Chapter 270: Salamadander Hanzō Enters The Fray
Under the curtain of rain, the battlefield shifted in an instant.
Konan vibrated the wings she had just formed from new paper, hovering in even higher air, calmly observing the battle situation below.
Animal Path Pain formed hand seals with both hands, performing the Summoning Technique once again.
A burst of smoke exploded against the slick alley walls, and a massive chameleon emerged from the smoke.
Its huge Rinnegan eyeballs slowly rotated, opening its large mouth and extending its tongue.
Animal Path Pain expressionlessly stepped onto the chameleon’s mucus-covered, highly elastic tongue. As the tongue retracted, his figure vanished into the chameleon’s gaping maw.
Immediately after, the chameleon’s massive body began to blend with the surrounding environment, its colors rapidly assimilating, its outline blurring, until it completely disappeared into the pattering rain curtain and the backdrop of ruined buildings, as if it had never existed.
Below, Jiraiya, who was keeping his hands in a special hand seal to desperately absorb nature energy and convert it into Sage Jutsu chakra, suddenly felt a chill in his heart.
“Summoned another one I’ve never seen… and it can turn invisible?!” Jiraiya’s heart tightened, inwardly crying trouble.
His hands remained in the pose for absorbing nature energy, unable to release, but he could still perform an auxiliary sensory Barrier Ninjutsu.
Hum—!
An invisible special sensory barrier centered on Jiraiya rapidly expanded outward, like a transparent bubble.
Any existence stepping into the barrier would be immediately sensed by him for its position.
“Sensory ninjutsu…” However, hidden inside the chameleon, Animal Path Pain, who also possessed Rinnegan sensory abilities, immediately detected this barrier force trying to search for him.
There was no emotion in his rippled eyes; he simply formed hand seals again.
Summoning Technique!
On the wall of a nearby taller iron tower, summoning array runes appeared, accompanied by deafening roars and exploding smoke, a massive hellhound with a ferocious form, three heads, and fleshy wings sprouting from its back burst forth!
Its six scarlet eyes instantly locked onto Jiraiya and Gamaken below. Using all four limbs, it charged down the steep, slippery tower wall!
“Tch, Nagato that kid has so many tricks!” Jiraiya looked up, seeing the colossal thing approaching at high speed, and couldn’t help but spit.
Gamaken under his feet gripped his shield and steel fork tightly, bracing himself.
“Gamaken, it’s up to you!”
“Yes, though I’m clumsy, I’ll do my best!” Gamaken responded slowly, but his actions were not slow at all.
Its thick hind legs suddenly powered forward, its massive body leaping up with surprising agility. The huge steel fork in his hand whistled through the air, thrown precisely like a javelin!
Pfft!
The steel fork struck true, instantly piercing the neck of the middle dog head. The immense force slammed the hellhound’s massive body against the tower wall, nailing it firmly in place!
The hellhound let out a pained howl, the other two heads frantically biting at the steel fork, but unable to break free for the moment.
“Well done! Gamaken!” Jiraiya couldn’t help praising: “That’s not ‘useless’ at all!”
“No, it’s nothing, just luck.” Gamaken remained humble, while reaching out to recall his steel fork.
However, the moment the steel fork was pulled out, a change occurred!
The hellhound nailed to the wall, its pierced middle head suddenly drooped, but the other two heads emitted even more furious roars!
Its body split like dividing cells, accompanied by teeth-grinding sounds of flesh tearing, forcibly splitting at the neck into two slightly smaller but equally ferocious hellhounds!
They broke free from the wall, shook their heads, and charged roaring at Jiraiya and Gamaken again!
“What?! It split?!” Jiraiya was horrified at the sight.
Gamaken swung his shield and steel fork again, clashing with the three hellhounds.
His combat style was wide and sweeping, shield blocking, steel fork striking fiercely, each collision producing a dull thud, splashing large sprays of water in the rain curtain.
But something even more alarming happened.
Whether pierced by the steel fork or smashed by the shield, as long as the hellhounds suffered severe enough damage, they would immediately split!
Pierced bodies would split into two, smashed heads would sprout new ones beside them!
In just a few minutes of fighting, the original three hellhounds had become over a dozen!
They surged like a black tide from all directions, madly tearing at Gamaken’s shield and body. Though Gamaken was tough-skinned and thick-fleshed, temporarily fine, the situation had rapidly turned dire!
“No good, can’t fight head-on! Gamaken, retreat!” Jiraiya decided instantly.
“Understood!” Gamaken suddenly shoved back several pouncing hellhounds with his shield, his thick hind legs powering forward, carrying Jiraiya as they crashed through a crumbling side wall into another narrower alley, fleeing madly.
Behind, the dozen or so proliferating hellhounds roared deafeningly, pursuing relentlessly, their sharp claws leaving deep marks on the slick ground and walls.
High in the sky, a circling giant bird summoned beast seized the moment, emitting a sharp cry, diving down like a fighter jet, its huge beak aiming straight for Jiraiya standing on Gamaken’s head, unable to dodge flexibly!
“Dodge quick!” Jiraiya directed Gamaken to evade, sharply turning into an even narrower dead-end alley.
The giant bird and hellhound pack swarmed in immediately!
However, the moment they charged into the alley, the Gamaken and Jiraiya in the alley “poofed” into two puffs of white smoke and vanished—it was shadow clones!
“Hm?” Animal Path Pain hidden in the chameleon was slightly stunned: “When?”
“Right now! Fire Style: Great Fireball!”
The real Jiraiya and Gamaken appeared from behind the eaves of a nearby high rooftop. Though his hands remained in the seal pose, the fire release chakra accumulated in his mouth transformed into an incomparably scorching vast sea of flames, pouring overwhelmingly into the narrow alley below!
Boom rumble—!!!
The inferno instantly engulfed the entire alley!
Gamaken also spat toad oil to cover the alley, fueling the flames, making them sticky and hard to extinguish.
The hellhounds crammed in the alley had nowhere to flee, utterly incinerated in the earth-shaking explosion and shrill screams by this terrifying Sage fire!
However, before Jiraiya could catch his breath, the giant bird, with astonishing speed and agility, charged fiercely at him again!
“Gamaken!” Jiraiya urgently called.
“Understood!” Gamaken strained to raise his shield to block!
Boom!!!
A violent impact resounded!
The giant bird’s all-out strike held unimaginable force; Gamaken’s shield shattered instantly!
Its massive body was sent flying backward, crashing heavily into a building wall, dust billowing.
Jiraiya was flung off Gamaken’s head by the immense force.
“Gamaken! You okay?!” Jiraiya shouted anxiously upon landing.
From the dust, Gamaken propped himself up with his steel fork, struggling to stand. His shield was completely shattered, with multiple scrapes on his body, looking somewhat disheveled but eyes still resolute: “Still… okay. I’m fine, I’ll keep fighting.”
At that moment, summoning technique array light suddenly appeared without warning on the nearby wall!
“More?!” Jiraiya’s expression changed.
Smoke burst open, and a massive rhinoceros summoned beast covered in thick armor shell with sharp horns on its snout roared out, like an out-of-control heavy tank, charging with thunderous momentum straight at the just-standing Gamaken and Jiraiya beside him!
Boom rumble—!!!
This impact was fiercer than any before!
Gamaken and Jiraiya had no time to dodge, smashed brutally by the raging rhinoceros along with its charging momentum right into the rear building wall!
Bricks flew, dust filled the air, the wall gouged out a huge deep pit, swallowing the man and toad’s figures.
Animal Path Pain, hidden in the chameleon observing the battlefield through shared summoned beast vision, coldly watched the rubble, preparing to control the summoned beast for the finishing blow.
However, at that moment, a large group of Rain Village Anbu ninjas finally arrived in this chaotic area.
Seeing the wreckage everywhere, burning ruins, and those grotesquely shaped summoned beasts, they immediately attacked without hesitation.
“Attack! Eliminate all rebels!” The Anbu Captain shouted hoarsely.
Konan immediately vibrated her paper wings, charging forward like a white angel, countless sharp paper pieces sweeping toward the Rain Village Anbu like a blizzard.
The giant bird in the sky also turned, spewing high-pressure wind blades at the Anbu team below, or attacking directly with claws and dives.
For a moment, shouts of killing, explosions, rustling of flying paper, and roars of summoned beasts mixed together, turning the area into a bloody hell.
Taking advantage of this sudden chaos and the summoned beasts’ divided attention, in the ruins smashed by the rhinoceros, several gravel pieces were gently pushed aside.
Jiraiya and the somewhat dirtied Gamaken silently slipped into deeper shadows.
Jiraiya still maintained his hand seal pose, accelerating absorption of nature energy, while peering through the ruins’ gaps at the melee outside.
He saw the Rain Village Anbu retreating step by step under Konan and the giant bird’s combined assault, suffering heavy casualties, and couldn’t help recalling that Rain ninja’s confession earlier.
Hanzo of the Salamander allied with Konoha ninjas to ambush the Akatsuki organization.
“Hanzo… and Danzō, they really are the fuse for all this…” Jiraiya inwardly seethed.
And those Rain Village Anbu terrified by the slaughter finally transmitted the most crucial intelligence via secret technique.
“…Target confirmed! Akatsuki remnants! The woman who uses paper clone! Summoned beasts with Rinnegan! Request support! Request… ah!”
Atop the Rain Village Central Tower.
Hanzo of the Salamander, receiving the confirmed message, had eyes in his gas mask turn incomparably grim with a trace of barely perceptible fear.
Rinnegan… the woman who uses paper clone…
It really was them!
That Rinnegan boy must be nearby!
“Can’t wait any longer!” Hanzo of the Salamander abruptly stood, years of dread turning into resolute killing intent.
He had to seize this chance, personally strike to eradicate this major threat once and for all!
“All personnel, follow me out!” Hanzo of the Salamander ordered in his raspy voice.
“Yes!” From the surrounding shadows, over a dozen Rain Village Anbu ninjas appeared, kneeling on one knee.
Hanzo of the Salamander quickly donned his full gear, taking up the chain scythe that had accompanied his battles for years, quenched with deadly poison.
He personally led the remaining elite Anbu ninjas from the tower, like an unsheathed sharp sword, leaping from the tower top, speeding through the interconnected steel buildings straight toward the northern urban area!
Their speed was extreme, soon spotting the distant soaring firelight, billowing smoke, and the circling bizarre giant bird.
And that angel-like woman dancing in the air!
“It’s really them… This time, you won’t escape!” Hanzo’s eyes gleamed with killing intent, about to order full assault to wipe out these Akatsuki remnants.
Suddenly!
“Almighty Push!”
A massive suffocating repulsive force erupted from the top of a high tower to his side front!
Hum—!!!
The air wailed under the strain!
Hanzo and his dozen elite Anbu had no time to react, slapped like by an invisible giant divine hand, screaming as they scattered flying!
Many had their bones shattered and organs ruptured mid-air by the immense force!
Immediately after, countless missiles trailing flames swarmed like bees from that direction, precisely targeting the repelled, off-balance Anbu!
Boom boom boom—!!!
Violent explosions rang out one after another, firelight devouring those figures, severed limbs mixed with rain and debris flying everywhere!
Only Hanzo, with his vast combat experience and great strength, at the last moment performed Water Body Flicker Technique, turning into a puddle of water merging into the ground’s pooling water, narrowly avoiding the missiles’ deadly bombardment.
When he reformed, he was atop another distant high tower, breathing raggedly, eyes filled with shock and disbelief.
He stared deathly at the top of the opposite high tower.
There, two figures in black-bottom red cloud robes stood quietly.
One with orange short hair, face pierced with black metal rods, and those ice-cold indifferent eyes like a deity overlooking him—Rinnegan!
“Ya… Yahiko?! Impossible! You’re clearly dead already!” Hanzo’s voice distorted from extreme shock, his gas mask eyes filled with panic.
He had personally witnessed Yahiko forced to death by his own conspiracy, falling on his companion’s kunai!
“And… these eyes… Rinnegan?! Why do you have them too?!” What terrified him more were these eyes!
As Hanzo’s mind reeled, a hellhound using fleshy wings to briefly glide between towers coordinated tacitly with the circling giant bird in the air, attacking him from above and below again!
Hanzo, after all the “Demigod” battle-hardened, remained calm despite surprise, his chain scythe whirling airtight.
Clang!
Sizzle—!
The chain wrapped like a venomous snake around the hellhound’s limbs, the scythe with shrill air-breaking sound precisely and viciously cleaving it from above straight down the middle!
Hanzo snorted coldly, utterly confident in the deadly poison quenched on his scythe, believing the summoned beast doomed.
However, the next second, something spine-chilling happened.
The bisected hellhound corpse didn’t fall; instead, like splitting slime, it rapidly writhed and swelled, instantly becoming two intact hellhounds charging roaring again!
And the giant bird in the air was utterly unaffected by his occasional poison gas releases, still lively!
“How is that possible?! Why unaffected by the deadly poison?!” Hanzo finally cried out in shock, completely overturning his prior knowledge and combat style.
His poison was a trump card even shadow level strong practitioners dreaded immensely!
…
In the shadows, Jiraiya who had been observing the battlefield also took in the whole scene.
“Hanzo of the Salamander’s most powerful poison gas attack… completely ineffective?” His heart surged with shock: “Why weren’t those two summoned beasts affected by the poison gas?”
Immediately, his gaze was firmly drawn to the orange-haired figure on the opposite tower.
“That’s… Yahiko?!” Jiraiya’s pupils contracted sharply, hardly believing his eyes: “But… Nagato and Konan clearly said Yahiko was dead! And… how does Yahiko have Rinnegan too?! What’s going on here?!”
He felt his mind in chaos, everything before him filled with contradictions and eeriness.
At that moment, Gamaken under his feet spoke in his slow tone, somewhat hesitantly: “Lord Jiraiya… don’t you think those summoned beasts… seem off?”
“Off? How so?” Jiraiya quickly asked.
“They feel to me… not like living creatures.” Gamaken struggled to articulate: “More like… the ‘zombie ants’ I saw as a boy traveling tropical rainforests, parasitized by strange fungi.”
“Zombie ants?”
“Yes.” Gamaken recalled: “Those ants had joints covered in white mycelium, still moving, behaving like normal ants, foraging, returning to nest… but actually long dead, mere empty shells controlled by fungi, mimicking pre-death activity.”
“Empty shells?!” Jiraiya was struck like by lightning, instantly flashing back to prior battle details.
Those summoned beasts all had black rods stabbed into them, their eyeballs all patterned with Rinnegan!
And this “Nagato” appearing before him, and that “Yahiko” on the tower, their faces and bodies similarly had those eerie black rods, similarly possessing Rinnegan!
A chilling conjecture pierced the fog in Jiraiya’s mind like lightning!
“Could it be… Pain and those summoned beasts… aren’t the real bodies at all?! They’re all just… puppets controlled by Nagato’s Rinnegan?!”
That’s why Hanzo’s poison was ineffective!
Because they were already dead!
Jiraiya gazed at the cold Rinnegan overlooking all beings in the rain curtain, a deep chill crawling from his spine to his scalp.
That’s why Yahiko, who “died long ago” in Nagato’s mouth, “came back to life”!
Because it wasn’t the living Yahiko at all!
A wave of chill swept Jiraiya’s entire body.
Is this the power of the Rinnegan…
Nagato… what have you become?!
