"Haha, what are you talking about, Hanzo?"
The scythe sliced across Tsunade's body, bringing a spray of blood.
However, she only knit her brow slightly. She slammed a fist into the ground, and her massive Monstrous Strength, transmitted through the earth, shattered the ground and sent huge rocks exploding upward, forcing Hanzo back.
"Since when is the outcome of a war decided by the ninjas below?"
"Also, did you forget what my title is?"
"Until I fall, no ninja of Konoha will be forced back!"
With that, Tsunade quickly formed hand seals.
"Summoning Jutsu!"
Poof!
A thick white smoke exploded around her.
When the smoke cleared, a massive white slug appeared before her.
It was Katsuyu from Shikkotsu Forest, one of the three legendary summoning regions!
"Lady Tsunade," the slug, over ten meters long and more than two meters tall, spoke respectfully as she lowered her head.
Unlike Mount Myoboku and Ryuchi Cave, there was no clan of slugs in Shikkotsu Forest. In the entire region, there was only Katsuyu herself.
No, she was a single summoning beast.
In Li Anshi's view, the strongest summoning beast in the entire ninja world was Katsuyu. Although the Great Toad Sage and the White Snake Sage were also very powerful—and the Great Toad Sage had even guided the Sage of Six Paths, Hagoromo Otsutsuki, in his senjutsu training—among the three great summoning beasts, Mount Myoboku's representative might actually be the weakest.
This could be deduced from their physical states.
Shikkotsu Forest had been Katsuyu's home since time immemorial, and the White Snake Sage of Ryuchi Cave still maintained a youthful appearance. Only the Great Toad Sage, although having survived for hundreds of years, was already decrepit and looked to be at death's door.
Although appearance and age could not serve as definitive proof of strength, a summoning beast that lived for so long and still looked young was definitely not weak.
Contractors of Mount Myoboku and Ryuchi Cave summoned individual members of those respective clans. But contractors of Shikkotsu Forest summoned divisions of Katsuyu herself. The more chakra used, the larger the summoned portion of Katsuyu.
To this day, even the First Hokage, Hashirama Senju, had not been able to summon her in her entirety. Although, to some extent, Hashirama did not need to summon her entire body to fight or heal, this still proved how incredibly strong Katsuyu was.
Li Anshi speculated that Katsuyu might be an existence that had reached the Six Paths level.
Katsuyu's respect for Tsunade might just be a reflection of her own inherent calm and detachment. For an existence like Katsuyu, whether she was "respectful" or not was just a matter of her attitude; it had no bearing on her state of mind. She wouldn't obey blindly just because she called someone "Lord," nor would she speak rashly out of anger.
"Lady Katsuyu, I must trouble you to look after the Konoha ninjas."
"Understood, Lady Tsunade."
Sweeping her gaze across the battlefield, Katsuyu immediately realized that Tsunade had not summoned her to fight, but to use her abilities to heal the Konoha ninjas.
Katsuyu did not delay. She bowed slightly to Tsunade and instantly split her body into nearly a hundred smaller slugs, crawling towards the Konoha ninjas.
Although these Root ninjas were Danzo Shimura's subordinates, in Tsunade's eyes, they were still Konoha ninjas fighting the Rain for the village's future. Even though Tsunade had schemed against Danzo, she would not allow these Root ninjas to die on the battlefield.
The Root ninjas had had their emotions nearly ground away by Danzo, but upon feeling the medical ninjutsu released by the slugs on their shoulders, their movements became a bit swifter.
As Danzo's subordinates, whether due to cursed seals or other training, they would lay down their lives for his orders without hesitation. But that didn't mean they were truly emotionless machines.
Led out to this battlefield by Danzo, they all knew they had been abandoned by the village. To be precise, they were dragged down by Danzo and thrown out to serve as scapegoats to appease Tsunade. In short, their purpose on this battlefield was to die.
To their surprise, Tsunade did not turn a blind eye to their casualties. Even while fighting Hanzo, she had spared some of her attention to watch over them, immediately summoning Katsuyu to heal them.
One must know, in her fight against Hanzo, Tsunade was still at a disadvantage. If not for her incredible medical capabilities, which allowed her to heal her wounds at top speed, she might have been killed already.
Although Katsuyu was a support-oriented summoning beast, with her current size, she could have changed the tide of the battle if she had aided Tsunade directly against Hanzo. Yet, Tsunade had not done so, choosing instead to split Katsuyu to heal them.
This showed that Tsunade, unlike the village or Elder Danzo, had not abandoned them. She still viewed them as part of the village, as family...
Under these circumstances, how could they not be moved by her?
Compared to Danzo, who wanted to use their lives to gain political capital, Tsunade's action of preferring to be injured herself so they could be healed first deeply touched the Root ninjas, warming their hearts.
"After this battle, even if we are punished by Lord Danzo, we are willing to lay down our lives for Lady Tsunade if she needs us!"
This was what many Root ninjas felt in their hearts.
Danzo could use their lives to threaten them into obedience. Thus, these Root ninjas could also choose to throw away their lives to carry out their own wills. Having lived in Root's environment for too long, they had almost forgotten that they had originally joined to serve Konoha and the Hokage! It wasn't too late to regain their initial motivation now that Tsunade had brought it back.
…
"How foolish!"
Seeing Tsunade divert her aid to heal her subordinates, Hanzo scoffed.
Although Hanzo also felt pain over the sacrifices of the Rain ninjas fighting for a better future, he would not alter his plans because of it. For this was the price of the Rain's rise.
Moreover, Hanzo believed this was their best chance to become the sixth great village. If they didn't achieve this now at his peak, it would be impossible once he grew old and weak.
He held no hope that a successor would emerge to rival or surpass him, given the Rain's shallow foundation compared to the great villages. To gain the recognition of the five great villages, they had to use blood to show them that the Rain was different—a "great village" that could challenge them and make them pay a heavy price.
Even if they succeeded, without a proper heritage, Hanzo didn't know if they could secure that position. But that was no reason to give up. Once they achieved it, the future could take care of itself. If he didn't do it while he had the power, he would regret it for the rest of his life.
"You said earlier that the outcome is not decided by the ninjas below. Yet now, you waste your chakra to heal them."
"It seems I held back too much, causing you to overestimate your own strength!"
Hanzo admitted Tsunade was strong. Though not quite at the "Kage" level, her medical ninjutsu allowed her to ignore injuries and recover quickly, making it impossible to defeat her in a short time.
In fact, to Hanzo, she was much more troublesome than ordinary Kage-level powerhouses.
Like the war with the Land of Iron, Mifune was also a powerhouse who had touched the threshold of Kage. Yet, Hanzo had defeated Mifune quickly using only swordsmanship, without even summoning his salamander.
But against Tsunade, Hanzo had yet to land any truly effective, lasting damage. Non-lethal injuries merely consumed her chakra.
It wasn't that Hanzo couldn't inflict greater damage, but whenever he seized an opening, Tsunade would force him back by threatening a mutually destructive trade.
Hanzo dared not trade blows with her. He was convinced that even if she was heavily wounded, she likely wouldn't die. But if he were hit by her Monstrous Strength, he would be killed or severely crippled. Trading injuries was a losing game for him.
And...
Glancing at the border, his expression darkened.
There were still nearly two hundred Konoha ninjas who had not joined the battle.
Hanzo didn't know those were Tsunade's troops; he assumed the battle had been split in two due to some friction with Danzo's Root. One part followed Tsunade to block him, while the other fought the Rain ninjas under Danzo's command.
In his eyes, Konoha had only deployed less than a hundred ninjas, yet they had pinned his hundreds of ninjas securely at the border, unable to cross into the Land of Fire.
The Rain's past battles were only against small villages. Having absorbed resources from the Cloud and Stone, Hanzo had thought his ninjas were on par with the great villages. But this battle showed him the true gap.
If those unused Konoha ninjas entered the battle, his Rain ninjas would be routed in short order. This was why Hanzo had not summoned his salamander yet. It was his trump card to deter Tsunade and those idle ninjas.
Although the situation wasn't in the Rain's favor, it was within his expectations. He didn't expect the Rain to be comparable to Konoha—he was comparing them to the weakest of the five, the Sand.
But Konoha was the undisputed number one great village.
Hanzo had only declared war because he had assurances from the Cloud and the Stone. Yet, while he wanted to prove the Rain's status, he didn't want to be their pawn.
Thus, he only wanted to achieve a stalemate—not wanting to lose, but not wanting to win either.
If they lost, it would prove they couldn't even defeat a border unit of less than three hundred Konoha ninjas. The Rain's morale would be shattered.
If they won, Konoha would be alert. Instead of Tsunade, they would send Sakumo Hatake, the Uchiha, or even Hiruzen Sarutobi himself. Worse, if the feared Li Anshi came, how would they stop him?
This battle with Tsunade also made Hanzo recognize his own standing. Tsunade was only an elite jonin. Though he had the upper hand.