Hattori Ryuya was skilled with a blade! Haruto Saito was skilled with a blade! Jusan was also skilled with a blade!
The three of them working together were actually overpowering Hanzo!
Hanzo had never encountered such a threat in close combat before!
Three swordmasters of this caliber joining forces was almost unheard of! It was as if three White Fangs were attacking Hanzo at the same time! Perhaps they were slightly weaker than three White Fangs since Haruto Saito's swordsmanship was not as advanced, and Hattori Ryuya was heavily injured.
But together, they were at least equivalent to two and a half White Fangs!
Jusan, in particular, was an enormous threat to Hanzo!
Even though Jusan had no memory of Hanzo and was now Haruto Saito's puppet, his swordsmanship was originally inherited from Hanzo. Without even thinking, he instinctively knew how to counter Hanzo's techniques—it was pure battle instinct!
Hanzo's mind wavered!
His eyes widened in utter disbelief!
"Impossible! This is impossible! Jusan... no... this can't be!"
He saw it with his own eyes—the very Jusan who had been cleaved in half was now alive and was fighting alongside Haruto Saito to attack him!
The others had not immediately recognized Jusan because he had previously worn a mask, which was now destroyed. His old clothes had also been shredded, and he now wore the black robe given to him by Haruto Saito!
Jusan was not even wielding his original scythe—it had been broken. Instead, he now wielded Haruto Saito's Dimensional Blade!
But soon, Hattori Ryuya deduced Jusan's identity just by analyzing his swordsmanship!
Tsunade and the others also recognized him!
They all knew that Haruto Saito had the ability to resurrect enemy corpses and turn them into puppets!
"Puppets... they are puppets?!" Hanzo speculated wildly. He wasn't naturally gifted at figuring things out, but the answer was obvious—both Hattori Ryuya and Jusan had revival seals on their foreheads!
"How could this be? How could he make human corpse puppets so quickly? Even Sunagakure's... no, wait, could it be Edo Tensei? No... no, this isn't Edo Tensei... what is this?!"
"Wait… Haruto Saito… he studied the Edo Tensei scroll… Did he develop a new kind of ninjutsu?!"
Hanzo's thoughts were in chaos!
Tsunade charged in to join the siege!
Orochimaru and Kakuzu launched mid-range attacks, while Jiraiya bombarded from afar!
Hanzo was now trapped in a death formation!
He unleashed his sword techniques to their absolute limit. As the strongest swordsman in the ninja world, the so-called "Demi-God" Hanzo was fighting for his life, pushing himself beyond his normal capabilities!
But he wouldn't last long. Such an extreme level of swordplay would soon take its toll on his body!
Splurt! Splurt!
Two sprays of blood erupted simultaneously! Haruto Saito's Cursed Blade slashed Hanzo's arm, while Hanzo's scythe nearly severed Haruto Saito's left hand! If not for Haruto's exceptionally strong bones, his hand would have been completely severed…
They were fighting with a strategy of trading injury for injury!
*Ding! System Reminder: The Cursed Blade's effect has been triggered. Target Hanzo has been afflicted with a curse: Continuous Bleeding!*
Hanzo had been cursed!
The wound wasn't large, but the bleeding wouldn't stop!
And he could feel it—he had no control over stopping the bleeding! This wasn't normal!
"That blade... that blade is cursed!" Hanzo's mind screamed!
If this continued, in just ten minutes, he would lose all of his blood!
He didn't even need to wait that long. In a few minutes, he would begin to lose consciousness from blood loss and collapse!
"Why is this happening?! How could this happen today?! I won't lose! I won't! AHHHHH!!!"
Hanzo let out a furious roar!
The water beneath him exploded violently, sending massive waves surging outward!
"Dodge!" Haruto Saito shouted!
Everyone retreated at full speed!
A massive salamander burst from the water, opening its enormous jaws to spew a thick, gray-green poisonous mist!
"Watch out! It's poison gas! Be careful!" Haruto Saito urgently warned!
He himself was immune to poison, and perhaps Tsunade was as well, but the others were not! If they were poisoned, their strength would be significantly weakened. If everyone except Hanzo became poisoned, he might actually have a chance to turn the battle around!
The dense poisonous mist rapidly spread, covering an area of half a kilometer!
The poison was so potent that even Hanzo himself would be affected!
But he no longer cared. He crouched low on the salamander's head and quickly sheathed his scythe, clapping his hands together in a hand seal!
A black glow enveloped his hands as he pressed them onto his own arm!
He was sealing his wound!
The curse was broken! The seal cut off the effects of the Cursed Blade!
Then, Hanzo jumped high into the air, and the giant salamander tilted its head back—
In a single gulp, it swallowed Hanzo whole!
"Water Release: Great Waterfall Technique!"
After dodging, Haruto Saito completed his hand seals!
A massive torrent of water rained down, merging with the airborne poison mist. Since the mist was composed of ultra-fine water droplets, a powerful enough water technique could wash it away and neutralize the poison!
An eightfold Great Waterfall Technique!
The primary target: Hanzo!
Everyone else was affected as well!
But in this situation, Haruto Saito couldn't afford to care. They would survive—but Hanzo had to be stopped!
The flood raged!
The group scattered into the air, repositioning themselves at various distances from Haruto Saito.
But Hanzo... was gone!
The salamander had also disappeared!
"Where is he?!" Haruto Saito urgently asked.
"I can't sense him!" Orochimaru, maintaining a hand seal, responded!
Haruto Saito expanded his sensory perception to the maximum!
Super-frequency sensory mode… and still, nothing!
"No way… Did he...?" Haruto Saito had a sudden realization. He flashed onto a nearby high ground and pressed his hand against the earth!
Chakra Sensory, activate!
One breath later!
Haruto Saito detected the salamander's presence—it had burrowed over a hundred meters underground! He kept tracking… but soon lost the signal. Chakra sensory had its limits!
He could sense things along the surface, but sensing too deep underground was difficult! The terrain below was complex—dirt, rock, underground rivers—all of which interfered with his sensory range!
"That bastard… he can escape this way too…" Haruto Saito muttered in disbelief.
Hanzo had fled!
He could have chosen a more dignified retreat, but he had no other choice. If he had continued fighting and the salamander was injured, he might not have been able to escape at all!
"Did he run?" Tsunade flashed beside Haruto Saito.
"Yeah." Haruto nodded, his expression dark. "The salamander took him underground. That thing can burrow…"
******
Later that night…
In the central grasslands of Uzushiogakure…
The ground suddenly burst open, and the enormous salamander emerged, crashing onto the earth. It opened its mouth wide, spitting out a large bubble…
The bubble hit the ground and popped, sending Hanzo tumbling onto the grass.
"Damn you... Haruto Saito..." Hanzo muttered, trembling with rage.
His eyes gleamed with the fury of a wild beast!
He knew one thing.
In just a few days…
He, the so-called Demi-God Hanzo…
Would become the laughingstock of the Second Great Ninja War!