Facing the three-pronged assault, Aoshi remained calm and unshaken.
He activated the Flying Thunder God Technique once more, vanishing from the battlefield and reappearing behind Edo Tobirama in an instant.
Gripping his ninja blade, he drove it mercilessly into Tobirama's back.
The Edo body was pierced straight through.
Tobirama stiffened, unable to move.
Seizing that opening, Aoshi immediately formed hand seals and unleashed a Sealing Technique, locking Tobirama away on the spot.
Seeing this, Orochimaru's expression darkened.
But he didn't stop. He continued to command Hashirama and Manda to press their assault together.
Forming a one-handed seal, Aoshi released Water Release: Six Water Dragon Jutsu.
Six enormous water dragons erupted into existence, roaring as they surged toward Manda and Edo Hashirama.
Manda burrowed underground to evade the attack, while Hashirama raised a Wood Release defense to block the water dragons.
The very next second, Manda burst out of the ground again, its massive jaws snapping straight at Aoshi.
"If you want to eat me," Aoshi said coldly, "we'll see if you really have the appetite for it."
With a sharp snort, he formed another hand seal. Blazing flames shot straight into Manda's open mouth.
Sensing mortal danger, Manda abandoned the attack and twisted away in a hurry.
"Summoning Jutsu!" In the next instant, Aoshi summoned a giant slug onto the battlefield.
"Aoshi-sama, is the enemy Orochimaru this time?" The gentle voice of the Slug Sage sounded as calm and polite as ever.
She was without question the most benevolent—and reliable—summoning beast in the ninja world.
"I'll trouble you to deal with Manda," Aoshi said.
"Leave it to me." The moment her words fell, massive trees burst from the ground and wrapped tightly around the Slug Sage.
If it had been any other summoning beast, it would have lost its ability to resist on the spot.
But the Slug Sage's enormous body instantly split apart, transforming into countless smaller slugs.
They slipped free of the Wood Release restraints, then merged together again.
Raising her head, the Slug Sage opened her mouth and unleashed a tidal wave of highly corrosive liquid toward Manda.
This was one of her rare offensive techniques— a terrifying acid that could corrode almost anything.
Manda knew exactly how dangerous it was and dodged immediately.
But its massive body was too slow to escape completely. Some of the liquid splashed onto its tail.
Sizzle… sizzle… sizzle…
"Damn it, that hurts!"
Manda howled in pain as its tail was corroded, flesh and blood exposed.
"So big… so powerful…" Kurenai couldn't help but exclaim when she saw Aoshi summon the Slug Sage into battle.
A creature of that size—every single movement it made shook the battlefield.
"Why do I feel like Teacher Aoshi is even stronger than the First Hokage?" Rin said uncertainly.
Shizune immediately nodded in agreement. "So it wasn't just me who felt that way."
What they didn't know was that in order to control Senju Hashirama, Orochimaru dared not allow him to recover his full strength.
As a result, Hashirama couldn't even use techniques like Wood Release: Wood Dragon—let alone Sage Mode.
Otherwise, Aoshi would have simply absorbed his Sage chakra, just as Uchiha Madara once did.
From another perspective, this was actually fortunate.
If Hashirama had summoned a Wood Human, the entire Hozuki Castle would have been overturned in an instant.
"Damn it, Orochimaru! A hundred sacrifices won't be enough anymore! You'll prepare five hundred sacrifices for me!"
Realizing how dangerous his opponent was, Manda immediately raised his price.
Hearing this, Orochimaru—standing atop Manda's head—wore an extremely sinister expression.
The situation had already gone beyond his expectations. What he believed to be a foolproof operation had encountered far too many variables.
Aoshi had hidden too many techniques—too many trump cards. His strength was completely beyond imagination.
Even with two former Hokage attacking together, they couldn't bring him down.
Instead, the Second Hokage had already been sealed.
For the first time, Orochimaru—who always considered himself a genius—felt a faint sense of inferiority when looking at Aoshi.
At Aoshi's age, he himself had never possessed such overwhelming power.
He quickly glanced at the other battlefields and saw that the situation was turning more and more unfavorable for his side.
He knew—if he couldn't reverse this soon, his side would be completely wiped out.
"As long as you can kill Aoshi," Orochimaru said coldly, "forget five hundred sacrifices—even a thousand will be fine."
"You said it. Then I'll be waiting for a thousand sacrifices."
Manda, thrilled by the promise, roared and threw itself back into battle against the Slug Sage without hesitation.
At the same time, Orochimaru continued directing the First Hokage to attack.
In the midst of this fierce battle, somewhere Aoshi could not see, another reanimated ninja finally made his move.
If Shizune had been there, she would have recognized him at once—this Edo Tensei ninja was none other than her uncle, Kato Dan.
Kato Dan, a jōnin of Konoha, was best known for the forbidden technique he had mastered:
Spirit Transformation Technique.
This was an S-rank jutsu that separated mental and physical energy, turning the spirit into a tangible form that could leave the body.
With it, he had once been a terrifying assassin on the battlefield.
He could strike directly at an enemy's soul, regardless of distance—an attack that was almost impossible to defend against.
Most people would die instantly if hit.
Under Orochimaru's control, the reanimated Kato Dan immediately activated the Spirit Transformation Technique.
A spectral form emerged, leaving its vessel behind and streaking toward Aoshi—aiming to kill him on the level of the soul itself.
What had once seemed like an unnecessary precaution became Orochimaru's final trump card.
Within Aoshi's soul space.
Facing Kato Dan, who was preparing to erase his soul, Aoshi couldn't help but admire just how thorough Orochimaru had been.
He had allied with Kusagakure. Reanimated the previous Hokage. And now, even Kato Dan had been brought into play.
For anyone else, this chain of schemes would have left no chance of survival.
But unfortunately for Orochimaru, he was facing Aoshi.
As the possessor of the Rinnegan, Aoshi had long mastered methods of attacking and defending on the soul level.
And his power surpassed the Spirit Transformation Technique itself.
Without another word, Aoshi activated the power of the Human Path.
Kato Dan's attacking soul was instantly absorbed. Just like that, Orochimaru's final trump card was effortlessly neutralized.
Back in the real world.
Seeing Aoshi suddenly pause, standing motionless, Orochimaru's face finally broke into a smile.
"Hehe… Aoshi-kun," he said softly, "I don't believe you have a trump card in the realm of the soul as well."
The soul was a forbidden domain. More than ninety-nine percent of ninjas could never step into it.
That was why Orochimaru had been so confident.
But in the very next second, the smile on his face froze solid. It was replaced by pure disbelief.
"Impossible! How can you still be alive?!"
Aoshi regained control of his body and looked at Orochimaru with a faint, mocking smile.
And as the caster of the Impure World Reincarnation, Orochimaru knew better than anyone—something had gone terribly wrong.