Chapter 59: Three Months Later, The Great Conflict Begins
Time flew by swiftly. Three months passed in a flash.
During these three months, the shinobi world's atmosphere grew extraordinarily tense.
The war between Wind Country and Rain Country affected the vast majority of nations—excluding only distant Lightning Country and Water Country.
After all, even Fire Country had deployed massive military forces to the borders. How could small nations at the intersection of great powers—Grass Country, Waterfall Country, Bird Country, Bear Country—possibly feel secure?
Moreover, according to informant reports, Earth Country's southern border had also concentrated massive military forces. Who knew whether Fire Country and Earth Country would join the war?
The three great nations occupied the ninja continent's vast majority. Their warfare and standoffs not only put every small nation on high alert but also affected nobles, civilians, and merchant caravans, who dared not freely travel or conduct cross-border business.
Mission commissions plummeted drastically, making the already economically imbalanced Sunagakure and Iwagakure suffer even more.
Within council meetings, the war faction had gained absolute dominance.
Not every Kage possessed the First and Second Hokage's absolute strength and authority.
Hiruzen Sarutobi exemplified this perfectly.
If not for the Senju clan's lingering prestige and the Hyuga clan's balance of power, the Uchiha clan wouldn't even regard this ninja clan—which they'd never respected during the Warring States period—as worth consideration.
Hiruzen Sarutobi couldn't suppress the Uchiha like Tobirama Senju had. He could only relinquish partial ANBU authority, allowing Danzo Shimura to establish the Root organization.
Similarly, he couldn't order those clan heads to personally lead forces to the borders.
If not for the Legendary Sannin's competence, the only people Hiruzen could rely on would be Hatake Sakumo and Danzo Shimura.
When a leader couldn't exercise absolute authority and possessed hollow power, factional will could easily sway their decisions.
Hanzo of the Salamander's strength was formidable. Every shinobi acknowledged him as standing at the shinobi world's pinnacle, his deterrent force exceeding even the Five Kage. Even Onoki—who wielded the Kekkei Tota Dust Release—and the Third Raikage with the strongest individual abilities remained extremely wary of him.
Because of his existence, Rain Country suffered the least oppression from great nations. If not for population and military forces far inferior to the Five Great Nations, it would practically be an invisible sixth great shinobi village.
But in truth, Hanzo of the Salamander's personal strength hadn't reached a level where even the Five Kage's pinnacle remained extremely wary.
Onoki, who could fly and decompose everything into atomic particles, could suppress Hanzo completely in a one-on-one fight.
The Third Raikage, possessing both the strongest spear and strongest shield, could stand still while Hanzo struck him—the latter's taijutsu couldn't break through his defenses.
What truly made everyone wary was that salamander—contact meant death, called the shinobi world's most deadly poison.
The salamander with its supreme toxicity and astonishingly wide poison dispersal range possessed strategic deterrence rivaling Tailed Beasts.
Combined with its ability to instantly return to the summoning realm when struck by canceling the summoning jutsu, plus protection from the powerful Hanzo skilled in Body Flicker—in some ways, the salamander proved even harder to handle than jinchuriki and Tailed Beasts.
This represented Hanzo of the Salamander's greatest confidence in facing entire nations single-handedly.
During these three months, Hanzo of the Salamander descended like a god, beating Sunagakure into continuous retreat.
Any Sunagakure squad encountering Hanzo without poison-resistant masks would scatter and flee, not daring to engage him in combat.
Using human wave tactics against Hanzo of the Salamander proved utterly meaningless—merely sending people to their deaths.
However, as a certain great filial son would later say, no jutsu in this world existed without weaknesses.
Every technique possessed flaws.
The salamander was no exception.
The salamander's deadly poison wasn't truly impossible to cure.
Hanzo of the Salamander himself carried antidotes to the salamander's poison on his person.
When traveling to Iron Country, he'd fought the samurai Mifune, easily defeating this outstanding warrior.
Simultaneously, appreciating his opponent, Hanzo had personally cured Mifune's poison and abandoned plans to attack Iron Country.
To prevent subordinates from dying to poison, Amegakure shinobi not only continuously wore poison-resistant masks but also carried salamander poison antidotes.
Through ANBU and reconnaissance squad cooperation, Sunagakure easily obtained the salamander poison antidote.
After three months of research and multiple brief engagements with Hanzo of the Salamander, Chiyo—at her peak strength and equally skilled in poisons and medical ninjutsu—finally developed a formula for curing the salamander poison. She also analyzed that after the salamander released its wide-range poison gas attack, refilling its poison reserves required five minutes.
As long as they survived the first poison attack, the salamander would lack combat capability for five minutes—Hanzo's weakest moment and their best opportunity.
Thus, after three months of being beaten down by Hanzo of the Salamander, Sunagakure finally stopped scattering in retreat. They rapidly assembled a powerful combat squad equipped with poison-resistant masks and carrying antidotes to launch a counterattack.
Though prolonged battles would eventually see the salamander's poison affect them, they wouldn't be instantly felled upon first contact.
With his partner's deadliest poison temporarily countered, Hanzo's deterrent force dropped from "demigod" back to human level.
Though his strength remained Kage-level, he was no longer an invincible existence.
Moreover, the Suna shinobi counting every second refused prolonged engagement. Once antidotes ran out and mask effectiveness declined, they'd immediately retreat.
This left Hanzo of the Salamander thoroughly frustrated. He gave Chiyo—who'd developed the antidote formula and analyzed the salamander's refill time—a nickname: "Puppet Old Hag."
Having engaged him in multiple brief battles, Chiyo refused to back down, retorting by calling him "Old Man with the Breathing Tube."
Though both possessed peak strength, in this shinobi world, they'd indeed reached grandparent age.
With Chiyo developing the antidote formula and obtaining methods to counter the salamander, both sides fell into complete stalemate.
If no third party intervened, Amegakure and Sunagakure might choose negotiations due to the stalemate, or tacitly withdraw and redirect their objectives.
Unfortunately, there were no "ifs."
Iwagakure and Konoha constantly monitored the war between Amegakure and Sunagakure.
During these three months, in the eyes of reconnaissance squads and ANBU gathering intelligence, Hanzo of the Salamander represented the shinobi world's most terrifying existence.
Everywhere he passed, people fled in terror.
They all desperately feared Hanzo discovering them, dying to the salamander's poison or his taijutsu, not daring to approach too closely.
Even so, many still died from inhaling residual poison gas.
Fortunately, their efforts during this period hadn't been wasted. They'd gathered critically important intelligence.
Thus, after lying dormant for three months, Iwagakure finally bared their fangs, opening the curtain on the great conflict!
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