"Boom!"
"Crack!"
Orochimaru and Hanzo flashed and moved, entangled for a long time, and their weapons finally collided for the first time. A flash of sharp sword light and scythe blade struck each other, emitting a thunderous roar under the grip of the two powerful ninjas.
Figures intertwined, Orochimaru drew his sword and spun, using the extreme flexibility provided by his Body Transformation Jutsu to avoid Hanzo's incoming scythe blade from the side, and casually cut the chain connecting Hanzo to the scythe with his sword.
Glancing at the huge gash on the scythe blade from the Sky Sword and the chain dangling to the ground, Hanzo's pupils contracted, and he became more cautious of this young Konoha commander.
"Good sword!"
Orochimaru sneered, unfazed by Hanzo's sarcastic praise of the weapon, and shook his Sky Sword, rushing forward.
Summoning required hand seals, which naturally required time.
Before Jiraiya entered Sage Mode, Orochimaru certainly wouldn't give Hanzo, at the foot of the mountain, a chance to make hand seals and cast summoning jutsu. Tsunade and the relatively free Shima Sage shared the same thought.
"Mighty Fist!"
Stomping hard on the ground, a large amount of mud splashed. Tsunade's fist, enveloped in azure chakra, smashed towards Hanzo, who had separated from Orochimaru.
The slug on her shoulder freed her from worrying about chakra consumption, allowing her to push her internal chakra output to the maximum, attaching her half-mastered Yin-Yang Release to her fist.
The power of this punch was enough to shatter mountains.
"Buzz!"
The air around Hanzo seemed to tremble with a buzzing sound under Tsunade's heavy punch. Such a fierce attack was rare even in Hanzo's life.
Tilting his body, Hanzo, with his agile swordsman-like movements, avoided Tsunade's punch. He swept his left hand down, and the iron chain that was cut by the Sky Sword and now dangled on the ground, whipped up, carrying a piercing sound, and wrapped around Tsunade's arm.
With a strong pull, Tsunade's forward momentum was used by inertia, pulling her towards Hanzo's swung scythe.
"Ninjutsu - Tongue Bind!"
Shima Sage opened its mouth and spat out a tongue disproportionately long to its body, carrying dense Sage Art energy, tightly wrapping around Hanzo's scythe-wielding arm.
"Orochimaru!"
Shima Sage muffled a reminder.
Orochimaru, however, needed no reminder. His Sky Sword had already been thrust out, elongating rapidly before Hanzo's astonished eyes, and aimed directly at his chest.
"Good coordination!"
"I almost fell into the hands of you two juniors and a summon!"
Hanzo even had the leisure to praise the two and a toad, releasing his scythe and chain, and disappearing from his spot with a body flicker.
"However..."
Hanzo, who reappeared in the distance, did not attack immediately. Instead, he extended his palm and caught a raindrop that had fallen from the sky at some unknown time.
"The real battle has just begun, you..."
"No longer have a chance!"
Hanzo retracted his outstretched palm to his chest, brought his index and middle fingers together, and formed a hand seal for the Body Flicker Jutsu. Before Orochimaru and Tsunade's follow-up attacks could arrive, his entire body dissolved into a stream of water with a splash, disappearing into thin air.
Jiraiya, who was condensing natural energy with Fukasaku's help, felt a jolt in his heart. Maintaining his clasped hands, he shook his head with a solemn expression, and his mane of silver hair began to grow wildly.
"Ninjutsu: Needle Jizo!"
A series of faint sounds, like steel needles piercing the air, emanated. Jiraiya's body was enveloped by silver hair standing erect like steel needles, their tips glinting sharply.
A look of surprise flashed in Hanzo's eyes. He hadn't expected this white-haired boy, who was clearly preparing some powerful ninjutsu, to react so quickly and possess such a peculiar defensive jutsu.
"Heh!"
"Like a hedgehog, you do have some tricks!"
Hanzo sneered, retracting the kunai he had intended to pierce Jiraiya's back with. He rummaged through his ninja pouch and lightly stuck several explosive tags, crackling with flames, onto himself.
"Jiraiya, be careful!"
Orochimaru's voice was deep as he turned his divine sword, which had just cut the sky, and thrust it directly at Hanzo.
Jiraiya gave Orochimaru a reassuring look and let out a low shout to Shima Sage on his shoulder:
"Shima Sage, don't let him escape!"
"Alright!"
Shima Sage was not hesitant. Its long tongue expertly flicked out, wrapping around Hanzo's body.
"Ninjutsu - Needle Hell!"
Jiraiya's pupils, which had already shown signs of frog transformation, narrowed slightly. The chakra mixed with natural energy in his body vibrated. The hardened steel needles formed by Needle Jizo behind him, while deflecting the explosive tags, rained down overwhelmingly on Hanzo, who was bound by Shima Sage's tongue.
"Good kid, I underestimated you!"
"You're not much worse than that Orochimaru and Tsunade!"
A cold glint flickered in Hanzo's eyes, and he unhesitatingly detonated the explosive tags.
"Fire Style - Exploding Flame Formation!"
The explosive tags, which had already flown between the two, then bloomed with light. With a thunderous explosion, terrifyingly hot flames engulfed both Jiraiya and Hanzo.
"Jiraiya!"
Tsunade's heart skipped a beat as she saw her friend in danger, and she couldn't help but exclaim, rushing towards the explosion site.
"Trust him!"
Orochimaru followed Tsunade, his gaze fixed on the flames, and said with a determined expression.
"Orochimaru, Tsunade, dodge!"
"Sage Art - Senbon Needles of the Thousand Senses!"
Jiraiya's hearty voice echoed from within the flames. A torrent of senbon, like a celestial river reversing its flow, carrying terrifying natural energy, tore through the flames with a roar and shot out in all directions.
"Watch out behind you, Hanzo wasn't killed by the explosion!"
Fukasaku Sage finally had an opportunity to speak and loudly warned Orochimaru and Tsunade.
Orochimaru pulled Tsunade into his arms, and a blue Sage Art chakra glow instantly appeared around him.
"Sage Art - Serpent Body Hardening!"
A striking phantom of white snake scales manifested on Orochimaru's body. The terrifying Sage Art senbon rain attacked, but with a series of clanging sounds, it was all blocked by this seemingly illusory image.
"Sage Art?"
A perplexed voice sounded behind Orochimaru and Tsunade. Hanzo, having retrieved his weapon with a Body Flicker Jutsu, swung his blade.
With Sage Mode and his innate dark perception ability, Orochimaru's perception of danger and malice was incredibly powerful!
Spinning around to shield Tsunade behind him, he unhesitatingly met Hanzo's incoming scythe with his divine sword.
Hanzo's pupils contracted, and cursing the damned divine weapon, he used a Body Flicker Jutsu to escape the slashing range of the Sky Sword.
Jiraiya, whose body was subtly expanding into a humanoid toad, jumped to Orochimaru and Tsunade's side, looking confidently at Hanzo, who had reappeared in the distance.
"Finally, it's Lord Jiraiya's turn to make his appearance!"
Orochimaru released Tsunade, who was blushing, glanced at Jiraiya, and a slight smile curved his lips.
"You're a bit ugly, but your strength has indeed increased significantly!"
"It looks like we can't stop Hanzo from making his hand seals..."
"Jiraiya, it's up to you!"
Jiraiya laughed heartily, looking at Hanzo in the distance, who had already completed the hand seals for summoning jutsu, and raised his hands in front of him.
"Haha, no problem!"
"Fukasaku Sage, Shima Sage!"
"Here we go!"