Chapter 403: The Previous Hokage

Chapter 403: Chapter 403: The Previous Hokage

Ryu, who possessed the Red Eye, quickly detected the two figures charging toward them with overwhelming momentum. His expression changed drastically.

"Everyone, watch out! More enemies are approaching!"

Jūzō Biwa’s expression darkened upon hearing this.

At this point, the Mist Squad had not even caught sight of their assassination target, Orochimaru, yet one problem after another kept coming their way. It was becoming unbearably irritating.

Kisame rested Hiramekarei across his shoulder and stared at the two rapidly approaching figures.

"There’s something strange about those two chakra signatures."

Ryu’s expression grew increasingly grave. As a shinobi possessing a dōjutsu Kekkei Genkai, he had naturally noticed the anomaly even before Kisame.

Within his eye sockets, his pair of Red Eyes shimmered with an eerily enchanting glow, as though he intended to completely see through the two figures rushing toward them.

Yet no matter how much he pushed his Red Eye, all that entered his vision was an indescribably strange chakra.

It was an immensely vast chakra, yet at the same time, it carried an unmistakable air of death and decay, giving off an almost otherworldly sensation—as though it belonged to the realm of the dead.

As the two figures drew closer, the members of the Mist Squad finally got a clear look at them.

Both wore armor unmistakably styled after the Warring States Period, while Konoha forehead protectors rested upon their brows. Although their expressions and movements appeared somewhat stiff and lifeless, the presence radiating from their bodies was anything but ordinary.

There were only two of them.

Yet as they charged forward, it felt as though an entire army was bearing down upon the Mist Squad, causing an inexplicable sense of dread to rise instinctively within them.

"Huh? Why do they look so familiar?"

Almost simultaneously, the same thought surfaced in the minds of Jūzō Biwa and Kisame.

If Kakuzu had been here, he would have recognized the identities of the two approaching men at a glance.

After all, one of them had once been the target of an assassination attempt by Kakuzu himself.

Ryu shouted, "Their chakra reactions are extremely intense! Especially the one on the left wearing red armor—his chakra signature is already approaching the Fourth’s!"

The ’Fourth’ Ryu referred to was, of course, Yagura Karatachi—the jinchūriki of the Three-Tails.

For a shinobi’s chakra reserves to rival those of a jinchūriki—setting everything else aside, that fact alone was enough to inspire both shock and fear!

At that moment, the two figures charging toward the Mist Squad suddenly came to a halt.

The man clad in red armor rapidly formed hand seals before shouting,

"Wood Style Secret Technique: Deep Forest Emergence!"

Rumble—!

Amid earth-shaking tremors, countless trees burst from beneath the ground, surging forward like a raging tide as they engulfed the three members of the Mist Squad.

"The First Hokage!?"

The expressions of all three froze.

An instant later, shock and bewilderment flooded their faces simultaneously.

There was no mistaking it.

Warring States Period armor, a Konoha forehead protector, and that unmistakable Wood Release—all of these traits combined on a single person instantly allowed the three members of the Mist Squad to guess the identity of the shinobi clad in red armor!

At that moment, the white-haired shinobi wearing blue armor also brought his hands together and shouted,

"Ninja Art: Bringer-of-Darkness Technique!"

The members of the Mist Squad, who were already scrambling desperately to evade the sea of trees, suddenly found their vision plunged into absolute darkness.

It was as though they had fallen into a bottomless abyss.

Forget being unable to see their hands in front of their faces—even if they placed their fingers directly before their eyes, they still couldn’t make them out.

"The Second Hokage!?"

Once they had identified the First Hokage, it wasn’t difficult for the Mist Squad to figure out the identity of the man standing beside him.

For a moment, their hearts sank to rock bottom.

Whoosh—!

After swinging Kubikiribōchō and severing the branches entangling him, Jūzō Biwa shouted,

"Everyone, run for your lives! Good luck!"

Neither Kisame nor Ryu questioned him.

Faced with a situation like this, retreat was their only option.

All three were highly experienced shinobi, and their ability to escape with their lives was first-rate. Before they were completely swallowed by the sea of trees, all three narrowly managed to break free from both the forest and the range of the Bringer-of-Darkness Technique, fleeing the battlefield in a miserable state.

Renge, whose battle with Kimimaro had carried them farther and farther away, also noticed what was happening on this side.

His heart tightened.

Without hesitation, he abandoned Kimimaro and flickered away from the battlefield. As he fled, he shouted,

"If you want to stay alive, stop using the Shikotsumyaku! As long as you stop using the power of your bloodline, you should have no problem living to thirty!"

"Lord Orochimaru has no need for useless people..."

Standing silently in place, Kimimaro murmured those words before withdrawing from his Cursed Mark state.

Being needed by Orochimaru was the sole meaning behind his continued existence.

If he could no longer use the Shikotsumyaku, then he would no longer have any value to Orochimaru.

And if that were the case...

He would rather die!

......

On the high cliff.

Seeing the Mist Squad scatter and flee the instant they recognized the First and Second Hokage—not even possessing the courage to fight them—Orochimaru looked thoroughly unsatisfied.

Kabuto sneered. "Lord Orochimaru, it seems Akatsuki has underestimated you far too much."

Orochimaru shook his head.

"Those guys aren’t simple. This technique alone might not be enough to deal with them."

Although the clash between the reanimated First and Second Hokage and the three members of the Mist Squad had been extremely brief, Orochimaru had still noticed a few things.

Although the three Kiri shinobi had appeared panicked and miserable, in reality, they had escaped from the First Hokage’s Deep Forest Emergence and the Second Hokage’s Bringer-of-Darkness Technique without paying much of a price.

This undoubtedly proved that, in their current reanimated state, both the First and Second Hokage were severely lacking—whether in the power of the techniques they unleashed or in their subsequent control over those techniques, their movements and execution were far too weak and rigid.

Had those been the living First and Second Hokage just now...

There would have been absolutely no chance for the three members of the Mist Squad to escape alive.

Hearing the trace of dissatisfaction in Orochimaru’s words, Kabuto smiled.

"Your improvements to the Impure World Reincarnation have already proven extremely effective."

Orochimaru smiled proudly.

The Impure World Reincarnation he was using now was no longer the same technique originally created by the Second Hokage.

Building upon the Second Hokage’s original Impure World Reincarnation, Orochimaru had made extensive modifications and improvements to the technique. It was precisely because of this that he dared to summon the Second Hokage—the very creator of the forbidden technique itself.

However, the First and Second Hokage had simply been far too powerful.

The slightest carelessness could potentially allow them to break free from his control. Because of this, Orochimaru had been forced to place multiple restrictions upon their reanimated bodies.

And that, in turn, was why the First and Second Hokage appeared so stiff and lifeless in their reanimated state, completely lacking the vitality of living people.

Their strength was also worlds apart from what they had possessed while alive.

Seeing that the members of the Mist Squad had already fled far into the distance, Kabuto said,

"Looks like we won’t be able to test the limits of this technique this time."

As Orochimaru released the Impure World Reincarnation, he replied,

"It doesn’t matter. We’ll have another opportunity very soon."

Kabuto looked toward Orochimaru.

"You mean...?"

Orochimaru extended his tongue and slowly licked his lips.

"That’s right. This time, I’ll personally go to Konoha to negotiate an alliance."

As soon as Otogakure had been established, it had sent Konoha a request to form an alliance.

Kabuto asked again,

"Do we need to inform Danzo?"

"Danzo..."

Orochimaru gave a disdainful snort.

"The old man has already disbanded his Root. Danzo no longer has the qualifications to cooperate with me."