Chapter 849: Heroic Deeds Against a Demigod

How could a being capable of being called the pinnacle of the Ninja World by Mizunuki Ryosuke be someone easy to deal with?

Is it difficult to become a Kage-level powerhouse?

Of course it is difficult, but it is not impossible.

Even a person like Might Guy, who had no talent for ninjutsu, could rely solely on the cultivation of taijutsu to kick his way to the finale.

Therefore, regardless of which of the three elements of a ninja—ninjutsu, taijutsu, or genjutsu—one can develop to the peak, one can rank among the Kage-level powerhouses.

For example, many powerhouses in the Akatsuki organization became Kage-level powerhouses by relying on developing just one or two of these. The reason Uchiha Itachi had the name of a genius and could repeatedly succeed in challenging those above his rank...

... must be said to be inseparable from the composition of Uchiha Itachi's abilities.

Because whether it was ninjutsu, taijutsu, or genjutsu, Uchiha Itachi's abilities were all maxed out. Although there was still a certain gap in ninjutsu (referring here to ordinary ninjutsu) and taijutsu compared to specialized ninjas (for instance, Itachi was only proficient in Fire Release in ninjutsu, and his taijutsu could not compare to Kisame), Itachi's strength lay in the fact that he had no obvious weaknesses at all.

Furthermore, Uchiha Itachi's genjutsu ability was maxed out, and he could suppress some ninjas who were not proficient in genjutsu.

Take Deidara, for example; his taijutsu and genjutsu were both lacking, but he stepped into the ranks of Kage-level powerhouses by virtue of the strength of his ninjutsu.

Even so, because he was too "specialized," he was instantly killed by Uchiha Itachi's genjutsu.

Take Hidan, for another example; under the blessing of the Curse Technique: Death Controlling Possessed Blood, the only thing Hidan could bring to the table was his taijutsu, and he did not touch ninjutsu or genjutsu at all. Even so, he still stepped into the level of a Kage-level powerhouse.

This point actually directly illustrates a problem: although the strength of Kage-level powerhouses is already enough to tower over most ninjas in the Ninja World, they still have extremely obvious shortcomings.

Shikamaru defeating Hidan is the best example; this proves that even if one's strength has not reached the Kage-level, as long as one masters the weaknesses of these Kage-level powerhouses, it is not impossible to defeat the strong with the weak.

So, at this very moment, can Jiraiya, whose strength is still in the growth stage of his youth, defeat Hanzō of the Salamander, who in the eyes of Mizunuki Ryosuke possesses the "pinnacle of the Ninja World" strength of a Super-Kage level?

Next, Hanzō of the Salamander's actions explained everything.

The answer is—impossible!

Hanzō of the Salamander's weapon is not just as simple as a sickle.

At the end of the sickle, there is an iron chain connected to the handle that can expand and contract freely, which makes the attack range of this flying sickle far exceed the imagination of ordinary people.

Right now, Jiraiya used his hair to entangle the blade of Hanzō of the Salamander's sickle. This seemed to be a clever move to restrict Hanzō of the Salamander, but in reality, in the eyes of Hanzō of the Salamander, it was full of loopholes.

Because in doing so, it was equivalent to Jiraiya giving Hanzō of the Salamander an opportunity for a contest of strength.

In the face of absolute strength, everything is illusory.

Following Hanzō of the Salamander's retreat and sudden exertion of force, a huge power was transmitted to Jiraiya through the flying sickle and the hair entangled on it.

"Hmph!"

Under the huge force, Jiraiya's body was actually thrown away directly by Hanzō of the Salamander!

At that moment, Jiraiya felt that something was wrong, and only then did he attempt to hurriedly release the binding between the Ninja Art: Needle Jizo and the flying sickle, but it was already too late to try to release it at this moment.

"Swish!"

Although he released the Needle Jizo and got rid of the restraint of Hanzō of the Salamander's power...

... but at this moment, Jiraiya had already been thrown into the air, directly losing his leverage point, and became a target for the opponent to strike.

A sharp glint flashed in Hanzō of the Salamander's eyes, and a terrifying chakra aura erupted from his body, blooming with a purple halo.

Secret Technique: Iai: Iron-Cutting Slash!!!

Immediately, the flying sickle in Hanzō of the Salamander's hand also began to be permeated with a purple chakra luster.

Hanzō's flying sickle was made of extremely rare chakra-conducting metal, so Hanzō could increase the lethality of the weapon by injecting chakra into the flying sickle in his hand.

Clearly, Hanzō of the Salamander no longer intended to hold back. Under the infusion of a massive amount of chakra, his Iai slash had already been driven to the extreme by him.

"Clang!!!"

The flying sickle, carrying a terrifying blade aura, whistled and slashed towards Jiraiya.

At this moment, Jiraiya, in mid-air, had no other choice but to choose to take Hanzō of the Salamander's killer move head-on.

Ninja Art: Summoning Technique: Iron-Arm Toad!

"Boom!"

Following the Summoning Technique performed by Jiraiya, a toad with a very strange appearance but a pair of steel arms was summoned by Jiraiya in front of him.

Mount Myoboku has a wide variety of toad populations, and these toads have various magical functions. The Iron-Arm Toad that Jiraiya summoned at this moment was a special toad with defensive specialties.

In the original work, the Iron-Arm Toad once blocked a blow from Hoshigaki Kisame for Jiraiya without any damage.

Right now, Jiraiya was clearly planning to use this move to deal with Hanzō of the Salamander's Iai.

It was just that, clearly, he had somewhat underestimated how terrifying Hanzō's full-strength blow was.

"Pfft!!!"

Blood splattered across the sky. Before this Iron-Arm Toad could even let out a scream, it had already been split in two by Hanzō of the Salamander's Iai.

"Iron-Arm Toad!!!!"

Jiraiya was greatly shocked, but at this moment he was completely unable to care about the miserably dead summoned beast. After all, he himself was still in danger at this time. After slicing the Iron-Arm Toad in two, although the momentum of Hanzō of the Salamander's Iai slash was somewhat weakened, it still continued to slash towards Jiraiya unswervingly.

Ninja Art: Needle Jizo!

Jiraiya had no choice but to harden his hair once again to act as a block.

"Clang!" ===== CHAPTER 851 =====