Chapter 80 - The Death of Hanzo
"There's no point in talking—go to hell, and wait for me to send Danzo to join you."
Kazane's voice rang cold and sharp as steel, echoing across the broken battlefield of Rain Village. There was no more room for discussion, no diplomacy, no delay. The time for words had ended.
In the blink of an eye, Kazane's chakra flared violently. The ground beneath his feet cracked as raw force surged from within him.
Eight Gates Release!
A torrent of invisible power exploded outward as Kazane activated the forbidden technique—his speed, strength, and reflexes skyrocketing instantly. Veins bulged along his arms and neck, his muscles tightening beneath the skin like coiled springs.
With a single step, he unleashed a barrage of devastating flying slashes, wind-imbued sword arcs screaming through the rain-soaked air, each one strong enough to cleave through steel like paper.
Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!
Hanzo's eyes widened as the storm of blades tore toward him.
"Shameless brat!" he muttered bitterly, even as his body blurred to dodge the first wave. He cursed Kazane's unrelenting aggression, but deep down, he knew—
This was a battle he could no longer win conventionally.
The slashes carved through rooftops and shattered the stone tiles of Rain Village's inner compound. The buildings Hanzo had once ruled from were now being destroyed by a single enemy.
He grit his teeth, deflecting one of the slashes with the curved edge of his scythe—but the impact drove him back several meters.
His grip tightened on the handle.
He's too fast.
Hanzo had once held his own against the Sannin. His name had been feared across the shinobi world. But now—this young man stood before him like a blade forged in hellfire.
A single mistake, a single misstep, and it would be over.
And worse—Hanzo was bound by the very village he was trying to protect. He couldn't unleash his most dangerous jutsu, nor call forth the full force of his poison techniques.
Not here.
Not without killing his own people.
In contrast, Kazane fought with no chains, no restrictions.
Every move was sharp, wild, efficient.
Every attack came with intent to kill.
Their difference in momentum was widening by the second.
"Three-Sword Style—Demon Slash!"
Kazane surged forward again, his blades flashing.
Two of his swords locked around Hanzo's scythe—pinning it in place.
And in that opening—
The third sword, held firmly in his mouth, came swinging upward in a brutal arc.
Hanzo barely twisted his body away, but he was too slow.
Shhhk!
The blade carved a deep gash across his chest, slicing through armor and flesh.
Blood gushed instantly.
Hanzo staggered back, clutching the wound, his breath ragged, eyes wide with disbelief.
He drew blood…
Kazane halted, blades raised, and watched calmly as Hanzo bled onto the broken stone beneath them.
It was only a matter of time now.
Huff… Huff…
Hanzo's chest rose and fell with visible strain.
His hands trembled slightly.
He's not giving me any space.
He could feel it—his body was growing heavier, slower.
Even lifting his scythe took effort.
There was no time left.
If he didn't act now, he wouldn't live to regret it.
"The village… can be rebuilt…" he muttered through clenched teeth. "But life… life can only be lived once!"
With a final surge of chakra, Hanzo slammed his bloodied palm to the ground.
Summoning Jutsu!
A violent blast of smoke erupted behind him.
And from within it—
A massive, grotesque silhouette emerged.
Hisssshhhkk!
A towering salamander, skin slick and glistening with mucus, bared its jagged teeth as it loomed above the battlefield.
It was Hanzo's most trusted summon—his final ace.
At the same time, Hanzo reached up—
And tore off the breathing mask that had always covered his mouth.
It clattered to the ground with a metallic thud.
Instantly, the air grew heavy, thick with the scent of death.
Poison.
The toxic gas that Hanzo's body produced began to leak into the surroundings.
Invisible, silent, lethal.
The salamander hissed, inflating its body as it prepared to unleash a breath of pure venomous fog.
Hanzo charged forward, drawing Kazane's focus, scythe spinning.
Even bleeding, even half-dead, he fought with everything he had.
But Kazane—
He was already ahead.
The moment the salamander began to inhale, Kazane's Observation Haki activated.
He could sense the chakra buildup.
He could smell the change in the air.
And he knew—
If he allowed the breath attack to be released, the entire village would be blanketed in death.
Even with his enhanced resistance, he couldn't afford to let that happen.
And so—
"Ultimate Technique—Tiger Hunt!"
Kazane raised both swords above his head, his muscles bulging with power.
With one explosive motion, he brought them crashing downward, unleashing a titanic slash that tore through the air.
A roaring tiger, made entirely of concentrated sword energy, manifested from the strike.
The beast surged forward, jaws wide, crashing into the poisonous fog and cutting through it like fire through mist.
In the same instant, it collided with Hanzo's salamander—
BOOM!
The creature's scream was drowned by the blast as its massive body was ripped apart by the energy wave.
When the smoke cleared, nothing remained of it but scorched flesh and scattered entrails.
Hanzo froze.
His eyes trembled as he looked at the space his companion had just occupied.
Gone.
Utterly gone.
He dropped to one knee.
The weight of defeat settled on him like stone.
It's over.
But the battle spirit within Hanzo was not yet dead.
If he was going to die—
He would go out fighting.
He would die as Hanzo the Salamander.
Not as a relic of a lost age.
"Kazane!"
Hanzo's eyes burned with defiance.
"Take my final strike!"
He surged to his feet, scythe raised high, his chakra flaring wildly.
"No one has ever survived this technique!"
"This will be the final strike that determines life and death!"
Kazane's mouth curved into a sharp smile.
His heart thumped with anticipation.
It had been a long time since Kazane felt this kind of rush—the kind of high that only a true duel to the death could provide. No schemes. No politics. Just raw power, will, and steel.
He narrowed his eyes as he lowered his stance.
"One strike, then."
His blades gleamed under the rain-dimmed sky. He tightened his grip, muscles coiling like springs drawn to their limit.
A single exhale.
And then—both moved.
"One Flash!"
"Three-Sword Style—Secret Technique—Three Thousand Worlds!"
Unlike Hanzo's straightforward, desperate charge, Kazane's technique erupted with fluid chaos—his twin swords rotated like bladed turbines, generating a powerful spiral of compressed wind and chakra, while the third sword—held between his teeth—moved like a blade guided by instinct.
Steel howled through the air.
The moment of impact came like thunder.
Their bodies blurred past one another in the blink of an eye.
A violent shockwave shattered the ground between them. Debris flew in all directions, tiles exploded from rooftops, and the skies themselves seemed to ripple from the clash.
And then—silence.
For a brief instant, time held its breath.
The two warriors now stood with their backs to each other, unmoving.
"What a fast scythe…"
Kazane slowly exhaled, then looked down.
A deep gash traced across his chest.
Blood poured out in a sharp line, but already the tissue around the wound twitched and pulled itself together. Lightning flickered beneath his skin, stimulating his cells into rapid regeneration.
Lightning Chakra Mode… still holding.
He wiped the blood from his mouth.
Behind him, Hanzo remained still—his scythe clattered to the ground.
And then, like a crumbling statue—
Hanzo's body split apart.
From the crown of his head to the tips of his feet, his figure dissolved into fragments.
Kazane sheathed his blades in one smooth motion.
Shhhk.
Hanzo the Salamander—warlord of the Rain, slayer of the Sannin, feared as a demi-god of the ninja world—
Was no more.
---
Aftermath
The mission was finished. Hanzo had been eliminated.
The threat of the Rain Village's militarization had been neutralized—at least for now.
And Kazane had achieved what no one else dared: the direct assassination of a nation's shadow ruler.
As the dust settled, Kazane stood amidst the ruins of Rain Village. The bodies of Hanzo's elite guard littered the streets. Rain fell steadily from the overcast sky, washing blood into the cracked pavement.
He took one final glance at Hanzo's remains, then turned and walked away.
No Rain shinobi stood in his path. Those who remained could only cower from the shadows of shattered buildings, eyes wide with disbelief and horror.
None dared confront him.
Not one.
They simply watched, trembling, as the demon who had slain their god strode calmly through their streets and vanished into the storm.
Elsewhere — A Hidden Cave Beneath the Rain
Not long before the final clash between Kazane and Hanzo, another drama had quietly unfolded.
During Hanzo's meeting, a hidden White Zetsu had slithered through the cracks of Rain Village's foundations, having been ordered to monitor the situation.
When the poison was released, and Hanzo's betrayal confirmed, Zetsu acted on instinct.
With swift, silent movements, he extracted Nagato and Konan from the banquet hall moments before Kazane's arrival, dragging them through the underground canals of the Rain to a secluded cavern just outside the city.
There, Yahiko's body was laid beside them—cold, pale, and lifeless.
By the time Nagato stirred, the fight above was already over.
Nagato's breath came in short, painful gasps as he woke, his limbs heavy and numb.
He blinked against the faint torchlight of the cave, his senses foggy.
Beside him, Konan lay unconscious, her breathing shallow.
And a few steps away—
Yahiko.
Still.
Nagato's blood ran cold.
"Konan… Konan, wake up!"
He gently shook her shoulders, desperation tightening his throat.
If Yahiko was gone… and Konan, too…
Then what was the point?
"Konan… please!"
After a few moments, her lashes fluttered.
Soft orange eyes opened slowly.
"N-Nagato…? Where's… Yahiko?"
Her voice was dazed, fragile.
Then the memory hit her like a hammer.
The banquet.
Hanzo.
Yahiko—struck down before her eyes.
"No… no, he said… he said he would create peace."
Tears spilled freely down her cheeks as she turned to see his body, unmoving.
Konan screamed and threw herself forward, wrapping her arms around Yahiko's cold form.
"HE WOULDN'T DIE! HE PROMISED—!"
Her cries echoed through the cavern, raw and broken.
Nagato stood frozen behind her.
He didn't speak.
He couldn't.
His fingers clenched at his sides until his knuckles turned white.
He had felt powerless before—but now, that helplessness transformed into something else.
Something darker.
A storm was building in his chest.
"I can't cry…"
His lips trembled.
"I must protect Konan… I must protect what Yahiko left behind."
"I must bring justice."
"I must take revenge."
"I… must become something greater."
As those thoughts solidified in his heart, power surged through him.
The Rinnegan pulsed violently.
A long black chakra rod appeared in his right hand—unbidden, yet natural.
It was not the Rinnegan of a helpless child.
It was the Rinnegan of wrath.
Of judgment.
A new era had just begun.
And in that dark, wet cavern beneath the ruins of Rain—
Nagato was no longer just a student of Jiraiya.
He was the one who would become Pain.
P@treon (Zynos) now at chapter 210, and expected to finish System of Zoro tomorrow.