The battle split into five fronts, precariously balanced. A single crack in any could tip the scales toward one side's victory.
"This old man's tougher than I thought," Orochimaru muttered, eyeing Hiruzen, who had found a way to counter the Souls of Bones.
He wasn't fully prepared. He'd only started opening the Lich Series' Level 3 cans yesterday. His knowledge was undigested, his skills untested, and his intel on Konoha sparse. This stalemate already exceeded his expectations.
"Orochimaru!" Hiruzen panted, having worn down the three specters with lightning ninjutsu. He fixed his former student with a steely gaze. "What's your goal in destroying Konoha?"
Hiruzen couldn't fathom it. Even with their differing paths, Orochimaru shouldn't hate Konoha enough to ally with Sunagakure to raze it.
"You never understood me, Sensei," Orochimaru said, his cold, eerie smile unwavering. "I seek the world's truth—not just power, but the meaning of life. Why do people exist? Why are villages and societies shaped this way? These are the questions I pursue."
"Society?" Hiruzen frowned, puzzled.
"You wouldn't get it. You're lost in a false lie," Orochimaru said, raising his hands. His raspy voice reached every ear. "You preach protecting the village, your comrades. But have you? All I see is war for profit, people dying endlessly. Life is fragile, worthless—that's the truth you taught me."
In his youth, Orochimaru had valued comrades, as Hiruzen hoped. But wars claimed his subordinates, disciples, friends—gone in an instant. That numbness shaped his current self: dismissive of others' lives, craving immortality and answers.
Hiruzen stared, stunned.
He'd thought Orochimaru's betrayal stemmed from unchecked ambition, hoping he'd one day awaken. Now, he saw his error. Orochimaru rejected the "Will of Fire" entirely. No chance he'd embrace it again.
"Speechless, Sensei?" Orochimaru's tone held disappointment. "Of course. Your 'Will of Fire' is self-deception. Sacrifice changes nothing—not even yours now!"
At his final words, Orochimaru's mouth opened, revealing sharp fangs.
Hiruzen's heart lurched. He tried to leap away, but it was too late.
Fetid hands burst from the ground, seizing his ankles. More crawled up, countless wailing corpses clutching him, dragging him toward a hellish abyss.
Corpse Cage!
Among Orochimaru's 500+ Level 3 cans, this was his strongest control skill. The corpses weren't summoned but formed from earth infused with deathly energy. It wasn't bodies binding Hiruzen—it was the earth itself.
His face flushed, chakra surging, yet he couldn't budge. He summoned his remaining poetic energy, chanting: "Strength to uproot mountains, spirit to cover the world…"
The war song's golden light flooded his body, muscles bulging, strength swelling. He struggled, but more corpses piled on, sinking him into the ground.
"Lord Hokage!" a voice cried.
"Come on, Lord Hokage!"
"Don't lose!"
"How did this happen…?"
Villagers and ninja in the sky shouted, their cheers the only aid they could offer.
But it was futile.
Hands bound, ninjutsu sealed, poetic energy drained—Hiruzen found no way to break free.
"This stage is mine," Orochimaru said, raising his hand. Soul of Bones!
A grotesque specter dove unhindered into Hiruzen's body. Icy cold engulfed him, his life force draining, as Orochimaru had warned. His briefly youthful face began to age.
This skill wasn't for attack but for crafting powerful undead specters.
"Not quite enough," Orochimaru said, raising his hand for another strike.
BOOM!
A massive fist crashed down, upheaving the earth. The corpses binding Hiruzen wailed, and a white-haired man rushed in, yanking him free.
It was Jiraiya, with the Ino-Shika-Chō trio.
Orochimaru's eyes narrowed. The Nine-Tails, dealt with so quickly?
Yet its chakra still lingered.
"The Nine-Tails is formidable," Shikaku said, as if reading Orochimaru's thoughts. "But Naruto's will stopped the rampage."
"His will?" Orochimaru scoffed, looking afar.
On the ravaged earth, Naruto, still in Nine-Tails form, stood motionless, eight tails writhing behind him.
What happened? Orochimaru was baffled. How did a raging Nine-Tails turn docile?
Only Shen Mo, high above, knew.
Naruto's father, the Fourth Hokage, Minato Namikaze, had left a contingency in his son's body, triggered at the eight-tail state.
In Naruto's consciousness, he stood stunned, gazing at a gentle blond man.
That face—he'd seen it countless times.
The hero who saved the village, the Fourth Hokage!