The sky above Amegakure remained shrouded in thick leaden clouds.
Rain poured down, hammering against rooftops and steel structures, as if everything was being swallowed by the city's gloom.
In the conference room at the top of the tower, the air was so oppressive it felt suffocating.
Hanzo sat silently in his cast-iron chair, his breathing steady and rhythmic behind his mask.
He clutched a newly delivered intelligence scroll in his hand, his gaze so cold it seemed capable of burning through the paper.
"Hidden with one hundred million exploding tags?"
"A clumsy excuse."
He repeated the words in a low voice, his tone icy and laced with unconcealed anger.
"And... Orochimaru of Konoha has appeared at the border of the Land of Rain."
The dim light in the room only revealed the dangerous glint in his eyes beneath the mask.
He looked up and slowly uttered, "Unexpectedly calm, this owner of the Breeding House."
He picked up another intelligence record from the table—a transcript of Shiroishi's statements.
He read the line extremely slowly, each syllable heavy as if torn by the rain: "The Breeding House's business doesn't belong solely to Amegakure, but to the entire Shinobi World."
Hanzo's finger paused on the scroll before he gently set it down.
Leaning back in his chair, his thoughts churned like mist.
"Danzo... Hah, truly a blood-sniffing vulture."
He chuckled softly, the laughter devoid of any warmth.
Despite the rage boiling within him, Hanzo's rationality remained clear.
He wasn't the type of leader to be led by emotions.
The man who had sustained Amegakure through years of warfare was no mere brute who only knew how to kill.
He understood that acting rashly could not only cost them the potential military marvel of the Breeding House but also give Konoha an excuse to intervene.
If that happened, the modest advantages Amegakure had gained would completely collapse.
After a long silence, he finally murmured, "We must adjust our strategy before Konoha gets involved..."
At that moment, the door opened quietly.
The Rain Ninja Captain, accompanied by several guards, knelt respectfully on one knee.
"Lord Hanzo, you summoned me?"
Hanzo lifted his head, his cold gaze falling upon him.
"Next month's transaction with the Breeding House will proceed as planned."
"Yes."
The Rain Ninja Captain lowered his head, his voice steady.
"Take ten thousand ryo and go to the Breeding House to purchase the next batch of Ninja Beast Eggs."
Seeing Lord Hanzo's calm demeanor, the Rain Ninja Captain breathed a sigh of relief; he had no desire to make an enemy of Shiroishi from the Breeding House.
Hanzo's tone was flat: "You may go."
Just as the Rain Ninja Captain rose to leave—
Whoosh!
A sharp whistling sound cut through the air.
A dark purple needle shot from Hanzo's fingertip,
so fast the air barely had time to react.
The Poison Needle pierced straight through the Rain Ninja Captain's chest.
Blood sprayed from the wound, quickly pooling into a dark red puddle on the cold floor.
"Ah...!"
The guards looked up in shock but were frozen in place by Hanzo's glare.
The Rain Ninja Captain turned back with difficulty, his eyes filled with confusion and disbelief.
"M-My lord..."
"Useless trash."
Hanzo stood up indifferently, looking down at him from above.
"You deliberately delayed reporting the intelligence, letting Konoha catch the scent. Now, with Orochimaru himself setting foot in the Land of Rain, how dare you claim innocence?"
His voice was not loud, but it thundered in the hearts of all present.
The Rain Ninja Captain's mouth overflowed with blood, emitting intermittent, low groans from his throat.
"I... did not... betray..."
"Incompetence is the greatest sin."
Hanzo snorted coldly, his gaze devoid of any pity.
The poison rapidly spread through his body, and the Rain Ninja Captain's breathing grew increasingly faint.
He struggled to lift his hand, trying to grasp the hem of Hanzo's garment, but touched nothing.
"Spear...ow..."
His final words were nearly drowned out by the sound of the rain.
The small Spearow suddenly flew over, landing right in front of him. Seeming to sense its master's suffering, it flapped its wings anxiously and let out urgent chirps.
"Caw! Caw!!"
It repeatedly nudged the gradually cooling body with its head,
but no matter how it called out, its master never responded again.
The Rain Ninja Captain's hand slowly fell.
A faint, helpless smile still lingered at the corner of his mouth.
The Spearow's flapping wings were stained with blood, yet it refused to leave.
Hanzo glanced at the scene,
his expression behind the mask cold as iron: "Drag the body away."
"Yes..."
The guards replied in low voices.
But just as they stepped forward...
The air suddenly trembled!
The Spearow became enveloped in a layer of dazzling light,
which deepened from pale to a scorching gold.
The wind howled, and the curtain of rain was forcibly torn apart by the surge of energy.
A researcher gasped in shock and hastily retreated.
Hanzo's gaze sharpened instantly.
He could clearly sense that this power was not out of control,
but rather some kind of transformation.
The Spearow's body rapidly expanded within the light, its feathers lifted by the wind and scattering into fragments.
Its originally small form was swallowed by the brilliant radiance, and a piercing screech echoed throughout the tower.
As the silver light faded, what appeared before Hanzo was a Fearow!
What is this?
When Weedle transforms into a cocoon and eventually evolves into Beedrill, it still aligns with common biological anomalies.
But now, Spearow suddenly growing larger?
This...
Hanzo's pupils abruptly contracted.
The shockwave of Chakra and wind pressure—this Fearow before him was no ordinary Ninja Beast.
He was about to move to suppress it.
But in that very instant, the Fearow's pupils narrowed into slits.
In its eyes burned a light interwoven with rage and sorrow.
A shrill screech tore through the sky!
Accompanied by that cry, a terrifying vortex of air erupted abruptly,
shattering the rain curtain as the gale transformed into invisible blades, sweeping across the skies of Amegakure!
Countless roof tiles were torn away,
metal supports snapped under the force, and even the air was churned into a whirlpool!
"Boom! Boom! Boom!"
Several Rain Ninjas, caught off guard, were swept directly into the air.
Their armor was shredded by the high-pressure currents, their terrified screams completely swallowed by the storm!
Hanzo raised his hand, his cloak flapping loudly, a flicker of astonishment in his eyes.
Pokémon's emotions are incredibly nuanced.
So nuanced, in fact, that their love, their affection for their masters, runs deeper than many Summoning Techniques and Ninja Beasts in this world.
"To forcibly break through its limits out of sheer rage?"
Hanzo murmured softly, just as he began to channel his Chakra,
a golden figure flashed abruptly!
The Fearow's wings sliced through the air with a silver gleam, charging at supersonic speed.
The gale it generated tore away an entire corner of the tower!
Then, in an instant, the Fearow appeared before Hanzo, its eyes filled with blazing fury.
"All rage, but no killing intent?"
Hanzo let out a disdainful laugh. "It seems you still don't know how to kill?"
At these words, Fearow's gaze grew even more resentful, and it immediately released a shockwave.
"Crack... crack-crack!"
Behind Hanzo, the Ninja Beast Egg that had remained unhatched finally split open at this moment.
As the eggshell shattered, an intensely potent poison mist spread out.
Hanzo's mask gleamed coldly in the reflection of the poison mist.
He paused briefly, then snorted coldly. "So that's it... Were you protecting me?"
The poison mist spread rapidly, enveloping the entire tower in the blink of an eye.
Caught off guard, Fearow was engulfed by the poison mist just as it prepared to dive.
A pungent, corrosive sensation burned its throat and wings.
It let out a mournful cry, its body swaying as the strength in its wings momentarily faltered.
But its golden-red eyes remained fixed on the cold corpse of its master on the ground.
It lunged downward, forcibly clamping onto the Rain Ninja Captain's collar within the poison mist.
Enduring the searing pain, it mustered all its strength to flap its wings.
With a powerful beat of its wings,
it stirred a torrential downpour,
and in that instant!
It broke free from the poison mist's grasp,
dragging its master's cold body,
transforming into a silver streak that pierced the wind, shooting straight toward Amegakure's sky!
The howling wind roared once more, its cry sorrowful and resolute, as if expending every last ounce of strength.
Carrying its master away, far from this indifferent sky.
Hanzo silently watched the fading silhouette, remaining wordless for a long time.
Until Fearow completely vanished into the thick clouds.
"Truly, an incredibly intense emotion."
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