Chapter 174: Hanzo of the Salamander

Just as Jiraiya and the others were trying every method to infiltrate the Sand Ninja Village, Xia Rixing, after a full day of flight, had crossed the Land of Wind and arrived in the Land of Rain, where rain fell incessantly.

Upon reaching the Land of Rain, Xia Rixing had no choice but to slow down; the environment here was not very friendly to flight. Not only did the continuous drizzle hinder flight, but flying too high also made one prone to being struck by lightning.

Fortunately, the territory of the Land of Rain was small. Soon, Xia Rixing arrived at the Rain Ninja Village, then took out a Flying Thunder God Kunai and channeled chakra into it.

A flash of light streaked by, and in an instant, Uchiha Feiyu appeared before Xia Rixing, after which his vast spiritual power spread out, scanning the entire Rain Ninja Village.

"Hmm? It's not here... Is Nagato not in the Rain Ninja Village right now?"

A moment later, Uchiha Feiyu frowned slightly. In the current Rain Ninja Village, he did not discover any particularly outstanding chakra; the strongest one was only about on par with an ordinary Shadow-level ninja, posing not the slightest threat to Uchiha Feiyu.

If Uchiha Feiyu guessed correctly, the one he sensed should be Hanzo of the Salamander of the Rain Ninja Village. Although this guy had a great reputation and even held the title of Demigod, his strength was actually not much stronger than an ordinary Shadow-level ninja.

The real reason other ninja villages were unwilling to tangle with this guy was that Hanzo of the Salamander was a thorough poison-man; even his mere breath carried toxins, and his effectiveness at clearing out foot soldiers on the battlefield was absolutely top-tier.

Excluding the transplanted poison sac and the toxins of his Summoned Beast, the salamander, Hanzo's strength was not much stronger than that "strongest Third Kazekage." It could not be said that he was a complete fraud blown out of proportion, but his reputation did indeed exceed his reality.

Thinking of this, Uchiha Feiyu first said a word to Xia Rixing, telling her to return directly to the Sand Ninja Village, while he himself walked slowly into the Rain Ninja Village.

Clearly, there had been no real conflict between the current Hanzo of the Salamander and the Akatsuki organization, and Nagato had not yet finished off Hanzo of the Salamander to take over the Rain Ninja Village.

At that time, he was indeed very powerful; his top-tier Sword Technique and Water Release, paired with his own deadly poison, were enough to make any opponent dread him.

"But regardless, the headquarters of the Akatsuki organization should still be in the Land of Rain. I believe Hanzo must have enough intelligence there."

This place could be considered the most heavily guarded area of the ninja village. Although Hanzo of the Salamander had not been beaten into a state of despair by the Demonic Statue of the Outer Path summoned by Nagato as in the original work, requiring guard ninjas to protect him at all times, the now aged and frail Hanzo of the Salamander was still very attentive to his own protection.

Now that the sound of rain had vanished, Hanzo of the Salamander's first reaction was not that the sky had cleared and the rain had stopped outside, but that he had fallen into a Genjutsu!

"Thinking about it carefully, one can understand. Since Jiraiya can already act together with Yahiko and Konan, the plot of the Land of Rain has clearly gone down a completely different fork."

In the Land of Rain, there was incessant drizzle at all times. Even inside the high tower, extremely faint sounds of raindrops would enter. Under normal circumstances, it was hard to notice, but when Hanzo of the Salamander was in a state of meditation, these faint sounds of rain could be heard clearly.

Relying on his own powerful Genjutsu, Uchiha Feiyu entered the Rain Ninja Village as if walking through an empty land. All the ninjas in the streets and alleys turned a blind eye to him. Soon, he arrived at the high tower in the very center of the Rain Ninja Village.

After getting older, Hanzo of the Salamander liked this quiet atmosphere more and more, no longer liking to go out to practice martial arts as he did when he was young.

Unfortunately... he was old now!

But how could these Rain Ninja Village ninjas possibly resist Uchiha Feiyu? He walked in through the main entrance of the high tower openly and swaggeringly, and the ninjas nearby with wide-open eyes were completely oblivious.

Immersed in the high spirits of his youth for quite a while, Hanzo of the Salamander suddenly woke up with a start and opened his eyes:

"Strange, why is it so quiet outside?!"

Turning his head to think for a moment, Uchiha Feiyu quickly figured it out; it should be the butterfly effect caused by him finishing off Shimura Danzo and Madara Uchiha that led to this change.

Not to mention that when he was young, in order to pursue powerful strength, Hanzo of the Salamander transplanted the deadly poison sac of a salamander into himself. Although this made him invincible when he was young and allowed him to sweep across many opponents, it also caused his body to age much faster than the average ninja when he grew old.

At such times, Hanzo of the Salamander naturally could only bide his time and reduce the number of times he took action, so as not to let other ninjas see his weakness.

The impact of aging on taijutsu-type ninjas was much more intense than on ninjutsu-type and genjutsu-type ninjas. Aside from his deadly poison, most of Hanzo of the Salamander's strength lay in his Sword Technique and Body Flicker Technique; after aging, the decline in his strength was even greater than that of an average ninja.

Although Hanzo of the Salamander himself had extremely strong resistance to deadly poisons, he could not withstand these toxins grinding away in his own body day and night. Now, at 50 years old, Hanzo of the Salamander's body was already no different from that of a 70-year-old man.

And Nagato, even if most of his chakra was absorbed by the Rinnegan, the quality of the chakra he displayed was far beyond that of an average Shadow-level powerhouse.

In a room inside the high tower, Hanzo of the Salamander was sitting quietly on a cushion, holding a sickle, meditating with his eyes closed.

As for the reason for this change, Hanzo of the Salamander was very clear in his heart. When he was young, he needed to display his own strength in front of many ninjas to boost the confidence of his ninja village.

He remembered very clearly that the sound of raindrops outside was not the kind that pattered, gradually became smaller, and finally stopped, but rather disappeared suddenly at a certain node.

It was as if an invisible curtain had suddenly shrouded the surroundings. Hanzo of the Salamander carefully observed his surroundings; although he did not detect any flaws, that sense of incongruity grew more and more intense in his heart.

Watching Hanzo of the Salamander looking around as if he had sensed something, Uchiha Feiyu was slightly surprised; this was the first time someone had discovered a flaw in his Manipulation of Five Senses Genjutsu.

Of course, this was also because Uchiha Feiyu hadn't put much effort into it. After all, with his current strength, he really didn't need to be cautious anymore, so he hadn't been very focused when casting the Genjutsu—if Manipulation of Five Senses didn't work, he could just supplement it with the God-Controlling Technique.

With a light wave of his hand, Uchiha Feiyu dispelled the Genjutsu he had cast. Hanzo of the Salamander shuddered, and seeing the stranger who had suddenly appeared in his room, he instinctively gripped the sickle in his hand and his figure retreated rapidly.

But just after taking one step back, Hanzo of the Salamander froze in place. The Uchiha Feiyu before his eyes had already vanished without a trace, and behind him, a hand had already been placed on his shoulder.

So fast!

After feeling Uchiha Feiyu's speed, Hanzo of the Salamander was almost in disbelief, and he was completely stunned.

One must know that besides his deadly poison and Sword Technique, what Hanzo of the Salamander was most famous for was his incredibly fast Body Flicker Technique.

Even though he was old and frail now, relying on his rich experience, the speed of the Body Flicker Technique he unleashed at the very beginning was not much slower than when he was young.

Even for other Shadow-level ninjas, being able to stick to him was not an easy thing, let alone suddenly appearing behind him and patting him on the shoulder.

Forcibly suppressing the urge to turn his head to look, Hanzo of the Salamander exerted force under his feet and once again unleashed the Body Flicker Technique to charge forward, but halfway through, his expression finally changed drastically.

Because Uchiha Feiyu had already appeared in front of him from behind him, with a finger pressed against the center of his brow.

Kesa Giri!

The sickle in his hand drew a slanted arc of light, slashing directly at Uchiha Feiyu. However, the sickle in his hand only grazed an empty phantom, and then he felt a finger pressing against his neck. A numbing sensation transmitted from his neck, and his whole body fell to the ground.

Before the numbing sensation could spread to his entire body, Hanzo of the Salamander struggled to reach out his arm and tugged at the breathing mask on his face. As he fell to the ground, the breathing mask was also pulled off by him.

"Who exactly are you? What do you want by coming to find this old man?"

Hanzo of the Salamander, who had fallen to the ground, asked Uchiha Feiyu with a cold expression. Uchiha Feiyu chuckled, looked at the breathing mask that had fallen to the ground, and shook his head:

"Trying to stall for time? You don't really think that the poisonous gas you're emitting from your body can harm me, do you?"

"The poison sac of a salamander is indeed very terrifying, but the ninjutsu of the Ninja World has been constantly developing. After shifting from the ninja clan model to the ninja village model, the development of ninjutsu over these few decades has been almost faster than the previous few hundred years."

"And among all ninjutsu, the one that has developed the fastest is none other than Medical Ninjutsu. Ten years ago, the breath of you, Hanzo of the Salamander, might have been an extremely terrifying, unsolvable poison, but now, at the very least, the Sand Ninja, the Rock Ninja, and Konoha definitely have methods to resolve the toxins of a salamander!"

Uchiha Feiyu was not bragging. After the major ninja clans became ninja villages, ninjutsu did indeed usher in a huge development. Why were the Second Kage of the major ninja villages almost all those kinds of great inventors? That was precisely the result of the collision and exchange of the secret ninjutsu of ninja families.

In the past, due to the limitations of ninja families, Medical Ninjutsu was almost completely unsystematic. It was only after the establishment of ninja villages that branches of Medical Ninjutsu appeared.

Ten or twenty years ago, Medical Ninjutsu was at the starting stage of development, which was why Hanzo of the Salamander was able to earn the reputation of a Demigod with his deadly poison.

If it were in this current era, let alone being able to let the Legendary Sannin off the hook, I'm afraid any one of the Legendary Sannin could beat him into a sorry state.

Relying on the Spirit-Binding and Soul-Commanding ability, Uchiha Feiyu could be called a master of all ninjutsu, and his Medical Ninjutsu was only slightly inferior to Tsunade's—however, he was immune to Hanzo of the Salamander's deadly poison not because of Medical Ninjutsu, but because of his physique, which was strong to the limit, and his Six Paths level bloodline.

Hearing Uchiha Feiyu's words, Hanzo of the Salamander's expression suddenly became somewhat ugly. He had indeed been harboring the thought of using his poisonous breath to ambush Uchiha Feiyu, but after Uchiha Feiyu pointed out the problem that his poison was already outdated, he really had no means of resistance left.

"Damn it... If I'm not mistaken, you should be that traitor of the Uchiha from Konoha!"

"Do you want to control me to occupy the entire Rain Ninja Village? Or is all of this a conspiracy of Konoha?"

Uchiha Feiyu shrugged lightly, looking at this tear of the era before him, and spoke in a lighthearted tone:

"You're overthinking things. I came here, in truth, just to ask about intelligence regarding the Akatsuki organization."

As soon as these words were spoken, Hanzo of the Salamander was completely stunned. You, an Uchiha, ran to the Rain Ninja Village and knocked down me, the Demigod of the Ninja World, just to ask about that Akatsuki organization?

The Akatsuki organization has some fame in the Land of Rain, but in the entire Ninja World, who knows what kind of nobody that is?

Yet he himself is a renowned powerhouse throughout the Ninja World, and the Rain Ninja Village is also considered the strongest second-tier Ninja Village; aren't they much more formidable than the Akatsuki organization!

Watching Hanzo of the Salamander's expression of questioning his own life, Uchiha Feiyu rolled his eyes and said:

"Don't just stand there looking stupid... You wouldn't want me to use Genjutsu to force the intelligence out of you, would you!"

Hearing Uchiha Feiyu's words, Hanzo of the Salamander finally reacted and spoke in a deep voice:

"You only need intelligence on the Akatsuki organization?"

"Correct. Don't tell me you don't have intelligence on the Akatsuki organization! As the boss of the Land of Rain, you would certainly pay close attention to the second-ranked group in the Land of Rain!"

"Over these years, the Land of Rain has closed its borders. Besides paying attention to organizations within the country, the Rain Ninja don't really have any other intelligence to focus on, do they!"

What Uchiha Feiyu said was indeed correct. Ever since the Second Ninja World War, the Land of Rain had fallen into a state of isolation, prohibiting ninjas from other countries from entering or leaving.

The Land of Rain itself is considered a place of poor mountains and treacherous waters with harsh weather. Added to that is the deterrence of Hanzo of the Salamander, and the strength of the Rain Ninja is not to be underestimated, so ninjas from other countries naturally have no interest in coming here.

With no other ninjas around, and the Rain Ninja not fond of going out, the intelligence system of the Land of Rain naturally focused entirely on the interior of the country. Among this, intelligence on the Akatsuki organization was, of course, of the utmost importance; the intelligence on the three leaders of the Akatsuki organization alone could fill an entire drawer.

"Fine, this old man understands! What aspect of intelligence regarding the Akatsuki organization do you want to know?"

"I want to ask, where is the base of the Akatsuki organization?"

The base of the Akatsuki organization...

In an instant, Hanzo of the Salamander fell silent. Uchiha Feiyu tilted his head slightly, feeling a bit strange about his reaction:

"What, you don't even know where the Akatsuki organization's base is? I don't believe the Rain Ninja are that pathetic."

"I know..."

Hanzo of the Salamander said gloomily, his eyes filled with an expression as if he had been beaten up for no reason:

"Not only do I know... the entire Rain Ninja Village, if you find any random ninja, they all pretty much know where the Akatsuki organization's base is!"

Uchiha Feiyu had misunderstood one thing—the current Akatsuki organization is not some secret organization preparing to overturn the Ninja World; their base, like other Ninja Villages, exists in the open.

(End of this chapter)