"Enough."
Hanzo's voice cut through the rain-heavy air.
"The game of chase ends here."
"Water Release: Water Whip!"
He had pursued Jin all the way out of Amegakure's perimeter. Only when they were clear of civilians did he finally act without restraint.
Inside the village, Hanzo had held back. His body was poison incarnate—an uncontrolled release could easily harm his own people.
Out here—
He had no such concerns.
Hanzo flicked the chain attached to his sickle. A torrent of high-pressure water coiled along the metal links, extending its reach several times over as it lashed toward Jin.
Ordinary water had little killing power.
But high-velocity water—
In the hands of the so-called "Demigod of the Shinobi World"—
Could cleave stone.
The ground split into clean trenches wherever the whip struck.
Jin twisted aside, narrowly avoiding the first lash.
He didn't form seals.
He simply turned and exhaled.
"Fire Release: Great Fireball Technique!"
A blazing sphere erupted from his mouth, expanding rapidly in the wind—
Within a breath, it had grown into a massive inferno nearly twenty meters in diameter.
Hanzo did not underestimate it.
He yanked his chain, redirecting the water whip to slice straight through the fireball.
Screeeee—
Steam exploded outward as fire and water collided. The massive sphere split in two.
But Hanzo's eyes narrowed.
Behind the divided fireball—
An ocean of flames.
"Fire Release: Great Fire Annihilation!"
The Mera Mera no Mi's power amplified every flame Jin produced. More importantly—
He didn't need hand seals.
As long as he had chakra and stamina—
He was a walking artillery platform.
Hanzo felt the air drying around him. Just two techniques, and the humidity of the Land of Rain had noticeably shifted.
Jin's mastery over fire nature transformation—
Was terrifying.
Even though water countered fire—
Hanzo was forced to use water techniques of equal magnitude just to offset Jin's flames.
And Jin hadn't formed a single seal.
If he could cast everything like this—
A prolonged ninjutsu exchange would be disastrous.
Hanzo raised both hands.
"Water Release: Water Formation Wall!"
A towering wall of surging water rose to meet the sea of fire.
Steam detonated outward—
The battlefield was swallowed in dense mist.
For most shinobi, obscured vision was a disadvantage.
For someone with the Sharingan—
Even more so.
Hanzo preferred darkness.
Limited visibility felt natural to him.
Within the fog, he vanished again.
With razor-sharp perception, he closed the distance in an instant.
"Iaijutsu Slash!"
The blade flashed.
Hanzo still did not aim for a vital point.
Crack—
Jin's kunai shattered in half.
An arm flew into the air.
Jin frowned.
I really need to get a proper blade when I get back.
Without hesitation, he drove a fist blazing with fire straight into Hanzo's face.
"Fire Fist!"
Flames erupted—
But Hanzo's body dissolved into water, evaporating instantly under the heat.
A substitution.
Hanzo reappeared at a distance, staring at the flames licking around Jin's severed shoulder.
The burning stump did not bleed.
It burned—
Then reshaped.
The arm reformed seamlessly.
Hanzo's voice lowered.
"…Is that some kind of Fire Transformation Technique?"
Elementalization was not unheard of.
The Hōzuki clan of Kirigakure possessed their famous Hydrification Technique.
But outside that lineage—
True elemental body conversion was nearly nonexistent.
To see fire-based elementalization—
Was unprecedented.
"Something like that," Jin replied calmly, his arm fully restored.
He met Hanzo's gaze evenly.
"Are we going to continue?"
He had not come to Amegakure to make an enemy of Hanzo.
This clash—
Was demonstration.
Without strength, no one listens.
That truth applied equally to individuals and nations.
And no one understood that better than Hanzo—who had spent his life wedged between the Land of Fire, Earth, and Wind.
Hanzo gave a low chuckle.
"After only two or three exchanges, you believe you've earned equal footing?"
His eyes sharpened.
"You must be the so-called Red Sun of Konoha. Uchiha Jin."
"Konoha's new generation truly produces monsters without end."
"But in experience—"
"You are still far behind."
He lifted his sickle slightly.
"Do not forget. My greatest strength was never ninjutsu."
"It is poison."
During the Second Shinobi World War, what gave Hanzo the audacity to challenge the three great nations simultaneously—
Was not merely his combat ability.
It was his mastery of toxins.
The Land of Wind had Chiyo.
The Land of Fire had Tsunade.
Without those two—
Hanzo might truly have elevated Amegakure into a sixth great power.
His voice grew colder.
"From the very beginning, I mixed compound toxins into my water techniques."
"Your flames turned that poisoned water into vapor."
He spread his arms slightly.
"This entire area is saturated with my toxin."
"And you've been breathing it in."
He paused.
"By now, the poison should be circulating."
His gaze fixed on Jin like a hunter watching prey.
"Tell me, Uchiha brat."
"Can you still use chakra?"
Read 50 chapters ahead on P@treon -> patreon.com/warewolvesTL