Down in the battle arena below, Gaara was in the middle of transforming into his tailed beast form, but since he hadn't faced Sasuke like in the original story, he didn't run off and instead remained where he was.
Konoha's sealing squad was already on the way.
In the audience stands, the ninja from Sunagakure and Otogakure suddenly launched their attack.
But just as Onoki had predicted...
Although Konoha was no longer what it used to be, it was still the number one ninja village.
The quality of its jonin was extrely high. Most of them were barely affected by the genjutsu and imdiately joined the battle.
As more and more Konoha ninja entered the fight, the Sand and Sound ninja gradually began losing ground.
Under Yakage's protection, Deidara, Kurotsuchi, and Karin had already reached a relatively safe area.
Both sides fighting nearby ignored them completely for the mont, making them temporarily safe.
Outside Konoha, several enormous snakes smashed through the walls, throwing the village into chaos.
Even more Sand and Sound ninja were rapidly rushing toward the area.
And finally, the real show began.
The Third Hokage, Hiruzen Sarutobi, had already been forced onto the rooftop.
Onoki floated nearby, quietly waiting for Hiruzen to ask for help.
After exchanging two rounds with Hiruzen and realizing the old man's strength hadn't diminished much with age, Orochimaru imdiately retreated and ford hand seals.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
A coffin rose up from the rooftop floor.
The mont Hiruzen saw it, he angrily demanded, "Orochimaru! Have you fallen this far?!"
"This is the Second Hokage's technique." Orochimaru gave a sinister grin. "As a Konoha ninja, using his jutsu is perfectly normal, isn't it?"
Thud!
The coffin lid fell.
The First Hokage, Hashirama Senju, stepped out from inside.
Orochimaru raised a hand to reinforce the control seal and said to Hiruzen, "Don't panic. You two can have a nice chat later."
His left hand maintained the seal controlling Hashirama while his right hand imdiately began forming one-handed seals again.
Then... More coffins rose up one after another.
Three in total, marked with the numbers "Two," "Four," and "Four."
Hiruzen's expression changed drastically as he imdiately tried to stop him.
But Hashirama appeared in front of Hiruzen.
Thud! Thud! Thud!
As the coffin lids dropped, three figures stepped out from within.
The Second Hokage, Tobirama Senju.
The Fourth Kazekage, Rasa.
And... The Fourth Hokage, Minato Namikaze.
High in the sky, Kyoshin frowned the mont he saw that figure. Countless mories suddenly connected together in his mind.
Back then, under Chinatsu's guidance, Kyoshin had gone to the Land of Whirlpools in search of the Uzumaki clan's secret scrolls, and he had succeeded.
The second mission had been collecting the masks stored in the shrine.
At the ti, Kyoshin had noticed that one of the masks was already missing. He had vaguely sensed sothing wrong then, but his thoughts were interrupted by teammates calling for him to leave.
Afterward, those masks had been stored within Iwagakure's secret vault, where sealing ninja regularly strengthened the seals placed upon them.
But the missing mask just happened to be the Shinigami Mask, and sohow, it had ended up in Orochimaru's hands, allowing him to release Minato Namikaze, who had been trapped within the Shinigami's stomach.
The situation was too urgent for Kyoshin to think through all these mysteries.
He only knew one thing.
Onoki might be in danger.
This was an unexpected developnt. If events had followed the original story, then with Onoki and Hiruzen fighting together against Orochimaru, Hashirama, and Tobirama, the outco would still have been relatively manageable.
Because Edo Tensei hadn't yet been improved by Kabuto, Orochimaru's control over the technique was still limited, preventing Hashirama and Tobirama from displaying their true strength.
But now... Orochimaru possessed the Shinigami Mask, aning Hiruzen's Dead Demon Consuming Seal no longer posed any threat.
On top of that, Orochimaru was extrely cautious. First, he summoned Hashirama alone to pin down Hiruzen.
Then he summoned Tobirama, Minato, and Rasa afterward.
As a result, the balance of power inside the barrier had completely collapsed, and Hiruzen had lost his ultimate trump card.
Rasa wasn't too concerning, Minato Namikaze was the truly dangerous one.
His Flying Thunder God Technique was even more terrifying than Tobirama's.
And Minato had died very young. By the ti of his death, this building already existed.
There was no guarantee he hadn't already left Flying Thunder God markings sowhere on the structure.
He was the greatest threat of all.
'This is bad...'
Kyoshin's frown deepened further and further.
Outside the barrier, the Sand ninja had already discovered Rasa within it and, after being warned by Konoha ninja, stopped fighting.
Once the Sand ninja realized the truth, every one of them beca furious, wanting to break into the barrier and kill Orochimaru.
Several Sunagakure jonin had already departed to regroup with the main Sand forces outside Konoha and explain the situation.
Otogakure originally belonged to Orochimaru to begin with. Knowing the mission was complete, they had already withdrawn, apart from the Sound Four maintaining the Four Violet Flas Formation.
Large numbers of ninja were blocked outside the barrier.
Inside the Four Violet Flas Formation, anwhile, a group of people were having a lively conversation.
"To think we'd et again under circumstances like these, Hiruzen."
Tobirama quickly assessed the surroundings and imdiately understood the situation. He let out a sigh.
"Looks like we've caused you trouble."
Rasa was actually able to move freely. He lowered his head to look at his cracked hands before walking toward the edge of the barrier, where the Sand ninja outside stared at him with tear-filled eyes.
Tobirama's sharp gaze swept across the area before he imdiately warned Hiruzen.
"Monkey, that bastard can only control three Edo Tensei at the sa ti. The remaining one can move freely, but won't be able to use ninjutsu. Still, they could remain a threat."
Hiruzen replied, "Understood, Teacher."
Tobirama glanced around. Aside from Hashirama, he recognized no one nearby, so he asked, "Who are you?"
No one answered.
"Hey! Kid! What are you spacing out for?!"
"Huh?" Confusion rose in Minato's eyes. "This is Konoha? How did I co back?"
He turned toward the voice and said in surprise, "Whoa! Second Hokage-sama! Um... I'm the Fourth Hokage, Minato Namikaze."
The corner of Tobirama's eye twitched.
'No wonder he died young. So he's an airhead.'
"Whoa!" Minato exclaid again. "Even the First Hokage-sama is here?!"
Hashirama's body shook. "Hm? Who called for ?"
Smack!
Tobirama reluctantly raised a hand to his forehead...
'These two idiots!'
He really couldn't take it anymore.
Still... The situation was urgent. Tobirama stayed calm and looked up at Onoki.
"You're that brat who used to follow Mu around? Wearing a Kage hat now, so you beca Tsuchikage? Are you an enemy too?"
Hiruzen also turned his gaze toward Onoki, who had been quietly spectating the whole ti.
"I don't know what's going on either." Onoki's brows were tightly furrowed as well. "But I'm not with that guy."
Tobirama imdiately ordered Hiruzen, "Win Onoki over!"
At last, Orochimaru finished preparing the curse seals and let out a cold laugh.
"That's enough chatting, everyone."
One after another, he inserted the curse seals into the heads of Hashirama, Tobirama, Minato, and Rasa.
"Not good!" Tobirama frowned. "Now he can control all four of us. Although Edo Tensei has reached its limit, preventing him from sealing away our consciousnesses..."
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