Her punch slammed into the handle of Hanzo's scythe. The immense force sent him sliding back several meters, his feet carving two deep grooves in the earth.
Such power!
Hanzo's heart pounded in shock. The hand gripping his scythe was numb from the impact.
The Rain Village was just a small village, with no systematic training heritage to speak of. Therefore, most of its ninjas learned by plundering the traditions of the samurai. Because they possessed the supernatural power of chakra, which the samurai lacked, even ordinary swordsmanship could be wielded with a power that surpassed that of any ordinary warrior.
The Land of Iron had once been a great samurai nation. Before the appearance of ninjas, its warriors had been the mainstream high-end power in the world.
Hanzo was the same.
Besides his summon, the salamander, and his own surging chakra, his swordsmanship was also not to be underestimated. During the war with the Land of Iron, he had defeated its general, Mifune.
The general of the Land of Iron was, like the Kage of a ninja village, the highest combat power of the nation. They possessed a complete swordsmanship heritage, having practiced the art since childhood, and had also embraced the way of the ninja, possessing the supernatural power of chakra.
It could be said that before the rise of the Rain Village under Hanzo's leadership, the samurai of the Land of Iron were the strongest force below the five great villages. For Hanzo to have defeated Mifune, his strength, speed, and swordsmanship skills were surely at the pinnacle of the ninja world. Even if he couldn't compare to Sakumo Hatake, he was still a solid Kage-level powerhouse.
Tsunade, on the other hand, was still a little short of the Kage-level threshold.
Yet, under her Monstrous Strength, Hanzo had actually been pushed back.
"Heavenly Foot of Pain!"
Having gained the advantage, Tsunade was relentless.
She raised her right leg and stomped it fiercely on the ground.
Boom!
With her foot as the epicenter, a huge crater was instantly formed. A web of cracks spread out from under her foot, snaking towards Hanzo's position.
Swoosh!
Feeling the threat from beneath the ground, Hanzo dared not be careless and immediately used a Body Flicker to get away.
Boom!
The next moment, a huge shockwave erupted from where he had been standing, and a massive rock shot out from the ground. If he hadn't moved quickly enough, he would have likely suffered some serious injuries.
Swoosh!
Tsunade was not surprised that both of her attacks had failed to harm him. He was, after all, a powerhouse who had entered the ranks of the Kage. Without releasing her Yin Seal, there was still a certain gap between herself and him.
More importantly, besides his summon, Hanzo was not known for his ninjutsu, but for his swordsmanship. Therefore, like her, he was a taijutsu-type ninja, and his neural response speed was in no way inferior to hers. Under these circumstances, it was not an easy task for her to harm him.
Of course, faced with her Monstrous Strength, Hanzo dared not underestimate her in the slightest. Her technique was an A-rank ninjutsu. Although a high rank only represented the difficulty of learning a jutsu, not necessarily its power, a powerful jutsu was definitely a high-rank one.
And so it was with Monstrous Strength.
Every one of her attacks, enhanced by the technique, was no less powerful than any other A-rank ninjutsu. Even Hanzo would surely meet his end if he were to be hit by her head-on. Even now, with every one of her attacks being blocked by his scythe, his hands had begun to crack, and blood had started to trickle down the handle.
Of course, if Hanzo was in such a state, Tsunade was not much better off.
At this moment, her body was almost completely stained with blood. If one were to look closely, they could see green chakra light healing the wounds on her skin where her ninja vest was torn. Relying on her powerful medical ninjutsu, she was holding her own in the battle against him.
No, not just against him. It should be said that before her chakra ran out, she was probably the elite jonin who could fight a Kage-level powerhouse for the longest time. Unless she was killed instantly, she could release her Yin Seal, instantly heal her injuries, and remain in that state until the chakra in the seal was depleted.
…
"The war has begun."
Looking at the three of them who had gathered before him again, Li Anshi said calmly, his hands clasped behind his back.
"What?"
"How can it be so soon?"
Hearing his words, Nawaki was greatly alarmed.
Although he had already told them that war was coming, they had never expected to hear the news of its start from him after only a few days.
"Sensei, when did this news arrive? How come I didn't hear anything?"
Mikoto Uchiha's expression changed, and she immediately asked him.
Before, she had only been a "vase" in the Uchiha clan. Even though she had been chosen to be Fugaku Uchiha's wife, she had basically no access to the core of the clan.
But now it was different.
To have awakened the Sharingan at the age of eleven, and a two-tomoe one at that—this talent and potential was in no way inferior to that of the young clan head, Fugaku.
Recently, under the training of the Uchiha powerhouses, not only had her strength greatly improved, but her knowledge had also increased considerably. At the same time, because she had already awakened her Sharingan and had the right to participate in clan meetings, she had also heard a lot of information that was not circulated outside.
However, she had not received any news of the war's start from her clan.
Asking this, she was not distrusting him. On the contrary, in her heart, the accuracy of the information she received from him was even higher than that of her own clan's. This was because she could feel that much of the information from her clan was mixed with many things that had a distinct Uchiha flavor. But the information from her teacher was impartial, stating things as they were.
Many times, she would even hear him complain about the Third Hokage. It was as if he was looking at the ninja world, the village, and ordinary people from a higher dimension.
If the war had really started, and the Uchiha clan had not received the news, then she would have to consider that the family's intelligence system was definitely lagging behind.
"Yes, the war started this morning."
Li Anshi nodded.
He had already left a Flying Thunder God spatial mark on Tsunade. As long as she used her chakra to activate it, he would be able to sense it. Normally, if he felt her activate it, he would go to her. However, with Danzo Shimura there now, in order to hide his own intelligence, he had not gone to see her.
But they had also agreed that once the war began, she had to activate the spatial mark to let him know her situation. One activation meant the war had started or a battle was underway. Several consecutive activations meant she was in danger, and he would rush to her aid at the fastest possible speed.
Just this morning, he had sensed the fluctuation of the spatial mark on her. He knew then that the beginning of the Second Great Ninja War had started!
With the Rain having entered the fray, the time for the Cloud and the Stone to do so was also fast approaching.
Of the five great villages, if the Cloud and the Stone both went to war with Konoha, then the remaining Sand and Mist could not stay out of it.
Since ancient times, when the first and second were fighting, the first thing everyone did was to get rid of the third. There was no other choice. When two tigers fight, one is bound to be injured. It was not even impossible for both to be injured. Under these circumstances, they also worried that while they were fighting to the death, someone else would come and reap the benefits, which would not be worth the loss.
In order to eliminate this potential problem and allow themselves to fully devote themselves to the future battle, the first and second would first kill the third, and then have their final showdown.
Once the Cloud and the Stone went to war with Konoha, the Sand and the Mist would only have two choices. The first was to ally with Konoha, jointly repel the attack of the Stone and the Cloud, and enjoy the fruits of victory. The second was to stand with the Cloud and the Stone and launch an attack on Konoha.
The first choice was almost a guaranteed victory. But the low difficulty meant that even in victory, it would be difficult for them to gain anything from this Great Ninja War. Perhaps their biggest gain would be that for a short period of time, they would not have to fear that Konoha would turn its spear on them, and they could lie low and recuperate for a while, to restore their own strength and even take it to the next level.
The second choice, without a doubt, gave them a sliver of a chance of victory. But more likely, it would result in a mutually destructive outcome with Konoha. The advantage of this was that it could bring the strength of the entire ninja world back to the same level, eliminating the possibility of being annexed by Konoha in the future.
But no matter what choice they made, they would eventually have to join the war.
Compared to the First Great Ninja War, the cruelty of the second would be much greater. This was especially true for the ninjas of Konoha. Even if Konoha was the number one great village, and its high-end power was almost comparable to that of the other four villages combined, in terms of the number of low- and mid-level ninjas, the four villages together had several times more than Konoha.
Although the wars of the ninja world were almost determined by high-end power, the number of ninjas was also an important factor that could not be ignored. Even a top-tier powerhouse like the Third Raikage could be dragged to his death by ten thousand ninjas. As long as the numbers were sufficient, it was not an exaggeration to say that victory could be achieved.
After all, how many people in the ninja world could compare to the Third Raikage?
Most jonin, when their chakra was sufficient, could easily kill more than ten chunin. But what if that number was tripled? Not all ninjas had abundant chakra. The chakra of many chunin, if used for ninjutsu, would be depleted after at most five or six jutsus, putting them in a difficult situation.
Look at Kakashi. In one battle, he could only withstand the chakra consumption of three Chidori... Although Kakashi was burdened by his Sharingan, which constantly consumed his chakra, and he was not a ninja known for his chakra reserves, as an elite jonin, even if his chakra was not at the top among jonin, it would not be below average. From this, it could be seen that an ordinary jonin's chakra could only be used to cast three to five A-rank ninjutsu.
The human wave tactic was dangerous for anyone below the Kage level.
"How can this be?"
After receiving his affirmative reply, Mikoto bit her lip, seeming to want to say something, but ultimately closed her mouth.
"Sensei, is it the Rain who have started the war?"
Nawaki looked up and asked.
"Yes."
He nodded.
He had already analyzed the situation in the ninja world with the three of them and had told them that the fuse for the Second Great Ninja War would be the Rain and Konoha. Later, the village had sent Tsunade to guard the border between the Land of Fire and the Land of Rain. A few days ago, Elder Danzo had led Root on an expedition...
Combining these things with what he had said before, the three of them no longer had any doubts about his judgment.
"Then Sensei, will my sister be alright?"
This time, his voice was tinged with a hint of worry.
"I heard that the leader of the Rain Village, Hanzo of the Salamander, has the title of 'demigod'."
"Will my sister be in danger?"
It wasn't that he was worried about Tsunade for no reason. The title of "demigod" in the ninja world was really too misleading. The last one to have "god" in their title was his and Tsunade's grandfather, the First Hokage of Konoha, the God of Shinobi, Hashirama Senju.
Since Hanzo's title was "demigod," did that mean he was only a step away from his grandfather? This scary title made him feel that Hanzo's strength was very great, even above that of a Kage.
"Hahaha..."
He burst out laughing.
"Nawaki, you shouldn't underestimate your sister!"
"It's true that throughout the ninja world, there are no more than a handful of ninjas with Hanzo's strength."
"But your sister is no weakling either."
"Since the village has sent her to guard the border, it means they believe she can defeat the enemy."
"Even if there is a certain strategic error, the village also believes that she can escape from the hands of this so-called 'demigod'."