The colors in Hyūga Akira's vision didn't change.
The world was still rendered in stark black and white, and his maximum viewing distance hadn't increased either—that was still determined by the level of his Byakugan.
What had changed was something else entirely.
Within his existing field of vision, he could now freely control the size of what he was seeing, as well as the focal point itself.
In a fixed range, he could lock onto a tiny point and magnify it directly.
To put it simply—
His eyes had turned into a camera.
Focus. Zoom in. Zoom out.
As long as he adjusted the flow of chakra, all of this could be done smoothly. It was no longer the crude, telescope-like "long-distance viewing" he used before.
This was a real camera.
"If I could record and develop photos, I'd basically be cosplaying a DSLR," Akira muttered to himself.
If only he knew how to draw.
Through his enhanced vision, he watched countless Water Dragons crash down toward Hanzō.
Hanzō, meanwhile, used the Water Body Flicker to weave rapidly through the enemy formation.
These ninja were no pushovers.
Individually, any one of them could barely hold their own against Hanzō—though only briefly.
But when working together, their coordination allowed them to completely suppress him.
That said, Hanzō's true terror had never been his taijutsu.
Even though his physical skills were so refined that even the samurai of the Land of Iron admired them, what truly struck fear into the hearts of others—
Was his poison.
A massive amount of toxic gas spread across the battlefield, and symptoms of poisoning were already appearing on the attackers.
They clearly believed that killing Hanzō was the top priority. After swallowing antidote pills, they forced themselves back into the fight.
The outer ring of ninja continuously launched ninjutsu at Hanzō, but his Water Body Flicker was simply too fast. Their attacks couldn't touch him.
The inner ring could keep up with him in close combat—but even they couldn't avoid injury.
And Hanzō's scythe was coated in poison.
Every cut, no matter how shallow, became a death sentence as toxins seeped into the wounds.
As the poison accumulated, the attackers' movements slowed.
In Hanzō's relentless back-and-forth assaults, casualties began to appear.
Once the first person died, everything spiraled out of control.
The number of close-combat fighters dwindled rapidly under Hanzō's hands, forcing the outer-ring ninja to abandon long-range support and join the melee.
The moment they made that choice, the outcome was sealed.
Akira began moving closer to the battlefield, his expression full of heartbreak as he watched Rain ninja fall one after another.
"So much wasted experience…" he lamented silently.
Every single one of them.
Although none were true jōnin, the chakra reserves in their bodies were enormous—even among chūnin.
Akira strongly suspected these were all special jōnin.
In the Hidden Rain Village, full jōnin were priceless assets. They weren't easily mobilized unless they volunteered—like Murakami Hana, who was willing to give his life for Hanzō.
Hanzō himself didn't command many jōnin.
And Shōzō? He couldn't gather many either.
In theory, Rain Village jōnin stood on equal footing with both Hanzō and Shōzō.
Shōzō lacked Hanzō's charisma—expecting them to die for him was pure fantasy.
Yet here he was, sending a group of elite chūnin to assassinate Hanzō.
Was Shōzō dreaming? And hadn't woken up yet?
Akira stopped advancing once he reached a safe distance.
The area around Hanzō was saturated with poison mist. One careless step and he'd be dead.
He looked toward the battlefield.
Shōzō's people were being cut down rapidly.
Akira's hands flew through a series of seals.
"Fire Release: Great Dragon Fire Technique!"
He exhaled forcefully, spewing a blazing fire dragon.
Rain slammed into the flames, instantly producing massive clouds of steam as the fire dragon roared toward the battlefield.
Hanzō glanced briefly in Akira's direction.
This technique wasn't part of the Hidden Rain Village's recorded arsenal.
The fire dragon slammed straight into one of Shōzō's men.
Boom!
Already poisoned and fully focused on Hanzō, the ninja didn't even have time to react before being swallowed by flames.
[Experience +5431]
"Definitely special jōnin," Akira judged.
He quickly assessed his remaining chakra—he had enough for one more.
But now that he'd been spotted, pulling off another sneak attack like that was impossible.
Without hesitation, he retreated back into the forest, activating Zetsu to completely erase his presence and widening the distance between himself and the battlefield.
The brief distraction gave Hanzō an opening.
In that short span of time, two more attackers fell to Hanzō's blade.
With no other choice, the remaining ninja charged him head-on, desperate to end the fight quickly.
But Hanzō's overwhelming skill, paired with his ghostlike movement, meant they were literally trading their lives for each exchange.
And throughout all of this—
The giant salamander beneath his feet hadn't even moved.
Hanzō alone was suppressing them completely.
No wonder he was Hanzō.
At the most critical moment—
"Fire Release: Great Dragon Fire Technique!"
Another fire dragon burst forth, claiming yet another Rain ninja.
[Experience +5432]
This second ambush shattered their morale.
"Kill him!!"
Someone pointed in Akira's direction and screamed.
They couldn't beat Hanzō—but they could beat Akira.
Fear, rage, and despair twisted together as several ninja charged toward the forest.
But—
They couldn't find him.
After releasing a single technique, Akira had vanished into the woods, his presence completely erased—as if he'd never existed at all.
Hidden beside a tree, Akira remained perfectly still.
A simple Camouflage Technique from the academy—covering himself with cloth—combined with Zetsu to sever his chakra completely.
The result was theoretical perfect invisibility.
The pursuers scattered like headless flies, frantically searching and even splitting up to find him.
And in doing so—
They handed Hanzō the perfect opportunity to slaughter the rest.
By the time they realized what was happening, corpses littered the ground.
Hanzō stood atop the salamander, gazing down at the forest below.
One Rain ninja searching for Akira collapsed to his knees in despair.
"This monster… why does the Hidden Rain Village have something like this…?"
They were Shōzō's assassination unit.
Any other jōnin would've died under their combined assault.
This was the first time they'd ever experienced true despair.
One of the kneeling ninja completely broke.
He never even noticed Akira slipping up behind him.
A blade pierced straight through his back, ending his life instantly.
[Experience +5430]
Akira stepped out of hiding.
And with that—
Everyone saw him.
"At least kill you!!"
The broken Rain ninja seemed to find a new target, charging Akira with bloodshot eyes.
Akira was genuinely confused.
What does this have to do with me?
I just fired a couple of potshots—how did I become the main target?
As the group rushed toward him, intent on tearing him apart—
Akira's figure vanished instantly.
All that remained at his original position—
Were several ignited explosive tags.
By the time they noticed, it was already too late.
Their minds were shattered, their calm long gone—driven by nothing but blind fury.
Even if they were Kage-level in strength, this mindset would still doom them.
BOOM!!
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