Disclaimer – I don't own Naruto
Author's Note: Hi everyone. I finally finished my exams and got the chance to write this chapter. There will still be one last chapter after this so I hope you keep reading!
'By the way Tsunade, I want to ask you something,' Orochimaru said.
'What is it?' asked Tsunade vaguely, keeping her eyes fixed on Hanzo.
'How did the Poison Mist cure me and Hanzo when you used it on us? Normally that jutsu kills everyone that breathes it in.'
Tsunade took the moment to glance back quickly. There were no irregularities with his body as far as she could see.
'The Poison Mist works by creating the ingredients for a poison in the stomach using chakra. I just changed the poison ingredients into those of an antidote so I guess the mist was a kind of antidote.'
Jiraiya and Orochimaru took the moment to be surprised and glanced at Tsunade, impressed. Creating an antidote for poison within minutes using only chakra took Tsunade's medical skills to a new level.
Ibuse stepped forward, making heavy footsteps as he walked towards them with Hanzo o his back.
'Are you done with your chat or would you prefer if I went and took a nap while you chat?' Hanzo asked his voice heavy with sarcasm.
The three ninja turned towards him with solemn looks on their faces and their summons did likewise.
'How do we fight a guy like him?' Jiraiya asked in a whisper. 'Only Sarutobi sensei and you two have ever escaped from the Toad Mouth Bind and never that fast.'
Orochimaru looked grim as he looked at Hanzo. 'Looking at it realistically only Tsunade can take Hanzo on.' His voice was serious but Tsunade and Jiraiya stared at him as if he had cracked a bad joke.
'Me?' said Tsunade incredulously.' I'm not sure whether all three of us together could take him on.'
'Come on Orochimaru, even Tsuna can't take this guy on alone,' said Jiraiya.
Tsunade's amusement at being called by her nickname by Jiraiya did not manage to make her smile in this situation.
'Hanzo's ninjutsu combined with Ibuse is too powerful for us to overcome with our ninjutsu.' Orochimaru said calmly.' The only way to win against an opponent like this is to beat them with overwhelming power and superior skill. Only Tsunade's taijutsu can overcome Hanzo at close range with that kusarigama and with her power she can win.'
'But she needs to get close first!' protested Jiraiya. 'Like you said, our ninjutsu isn't strong enough to stall this guy long enough for her to get close!'
'Tsunade's taijutsu can normally beat any opponent even if they have long range ninjutsu, but against an opponent like this she can use her taijutsu to alter the landscape and with our ninjutsu, she should be able to win.' Orochimaru gestured at the battlefield shattered by Tsunade's strength.
Tsunade and Jiraiya's protests subsided, seeing the sense in Orochimaru's plan.
Suddenly, Ibuse broke into a run that was unbelievably fast for such a huge creature.
Without delay, Manda's tail whipped around to hit Ibuse, but Ibuse dodged neatly, jumping over the giant tail.
Orochimaru quickly pressed on his stomach and a sword began coming out of his throat: the Sword of Kusanagi.
He grabbed its handle and Jiraiya did not bother to look disgusted as he prepared his own jutsu.' Ranjishigami no Jutsu (Wild Lion's Mane Technique)!'
Jiraiya's hair grew quickly and took the shape of a lion's head before surging out to attack Hanzo.
Tsunade also began to fight, jumping on Jiraiya's hair for a ride and when she was in range, she jumped off and with one falling axe kick with some chakra added in, she decimated the landscape.
She had chosen a place just beyond Jiraiya and Orochimaru so that the attack wouldn't reach them. Hanzo jumped away from the attack, knowing that if he got caught in the crumbling earth he would be killed instantly.
'Nice try,' he said mockingly. 'But that won't work on-'He was interrupted as the blade of Kusanagi extended through the dust, slicing through rocks to get to him.
Hanzo dodged the blade, only to fall into range of a jumping Gamabunta who was falling on him with his blade drawn.
'Toad Sword Beheading!' he shouted as the blade bore down on Hanzo. However, Hanzo merely conjured a water dragon to carry him away from the attack.
The momentum of the fall, combined with Gamabunta's size and weight made a crater almost as large as Tsunade's and Hanzo dodged Gamabunta's attack to fall into another.
Katsuyu immediately blasted out a huge stream of acid at Hanzo and Manda rushed in from one side with his mouth unhinged while Tsunade approached from another.
He stood to be melted, eaten or shattered, a situation which most shinobi would give up in. However, he quickly made a few hand signs. The ground beneath him suddenly turned into explosive tags and they covered him like armour, detonating immediately.
'Tsunade!' screamed both Orochimaru and Jiraiya as she was engulfed in the flames. When the dust from the explosion cleared, they saw Katsuyu unharmed, the acid having put out the explosion in her direction. However, they saw Manda's form collapse and saw no sign of Tsunade.
Orochimaru immediately opened his mouth and spat out a huge wave of snakes. The snakes crawled into the dust cloud and came out carrying a small clone of Katsuyu, burned and hurt but still breathing.
'Katsuyu, where's Tsunade?' asked Jiraiya frantically. As if she was answering him, Tsunade slowly emerged out of Katsuyu's body, slightly dirty and shocked, but fine otherwise.
'Tsunade-sama, are you alright?' asked the large version of Katsuyu as she surged over. 'I'm fine Katsuyu. Thank you.' Katsuyu's injured division quickly crawled over to rejoin Katsuyu.
'What about Manda?' asked Jiraiya. He didn't particularly like the snake but he couldn't believe he had just died so easily.
Orochimaru pointed behind Jiraiya and all three of them turned to see Manda's skin as the smoke cleared as well as Hanzo, standing calmly in the clearing.
Suddenly, Manda tunnelled up from behind Hanzo, jaw unhinged, preparing to swallow Hanzo again. Ibuse immediately released his poison mist and Manda had to slither back to the others to prevent being caught in it again.
'So what do we do now?' asked Tsunade. 'I couldn't even get close, much less defeat him.'
' Formation 11,' Orochimaru said. 'We need to beat him with a sweeping attack so you can get close enough to hit him.'
The other two nodded and leapt into action. Tsunade built up the chakra in her legs and when there was enough, she jumped, the chakra enhancing her jump so that her jump carried her far behind Hanzo.
'Now Katsuyu!' Tsunade shouted. 'Yes Tsunade-sama!' Katsuyu said. Katsuyu began dividing and in a few seconds she had become an army of palm-sized versions of herself.
Orochimaru lay on the ground and opened his mouth to spit out an army of snakes, which then proceeded to spit out blades from their mouths.
'Mandara no Jin (Formation of ten thousand snakes)!' he shouted.
Despite being in the midst of battle, Tsunade had to wonder how he talked with his mouth full of snakes and Jiraiya wondered why his teammate needed so many jutsu involving his mouth.
Katsuyu then began to surge towards Hanzo with the snakes extending the blades over her clones to attack anyone who got close. Tsunade then punched the ground so that Hanzo had to jump to avoid being crushed by the rocks.
However, Tsunade continued to punch the ground, making it so that he had to constantly jump from rock to rock. Even masterful shinobi like Hanzo could not fight properly when the terrain itself was moving against them.
The army of Katsuyu began to spit out blasts of acid which Hanzo had to avoid as well as the rocks, which prevented him from using any jutsu.
'Ibuse!' Hanzo shouted. 'Assist me!' Ibuse began to shamble over, but at that moment, the snakes that had been guarding the Katsuyu army attacked it, using their blades to try and kill it.
Normally, Hanzo would have escaped easily from the rock field, but Katsuyu's acid spray stopped him from escaping and prevented him from using his explosive armour again. To make things worse for Hanzo, Jiraiya and Gamabunta went on each side of Hanzo.
'Fire Release: Flame Bullets!' Jiraiya shouted and blew out a multitude of flame bullets.
'Water Release: Gunshot!' shouted Gamabunta and blew out giant water bullets, that resembled cannonballs.
Hanzo was in trouble and now his calm composure began to crack. Such a combo would have killed most skilled ninja, but Hanzo was on a whole other level than they were. Even so, he couldn't keep dodging such attacks and using his water jutsu to protect himself.
Ibuse was being kept busy by Orochimaru and his snakes so even it couldn't help him now. They all smiled. They were going to win!
All of a sudden, Hanzo gave up on dodging the attacks. One of the rocks and flame bullets, along with the acid hit him at the same time as he placed his hand on a flying rock.
'Explosive Sea!' he yelled and the ground beneath hid turned into explosive tags that headed in the five fighters' directions.
Manda's tail whipped around Orochimaru, dragging him out of the way of the tags while Tsunade's punches sent up rocks that shielded her from the blast. Katsuyu. Jiraiya and Gamabunta's attacks also blocked the blast, but they waited for the dust cloud to subside anxiously.
When the cloud cleared they saw Hanzo looking at his shoulder which had been badly burned by the acid and flames while his chest looked like it had been bruised by the falling rock.
The acid had sealed up his wound badly and it was infected. He had used a water blast to stop the acid from burning straight through his body but it had to hurt.
He had regained his composure and was now staring at them strangely.
'It has been years since I have been injured in battle,' he said, somewhat amused. 'You three are interesting.'
'I have yet to see taijutsu or medical ninjutsu that surpasses yours woman,' he said gesturing at Tsunade. 'Also, you two have ninjutsu that could one day even surpass mine,' he said looking at Jiraiya and Orochimaru.'
Hanzo then sighed as if he was disappointed. 'It is a shame to kill ones such as you who possess such talent,' he said casually as if he was talking about the weather.
They immediately took defensive stances as he made a hand sign.
'I have not had to use this jutsu for quite some time,' he continued. 'However, I doubt I can beat you three if I do not.'
Hanzo then summoned his kusarigama from a scroll and held the blade to his left side, a bit underneath his lung.
Then, to the three ninjas' shock, he pierced himself with the blade, but instead of blood, purple liquid seeped out of the wound and began to evaporate immediately.
'Is that-?' Orochimaru started.
'Poison?' said Tsunade. 'Yes.'
'What is with this guy and poison?' whispered Jiraiya. 'Does he have it running in his veins or something?'
As if Hanzo had heard him, he began to talk. 'The reason I am feared as Hanzo of the Salamander is because when I was a child, the poison sac of a rare poisonous salamander was implanted in me.'
They looked as he gestured at the wound in his side secreting poison.
'I wear this mask in case the sack gets punctured in battle and the poison leaks out since the poison is strong enough to paralyse even me.' He continued, pointing at his respirator.
Orochimaru's brow furrowed in confusion. 'But then why would you puncture it yourself if it's dangerous to you as well?'
Hanzo seemed to smile, although they couldn't really tell underneath the mask.
'So I can release my ultimate jutsu,' he said. Ibuse dashed over, having defeated Orochimaru's snakes with his poison mist and Hanzo jumped on him.
'Salamander Hell!' Hanzo shouted. He made a few hand signs and a large amount of poison vapour began flowing out of the wound in his side.
The poison vapour surrounded them and Tsunade immediately blew out poison mist to counter it.
'This jutsu isn't done yet,' Hanzo said smugly. Ibuse opened its mouth and chakra salamanders began to fly out of its mouth.
The chakra salamanders began flying in the poison mist and the three ninjas began to feel their strength ebb away.
'Rot in the Salamander Hell.' Hanzo looked upon them knowing that they would be dead soon.
Tsunade, Jiraiya and Orochimaru were about to die.
Author's Note: I really enjoyed writing this chapter and I hope you guys review. Sorry if it's a bit long but I was trying to make it exciting. Thanks!