Chapter 485: , before becoming famous

Unknowingly, the Fourth Mizukage, Mizunuki Ryosuke, could already exist as a pillar behind others.

With Mizunuki Ryosuke backing her, the weight of Tsunade’s identity was no longer what it used to be.

And the desire to retreat in Salamander Hanzo’s heart had reached its peak.

Long before this battle, knowing that defeat was more likely than victory, Hanzo had considered an exit strategy for himself.

It was just that at that time, Salamander Hanzo still had a glimmer of hope in his heart.

But now, the cruel reality was before him; except for him, the vast majority of the other Rain ninja had been defeated.

Although his poisonous mist had the potential to turn the tide of the battle, the Konoha ninja were not fools and would not stand in place waiting for the poisonous mist to descend.

And Hanzo was human, too; he had his limits. After defeating the Sannin, how much longer could his chakra support him in continuing to release the Salamander’s toxin?

Various problems all pointed to one thing: the defeat of the Rain ninja was already doomed and had reached an irredeemable state.

Coupled with the "trump card" Tsunade had just played, just as Mizunuki Ryosuke had predicted, Hanzo’s heart no longer had any fighting spirit.

Once his sharpness was lost, Salamander Hanzo had no intention of fighting anymore and was only thinking about his own retreat.

Because he had already had some thoughts in his mind, Salamander Hanzo did not struggle for too long.

"Sigh."

Finally, Hanzo let out a helpless sigh in his heart. He looked up at the dark, gloomy sky of the Land of Rain, and then slowly lowered his head, which he had always held high.

Even though his heart was higher than the sky, the situation was always stronger than the man. With his own strength, how could he challenge the accumulation of several generations and decades of the Five Great Ninja Villages?

Hanzo finally yielded, yielding to his own fate.

Although Hanzo’s mind was filled with thousands of thoughts, only a few seconds had passed in reality.

And by now, he had already decided what to do.

Even if he admitted defeat, if he wanted to retreat unscathed, he still needed to be flexible.

No matter what, he still had to win this battle.

Salamander Hanzo composed himself and gripped the sickle in his hand.

"I have learned your names by heart."

A hint of emotion appeared on Salamander Hanzo’s face, and the killing intent on his body was no longer as sharp as before.

Hearing this, the three did not relax at all; instead, their expressions became more solemn, because no matter how they listened, Hanzo’s words sounded like a final ultimatum.

"Whoosh!!!"

And in the blink of an eye after his voice fell, with a sharp sound of breaking wind, Salamander Hanzo in the distance suddenly disappeared.

Salamander Hanzo’s movement could only be described in one word: fast!!!

Such movement speed was comparable to teleportation!!!

At the same time, the three finally understood why the combined ninjutsu performed by Orochimaru, Jiraiya, and Gamabunta had failed earlier.

Because since Salamander Hanzo possessed such divine speed, he was fully capable of dodging those seemingly unavoidable attacks.

"How is this possible!!"

Watching Salamander Hanzo approach instantly, the Sannin were shocked.

Under the influence of the toxins, the reaction and physical strength of the three had been significantly weakened, especially Jiraiya and Orochimaru, who had already lost the ability to parry.

At this moment, Tsunade gritted her teeth and fought with all her might, enduring the deadly poison.

Terrifying force was once again attached to Tsunade’s fist, but compared to just a moment ago, the Strength of a Hundred Seal punch she was performing could be described as soft and powerless.

Clearly, enduring the deadly poison, even if Tsunade’s poison resistance was slightly stronger than Orochimaru and Jiraiya’s, it was only limited.

Trying to resist Salamander Hanzo’s attack with such force was simply wishful thinking.

Seeing this, Hanzo slightly reined in his force, attempting to quietly go easy to avoid endangering Tsunade’s life.

But what Salamander Hanzo did not expect was that before he could attack Tsunade, two sounds of breaking wind rang out from his left and right sides simultaneously.

A scarlet tongue and a strand of white hair were winding toward him at the same time. Salamander Hanzo looked over and saw that Orochimaru and Jiraiya, who had already knelt on the ground under the erosion of the toxins, had forced out their final potential.

Orochimaru opened his mouth and used a bizarre secret technique to extend his tongue into a long whip, lashing out at him with all his might.

And Jiraiya used the hair attack that Hanzo had already seen many times.

Facing the attacks coming from both sides, Hanzo easily beat them back.

Along with the two practitioners, they were easily knocked away by Salamander Hanzo, lying on the ground motionless, their lives unknown.

And the final all-out obstruction by Orochimaru and Jiraiya also weakened the momentum of Hanzo’s attack.

Finally, Hanzo’s kusarigama collided with Tsunade’s bracer.

"Bang!!!"

A powerful force erupted, and in the end, Salamander Hanzo still prevailed by a wide margin.

A huge force came from the bracer, and Tsunade’s body flew backward, leaving all her openings exposed before Salamander Hanzo.

If Salamander Hanzo wanted to pursue, a single strike would surely end Tsunade’s life.

In the sky, Mizunuki Ryosuke had already flashed to a position less than a hundred meters from the battle. The forbidden technique Mahapadma, capable of freezing time, was already in his hand; if Salamander Hanzo made any move that threatened Tsunade, Mizunuki Ryosuke would immediately act to imprison the time and space before him.

But looking at Tsunade, who had lost the ability to resist, Salamander Hanzo had no intention of pursuing; instead, he retracted his kusarigama and slowly lifted it onto his shoulder.

"Bang!!!"

After Tsunade’s delicate body flew backward, she fell heavily to the ground.

She stubbornly climbed up from the ground again, a streak of bright red blood spilling from the corner of her mouth. She wiped the blood away with her arm with difficulty, her flawless face carrying a hint of poignant beauty.

At this moment, just standing was extremely difficult for her. Even with the Slug’s tireless healing, under the erosion of the massive amount of Salamander deadly poison, even Tsunade had reached the point of exhaustion.

On the other side, Orochimaru and Jiraiya, who had also been knocked away, struggled to climb up from the ground and moved with difficulty to Tsunade’s side again.

This process was extremely slow, lasting at least half a minute. During this time, Salamander Hanzo just stood there, quietly watching the three young ninja on the opposite side.

The three stood shoulder to shoulder again, but anyone could see that they had reached the end of their rope. It was likely that Salamander Hanzo only needed to blow another breath to knock these three down directly.

This was no joke; after all, the breath Salamander Hanzo exhaled was pure Salamander deadly poison.

The Sannin stood with difficulty, and although the feeling of discomfort in their bodies was becoming heavier, the three still persisted.

They looked at Salamander Hanzo on the opposite side with some confusion. The confusing part was that Salamander Hanzo could have easily finished them off just now, so why did he wait in place?

At this point, the three had long since lost the ability to continue fighting, while Salamander Hanzo on the opposite side not only had a long breath but also looked like nothing had happened.

The Sannin did not doubt whether Salamander Hanzo still had enough combat power, but what was strange was that it seemed Salamander Hanzo’s fighting spirit had been completely extinguished.

Not only that, the sharp killing intent originally on Salamander Hanzo had disappeared without a trace, replaced by a sense of righteousness.

The three looked at each other, seeing the confusion in each other’s eyes.

Having fought to this extent, what exactly was Salamander Hanzo waiting for?

Not letting the three wait too long, Salamander Hanzo directly revealed the answer.

"Although we are enemies, the perseverance of you three still makes me admire you."

"Tsunade, Jiraiya, Orochimaru,"

"I will surely remember your names. In the vast Konoha, among the ninja I have met, only you three can be called true ninja."

"Since that is the case, I shall call you the 'Sannin of Konoha'."

Salamander Hanzo still maintained the air of an old senior of the ninja world and a "demigod of the ninja world." In the current scene, his words indeed carried the demeanor of a hegemon of the ninja world.

Hearing this, the three bodies trembled simultaneously, and they looked at each other with disbelief.

"Sannin"!

The three understood how much weight this title held at this moment!

Hanzo’s words undoubtedly indicated that among the thousands of Konoha ninja he had met, only the "Sannin" before him were worthy of his respect.

And how many ninja did Konoha have? How many ninja had Salamander Hanzo seen?

Not to mention anything else, at least the ten thousand Konoha ninja on the battlefield were at least seen by Salamander Hanzo.

And Salamander Hanzo’s recognition was enough to show that the "Sannin" already stood above the vast majority of Konoha ninja.

It was foreseeable that after this battle, no matter what, the Sannin would surely become famous.

If this had been before the Second Shinobi World War, Salamander Hanzo saying this would at most mean that the Sannin were opponents he recognized, and it would only cause a certain stir in the Land of Rain and its surrounding areas, without causing much impact.

But at this moment, as the instigator and initiator of the Second Shinobi World War, Salamander Hanzo’s momentum was no longer what it used to be.

In the past, although he carried the title of "demigod of the ninja world," many ninja just listened to it as a joke and didn't really take the name "demigod" seriously.

But now, Salamander Hanzo first started the Second Shinobi World War with almost his own strength, and then fought successively against the three major ninja villages of Sunagakure, Iwagakure, and Konoha.

Regardless of the final outcome, this ambition and spirit alone made it impossible for people to underestimate him, because ordinary people, even one of the Five Great Ninja Villages, did not have the example of launching wars against three major powers in succession.

At this moment, although the Rain Village was doomed to defeat, in this grand ninja world war, Hanzo himself had never been defeated.

Such a record and feat could no longer be described in two thin sentences.

It could be said that if Mizunuki Ryosuke had not appeared, at the time of the Second Shinobi World War, no one would have had more limelight than Salamander Hanzo.

And now, Salamander Hanzo, who was in the limelight and had set off such a violent storm in the ninja world, personally acknowledged that the Sannin of Konoha were opponents he recognized.

You know, whether it was the siblings Chiyo and Ebizo of Sunagakure, or Kitsuchi, the son of the Tsuchikage of Iwagakure, none of these people had caught Hanzo’s eye to give such a high evaluation.

What did this mean?

It meant that in Hanzo’s eyes, the "Sannin" were far above the former two.

Invisibly, the Sannin were already standing before many powerhouses in the ninja world.