"Edo Tensei!!!"
At Orochimaru's hoarse shout, Hyūga Satoru—who had been monitoring Might Guy and Kimimaro's clash—snapped his head around.
Edo Tensei…?!
He knew that technique all too well. It was Orochimaru's signature forbidden jutsu, one that would later shake the entire shinobi world. Under the Byakugan's gaze, a complex summoning array unfurled across the ground—similar to a summoning ritual, yet far more ominous.
There were no living sacrifices in sight.
Still, two coffins slowly rose from the earth.
An oppressive chakra surged outward from them, heavy enough to make everyone's chest tighten.
The Byakugan pierced straight through the wooden coffins. In the instant Satoru saw what lay inside, his muscles tensed and his posture shifted instinctively into combat readiness.
So he's using Edo Tensei already…?
No—something was off.
The jutsu itself had already been completed earlier. What Orochimaru had done now was merely summon pre-prepared reanimations from another location. Satoru felt a flash of regret that he couldn't examine the technique more closely—but there was no time for curiosity.
Survival came first.
"Boom!!!"
The lids of both coffins slammed open simultaneously.
Two figures clad in armor from the Warring States era stepped out into the open.
Jiraiya stared at the man in red armor, his pupils shrinking as recognition struck.
"…This is—"
"The First Hokage… and the Second Hokage?!"
His voice came out hoarse.
The reanimated figures were none other than Senju Hashirama and Senju Tobirama.
Their eyes were vacant. Cold.
As they fully emerged, Jiraiya felt his stomach sink.
"…Damn it."
Beside him, Satoru observed calmly, his Byakugan parsing every detail of the Edo Tensei. Almost immediately, he noticed irregularities.
The reanimations were incomplete.
Their movements were stiff, unfamiliar—as if the souls inside hadn't fully synchronized with their vessels. Their chakra pressure was real, but to Satoru it was clear:
This wasn't their peak.
Outward form only… maybe sixty percent at best.
Jiraiya, lacking Satoru's visual insight, didn't perceive this nuance. The sight of the First and Second Hokage alone was enough to put him on edge.
Shisui and Kakashi moved closer without a word, instinctively forming a tighter formation.
"Orochimaru!" Jiraiya roared. "How dare you desecrate the bodies of the First and Second Hokage! What do you think life is—something to toy with?!"
Orochimaru laughed softly, a delighted hiss.
"Such narrow thinking," he mocked. "I simply allow those whose lives have ended… to bloom once more."
As he spoke, Orochimaru slipped behind Hashirama and Tobirama. Two kunai wrapped in sealing paper flashed in his hands and pierced into their backs.
When he withdrew his hands, the kunai were gone.
At the same time, a faint gleam appeared in the Hokages' once-empty eyes.
"Water Release: Water Severing Wave!"
Under Orochimaru's control, Tobirama formed seals with terrifying speed—five, six in the blink of an eye—and expelled a high-pressure blade of water.
"Scatter!" Jiraiya shouted.
They barely split apart in time. The water blade slammed into the earth, carving a smooth, razor-clean trench across the plain.
"So fast…" Jiraiya muttered. "As expected of the Second."
His expression darkened.
This jutsu was trouble.
Nearby, the battle between Guy and Kimimaro raged on. Kimimaro, empowered by the second stage of the Curse Mark, fought ferociously—but even so, Guy still held the edge in raw speed, strength, and experience.
Kimimaro endured only because of his abnormal skeletal body and sheer willpower.
Orochimaru knew Kimimaro's limits well.
That was why he hadn't waited.
"The power is there," Satoru analyzed calmly, "but their output is capped. Roughly sixty percent of their living selves."
Tobirama's attacks were fierce, but to Satoru they weren't truly threatening. Nothing escaped the Byakugan, and none of it outpaced his reactions.
Satoru shifted position, eyes locking onto Hashirama.
At that moment, Hashirama clasped his hands.
"Watch your footing!" Satoru warned.
The earth responded.
Roots erupted violently from the ground, thick tendrils surging upward like living dragons. Grass withered instantly, drained of life.
"Wood Release…"
The terrain transformed before their eyes.
Satoru threw several kunai and vanished in a flash of Flying Thunder God, reappearing beyond the roots' reach.
"Don't let the wood touch you!" he shouted. "It absorbs chakra!"
With the warning, Jiraiya and the others managed to evade without serious injury. The Wood Release felt… rigid. Powerful, but lacking Hashirama's legendary fluidity.
The battlefield fractured into zones of tangled roots.
Then Tobirama pressed forward again—this time targeting Kakashi.
A rapid sequence of attacks forced Kakashi back step by step.
Jiraiya moved to intervene—
—but Orochimaru struck.
Like a serpent, his body slid forward. A blade extended from his mouth, thrusting straight for Jiraiya's brow.
Jiraiya twisted aside, abandoning Kakashi for the moment.
They're isolating him…
Satoru shifted to assist Kakashi—
—and suddenly, danger flared.
Hashirama appeared beside him without warning, erupting from the roots themselves. Only the Byakugan caught the motion in time.
A powerful kick swept toward Satoru's head.
Satoru ducked, already moving.
Two explosive tags flew from his hand.
He vanished.
The tags collided midair.
Mutually Multiplying Explosive Tags!
The forbidden jutsu detonated.
"BOOM!!!!"
The explosion tore through the field, the shockwave rattling every combatant. Even Orochimaru's eyes narrowed.
Hashirama stood at the epicenter.
His body was torn apart—wood and flesh shredded, limbs scattered. Though Edo Tensei regeneration immediately began, the damage was catastrophic.
Restoration would take time.
By himself—
Hyūga Satoru had successfully neutralized the First Hokage's reanimation.
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