"Those eyes again..."
Through the drifting smoke, Hanzo stared into Pain's deep eyes. He would never forget the terrifying power those eyes had once displayed. Dozens of Hidden Rain ninjas and Root ninjas had lasted a mere second before them. The memory of that massive, oppressive statue remained vividly etched in his mind.
"I remember I should have killed you with my own hands back then..."
Hanzo looked at the Pain before him. That naive brat named Yahiko should have been dead. Why was he standing here now, possessing the Rinnegan that only the red-haired brat used to have?
Facing the enemy who had personally buried countless of his friends, Pain's voice was as cold as a demon's from hell.
"The naive brat of that year is indeed dead. The one standing before you now is merely an avenger who wants this world to feel pain."
"Heh... An avenger?"
Hanzo slowly stepped out from the ruined house, raising his scythe toward his enemy. He said coldly, "Since I could kill your naive companions back then, I can still send you to meet them now."
"Is that so..."
Pain hovered in mid-air, gazing down at Hanzo with indifference.
"If you were truly as brave as you claim, you wouldn't have fled like a beaten dog, abandoning all your subordinates, nor would you have bowed and scraped to please the Leaf."
"You are old. You have lost the courage you once had as a Demigod."
These words instantly triggered certain memories. Hanzo's expression became hideous and distorted. "Shut up! Shut up! I am a Demigod! I am Hanzo of the Salamander, the man who struck terror into the hearts of all on the battlefield!"
Pain merely gave a flat, expressionless sneer. "Then let me help you wake up from your hollow dream."
With that, the giant summoned beasts charged toward Hanzo simultaneously. Everything in their path was smashed or torn apart as they lunged straight for him.
"Summoned beasts? I have them too! And mine is stronger!"
Hanzo was full of confidence. Even in the entire Shinobi World, his summon, Ibuse the Salamander, was top-tier. Aside from a select few, no one could withstand its terrifying poison gas!
As Hanzo formed hand signs, a summoning formula spread from his hand. However, the expected burst of smoke and the grand entrance of the Salamander did not occur.
What is going on?
Hanzo began to panic. He could clearly feel that his summoned beast was still alive, yet he simply could not pull it to his location.
Thousands of miles away, at the border between the Land of Wind and the Land of Water, the Salamander Hanzo awaited was currently bound by countless tentacles. These tentacles continuously absorbed the chakra from the Salamander's body twenty-four hours a day, while exerting the sealing power of the Uzumaki Clan.
The principle of the Summoning Jutsu involves embedding a space-time formula into both the contractor and the summoned beast. By using chakra to trigger it, one can be summoned to the other. Although the space-time formula on the Salamander remained, it had no chakra left to activate the technique. Combined with the suppression of the Sealing Jutsu, the Salamander could not possibly return to Hanzo's side.
The famous Demigod had fallen into a state of total isolation.
As Hanzo waited for his summon, the beasts Pain called forth had already struck. The first to arrive was an incredibly powerful fighting bull. Its sharp, thick horns gored the earth without hesitation, the terrifying impact instantly shattering the ground. Hanzo had already used a Body Flicker Jutsu to appear in mid-air.
"Damn it, did he summon this many at once?"
Hanzo observed the complex situation. Besides the bull, there were three other large summons: a hideous multi-headed hound, a giant crab with a hard shell, and the most troublesome one—a giant bird flapping its wings and diving at him at full speed.
"Damned brat, what exactly do you take me, Hanzo of the Salamander, for?"
Anger suddenly flared in Hanzo's heart. Did this kid really think he could finish him off with these boring summoned beasts? Facing the incoming bird, Hanzo decided to stop holding back. The chain of his scythe instantly entangled the giant bird. With a violent tug, he pulled himself onto the bird's back.
What followed was simple. His sharp scythe swung out a blinding flash of light, slicing the giant bird in two!
Facing the death of his summon, Pain's face remained void of emotion. Hidden in the shadows, the Animal Path slowly raised its hands and formed a sign.
"Amplification Summoning Jutsu."
The expected scene of the beast vanishing in smoke after a fatal blow did not happen. Instead, the wound in the center of the bird began to wriggle. Very quickly, the other half of the body grew back. One giant bird had instantly become two! The two birds rapidly adapted to their new bodies, twisting around to peck at Hanzo.
Slashing attacks are useless against these summons?
The veteran Hanzo immediately made this judgment. In the next second, a massive amount of poison gas leaked from his respirator, enveloping both birds.
Pain's eyes flickered slightly. He didn't expect Hanzo to find the weakness of these summons so quickly. Under the influence of the Amplification Summoning Jutsu, these beasts automatically split into new individuals when slashed. In a sense, they were invincible against blades. However, they still possessed weaknesses, such as poison gas.
As expected, the birds poisoned by the gas quickly dissolved into smoke and vanished.
Pain had no intention of continuing to test Hanzo with summons. He directly controlled the Deva Path to sprint toward Hanzo.
"Universal Pull!"
A powerful gravitational force instantly yanked Hanzo toward him. At the same time, broken walls shattered by the pull were also dragged along. Within that brief window, Hanzo rapidly adapted to the gravity. He swung his scythe, narrowing his eyes, ready to deliver a fatal blow to the brat.
Just as he reached the optimal striking distance, Pain swept his hand.
"Almighty Push!"
The pull on his body instantly turned into a repulsive force, sending Hanzo flying backward. The walls that had just been pulled in also slammed heavily into him.
"Water Style: Water Dragon Jutsu!"
A ferocious water dragon smashed through the rubble and headed straight for Pain. Just as it was about to hit, another man with the Rinnegan and an Akatsuki cloak appeared, opening his palm to absorb the entire Water Dragon Jutsu.
Seeing this, Hanzo did not hesitate. He completely abandoned the idea of fighting. He used a Water Body Flicker Jutsu to charge toward the edge of the village at maximum speed.