Chapter 47 (Patreon)

While Naruto and his masked female double were finishing off wounded shinobi, the Third Hokage and Orochimaru were locked in battle on the roof of the exam arena.

Hiruzen struck first. Using Tile Shuriken, he sent the roof tiles beneath his feet flying at Orochimaru.

Orochimaru leaped clear and countered with Hidden Shadow Snake Hands. The snakes sank their fangs into Hiruzen’s neck, only to bite through mud. It was an earth clone.

The real Hiruzen appeared behind him.

“Earth Style: Earth Flow River!”

The roof beneath Orochimaru turned into a rushing stream of mud, threatening to sweep him off his feet. Hiruzen immediately followed with Earth Style: Earth Dragon Bullet, sending a barrage of projectiles at his trapped opponent.

It was one of the Third Hokage’s most effective combinations.

But Orochimaru was far too dangerous to fall to such an attack. He slipped beneath the surface and emerged unscathed.

Their opening exchange was over. Both men shed their robes, ready to fight in earnest.

Hiruzen threw several shuriken and formed a hand seal.

“Shuriken Shadow Clone Jutsu!”

The handful of blades multiplied into hundreds, filling the air as they hurtled toward Orochimaru.

Orochimaru brought his hands together.

“Reanimation Jutsu!”

Two coffins rose in front of him, shielding him from the barrage. They held the First and Second Hokage.

A third coffin began to emerge, but Hiruzen sensed the danger and stopped it before it could rise completely.

Shuriken bristled from the first two coffins. Then their lids fell away, and Hashirama Senju, the First Hokage, and Tobirama Senju, the Second, stepped out.

Orochimaru had yet to perfect Reanimation Jutsu. The shinobi he summoned were heavily suppressed, able to wield only a fraction of the strength they had possessed in life.

Had Hashirama and Tobirama possessed the power and freedom they would have during the Fourth Great Ninja War, keeping them under control would have been another matter entirely. They could have resisted Orochimaru’s control and turned on him. He wouldn’t have lasted long against them.

Only after Orochimaru and Kabuto continued refining the forbidden jutsu would the reanimated shinobi regain more of their former power. Yet that improvement carried a risk: the stronger the summoned shinobi, the harder they could be to restrain.

Greater power came at the cost of control. A technique that dragged the dead back into the world and bound their souls was hardly without flaws.

For now, the two former Hokage still retained their awareness. They exchanged a few words with Hiruzen, briefly reunited with the student they remembered.

“Try to go easy on me, will you?” Hiruzen asked.

Hashirama smiled. “All right. I’ll even spare you the hand seals.”

“Then I’ll stick to Water Style,” Tobirama said.

Orochimaru cut their reunion short. He inserted a talisman-wrapped kunai into the back of each man’s head.

Their expressions tightened in anger, but it lasted only an instant. Their awareness faded, and they advanced on Hiruzen like puppets.

Hashirama closed in first, engaging Hiruzen in taijutsu. Hiruzen fought off both brothers, drove them back, and released a torrent of fire.

“Fire Style: Fire Dragon Flame Bomb!”

Tobirama answered with Water Style: Water Wall. The rising curtain of water blocked the flames with ease.

He followed immediately with Water Style: Water Shockwave, sending a towering surge of water toward Hiruzen.

“Earth Style: Mud Wall!”

Hiruzen spat out earth, raising a wall between himself and the oncoming wave.

Before he could catch his breath, Hashirama came skimming across the water toward him.

Hiruzen hurriedly fired a volley of fireballs. Hashirama swatted them aside with his bare hands and kept coming, not so much as a strand of his hair singed.

He sprang forward and struck Hiruzen with a fierce series of blows, knocking him down.

Tobirama attacked from behind, dragging Hiruzen into the water while he was still recovering. But the Third Hokage twisted free and scrambled up the earthen wall with the agility of a monkey.

Several blasts of water followed him, smashing the wall to pieces.

Hiruzen jumped clear of the collapsing earth and landed hard on the roof. For a moment, he could only brace himself against the ground and struggle for breath.

Then Hashirama unleashed Wood Style: Deep Forest Emergence.

Thick trunks burst from the roof and grew at a terrifying pace. Within moments, a forest filled the space enclosed by the Four Violet Flames Formation.

Alarm flashed across Hiruzen’s face. He quickly summoned his strongest ally.

“Summoning Jutsu!”

Monkey King Enma appeared in a cloud of smoke.

With a name like Sarutobi, the clan’s connection to a monkey summon seemed fitting. Perhaps there was more to it than coincidence.

Orochimaru had always been wary of Enma. As Hashirama pressed forward again, Orochimaru drew the Sword of Kusanagi from his mouth and joined the attack.

Hiruzen met him in close combat. Enma transformed into the Adamantine Staff, extending until it reached forty meters in length. With the staff in his hands, Hiruzen forced Orochimaru back.

Hashirama and Tobirama seized the opening to attack him from behind, but Hiruzen managed to attach an explosive tag to each of them.

Orochimaru struck again, knocking Hiruzen to the roof. He grabbed his former teacher by the collar and mocked him.

Looking at the student he had once cherished, Hiruzen felt tears gathering in his eyes. So much promise, and this was what Orochimaru had become.

Then Hiruzen pushed those feelings aside. He struck Orochimaru, threw him back, and detonated the tags.

The explosions tore Hashirama’s and Tobirama’s bodies apart. But they had been brought back through Reanimation Jutsu. Their scattered remains began reforming almost immediately.

Orochimaru watched Hiruzen and broke into a wild laugh. Then he peeled away the skin covering his face, revealing the features of a young woman beneath it.

Hiruzen stared in shock.

Orochimaru had completed Living Corpse Reincarnation.

The forbidden technique allowed him to transfer his soul into another person’s body, discarding one host for the next in his pursuit of immortality. It was a cruel jutsu that stole another person’s body and life.

There was a limit, however. He had to wait at least three years between transfers, and Sasuke was the next vessel he wanted.

Having shown his teacher what he had achieved, Orochimaru covered the stolen face and resumed his familiar appearance.

Hashirama brought his hands together. The trees within the barrier surged outward, their branches lashing at Hiruzen.

Enma blocked the attack, saving him from being crushed beneath the growing forest.

But the Third Hokage was old. His breathing was ragged, and his strength was nearly spent.

He gritted his teeth. He knew he would not survive this battle.

If he had to die, he would take Orochimaru with him.

He had one technique left: the Reaper Death Seal.

It was a sealing jutsu that summoned the Shinigami at the cost of the caster’s life and offered the caster’s soul in payment. The Fourth Hokage had used it when he sacrificed himself to save Konoha from the Nine-Tails.

Hiruzen created two shadow clones. All three formed the hand seals together, preparing to seal Orochimaru, Hashirama, and Tobirama.

The Shinigami appeared behind him. Only Hiruzen could see it at that moment; Orochimaru remained unaware of the death looming over him.

Tobirama unleashed the Bringer of Darkness Technique, plunging Hiruzen’s vision into complete blackness. Orochimaru and the two reanimated Hokage remained unaffected.

The genjutsu was said to have been developed to counter the Uchiha clan’s Sharingan. It had later been recorded in the Scroll of Seals, and Naruto had memorized the instructions for learning it after arriving in this world.

Unable to see, Hiruzen was forced onto the defensive. Even so, his two shadow clones managed to seize Hashirama and Tobirama.

The Shinigami’s hands reached through the clones’ abdomens, grasped the brothers’ souls, and drew them out, sealing both away.

Orochimaru stared, caught off guard. He didn’t even understand what had happened.

Hiruzen dispelled his clones and launched himself at Orochimaru with the Adamantine Staff. A few desperate strikes knocked the Kusanagi sword from Orochimaru’s grasp.

Hiruzen closed the distance and caught him by the shoulders.

The Shinigami’s hand passed through Hiruzen’s abdomen and seized Orochimaru’s soul, holding him in place.

Sensing the danger, Orochimaru controlled the fallen Kusanagi sword from a distance. The blade shot toward Hiruzen and pierced his body.

Hiruzen coughed up blood. Enma tried to stop the sword, but he was too late.

Orochimaru’s soul began to emerge from his body. At last, genuine fear appeared on his face.

For a man obsessed with eternal life, nothing was more terrifying than death.

He desperately drove the sword deeper into Hiruzen, hoping his teacher would die before the sealing was complete.

Hiruzen’s strength finally failed him. He could no longer pull out Orochimaru’s entire soul.

Instead, he sealed the portion belonging to Orochimaru’s arms, robbing him of their use and leaving him unable to perform ninjutsu.

For someone who had devoted his life to mastering every jutsu, it was a devastating punishment.

Orochimaru snarled at his teacher, but Hiruzen’s eyes slowly closed.

“Damn it!”

Naruto’s female double appeared at the Flying Thunder God mark she had placed on the roof beforehand. Concealed in the shadows, she stared expressionlessly at the Third Hokage’s corpse.

She and Naruto had been monitoring the battle all along.

Several times, Naruto had nearly rushed in to kill Hiruzen himself. The threat of being caught by the Reaper Death Seal had held him back.

More importantly, he needed Hiruzen to seal Orochimaru’s arms. Otherwise, taking the prize he wanted would have been far more difficult.

Badly injured, Enma lay on the roof. He began crawling toward Hiruzen to pull the Kusanagi sword from his body.

The masked woman kicked him away. He flew across the roof and vanished in a puff of smoke.

“So this is the Sword of Kusanagi. It really is a fine blade.”

She reached down and pulled the sword from Hiruzen’s body. As she did, she also took a piece of his bloodied flesh and concealed it.

Then she kicked his corpse into the Four Violet Flames Formation.

The barrier’s flames engulfed the Third Hokage’s body, reducing it to ashes.

Outside the barrier, the Hokage’s guards, the ANBU, Kakashi, and the others watched in fury.

Orochimaru stared at the masked woman with red hair who had suddenly appeared inside the barrier. Shock and fear crossed his face.

With his arms sealed and his hands unable to form seals, he could no longer control the Kusanagi sword from a distance.

Naruto had wanted that sword for a long time. A blade he could guide through the air reminded him of the flying swords in the fantasy novels he had read in his previous life.

The masked woman held up the stolen weapon.

“I think this sword suits me. What do you say, Orochimaru?”