Happy Lunar New Year!

It's been quite a long time since I last updated this story, hasn't it? Well, I'm back now!

I will have to say in advance that this chapter is just ONE part of the whole new chapter. Because of the length of the whole chapter, I have to cut it into four parts. And the next part is going to be out in EXACTLY 5 days after this, for editing purpose. So, enjoy the first part of Chapter 40: Confrontation!

Once again, Happy Lunar New Year!

Chapter 40: Confrontation, Part 1

Kakashi landed at the edge of the cliff with a light "thud". He glanced around, taking the familiar scenery which he didn't ever want to remember again into his view.

It had been years since he last visited the site of the Battle of the Kannabi Bridge. That bridge was no more, but the memories had been engraved so deeply into his brain he hadn't dared come back to this place since that destined day.

But now he had a reason to come back. He needed to do it, for the sake of a friend he had to save from the darkness.

"So you suspect Rin Nohara might not be dead yet."

Hiruzen Sarutobi looked at Kakashi after hearing Gai's report from his mission to Kirigakure. Of course, he had gotten that information for the sake of Kakashi himself, so it was natural for the boisterous taijutsu master to tell Kakashi about that right after he returned to Konoha, even before reporting to the Hokage.

"According to what the Mizukage has given us, that assumption might not be very farfetched, Hokage-sama," Kakashi nodded.

Hiruzen scratched his cheek. "What I still cannot understand is why she didn't return to the village if that were the case. It has been quite some time since the revolution of Kirigakure ended; she had more than enough time to return to the village, then go away and then return to the village again. We cannot rule out the possibility of her already being dead."

Kakashi nodded. "Indeed. That is why I'm requesting a week of absence."

The Hokage blinked. "You're planning to go track her down?"

"Yeah," the cyclops nodded again. "And I have a feeling that I already knew where to find her."

And now he was standing here, at the place where everything in his life had changed. He wasn't sure why, but something in his mind told him that not only would he find clues about where Rin actually was here, but the answer for everything was also lying here, waiting for him to expose.

"Now, let's find out."

With those words, he walked down the hill, towards the place of destiny.

For a few seconds, no one dared move a muscle.

It's not like they hadn't expected a confrontation with Orochimaru. In fact, when the Mizukage revealed the news that Orochimaru had appeared near Kirigakure, Naruto had already known that they would have to encounter him somewhere during the mission.

It's just that no one could imagine Orochimaru arriving at Isobu's lair way ahead of them, and even defeating the Tailed Beast, alone, seemingly without even breaking a sweat.

Not to mention that it was freaking creepy to see five people that looked exactly the same staring at them with the same crazy slasher smile on their face. Well, Naruto actually didn't have any right to say that, but…

For the sake of not wasting parts of the story to think about the names for each body of Orochimaru, the author is just going to call them the Orochimaru Corps for now.

"What do you think about him, guys?"

'Hmm…' he heard Kokuoh saying. "I'm not sure; his chakra is indeed terrifying for a human. And to be able to defeat Isobu alone without breaking a sweat like that… maybe he is as powerful as you think. Maybe you should be careful."

"I know. Even looking at him alone, I can feel the enormous anount of chakra coming from each of his body."

"What is your intention, Orochimaru?" Before Naruto could raise his voice, Mei had already spoken up first. "Why are you after the Three-Tails now?"

The Orochimaru Corps replied her all at the same time, still with their nasty smiles. "You are too naïve to think that I would give you any idea about what I'm going to do."

"And what would you do if we force you to tell us?" Haku retorted, a little bit too confident for her sake. Orochimaru raised an eyebrow.

"Ah, little Haku-chan. Then we must see if you are able to do that first, aren't you?"

"Okay, just stop it with that voice, really!" Naruto butted in, annoyance clear in his voice. "Seriously, that's just fucking creepy. Listening to one of you talking is already scary enough!"

"Nine-Tails," Orochimaru answered, still with that creepy legion voice, turned towards Naruto. "What a good opportunity. I haven't forgotten the humiliation you and your cursed team gave me in the Forest of Death three years ago."

"Oh really?" Naruto retorted in a confident voice. "If you already knew that, why don't you run away now? You might be able to avoid another time being humiliated."

"Do you really think you can do anything to me, demon?" Orochimaru sneered. "I know that you have just finished some kind of training with the pervert, but trash would always be trash. You still have a long way to go before you could catch up with people like… Sasuke-kun."

"Aaaaah… CHOOOOOO!"

Tenten wrinked her nose when snot and spit hit her face. "Ew."

"Sorry," Sasuke grumbled, wiping his own nose with his sleeve while offering the girl a handkerchief. "Maybe someone is talking about me… curse you, Naruto…"

"So, what do you need of me so much that you need to come to my home to sneeze at my face instead of going to the workshop?" Tenten raised an eyebrow.

"Well…" Sasuke twiddled his fingers not unlike a certain Hyuuga girl, which raised Tenten's eyebrow even higher. "Can we get inside first?"

The girl of Team Gai grimaced in disgust. "Ew. Are you hitting on me? Wait until I tell Sakura about this…"

Somehow Sasuke's face managed to blush and pale at the same time. "NO! I mean… I'm not trying to flirt with you! I'm just here for… business! I mean, I have something I want to ask you for assistance…"

Tenten still glared at the Uchiha with suspicion, but after a few seconds, she turned and led the Uchiha into her house.

After the pair had managed to settle down on the couch in Tenten's living room, she asked. "Okay, spill it. What do you want?"

Sasuke went straight to the point. "You were the one who made Naruto's mechanical arm three years ago, aren't you?"

Tenten was a little bit taken aback. "Well, no… that arm was created by my dad, but I believe if I try, I can make something which might stand equal, if not better than that now. I have learnt quite a lot from my dad in the last three years, you know."

"Excellent," Sasuke grinned. "So what if I tell you I want to collaborate with you in making something way bigger than that?"

Tenten couldn't say anything for exactly four seconds. Then, at the fifth, she answered with the biggest grin anyone could ever see on her face.

"I'm listening."

"Then let's see how this trash is going to kick your ass, Orochimaru."

That growl came from Naruto. He opened his eyes, and everyone could see he had entered Sage Mode in just that single second. Orochimaru still smirked, although his smile had faltered a little bit.

"Sage Mode… so you have become stronger than the last time we met, Nine-Tails."

Chakra suddenly burst from Naruto's body. Everyone had to cover their eyes when the pillar of light swept through them, blinding them momentarily in the process. When the light died down, Naruto was covered once again in his chakra shroud he received from Kurama and the Tailed Beasts. But different from what it used to be, instead of its usual cloak-like form, the shroud now looked more like a body-fitting armor shielding his chest, torso and crotch, with arm braces, shoulder pads, boots and a helmet made of glowing, golden chakra. Black lines could be seen clearly engraved on each of the armor's parts, connecting to and expanding the spiral seal on his torso. Surrounding his body, there were three black spheres which rotated around him like three tiny satellites. And the most astounding thing about it was…

"Tailed Beast chakra… together with Sage Mode… Impressive. But you must be an idiot to think that you can defeat me alone with just that."

Suddenly a beam of chakra cut through the air, aiming at the Orochimaru Corps, and the Snake Sannin actually had to jump away to avoid being reduced to atoms by the surprised bombardment from above. The beam pierced the ground, leaving a big gaping hole right between Naruto and the Orochimaru Corps.

Fuu landed on the ground next to Naruto. The tip of her staff was still glowing with energy.

"Don't worry," she glared at Orochimaru. "He's got help."

"Seven-Tails too…" Orochimaru narrowed his eyes. There was a hint of worry in his face now. "So you decided to gang up on me, huh…"

"Not only her," the voice of Mei rose from behind Naruto. She had walked up to the two jinchuriki while cracking her knuckles. "You should be worried, because every person here all shares the goal of finally killing you once and for all."

"Big talk," the Orochimaru Corps sneered. "Three years ago you could only do something to me because you were with the two most powerful shinobi Konoha had to offer. What do you think you can do with only these two monsters as your backup?"

Naruto glared at the middle body of Orochimaru.

"Of course I know what I can do," he answered curtly, and his mouth curled up into a smile. "And you will go down here… because I already knew your weakness."

Then he moved. The force of him kicking the ground was so strong the ground under him was torn apart violently, and in less than a blink of an eye, he appeared in the middle of the Orochimaru formation.

What speed!

The golden bullet then launched his palm forward. It connected with the body standing in the middle of the formation, who seemed to be too shocked to react, and the body was launched violently into the rock formation behind it with a force so great a web of cracks was formed all over the surface of the very hard rock. Not stopping there, Naruto spun on his feet, and a tornado of chakra exploded from his body, tossing the four other bodies of Orochimaru around not unlike Neji's full power Rotation. The tornado died down, and the four Orochimaru were thrown away; their bodies flailed around in the air helplessly before crashing into the ground with four similarly sickening "crack"s.

The four Orochimaru stood up nearly immediately. They started going through hand seals very quickly, but before anything could be done…

"Lava Style: Restrict Lock!"

Surges of hot liquid lava burst up from underground. Upon contacting Orochimaru's bodies, they immediately hardened, trapping them in prisons made of incredibly sturdy concrete.

And four massive Rasengan slammed down their heads from above.

"W… whoa…" Haku breathed out in awe. "Naruto-kun has become incredibly strong…"

"Mizukage-sama too," Shiro narrowed his eyes. "If it were Fuu-san and Naruto-san I could understand, but to think that even Mizukage-sama can cooperate with him so flawlessly…"

"It's not over yet," Kosuke suddenly said. "Watch out!"

Sharp spikes made of white bone erupted from the ground all around the battlefield, and the shinobi of the alliance had to retreat quickly to avoid being skewered. The swordsmen swung their swords to cut down the spikes, but more and more of them burst out from the field to replace the downed ones almost immediately.

"Brace yourself!" the old man yelled. He slammed his right foot down, and the forest of spikes stopped expanding immediately. One by one, they retreated back into the ground, returning the battlefield to its original state.

From the craters, the four bodies which had just been hit by the giant Rasengan stood up, cracking their necks as if nothing happened. And the main body which had been punched into the rocks also walked out from the piles of debris. On his hand was a sword made of something that looked like a spine, showing that the body used to belong to Kimimaro Kaguya, the leader of the Sound Four who wielded the kekkei genkai Shikotsumiyaku.

Naruto gritted his teeth. "Of course it can't be that easy…"

Orochimaru responded in kind. The bone-sword on his hand separated into pieces, connected by a chain Naruto didn't know what it was made from. It lashed out like a whip, swiping at the Naruto clones who were charging forward. Even though the whip-sword looked fragile as hell, its strength was more than enough to dispel all the Naruto clones enhanced with both Sage and Tailed Beast chakra in a single hit. The area was filled with smoke in an instant.

Then a Rasenshuriken tore apart the smokescreen, aiming at all five bodies of Orochimaru. Instead of the greenish blue color the technique usually had, the giant chakra shuriken was now glowing in a dark golden color, showing that it was pumped full of Kurama's and nature chakra. It crossed the distance between Naruto and the Orochimaru Corps in a blinding speed, and it seemed they were going to be shredded into minced meat.

However, that never happened. Before the jutsu could even travel half its way, the body with six arms had already jumped into action. From its six wrists, web shot out, grabbing rocks scattering around the battlefield and pulled them in front of the Orochimaru Corps, crashing into the incoming Rasenshuriken. With the sudden collision, Naruto's jutsu was forcefully detonated, forming a vortex of wind so strong it nearly threw everyone off their feet. Debris covered the battlefield.

Then Orochimaru's voice rose from behind the vortex of wind.

"Scorch Style: Daimonji!"

A ball of scorching hot fire burst out of the wind vortex. Coincidentally, thanks to the Rasenshuriken, the power of the already powerful jutsu was amped up even further, and when it hit Naruto, it exploded violently into a flower made of crimson fire, drowning the jinchuriki in a sea of light and heat.

"Naruto-kun!" Haku screamed.

But when the explosion died down, she sighed in relief. Naruto was shielded in a barrier made of the black substance from the three orbs rotating around him. The barrier retreated back into the orbs, and everyone could see there wasn't even a single scratch on him; the black shield was just that powerful.

"Out of the way, Naru-kun!"

From behind him, Fuu yelled. Glancing back at her, Naruto immediately understood what was going to happen. His eyes widened, and he hastily jumped aside before…

"Lightning Style: Thunder Calamity!"

A blizzard of thousands of daggers made of pure lightning chakra tore through the air and rained down the Orochimaru Corps' heads. With the incredible speed and covering range of the jutsu, dodging is impossible. There's no way Orochimaru could avoid this…!

However, they had underestimated someone like Orochimaru too much.

The body with six arms, now standing at the center of the formation, which used to belong to Kidomaru of the Sound Five, immediately made blindingly quick hand signs with all six of its hands. It spat out a string of something golden from its mouth, which quickly spread around and formed a cage made of gold around the Orochimaru formation. The electric daggers were all absorbed into the cage and drained into the ground harmlessly.

Then Orochimaru saw Fuu's face. The right side of her mouth was rising upward into a… smirk?

Why is she…? Wait, where is the…?!

"Die."

When…!? No, it couldn't be…!

Orochimaru-Kimimaro hastily and desperately threw his head backward. From his mouth, a new body shot out right before Naruto's Planetary Rasengan landed on the old body and tore it to shred. The power of the jutsu, enhanced by the momentum of the three satellite smaller Rasengan rotating around the core, was so immense the mere shockwave coming from the impact was enough to tear apart the gold cage as if it were made from paper. Dust, debris, gold and Orochimaru, pieces and bodies, flew everywhere.

"How…!?" Orochimaru snarled when scrambling back to his feet. "Shinobi older, smarter than you thousands of times have spent all their lives to figure out that jutsu to no avail. How could an idiot with no talent like you manage to learn the Flying Thunder God Jutsu?"

"Looks like… you underestimated our power," Naruto grinned. "Just like you did in Konoha years ago. And THAT is exactly your weakness, Orochimaru."

In the middle of their usual meal at Ichiraku Ramen, Naruto suddenly brought out a strange question.

"Hey, Pervy Sage! Do you know what Orochimaru's weakness might be?"

Jiraiya blinked when he heard Naruto's question. "Well, that is a very difficult question to answer," the old Sage admitted. "When it comes to ninjutsu and things, I don't think that bastard has any weakness at all. He had managed to almost reach immortality after all."

"That is where you are wrong, my student."

The two shinobi turned towards the entrance of the store, where the new voice had just emerged from. But the old ramen chef was the one who raised his voice first.

"Lord Hokage! Long time no see!"

Hiruzen entered the store with a smile. "Long time no see, Teuchi. And you too, Itachi," he added upon seeing the Uchiha entering from the back. The man only nodded in return. "One of my usual favourite, please?"

"Coming right up!"

After the Third Hokage had settled down on his own stool, Naruto spoke up. "So you know what Orochimaru's weakness is, don't you jiji?"

"Of course I know," Hiruzen nodded. "After all, this is a very common weakness of shinobi who thought of themselves as powerful, you know."

Naruto blinked. "And that is…"

The Hokage smiled. "It is…"

"I still couldn't believe someone like you would fall for something like that," Fuu raised her voice; her staff was still smoking after the bombardment jutsu. "Just a few sluggish moves, some mediocre jutsu and a little bit of showing off, and you're already hell bent on thinking that we are just two weaklings who can't do anything but wasting our Tailed Beasts' chakra."

Then she added with a grin of her own. "If that is everything a Legendary Sannin can do, then you still have a long way to catch up with us."

Orochimaru's face turned purple with fury. "After I'm done with you, there won't be a bone left in your pathetic body, you cheeky bitch!"

Wicked, purple chakra started leaking out of all five bodies when black marked began spreading over them. Soon, all of Orochimaru's bodies entered their Stage 2 Cursed Seal states at the same time.

Naruto grinned. "Now this is when the real battle begins."

"Anything, Pakkun?"

The ninja puppy glanced back at his partner. "Just as you thought, Kakashi. It is very vague, but there definitely is some of her odor here. Just like… it has been here for years already."

"For how long?"

Pakkun shook his head. "No way to know. Based on the strength of the smell, it might be about fourteen or fifteen years. Or maybe even more, I guess. But there is no way to tell exactly when."

Kakashi winced. Pakkun was the ninken with the best sense of smell in his pack, and if even he couldn't figure it out, there was no way anyone else could.

Still, it was still a result.

"Fourteen or fifteen years… that is about the time when the Third Shinobi World War was over," he mused. "So she did come here after she was released from her custody…"

"There is another weird thing, actually."

The jonin blinked. "What is it?"

"Her smell exists not only on the surface. Though very difficult to detect, it reaches out underground too."

Kakashi's eyes narrowed. "What?"

The battle, as expected, soon turned into a gigantic carnage.

Not only did the Cursed Mark transformation boost the power of each body massively, it also gave the users a massive, nearly unlimited amount of chakra, to the point they could throw devastating jutsu around as if they were nothing.

And Naruto was now regretting his decision of provoking Orochimaru, after being bombarded by at least twenty high-powered techniques, each of which had the power to destroy a battalion. Even though they couldn't hurt him thanks to his Truth-Seeking shield, the destructive power of those jutsu might hurt the others.

And the worst thing was, even though Orochimaru had to resort to the Cursed Marks to gain advantage, his teamwork still didn't lose any touch.

"Maybe I shouldn't have pissed him off," Naruto thought while throwing up his shield to deflect another explosion.

'You just realize this now?' Kurama said dryly. 'And you'd better hurry up; you only have five minutes left until that form reaches its limit.'

Naruto winced. This was the first time he used that new form, which he named Tailed Beast Sage Mode, in actual battle, and he hadn't thought about the time until Kurama mentioned it. Up until now, he could only maintain that form for fifteen minutes straight; after that time limit he would have to power down and wouldn't be able to use it again for three days.

He had to duck when a drill made of bones nearly pierced through his forehead while wreathed in flame, being shot from the gold bow of the six-armed body.

We won't be able to do anything if we just let all five Orochimarus stay close to each other like this…

He glanced at Fuu and Mei. No word was said, but both of them understood what he meant. We need to separate them.

Summoning his swords into his hands, he rushed Orochimaru-Kimimaro, who was also charging at him, this time with the Sword of Kusanagi ready on his own hand.

Like two dancers entwining in a deadly sword dance, the two shinobi traded blows after blows.

Usually, in a battle between swords, the swordsman with the better blade would come out victorious. And the Kusanagi, which belonged to Orochimaru, was infamous for being one of the sharpest, sturdiest swords in the whole history of bladed weapons. If trading blows directly, there's no doubt that almost none of the swords in existence now could survive two clashes with the evil katana on Orochimaru's hand.

However, Naruto was one of the rare people who could bypass that common rule.

His Niten Ichi-ryuu sword style, taught to him by a descendant of the famous swordsman Musashi Miyamoto, was create to fight against opponents with bigger, better swords; the creator himself had defeated a lot of enemies during his time with that style, including the infamous swordmaster Kojiro Sasaki. That style doesn't focus on powerful strikes, but rather on quick, well-timed parries of his enemies' own strikes and then wearing them down in a battle of stamina. That was why Master Miyamoto, wielding only two makeshift swords made from a wooden oar, could defeat Kojiro even though his opponent owned one of the best swords in the world.

And if Kojiro Sasaki, one of the greatest swordmasters in the history of humankind, the one who was in possession of the legendary skill Tsubame Gaeshi, the undodgeable sword skill which is said to be able to cut down a flying swallow, had to admit defeat against the owner of the Niten Ichi-ryuu Style, then how could a normal swordsman like Orochimaru could even think about overcoming it, even with the best sword in the world?

And it seemed Orochimaru himself realized this. Because the two had traded more than fifty blows already, but Orochimaru still hadn't been able to land a single hit.

Even worse, it felt like he was being pushed back.

How did this brat manage to grow so much in such a short time!?

Another thing that pissed him off was… even though the brat was obviously using the beast's power, he didn't even transform into the beast form. It was just like… he was toying with him. He didn't even think of Orochimaru as a worthy enemy of using his full power.

Snarling, the Snake Sannin threw the Kusanagi at Naruto. The sword flew at the jinchuriki like a missile, but it was nothing against Naruto's enhanced reflex; he only needed to lean aside for the sword to fly pass him. Using that moment, Orochimaru went through very quick hand signs.

"Fire Style: Dragon Gunfire!"

The scorching white flame from Orochimaru-Kimimaro's mouth shot out towards Naruto. Even with the chakra cloak protecting him, Naruto knew it would hurt a lot if it hit. So he also dropped his swords, and went through the hand seals of one of the simplest water jutsus he knew, pumping as much chakra as possible into it.

"Water Style: Water Gun!"

The jet of water shot out of Naruto's own mouth wasn't a normal water stream at all. Rather, it was like the most gigantic fire hose in the world had just erupted. The two jutsus clashed violently against each other, making a dangerously loud hiss in the air and at the same time covering the whole vision of the two shinobi in a thick cloud of steam.

"Heh."

'Dodge to the left, Naruto!'

The sudden yell of Goku from inside his head startled the jinchuriki. He hastily leaned aside again, right before an arm bone flew past where his head had been just a moment ago and stabbed itself on the trunk of a tree behind him.

And to his horror, the tree started disintegrating. Not breaking down, not burning; the tree was disintegrating bit by bit starting from the place the bone struck it.

'What the heck is that?!'

'From the look of it… that should be All-Killing Ash Bone, but that technique is supposed to be lost forever!' Naruto heard Kokuoh exclaiming inside his head. 'Even though that Shikotsumiyaku kekkei genkai is derived from her ability, it shouldn't even be able to reach that level! How did that bastard Orochimaru do it…?'

'Now is not the time to worry about that!' Naruto thought urgently when he felt similar chakra to the attack coming from where Orochimaru was standing, albeit in a much bigger scale. It's obvious that the Snake Sannin was planning to go wild with the attack to take him down at any cost.

It's impossible to dodge all of them if that's the case. And if he let Orochimaru let loose the attack, it would harm the others, too.

Then I would have to match all of them with my own attack!

And doing that was something very easy for him. He had been able to match the attack of the First Hokage himself; something like this was just like a child's play to him.

Hundreds of kunais and swords of all kinds appeared from thin air and surged forward right at the moment the bones shot out from Orochimaru-Kimimaro's body. The two rains of projectiles met each other in midair and completely neutralized each other in deafening clashing noises. Shrapnel flew everywhere.

Some of the shrapnel was thrown towards the three Swordsmen and the other members of Team Naruto. Chojuro reacted immediately, using his sword to block them, but when the shrapnel touched the outer cover of Hiramekarei, the sheath itself started disintegrating, too.

Damn it… so even small pieces have the same power…

He couldn't prolong the battle any further. He needed to finish this right now.

"Shadow Clone Jutsu!"

Three clones of Naruto appeared in a puff of smoke. Chakra swirled, and a Rasengan formed in an instant in Naruto's palm. The three clones gathered around him, beginning to create his most powerful jutsu…

Then suddenly Naruto felt a sharp, piercing pain in his stomach. He looked down, and saw the blade of the Kusanagi protruding out of his torso.

"Gah!? How…!?"

He collapsed onto the ground in pain when the sword ripped itself out of his stomach and flew back to Orochimaru, who grabbed it by the hilt easily while walking towards him with an arrogant smirk.

"You arrogant brat. You think that you can afford not going all out against me. Too bad for you… that arrogance would be the very same thing that brings your downfall here, Nine-Tails."

Naruto could only look up at the Snake Sannin with a glare full of anger. Orochimaru walked up, with the Kusanagi raised high, ready for the final strike…

Then Naruto smirked. And disappeared in a burst of smoke.

Orochimaru-Kimimaro's eyes widened when he realized what was going to happen. He tried to jump away, but there was no way he could avoid the Rasengan slamming into his stomach from the real Naruto who had been hidden underground.

Naruto landed on the ground with a laugh.

"So who's being an arrogant brat now?"

At the same time, Mei was fighting the two Orochimaru bodies which used to belong to Jirobo and the Sakon-Ukon brothers. Despite being outnumber three to one, she was still holding herself pretty well against the enemies.

She clapped her hands together, and the ground rumbled. Lava and rock erupted from under the surface and melded together, forming a gigantic golem. It let out a roar, and threw a nasty punch at the Orochimaru Corps. But before the punch could hit, Orochimaru-Jirobo had jumped forward and met the punch with his own punch. The force of the punch was so incredible it shattered the golem back into shards of debris and rocks.

But if that were everything the Mizukage could do, she wouldn't have been called the Mizukage, after all.

She quickly flipped through another series of hand seals. The fragments of the golem scattering around the battlefield immediately melted back into lava and surged upward into a humongous wave of magma.

Orochimaru's eyes widened when the wave towered over his head and was about to crash down on him. "Oh son of a bi-"

Orochimaru-Sakon immediately went through very fast hand seals. The two heads opened their mouth and spat out a torrent of water at the incoming magma wave. It wasn't enough to stop the whole thing, but at least what it managed to do was splitting up the wave so that the two Orochimarus wasn't charbroiled by the overheated lava.

"Rock Wrecker!"

Orochimaru-Jirobo's eyes widened. "Rock wha-?"

Then a giant fist made of rock smashed into his face. He flew away like a ragdoll, which was something rather impressive coming from the Mizukage, as Jirobo's body was very fat and heavy.

"You bi-"

Not yet! This is not the time to hold back my assault!

"Lava Style: Acid Rain!" Mei yelled, and spat out a shower of sickly yellowish green liquid at the two bodies of Orochimaru. Anything touched by the liquid was melted immediately, and Orochimaru had to hastily retreat back to avoid being liquefied by the technique.

Damn it…! If this continues, even these bodies won't be able to hold it…

Under the relentless pressure from the Mizukage, Orochimaru-Sakon didn't realize that he had been forced towards the direction of Orochimaru-Jirobo, who was still lying on the ground, stunned from the attack of the Mizukage. And that was the final nail in the coffin.

"Ice Style: Chilling Prison!"

Immediately, the two Orochimarus were trapped in the icicle prison, courtesy of Haku. They tried to break out, but couldn't even move a muscle to use hand seals.

"You…" The only place on their bodies they could move was their mouths. "After all… you… are still… a coward… still couldn't… face me… alone…"

"Look who's talking," Haku, from behind, walked forwards and stuck out her tongue at him. "You are the one who ganged up on the Three-Tails yourself first."

Orochimaru-Sakon snarled. He opened his mouth wide, ready for his special Substitution Jutsu…

…only for a lock made of ice being stuffed right into his open mouth.

"Ah ah ah," the girl wagged her finger mockingly at him. "Can't let you do anything to escape, can we? Now, stay there and watch."

Orochimaru couldn't do anything before the icicle prison was complete, locking both of his body inside helplessly.

Meanwhile, Fuu was having troubles with Orochimaru-Kidomaru and Orochimaru-Tayuya.

It's not like she didn't have enough power to overcome them. In fact, if it came to firepower, with the help of Chomei in her Hyperia form, there was no way she could lose to them.

However, that was only true if she were fighting them one by one. In a fight when one side had the superiority in number, there was no way to tell that one side had a clear advantage or not, even if they were more powerful.

And unfortunately for Fuu, she was facing Orochimaru here. His raw power might not be able to compare to what she possessed, but when it came to experience, he had decades more than her. A sixteen-year-old girl simply couldn't have enough strategic skills to compare to two Legendary Sannins, even if she was trained by one. And worse for her, he was pissed.

She could fly. But too bad for her, Kidomaru was the member of the Sound Five with the best anti-air strategic advantage. He could create a bow which, with his six arms, could shoot arrows with the velocity of anti-air missiles… just like what she was being shot with, right now.

'Aw crap… maybe pissing him off like that isn't a good idea after all…'

Another arrow made of gold wheezed across her face, slicing a strand of her hair off and leaving a rather deep cut on her cheek.

"Ow!"

Meanwhile, Orochimaru-Tayuya was still following Fuu's movements on the sky. Then, without any warning, she (or was it he?) opened his… her… its – oh whatever – mouth and screamed.

Suddenly Fuu felt something hit her chest with the force of a truck. Losing her focus, she fell from the sky and hit the ground painfully. Had anyone stood next to her, they could have heard the sound of bones cracking from her body.

As a member of the elite Sound Five of Otogakure, Tayuya was chosen by Orochimaru thanks to her special ability, which allows her to manipulate sound waves. With the ability, she could do a lot of things, including using music to control puppets and cast sound-based genjutsu. However, Orochimaru doesn't have any talent in music, so a lot of skills he inherited from Tayuya after taking over her body were unusable to him.

However, it didn't stop him from just screaming at his enemy with the speed of sound and the power of a cannonball.

'Fuu-chan! Are you all right?'

Even Chomei was so shocked by the sudden surprised attack she couldn't react in time to shield Fuu from the impact with the ground.

Another gold arrow was released from the deadly bow on Orochimaru-Kidomaru's hands. There was no way she could ever dodge the arrow coming for her with more than enough speed and power to pierce through her and a few rocks behind her.

There was only one choice…

"Blossom Shield – Fortress Mode!"

Not one, but ten, shields made of chakra appeared out of thin air and formed a line in front of Fuu, standing in the way and taking a direct hit from the incoming missile. To the jinchuriki's horror, the arrow pierced through the first nine layers of the barrier line as if they were made of rice paper. Gritting her teeth, she pumped more chakra into the last one, and it exploded violently, throwing the arrow off course, but not before leaving her a few burn marks on her arms, legs and body. Her magical girl outfit was torn at the chest and torso due to taking a direct hit from the explosion, exposing the lower part of her breasts and her navel. But thankfully, the move managed to help her avoid the worst outcome. The battlefield was immediately covered with a thick cloud of smoke.

And then she felt it. Both bodies of Orochimaru dashed out of the smokescreen and flanked her from both sides; their Kusanagi Swords were aiming for her neck.

And she knew this was when she made a turnabout.

She stretched her arms to the sides, and two Blossom Shields appeared in a flash of light, stopping the two swords dead on their ways. But Orochimaru didn't even falter; the Kusanagi Sword is the sharpest sword in the world, there's no way those filmsy energy shields could stop it for long…

"Binding Shield!"

What…?!

Chains made of pure orange energy burst out from the surfaces of the shields and immediately wrapped themselves around Orochimaru-Kidomaru and Orochimaru-Tayuya, who were both too close to even think of avoiding. In just a blink of an eye, they were completely restrained from moving even a muscle.

"It's a mistake of yours to think that I would take on someone like you alone," Fuu said with a triumphant grin. "Because, no matter how strong I am, or would become…"

And two swords pierced Orochimaru-Tayuya and Orochimaru-Kidomaru from behind.

"…we are still a team," Kosuke, the owner of one of the swords, finished the sentence for her.

"They got him!" Chojuro exclaimed.

"Wait a bit," Shiro suddenly said. "Something is wrong…"

A deafening howl, which sounded like it came from a very angry animal, made him flinch.

Then everything went chaotic in just a blink of an eye.

"What the hell is this…?"

Kakashi grimaced when he reached the place Pakkun had gotten the trace of Rin's odor from.

It was something way beyond his capability to imagine. The place was a gigantic chamber which had no reason to be underground at all, with flat walls and torches lighting up the space covered with giant tree roots. But the thing astonishing him the most was hundreds of thousands of the same creatures which had been the enemy force at the siege of Sunagakure.

Kakashi wasn't someone who would feel fear easily. But right now, he was feeling sweat running down his cheek uncontrollably. If this… army were deployed all at once, Konoha would be eradicated in less than a day, no matter how many skilled shinobi she had. No, screw Konoha; he didn't even know if an alliance of every single Great Village in this continent could stand against this monstrosity of an army.

"So you managed to find this place. As expected of the famous Kakashi of the Sharingan."

Kakashi looked back, and realized he was looking at the masked man of the Akatsuki.

"So this is your doing," he calmly looked at the enemy's face, which was hidden under the orange spiral mask without any sign of fear. His enemy snorted.

"Well, maybe. But you are not going to leave this place alive to talk about that."

Kakashi smiled under his mask.

"We'll see about that."

His Sharingan morphed into the pinwheel shape of the Mangekyo Sharingan, and Kakashi disappeared in a vortex.

Kakashi landed on a pillar in the Kamui dimension. Even though he had practiced a lot with the Mangekyo technique, saying that it didn't give his chakra reserve a considerable drain after each use would be a very big stretch.

"You think you can escape from me by running away into this dimension?"

He turned. The masked man was materializing into the dimension in a similar way he did himself: in a spiral vortex.

"So it is true," the cyclops mused. "I have been hoping… that my idea was wrong… that it was just a crazy idea of a desperate man who couldn't escape from his own sins… but…"

The masked man didn't say anything. He just looked at Kakashi's face with an impassive expression, still hidden under his mask.

"Why are you doing this…?"

The two Mangekyo Sharingan with the same pattern stared into each other.

"… Obito?"