"Flying Thunder God?!"
Hanzō of the Salamander's face changed drastically. Wasn't this the famous ultimate jutsu of the Second Hokage, Senju Tobirama?
He never expected his adoptive son, Uchiha Renya, to have mastered it!
There was no time for Hanzō to think further. The instant Renya vanished, he instinctively swung his scythe in a wide arc, trying to prevent a sudden sneak attack.
But unfortunately, he was still too slow.
At the very moment his scythe cut through the air, Renya appeared at his side, thrusting his blade straight toward Hanzō's waist.
"Shhhk—!"
Steel pierced flesh. Blood splattered!
Hanzō barely twisted his body to avoid a fatal strike, but his abdomen was still slashed open with a wound dozens of centimeters long, blood gushing out uncontrollably.
With a furious roar, he swung an elbow backward, smashing it into Renya's chest at point-blank range.
"Bang!"
Renya staggered back a few steps, but the smile tugging at his lips only deepened.
Hanzō panted heavily, blood pouring from his wound, his eyes growing even fiercer. If not for his quick reaction just now, both his kidneys might have been skewered clean through.
"Brat… you've completely enraged me."
He hadn't expected just a single gap in information to put him at such a disadvantage. If he didn't finish Renya off quickly, he would bleed out and die here.
But he failed to notice that the blood seeping from his wound had darkened from bright red to a sinister blackish red.
Just as he was about to muster all his strength to kill Renya, Hanzō suddenly felt his body changing.
Cold rain lashed against his face. His vision blurred. The fingers clutching his scythe spasmed uncontrollably, and a sharp, searing pain shot from his wound, spreading like lightning through his entire body.
"Cough…!"
A mouthful of black blood sprayed from Hanzō's lips, splattering into the muddy ground. His legs went numb, and his knees crashed into the rainwater with a heavy splash.
"I… I've been poisoned…"
He had always believed that the poison sac from the salamander implanted inside his body granted him immunity to most toxins, yet he was still poisoned.
With great effort, Hanzō lowered his head. The flesh around his wound was turning a sickly purple-black, and the poison spread beneath his skin like a spiderweb.
He tried to form hand seals, but his fingers no longer obeyed him, falling limp at his sides.
"Thud!"
His heavy body finally gave out, collapsing forward, face-first into the muddy water. Rain mixed with dirt flooded into his nose and mouth, making it harder and harder to breathe.
His pupils dilated. All he could hear now was the fading thump of his weakening heartbeat.
…Was it going to end just like this?
He tried to struggle, but his body no longer responded. He could only lie helpless in the freezing mud, feeling life drain away bit by bit.
He hadn't yet led Amegakure out from under the oppression of the great nations. He hadn't yet made this war-torn country truly stand tall…
Unwilling. He was utterly unwilling!
His dreams had only just set sail, yet they had already crashed against waves of despair.
Through his blurring vision, he saw the young man's figure approach, stopping with a pair of feet planted before his eyes. With his last strength, Hanzō forced his gaze upward, meeting those cold Sharingan eyes.
Renya stood over him, rain dripping from his black robes, his voice calm and detached.
"If you don't take the antidote soon, there will be no saving you."
His words echoed as if from far away. Hanzō's mind snapped back. Before the battle began, afraid of killing Renya, he had tossed him a vial of antidote. But Renya hadn't taken it—instead, he had casually tossed back another vial.
That antidote now rested inside the pouch at Hanzō's waist.
He desperately tried to raise his hand, but the poison had already spread through his body. He couldn't move even a single finger. Despair washed over him like a tide as his eyes locked onto his pouch, filled with regret and unwillingness.
Who would have thought… that Hanzō of the Salamander would fall in such a way?
Rain ran down his cheeks, mingling with tears—or was it just the rain? In the final moments of his life, he didn't see his life flashing before his eyes. Instead, he saw Amegakure's eternally gloomy skies, and the civilians and shinobi who had suffered under the oppression of the great nations.
In that instant, he almost regretted trying to kill Renya.
If they had only sparred instead of fighting to the death, perhaps Uchiha Renya wouldn't be watching him die without lifting a finger.
Yes… Renya's indifference now, in Hanzō's eyes, was nothing less than standing by as he perished.
His eyelids grew heavier and heavier, as though he might slip into death at any moment.
"Ah, I forgot you were poisoned."
Renya finally realized why Hanzō hadn't taken the antidote. Watching Hanzō's miserable state, he remembered that the man had been struck with a severe toxin and had lost all ability to move.
Squatting down, he pulled an antidote pill from Hanzō's pouch, pried open his mouth, and shoved it in.
Though Hanzō had tried to kill him, in the end, the poisoning was Renya's doing. He couldn't truly leave him to die, could he?
Not to mention, whether Hanzō lived or not was still uncertain.
He had already done what he could. The rest would be up to fate.
"Swallow it."
The pill melted instantly, its bitter taste spreading through Hanzō's mouth. His pupils constricted as he stared at Renya in disbelief.
"Kh…khhh…"
He tried to speak, but no sound came out.
"You want to ask why I saved you?" Renya rose to his feet, his tone cold.
"Don't get too happy. My poison's optimal antidote window is within thirty seconds. The toxins have already reached your organs. Whether you survive depends on how stubbornly you cling to life."
Hanzō's mouth opened soundlessly, dazed as he looked up at him.
In truth, what he wanted to say was—
If you meant to save me, why didn't you give me the antidote earlier?
Had Renya acted sooner, none of this would have happened.
"Urgh—!"
Hanzō's body convulsed, coughing up a mouthful of black blood as his consciousness began to fade. In his final sight was Renya's back as he walked away, and the black cat crouched upon the ruins, its golden eyes watching him coldly through the rain.
As Renya left, the cat quickly followed.
Man and cat slowly vanished from Hanzō's vision.
Survive…
I must… survive…
Darkness swallowed his mind.
The rain continued to fall.
Only Hanzō of the Salamander remained, motionless in the mud.
...
"Renya, can that guy really survive, nya?" The fat cat tilted its head, asking curiously.
When it left just now, Hanzō had already looked half-dead.
"Whether he survives or not depends on fate." Renya shook his head. Even he wasn't sure if Hanzō would make it.
If Hanzō truly died, the Second Great Ninja War would never erupt.
In that sense, he had indirectly prevented a brutal war.
And if Hanzō didn't die? So be it. The salamander's poison had no effect on him anyway. If war really broke out, he could always provide antidotes to the Konoha shinobi, rendering Hanzō's trump card useless.
"Where are we going next, nya?"
"To the Land of Earth."
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Pls Drop some Power Stones
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