As the granddaughter of the "God of Shinobi," Hashirama Senju, Tsunade held no favorable opinion of Hanzo of the Salamander, who dared to consider himself a "demigod."
This title, though bestowed upon him by the ninjas of the smaller villages, was a mockery. How could those from such insignificant villages possibly comprehend the might of the true God of Shinobi?
In these smaller villages, a jonin was the pinnacle of their military strength. Moreover, their jonin were a far cry from the jonin of the five great villages, who possessed complete and inherited traditions. It was only by relying on ancestral secret techniques and the advantage of intelligence that they could contend with the jonin of the major powers.
Hanzo was no different.
He had originally been an ordinary ninja. It was only after being severely wounded on a mission that he was captured by a certain body modification experimenter in the ninja world. He was subjected to modification, and a salamander's poison sac was transplanted into his body. Of the hundreds of test subjects, only Hanzo survived.
Influenced by this poison sac, although he retained a human form, internally, he had become a smaller version of a salamander. However, unlike a real salamander, he could not perfectly control the poison sac in his body to spray a poisonous mist. Instead, his very breath carried the salamander's toxins. It was because of this that the experimenters had been poisoned to death by his breath, allowing him to escape the laboratory.
Thereafter, thanks to the poison sac, his physique underwent a transformation, and his chakra increased immensely. Furthermore, he gained the recognition of the great salamander summoning beast, and in one leap, became the strongest in the Rain Village.
Over the years, Hanzo had led the Rain Village to a position second only to the five great villages. His knowledge, experience, and vision had all been elevated to a higher level. Therefore, he must have been aware of the vast difference between himself and the God of Shinobi.
Yet, in order to advance his village further, Hanzo had tacitly accepted the title of "demigod" and had taken resources from the Cloud and Stone villages, willingly becoming the first to clash with Konoha.
Just as Tsunade had predicted, after she received word that Cloud and Stone ninjas had entered the Rain Village, hundreds of Rain ninjas began to gather on the border.
On the opposite side, on the border of the Land of Fire, Danzo Shimura stood at the forefront of his troops. Over a hundred Root ninjas were scattered behind him.
Due to his own strength, Danzo had chosen not to intercept Hanzo. Instead, he had handed over most of the antidote to Tsunade and accepted the mission of engaging the Rain ninjas.
For him, these Rain ninjas were much easier to deal with than Hanzo of the Salamander.
In a fight against Hanzo, very few of his Root ninjas would be of any use in holding him back. Even he himself would not fare well against Hanzo. If Hanzo were to summon his salamander, no number of Root ninjas would be enough to kill it. This was true even with the antidote. After all, besides his powerful poison, Hanzo's swordsmanship was also among the best in the ninja world. Mifune, the general of the Land of Iron, had been defeated by his blade.
But against the ordinary ninjas of the Rain Village, it was a different story for Danzo.
Although the ninjas of Root were the ones left over after the ANBU selection, each one was still an elite among ninjas. If not, they wouldn't have become "ANBU candidates."
Of course, more importantly, Danzo had completely mastered the first stage of the Little Li's Flying Dagger. Furthermore, Root had its own weapon forging workshop, and he currently had a sealing scroll containing over ten thousand daggers on his back.
Like Rin Hyuga, his daggers did not possess the "never misses its mark" characteristic of Li Anshi's. However, just the first stage of the technique allowed him to disregard most chunin. It could be said that, given some time, it would not be impossible for him to kill all the attacking Rain ninjas with just the daggers on his person.
With this confidence, the Rain ninjas on the border were, in his eyes, nothing more than another entry in his book of merits, a stepping stone to becoming a "hero" of Konoha, allowing him to return with great power, seize a higher position, and add to his qualifications for the title of Hokage.
As for Tsunade...
It wasn't that he looked down on her. In fact, no one in the entire ninja world could afford to. The title of "Number One Master of Medical Ninjutsu" was not just a testament to her skill in that field. Since ancient times, medicine and poison have been two sides of the same coin. As the medical ninja who understood the human body best, she could not only create antidotes for various poisons, but she could also concoct even more potent toxins.
Even if she was relatively weak in poison-making, it would be no trouble for her to replicate the poisons she had already analyzed and for which she had created antidotes. In fact, by studying the effects of these poisons on the ninja body, she could even replicate their effects with medical ninjutsu.
At this moment, at the border between the Land of Fire and the Land of Rain, the ninjas of Rain and Konoha stood facing each other.
The Rain side was waiting for the arrival of their leader, Hanzo of the Salamander.
The Konoha side was also waiting for him.
Hanzo was the faith of the Rain ninjas at this time. If he was not defeated, even if these ninjas died here, more would come from the Land of Rain to join the battle. To make the Rain Village the sixth great village, these ninjas would give everything they had!
It could be said that the Rain ninjas of this time had the strongest conviction in the entire world. Only by crushing their spiritual pillar in front of them could their will be broken and their forces completely defeated.
However, that was Tsunade's problem.
What Danzo needed to do was to turn all the Rain ninjas on the border into his own merits.
If Tsunade successfully defeated Hanzo, then he would also have a share of the credit. After all, if he hadn't held back so many Rain ninjas here, it would have been impossible for her forces alone to defeat Hanzo. It didn't matter what the truth was. As long as he said so after the war, it would be accepted as fact.
And if Tsunade were to lose, it would only serve to highlight how morale-boosting his own victory was. In any case, Konoha would then send a ninja stronger than her to deal with Hanzo. All he needed to do was his own job, preserve his strength, and he would become the biggest winner.
…
"Sakumo, what do you think?"
In the Hokage's office, Hiruzen Sarutobi handed an intelligence report to Sakumo Hatake. He waited until he had finished reading it before asking the question.
Since Hiruzen intended to groom him to be the Fourth Hokage, understanding Konoha's intelligence and how to respond to it was a necessary skill for a Hokage to master.