Hey! How's your day going? I hope it's going great.
I wanna clarify from the start that this chapter also ended up being a bit long, but I got really inspired when writing it, and I actually cut many things off when editing (it had reached up to 5k words lol). But anyways, I hope you like the chapter, and remember:
I DO NOT OWN DBZ NOR NARUTO.
She pulled out her kunai out of the man's head. She cleaned it with a part of the man's uniform as she didn't want to get her clothes dirty with more blood. One of her teammates turned to look at her with an eyebrow raised. She replied by smiling.
"Why do you clean it?" The orange-haired boy said. He was resting from the battle they'd just had against some jounin from the Leaf. His teammates, standing all around him, were waiting for him to recover.
"This is my favorite one, it has a 'T' carved in its blade, don't you see?" She extended her hand to show it to him. "I was sure you all knew about it."
"We do." Kidomaru replied as two of his arms were crossed.
Jirobo shook his head in response to what his teammate said. The dark pink-haired girl shrugged. The orange-haired boy surrendered and decided not to cause any more noise than there already was. He kicked away one of the corpses close to him before standing up.
The grayish blue-haired boy sighed as if he had been desperately waiting for hours, even though it had just taken a couple of minutes. Something caught his attention, though, and it was not only his that got caught. Everyone turned back to look at a mature, slightly pink-haired man that was standing firmly with a menacing look.
"Lord Orochimaru will kill us for being so late..." Kimimaro said while sitting back down.
The man started to clearly tremble at the sole mention of that name, but the determination in his eyes didn't seem to dissipate. His green eyes stared deeply into the brown eyes of whom he thought would be his first victim. He received no more than a maniac smile from the girl, who had just finished cleaning her kunai. The man, who was wearing a black jumpsuit without the typical green vest of the Leaf, did not hesitate to jump on the girl, aiming a kunai at her head.
"How cute." She said before evading the attack, going back in a matter of seconds to land her kunai on his back. The man yelled in pain as blood dirtied her kunai once again. She took it out only to this time nail it on his head. "I expected more of you." She got away from the man after removing her kunai. This caused more blood to come out of the man's head, which dyed his dark pink hair.
"S-Sakura..." Were the last word he said before finally dying.
"Let's move already, we're really close." The boy of the white hair said, standing up as if nothing had happened.
His teammates followed him when he started running towards the already visible arena. Their speed was quite decent, although the people that now were part of the pile of dead bodies they'd left behind were really aware that it wasn't their maximum speed.
"Oh, really?" Orochimaru licked his lips.
The Third knew he couldn't lose the upper hand of the battle if he wanted to finish it before he got tired. He raced towards his opponent, throwing a handful of kicks and punches, all of them being evaded by the man of the snake traits. The Hokage then attempted to hit him with his elbow, once again failing; his arm was grabbed by Orochimaru this time, though, and it was used to throw him away.
He stood up, sweat coming down his forehead. He made several signs. "Earth Style: Mud Clones!" He yelled as four masses of mud emerged from the floor, adopting the appearance of the old man. The now five identical figures started to run towards the man, alternating positions to try and confuse him. Once they reached him, the formed a line.
The first one of them jumped directly at Orochimaru, engaging battle. The other four positioned themselves all around the two of them. The man of the snake traits transformed his arms into white snakes, attempting to bite the man's neck. He didn't expect the Third to use his real body to fight with him directly, and so he was surprised when he used the armor he wore on his forearms to block the snakes. And already there, he wasn't able to do anything when the Hokage used the snakes' grip to impulse himself into kicking Orochimaru's face. The old man let himself fall down, then rolling away from the man with the snake traits.
"Earth Style: Mud Bullets!" The clones' hands were open, all aiming at their opponent.
In a blink of an eye, many masses of mud, similar to a cannonball, were thrown at the man. He wasn't able to dodge any as the amount was just overwhelming from every direction. Every impact was surprisingly painful for just mud.
"Air Style: Great Breakthrough!" Orochimaru let a powerful gust of wind come out of his mouth, repelling all the mud bullets and pushing the clones away. He did not like that he was almost caught by the old man, which took him to get serious once and for all.
Hiruzen struggled not to fall, although he was lucky that the gust of wind stopped not long after the clones disappeared into just mud. He was starting to figure how strong his former student really was. He got ready for a summoning before his opponent smiled sinisterly.
"Summoning: Reanimation!" His smile was then hidden by two coffins that emerged from the floor. One of the coffins had the inscription 'First' carved in it, while the other one had the inscription 'Second'. The Hokage's jaw dropped down at the mere sight of those two coffins. However, his confidence and his opponent's nervousness was interrupted as the portal closed immediately after the second coffin came out, not even seeming to attempt getting a third one.
"W-what?" The Third knew what was happening, but he was still not ready to admit it, even though he had already gathered enough evidence. His fist clenched without him even noticing. He then looked at his former student, seeing confusion in his face.
"Maybe there wasn't a third sacrifice..." He murmured, then shaking his thoughts off and recovering his focus. He finally made one more hand sign, apparently causing the lids of both coffins to fall down, revealing two men.
One of them had long and dark brown hair, almost black, and was wearing a black jumpsuit, similar to the one of the Hokage, under a red armor. The second one had shorter, silver hair and wore the same attire as the other one, although his armor was blue. Both seemed to be no more than corpses in a coffin, but not long after the lid fell down, they stood up straight and walked outside the coffin. They seemed to have recognized the Third.
"Oh, Hiruzen," the man with silver hair said, surprised to see his pupil at such an old age, "you've grown older."
The Third watched in awe as his two predecessors had been brought back to life.
"Why are we back?" The man of the red armor raised his eyebrows without understanding much of what was happening.
"The reanimation technique." The man of the blue armor answered. His cold tone brought memories back to the Third. "And by whom?" He continued as he turned to look behind him, being seemingly unsurprised at what he saw.
"This means we'll have to fight Hiruzen?" The man of the red armor said. He received a nod from the silver-haired man. "That's unfortunate..."
Orochimaru chuckled at the astounded face of the current Hokage. He was starting to run out of option as he didn't expect the old man to have much more chakra and the tiles of the roof were already starting to run out, that's to not even mention the numerical disadvantage.
"I won't die until the village is safe," Hiruzen spoke, his determination translating to his strong voice, "that's what I vowed to do, that is what the Will of Fire means!" These words captivated the attention of the man with the red armor, causing him to smile while he got into his fighting stance.
"To die for this corrupt and decadent village?" Orochimaru said. The two men that were reanimated attacked, just as they were mentally ordered by him. "That Will of Fire you defend so pridefully is nothing more than a lie to control the people from the Leaf." The man of the red armor was enfuriated by this claims, but the jutsu he was victim of didn't give him the opportunity to say or do anything against it.
Hiruzen ignored his former student, glimpsing at his side. He spotted Yuichi approaching the fight at phenomenal speed, although it was common for him. This was relieving, now he wouldn't be forced to summon Enma, he could save some more chakra. He was barely able to block the blow from his predecessor, so he was forced to jump back to evade the kick coming from the man of the red armor.
And just as soon as Yuichi was jumping into the battle, he was kicked back by a four-armed boy, making him fall from the roof. Along with him, another three shinobi, seemingly teenagers, formed around the battle, each one of them close to one of the four corners the roof had.
"Ninja art: Four Violet Flames Formation!" The four ninja yelled in unison, the four of them making the same hand sign.
Hiruzen knew what would happen once he saw a purple barrier rise up into the sky, closing any possible exit he could use and blocking any support he could receive. He was now forced to waste more chakra. First of all, he would need space.
"You are late, incompetent scum!" Orochimaru hissed at the ones closer to him. "And where is Kimimaro?"
"His sickness worsened suddenly and was forced to go back." The orange-haired ninja replied, only causing his boss to turn his back on them and not talk to them anymore.
"Earth Style: Mud Slide!" He yelled, causing his predecessors to be washed away by a slide of mud, winning some time. He bit his thumb, followed by several hand signs and finalizing in a seal appearing in the roof, coming from his hand.
The First already knew this trick, and for such reason he prepared a jutsu after quickly jumping out of the mud. He got his hands together as he gathered his chakra. "Wood Style: Birth of the Trees!"
As trees emerged from the roof, Hiruzen struggled not to be caught between them, constantly jumping off them. His legs were progressively growing exhausted, his age was starting to pay off. He finally got caught by one of the branches of a growing tree. His efforts to get away from the tree were erratic; this caused a smile to escape his former student's face, it was surprising to see him like that, but it favoured his victory. This smile soon disappeared as the man of the red armor called his attention.
Hiruzen was able to extend his hand to a nearby branch. His muscles relaxed when his hand was able to feel the wood. He sighed once a black seal covered the branch, he now only wanted to pronounce some words.
"Come forth, Monkey King Enma!" He yelled.
A giant monkey with white fur-also wearing a black suit under a kimono shirt with fur trimmings and a tiger pattern on it, as well as a forehead protector with the symbol of the Leaf carved in it-appeared from a cloud of white smoke that emerged from the seal. Orochimaru's face now showed disgust instead of previous confidence and satisfaction.
The giant monkey recognized the man of the snake traits almost immediately. Its facial muscles contorted to show its fangs, although it seemed to contain itself when it hid them again. Enma turned to look behind him, finding the Third trapped in some tree branches. It pointed at the branches, using its other hand to scratch its beard. Hiruzen nodded at this, which was followed by the monkey destroying the branches with its claws and not presenting much struggle.
"Now," Hiruzen said as he got into a different fighting stance than his previous one, "Enma!" The monkey got its hands together and transformed into a giant staff, almost doubling the size of the old man.
"Ok, then." Orochimaru said. He then opened his mouth inhumanly, showing a snake that seemed to come out of his throat. The snake's mouth was the next one to open, and it let a sword out once it did so.
The Third ignored his two predecessors, charging directly against his former student. The staff clashed with the sword several times before Sarutobi attempted a low sweep on the man of the snake traits. This failed, and he was therefore required to block the sword with his forearm, breaking the armor he had in it. He slid at the side of his opponent, rapidly standing up and pushing his opponent forward with a hit in the back.
Orochimaru scowled at this. He quickly turned and attempted several sword attacks on the old man, failing in each one of them. In the last attempt, Orochimaru threw his blade to the Third's side, winning him some seconds. He extended his arms and pounded the man to the floor, causing his staff to fall from his hand and roll towards the trees behind them. Once in the floor, the man of the snake traits kicked the old man, making him fall with his face up.
"What happened, sensei?" He wasn't able to hide his teeth. "You didn't even use clones."
"You're not acting like yourself, Hiruzen." Enma's voice spoke from the staff. Orochimaru turned to look at it, finding that it had already turned back into its monkey form.
The giant monkey charged against the man of the snake traits, its sharp claws aiming to cut through his pale skin. But when the monkey was about to hit him, the Third brought his opponent down by grabbing his knees with his own. Once Orochimaru was down, he made a hand sign, causing the explosive papers he'd put on his predecessors to blow up. Enma scratched the back of its head as it saw how the old man proved it wrong.
Unfortunately for the now tired Hokage, his two predecessors recovered from any damage they had received from the explosion. They didn't take long to stand back up. A drop of sweat came down his forehead.
Then I'll be forced to do this. He glanced at Enma, not needing words to express what he needed from him. I hope you can forgive me, but I need to defend the village at all costs. He turned his sight to his predecessors, and then back to his former student.
"You seem tired, sensei." said Orochimaru, his mocking tone showing his confidence. "What has become of the so-called 'God of Shinobi'? An old and pathetic man." Hiruzen squatted as he got his hands together. "I have never seen you in so much pain."
The old man's knees trembled, sweat covered his face and he seemed to run out of breath at times. Enma had ignored this fact, but he could see it perfectly now, and it worried the Monkey King.
"Why did you make those experiments, Orochimaru?" Hiruzen changed the subject abruptly, catching the giant monkey by surprise, but seemingly not being suspicious for the man of the snake traits.
"Easy, old man, a technique that allows me to change my body whenever I want." His face turned into one of a woman. The Third's face showed horror at this, which caused him to burst out laughing maniacally. "You see, I've learned that aging is pointless. Look at you!" He didn't laugh this time. "When a body becomes useless to me, I can transfer my mind into a younger, stronger and more beautiful body."
"Hmmm." The old man remained as still as he could, his knees still trembling slightly. "I see, so you are after one of the last Uchiha." Orochimaru smiled widely, inhumanly so. "You have always been interested by the eyes of the Uchiha clan." Hiruzen's eyes suddenly widened as a thought come to mind.
Enma raised one of its eyebrows as it turned to look at the old man. Could it be that Orochimaru has another target? It is true that he has always shown great interest in the Sharingan, but maybe he has other targets now that the clan has almost disappeared. He decided not to theorize on the matter and to let his old friend talk.
"Or could it be that you are after Son Gohan?" He figured that if the kid was as strong as he suspected, the possibility of his former student taking over his body would be devastating for both the Leaf and the rest of the Shinobi World.
"Whom?" Orochimaru asked with newly sparked interest. His smile widened once again as the old man noticed what he had just done. "I was planning to take over Sasuke Uchiha's body, but that Son Gohan seems to be an even more interest prospect for you to react like that."
The two previous Hokage returned to his side, as he ordered. He put his hand in front of his face, then swapping back to his original face. Then, the First Hokage made several hand signs. Many more branches emerged from the floor, directed at the Third, whose defense was down. The impact appeared to be direct, but Enma was able to save the old man by creating a cage made out of staffs all around him.
Enma helped the old man go down from the puzzle of branches and trees that had become inside the barrier. Orochimaru laughed at the pathetic sight of the Third being helped down by the Monkey King. His predecessors would normally try to look away at such sights, but they were being controlled by the man of the snake traits at this point.
"I should have killed you back when I had the opportunity to." He firmly said, surprising the giant monkey. Enma could remember perfectly when Hiruzen let his student go that day. "But I have learned from my mistakes, and I will kill you today." He made several hand signs, which also worked as a signal for the giant monkey. "Shadow Clone Jutsu!"
"You truly have aged." Orochimaru spoke as the two previous Hokage left their places next to him and engaged battle with the famous Monkey King and the two shadow clones the old man had produced.
Enma was pushed back by the man of the blue armor, leaving only the two clones to handle with the two Hokage. It would have jumped back as soon as it could if it hadn't been for the pattern of hand seals he saw the old man make. Hiruzen...!
"The Leaf shall perish after your death!" Orochimaru laughed maniacally as one of the shadow clones was defeated.
"The Leaf is my home," Hiruzen replied, standing up straight, "and as the Hokage, I have the duty of supporting and protecting my home. And the Hokage is also the one who inherits the Leaf's will and the one that passes it to another, so it will not be easy to defeat me!"
The silver-haired man made several hand seals at an even greater speed than the Third had done previously. The old man suddenly found himself caught in a dark space, one in which a phantom could be seen holding his chakra behind him. Some external force that he wasn't able to see started punching his face constantly, putting him on his knees.
"Many shinobi fight and die when protecting this village," he tried to find the strength to stand up once more, his body was really on its limit, "what kind of Hokage wouldn't do the same for them?" He finally stood up, blocking the continuous punches with his remaining forearm armor. "They are all an important part of the Leaf. Even if you kill me, the support will not be broken!"
"Stop talking nonsense, old man!" Orochimaru yelled, the dark space finally fading away as Hiruzen was able to break the illusion.
"I will kill you and correct my past mistake." He got in his fighting stance once again. "I am the man who inherited the First's and Second's will, the Leaf's will... The Third Hokage!"
Orochimaru got the old man back into the dark space, this time ordering the two previous hokage to end it definitively. Enma noticed their plan, but he decided to trust in its old friend. It would only intervene if something went wrong.
"Sealing Technique!" Was all Orochimaru could hear before the two Hokage turned into dust. Two shadow clones of the Third were grabbing them.
"You sacrificed your own men..." Enma watched in horror as the dust revealed the faces of two kids, both wearing the symbol of the Sound.
Sarutobi ignored this fact, resting for some moments before beckoning the Monkey King to transform. The old man charged against his former student, with his last remaining strength. Every blow was fundamental, and so he aimed each one of them carefully; he couldn't fail this time. After some more blows, Enma transformed back into its monkey form and tried to grab Orochimaru. However, many snakes came out of the man's clothes and neutralized its movements, although this couldn't force the monkey's grin to hide.
The third dashed to his back, achieving to catch his former student off guard. The phantom that had previously appeared on the back of the old man now projected its arm through his body. The arm of the phantom got into Orochimaru's back. And it didn't take long for him to notice.
"Damn it!" He yelled as he extended his hand, his desperation distracting him for how obvious his next move was.
Enma managed to free himself from the grip of the snakes. It used both its legs and arms to reach the battle as swiftly as he could, but he still wasn't on time. He caught the sword midair, but it had already partially gone through its old friend's body. Sarutobi coughed up blood on his former student once the sword went through him.
"W-why didn't you dodge that?" For the first time in decades, the old man heard his student's trembling voice.
"In exchange for this technique..." He coughed up more blood. "You have to give your soul to the Death God."
"And half your soul is already out." Enma added, its grip on the sword getting only stronger as Orochimaru tried to pull it even further in.
So that was the chapter! What did you think?
I don't know if you noticed, but I gave Enma some extra importance in the battle. This is mainly because I have plans for him in the future, you'll see!
Anyways, I really struggled to have time to write and edit both chapters this week, so next week you'll probably have 3 chapters! And with that said, see you soon with the next one!