, Jiraiya bit his thumb and slammed his palm into the mud.
"Kuchiyose: Gamagorō!"
A mid-sized toad appeared, spitting a stream of viscous oil that coated the ground under Hanzo's feet.
"Katon: Hibashiri!"
Flames erupted, racing along the oil and forming a blazing circle around the Shadow Monarch.
Hanzo spun on himself, his scythe sweeping the fire aside to carve a way out, but he knew they were buying time, tightening the noose.
Straightening, Hanzo fixed each of them with his gaze.
"You deserve your reputation… But I do not plan on losing today."
He formed a unique seal and slammed his palm into the ground.
"Kuchiyose no Jutsu!"
The earth split apart, a glowing ring of seals spreading beneath his feet. A deep vibration filled the air, and the roar that followed shook the ground.
From the earth burst a titanic creature: Ibuse, the black salamander. Its skin gleamed like onyx under the rain, and its crimson eyes seemed to pierce straight into the soul.
With a single breath, it exhaled a dense cloud of poisonous gas. The mist spread quickly, the choking stench forcing Konoha's shinobi to retreat in haste. Wherever the gas touched, the mud hissed and corroded.
"Fall back!" Jiraiya shouted to his troops.
Tsunade dragged a wounded man out of the fog, while Orochimaru observed the gigantic beast with a mixture of caution and intrigue.
Standing atop Ibuse's head, Hanzo spun the chain of his scythe, his dark aura blending with the toxic vapor.
"Let's see if you can survive this."