Chapter 195: Hanzo of the Salamander

Hanzo of the Salamander, having circled twice, already knew the severity of the situation, yet faced with the Genjutsu shrouding the entire Land of Rain, he was at his wit's end.

That he himself could break free from the Genjutsu was only because his original Shadow-level strength had undergone a rebirth after breaking from the cocoon, causing his entire life form to sublimate, which allowed him to barely resist the power of the wide-area Genjutsu.

But to rely on his own strength to wake his subordinates was beyond his reach—let alone all the ninja of the Rain Ninja Village, even for Nanami, who was the easiest to rescue, Hanzo of the Salamander had no way to save them.

If Hanzo of the Salamander had encountered such a bizarre situation in ordinary times, he would certainly have turned and run without a word; he was no longer the stubborn "Demigod of the Ninja World" of his youth and was well aware of the limits of his own strength.

Even after a rebirth from the cocoon, his own strength had leaped significantly, creating a massive chasm between him and other Shadow-level powerhouses, yet faced with such powerful Genjutsu, he was still at his wit's end; by comparison, if he were willing to let go and kill, it would be easier to slaughter all the ninja in the Rain Ninja Village.

The current Hanzo of the Salamander, after the elevation of his life essence, had entered the same realm as Senju Hashirama and Madara Uchiha; perhaps his toxin abilities were a notch inferior to the Wood Release Sage Body and the Eternal Mangekyo Sharingan, but in terms of life grade, the two sides were indeed perfectly on par.

Otherwise, it would have been impossible for him to be immune to the Genjutsu cast by Uchiha Feiyu, and one must know that his own Genjutsu level was nothing special, nor did he possess a Mangekyo Sharingan.

Unfortunately, the place where the problem occurred was the Land of Rain and the Rain Ninja Village, and no matter how ruthless Hanzo of the Salamander might be, he could not abandon his own country and ninja village.

It was at this moment that a massive aura of chakra suddenly appeared from afar, and the body of Hanzo of the Salamander trembled slightly as he looked toward the place where that chakra aura had emerged:

"This feeling... is it that guy? Uchiha Feiyu..."

"Hanzo of the Salamander... I really didn't expect that by giving you just one scroll of poison techniques, you would actually be able to give me such a big surprise!"

Regarding Uchiha Feiyu, Hanzo of the Salamander had an incomparably deep impression; after all, it was from Uchiha Feiyu that Hanzo of the Salamander had obtained the poison technique cultivation scroll, which led to his evolution that was almost a rebirth and a defiance of fate.

"Tsk, it was clearly that kind of poison technique that seeks quick success and wears down life force, yet you managed to walk such a path of nirvana and rebirth, and even your life essence has been elevated... By self-cultivation to elevate one's life essence, you are probably the first person in the entire Ninja World!"

Like this more traditional way of relying on cultivation to elevate life essence, to this day, it is truly only Hanzo of the Salamander who has been able to achieve it.

Hanzo of the Salamander gripped his sickle so tightly that his knuckles turned almost white, and he spoke in a low voice:

"You have joined forces with Uzumaki Nagato? How exactly did you convince him? To actually make that guy Nagato betray his own ideals?"

In a flash, many thoughts raced through the mind of Hanzo of the Salamander: the sudden major incident, the Akatsuki organization and Uzumaki Nagato having changed their fundamental principles, the Genjutsu shrouding the entire Land of Rain, the reappearance of Uchiha Feiyu...

To be precise, Hanzo of the Salamander was very compatible with the configuration of the poison technique, and coupled with the fact that this guy could become the Demigod of the Ninja World as a ninja of the Rain Ninja Village, his own talent was also beyond doubt.

"Hehe, is that really what you think?"

Uchiha Feiyu crossed his arms and said with a light laugh:

"As a veteran Shadow-level ninja who experienced the Second and Third Shinobi World War, I don't believe you have no suspicions at all—why would I dare to launch such a massive Genjutsu in the Land of Rain, Nagato's territory, and why did Uzumaki Nagato suddenly seem like a different person, leading the Akatsuki organization to launch a war to unify the world... If I really had no preparations, would I have run over here to seek death?"

However, before Hanzo of the Salamander could think too much, the figure of Uchiha Feiyu had already appeared before him, and the massive chakra almost distorted the senses of Hanzo of the Salamander, filling his face with horror.

Besides, among Uchiha Feiyu's harem, there were indeed women whose life essence had been elevated to a certain limit, but other than that, there were no others.

Hanzo of the Salamander gripped the sickle in his hand tightly; although he felt that his current strength was more than ten times stronger than in his peak youth, looking at the Uchiha before him who was smiling and completely off-guard, the fear in his heart surged like waves, one after another.

Yet Uchiha Feiyu's incomparably powerful strength and the terrifying, unbelievable pressure also made the Hanzo of the Salamander of that time feel terrified and fearful, almost unable to live in peace.

"You... what exactly do you want to do? Uchiha Feiyu!? Don't forget that there is still a war going on here in the Land of Rain! Uzumaki Nagato is right here in the Land of Rain; aren't you afraid that he will discover your tracks?"

It was just that Orochimaru relied on science, and Uchiha Feiyu's harem was even taken to new heights by him; what they relied on was not cultivation.

It was not until later, when Uzumaki Nagato emerged and blatantly contacted the Five Great Nations, issuing a wanted warrant to hunt down Uchiha Feiyu, and Uchiha Feiyu had not surfaced, that this heart-worry of Hanzo of the Salamander eased slightly.

The only person Uchiha Feiyu knew who could elevate life essence without relying on bloodline potential was Orochimaru; over these years, Orochimaru had made rapid progress in scientific research, and through various scientific modifications, his own life essence had also reached a very high level.

He could feel that these three things were significantly related to each other, but even with the rich life experience of Hanzo of the Salamander, he could not figure out what exactly had happened.

To the point that this hero, who once fought against several great nations alone and earned the title of Demigod through powerful skills and extraordinary courage, only dared to borrow the tiger's might to intimidate the opponent before him using Nagato's name.

The combination of the two, plus a little bit of the most crucial luck, allowed this Hanzo of the Salamander to undergo such a transformation.

Uchiha Feiyu did not know if Hanzo of the Salamander had good luck or if his talent was truly that astonishing; he estimated it was likely a combination of both!

"You can think a bit more boldly..."

Uchiha Feiyu said meaningfully, causing the expression of Hanzo of the Salamander to change drastically:

"You, you mean... you have really completely controlled Uzumaki Nagato? Impossible, with the Rinnegan's resistance to Genjutsu, there is no Genjutsu that can control him."

Uchiha Feiyu did not answer again, but instead carefully examined Hanzo of the Salamander, who was now full of vitality; after his rebirth from the cocoon, this old man, now nearly 70 years old, had returned to his youth and back to his peak 30-year-old state, and both his Qi and Blood and spirit were many times stronger than his own peak state.

'It feels as if the whole person has been reborn... This cultivation method could perhaps be renamed the Hundred Poison Heavenly Silkworm Technique... But without the special physique of Hanzo of the Salamander, trying to cultivate it would not just be a nine-in-ten chance of death, it would be a hundred-in-a-hundred chance of death.'

'But in any case, this guy is a very precious sample... After all, even I had to rely on the accumulation of massive resources to elevate my own life essence; from this point of view, I am not even as good as Hanzo of the Salamander.'

The Hanzo of the Salamander opposite was still muttering about things like "impossible," but Uchiha Feiyu had already acted without hesitation; his figure flashed, he threw a punch, and with a "bang," the Hanzo of the Salamander before him exploded into a pool of purple liquid.

This pool of purple liquid had extremely strong corrosive power; just by falling to the ground, it made a sizzling sound, corroding a large hole in the ground, and the liquid that splashed onto Uchiha Feiyu instantly corroded most of his body.

Uchiha Feiyu, who looked as if he were melting, opened his mouth but could not even speak, slowly melting like a popsicle under the scorching sun, but when he had melted halfway, the original flesh and blood revealed a wooden essence; clearly, this was just a Wood Clone.

"Hmm... is this your brand-new Bloodline Limit? The nature of the chakra has completely changed; this should be called a Poison Clone!"

Not far away, Uchiha Feiyu revealed his figure and said a few words while looking at that pool of poison; however, Hanzo of the Salamander, who had also appeared, clearly had no intention of being wordy and instead performed seals with both hands without a word:

"Poison Release—Poison Stream Great River Technique!"

The thick purple poison liquid turned into a terrifying river and gushed out; just by looking at how even the ground was being melted, Uchiha Feiyu knew very well that Earth Release defensive ninjutsu would definitely be eroded away in the first instant.

"Wood Release—Board Projection Technique!"

The interlocking wooden shields that rose from the earth formed a massive wall, blocking the gushing poisonous river; yet even this powerful defensive ninjutsu, which could defend against Susanoo and Tailed Beasts, emitted thick white smoke and made sizzling sounds under the erosion of the highly toxic river.

Tiny black spots gradually appeared on the giant wooden wall, and the spots expanded rapidly, eventually turning the entire wall into a substance like black carbon residue, completely collapsing.

"Only blocked it for half a minute? I have to say, the lethality is truly quite strong."

Watching the highly toxic river that had broken through the defense of the wooden wall and was rushing toward him, Uchiha Feiyu said calmly, a faint layer of chakra armor appearing on his body, and then he was submerged by the entire river of poison.

"Did I get him?"

Watching Uchiha Feiyu submerged by the highly toxic river, Hanzo of the Salamander said with some disbelief, and a light laugh came from the pool formed by the poison:

"When an ordinary person has this doubt, the opponent definitely hasn't been killed!"

Amidst the churning pool, Uchiha Feiyu, wearing a suit of Susanoo armor, slowly rose from the highly toxic pool; the purple poison liquid flowed down from the chakra armor on his body, making sizzling sounds and emitting pale purple smoke.

He gently opened a slit in the armor on his arm, and the purple poison liquid flowed down, sticking to Uchiha Feiyu's clothes, instantly soaking a large part of his sleeve; yet when it fell onto Uchiha Feiyu's skin, it was as if aqua regia had fallen onto glass, sliding right off.

"A very powerful poison... a physically corrosive toxin, a neurotoxin with the fastest onset, the most common hemolytic toxin..."

"It is simply a mixture of various toxins, and it is not just these liquids on the surface; even the smoke that emerges after eroding objects carries intense toxicity... To a certain extent, your entire life system and chakra have completely turned into a toxin production factory; is this the evolutionary direction you chose?"

Rebirth from the cocoon was already the final step of the poison technique cultivation, and the cultivation goal before that had actually already determined the direction of evolution; in this regard, the choice of Hanzo of the Salamander could be said to be standard and did not exceed Uchiha Feiyu's expectations.

However, seeing the scene of Uchiha Feiyu catching the poison liquid with his bare hands, Hanzo of the Salamander only felt his scalp tingle and his teeth chatter; if others didn't know, how could he, Hanzo of the Salamander, not know how terrifying his own poison was?

Don't look down on just a little bit of venom; in reality, this kind of venom is actually contagious!

The poison Scroll that Hanzo of the Salamander obtained originally came from the Book of Demonic Inheritance, but it had also been magically modified by Orochimaru, and in terms of refining and creating poisons, besides the local knowledge of the Ninja World, Orochimaru had also once obtained the cultivation method for the Silver-Scaled Poisonous Snake.

This poisonous snake, which originates from the Legend of the Condor Heroes, possesses a terrifying characteristic: it can use biological organisms as petri dishes to continuously spread its own toxicity.

When the Western Poison Ouyang Feng made a bet with the Old Urchin Zhou Botong, he fed a shark a trace of Silver-Scaled Poisonous Snake venom; as a result, the shark that died from the poison fell into the sea and was eaten by other sharks, immediately poisoning those sharks as well and turning them into poisonous fish, and these poisonous fish were then eaten by other sharks, spreading the poison even further...

The result was that within a very short period of time, hundreds or thousands of sharks in that sea area were infected by that trace of venom, and all the sharks were poisoned to death and turned into poisonous fish; the intensity of its toxicity and the strength of its contagiousness can be imagined.

When Orochimaru was researching poison arts, he had once recorded some methods for cultivating poisonous snake venom into them; after breaking out of his cocoon and being reborn, Hanzo of the Salamander could be called the King of Ten Thousand Poisons, and once he knew the principle, he could immediately imbue his escape techniques with the characteristics of this venom.

Therefore, when facing the venom of Hanzo of the Salamander, whether one is directly submerged or just gets a tiny bit on them, the effect is exactly the same!

Since Uchiha Feiyu can be immune to this bit of venom, he can also be immune to all of Hanzo of the Salamander's toxins, which, for Hanzo of the Salamander, is simply a matter that can be called desperate.

"Alright, since you have already made your move, then next it is my turn!"

Looking at the Ao complexion of Hanzo of the Salamander, Uchiha Feiyu chuckled, revealing his bright white teeth.

(End of this chapter)