Chapter 60

We had a plan, sort of.

It started when Tsunade-sama explained that the reanimated Hokage had bodies that self-rejuvenated and chakra that self-replenished, essentially making them immortal. She also followed it up with an explanation for why killing Orochimaru was also a bad idea because it would leave the technique activated forever.

Of course, all of this happened while we were trying not to get killed by the reanimated Hokage.

"So you're saying that we can't kill any of Shodaime, Nidaime, and Orochimaru?" I asked, dodging a tree branch that sprung up from the ground. "This is not looking good, Tsunade-sama."

"Tsunade is correct. The only way to end the Edo Tensei was to force the user to release the technique or to seal the souls that powered the reanimation," Nidaime said as he aimed a kick towards my neck. I ducked at the last second and raised my arm to block the swipe of his hand that followed.

The armguard made a loud crack as numbness spread through my arm. With a body that did not tire, Nidaime's taijutsu was at its peak, demonstrating a speed that I could barely catch up with and a strength that overpowered me greatly.

A flurry of shuriken arrived a moment later, narrowly missing my outline and flying towards the Senju warrior. Nidaime didn't even bother avoiding the ones that weren't aimed at his head and limbs, letting the shuriken drill itself into his chest. Instead of blood, paper dust flew out and I was sure that a moment later, his body would be as good as new.

Still, Itachi's diversion had given me enough of an opening to flicker myself out of there, before the man aimed another kick that ended up hitting the floor and shook the ground with force.

"The plan is still viable. Our focus has never changed," Itachi reminded us and our gaze fell on the pale figure standing at the farthest corner of the battlefield, behind the Senju Hokage he had summoned up, watching our struggle with amusement and confidence.

Our goal, from the very beginning, was Orochimaru. Whether it was Father's Mangekyou or the end to Edo Tensei, it was Orochimaru that held the key and we had to make him give it up willingly.

For that, Itachi was needed as the single most important piece of the puzzle.

Just saying, I hoped that the situation never had to come to this - Itachi's method was a little counterintuitive considering why we wanted Father's Mangekyou in the first place - but with Edo Tensei as an additional stake, it seemed that we had no other choices.

Moreover, with the reanimated Hokage aiming to kill us with each and every move, exhausting our attention and movements, they essentially acted as a shield for Orochimaru with their tireless attacks.

It would be up to Tsunade-sama and me to hold them at bay, giving Itachi enough leeway to actually threaten Orochimaru.

Shodaime summoned up a forest using his Wood Release and changed the battlefield into his territory. However, Tsunade, with the release of her Strength of a Hundred Seal, was able to occupy the Shodaime's attention, breaking his wooden structures and even zooming in on him to perform an attack.

Like she explained, both the personality and the skills of the reanimated Hokage were superficial. Even a technique as broken as Edo Tensei had an internal scale of balance. The mind and the body were always connected, one couldn't put a limiter on the mind without putting a limiter on what the body could perform. However, if Orochimaru let the mind take free reign, then he couldn't be sure that the souls he had pulled back could be controlled, especially not souls as strong as Shodaime and Nidaime.

Therefore, even if these … corpses spoke like Shodaime and Nidaime, recognized the people and village they once loved, and were able to strategize on the enemy's weakness instead of attacking based on pure instincts, they were merely a fraction of what made up of their former selves, both in terms of the mind and the skills.

"That's why we still have a chance," Tsunade-sama concluded. As for how big that chance was, well, that was left in the air.

A tsunami of water rained down on Itachi and me and before we could scatter, sharp branches sprout from our sides, caging us on a path that would meet the water's full force less we wanted to get impaled by the thick vegetation.

Shodaime's glance was always on his granddaughter, but he knew that compared to Tsunade, Itachi and I were just normal humans with normal bodies that could be destroyed with one single blow.

Honestly, it felt like cheating, me and Itachi walking in here where everyone else seemed to have a way to survive a stab to the heart and a bisected torso.

Quickly making the hand seals, I slapped my hand on the ground and forced the Uchiha Kaenjin to rise, incinerating the wooden branches and bracing the tsunami that had arrived at the same time.

Vapour soon started to rise as the water was boiled the moment it touched the red barrier. I nodded at Itachi as I let the barrier drop and we both jumped up just before the remaining wave would fall on us.

With the vapour occluding the vision, Itachi let out a barrage of wind blades that sliced through the mist and flew towards Nidaime. Quickly, our opponent reacted by erecting a wall of mud around him, neutralizing the wind blades as they slammed into the wall.

Along with the wind blades, I arrived with lightning coursing my body. Accompanied by a spark of lightning, Nidaime's right arm was sliced from the elbow. I landed on the mud wall before the broken arm could even fall into the water and flashed forward again, slicing his other arm off in an instant.

Catching the moment when Nidaime's ability to use large-scale ninjutsu was momentarily interrupted by the loss of both hands, Itachi didn't hesitate to move past us, heading straight towards Orochimaru.

Of course, Orochimaru wasn't just going to stand there and watch. His arm slithered into a large brown snake, racing towards Itachi like a whip. Itachi dodged the bite, only for the snake to spit out a sword from its mouth, stabbing right into his body. To no one's surprise, Itachi bursted into a flock of crows in a flurry of black feathers.

While Itachi appeared behind Orochimaru, I grazed my sword on Nidaime's neck, feeling the thick layer of earth chakra that gathered on his skin, preventing my blade from digging deeper. At the same time as my blade touched his skin, the water rose up from under his feet and caved in. Needless to say, I flickered the hell out of there before the water could trap me in a prison.

Of course, Orochimaru was prepared for Itachi's crow clones. Without even looking back, he opened his mouth and a snake lashed out towards Itachi behind him. Itachi took a few steps back and blew out a series of Hōsenka that bombarded Orochimaru. He tried to hide by melting into the ground, but for just a moment, he paused.

Itachi's genjutsu never needed eye contact, it was pervasive with every single attack. The genjutsu wasn't strong, but all Itachi was looking for was a moment of opening.

However, before Itachi could exploit that moment, a giant wooden dragon slammed down on both him and Orochimaru, followed by a water dragon. I didn't think the two reanimated Hokage were making a distinction between who they killed, as long as they killed one of us.

Itachi didn't linger, setting up a crow clone to block the attack as he fled the warzone. Orochimaru broke out of the genjutsu a moment later, disappearing into the earth. Itachi landed a few meters behind me, watching for the snake-sannin with vigilance.

"Impressive speed, but not quite as fast as the Hiraishin," Nidaime commented as he rose out of the water prison, hands already regenerated. In all ways, it sounded like a diss, but I imagined that the Nidaime Hokage wasn't the kind to flaunt, maybe.

True, if he had the Hiraishin, I probably needed a constant Susanoo just to stay alive. However, the fact that it had not happened meant that he couldn't use it. The body and the mind had come with the soul, but not the external artifacts, including the seals that were needed for Hiraishin.

Of course, there would be times that he needed to make a new seal in battle and there was always one suitable material that could be abundantly acquired - blood. Funny, the Nidaime was reincarnated with a body that couldn't die and came with it, was a body that had no blood.

"Beware of blood," I warned Itachi. With Tsunade-sama's regeneration, Itachi and I were the only two people here who could bleed profusely, providing material for Nidaime to forge the Hiraishin seal.

Itachi nodded, figuring out what I meant in a second. Nidaime raised his head as if agreeing with my observation. "It seems that I don't need to say more." No, he didn't. Itachi and I would have to avoid getting injured by him, and if by any chance that it couldn't be avoided, I needed to stop him before he could make the seals needed for Hiraishin.

"On the other hand, you don't have enough pressure in your attacks to stop me - to stop us," he said, already figuring out what our plan was and exactly what role each of us was supposed to play in it. "Uchiha child, you need to do better."

Ah, I hate it when he's being honest.

I didn't answer him, instead, I placed my hand on the ground, splashing up the layer of water that covered my wrist. Half a field away, a crimson lotus bloomed from the forest floor, right under the man who was standing on the water.

The petals snapped shut in the blink of an eye amidst the vapours, catching Nidaime's feet as he jumped up. The blaze turned one of his feet to paper dust with only burnt edges that remained.

Violently, I let go of the control and saw the lotus go kaboom in front of the white-haired man. A wave of water sprouts up in front of him, dousing the wild flames. Catching the mass of that chakra behind the curtain of water, I sent the crimson arrow flying, watching it pierce through the waterfall straight towards my target.

"Too slow." The arrow only managed to graze his shoulder as he lowered his body. "And you need to be more agile." The whirlpool stirred below me as Nidaime placed his hand in the water. In my vision, the entire battleground was lit up with chakra.

Hastily, I shot a wind bullet into the ground, breaking the whirlpool that caught my foot. However, tendrils of water had already risen up around me, whipping their bodies towards me before I could react.

Chains of fire dragons came to my aid, wrestling with the water tendrils, sacrificing themselves in the process. Some distance away, Itachi had to let go of his pursuit of Orochimaru, giving the snake sannin a chance to slip back into the tree again.

Even then, one of the water tendrils slammed into me with force, sending me into a tree that had risen due to Shodaime's command. I felt the air being emptied from my lung as my back burned with pain.

My eyes warned me of a series of water bullets that were flying towards me and I slammed my sword hilt into the tree, forcing myself to turn and get out of here. One of the bullets grazed my stomach, leaving a large bloody cut on my skin. Without a word, I gathered fire chakra at my fingertips and smeared it across the cut.

Pain erupted a second later, making my body tensed up. In front of me, Itachi breathed a wave of fire, forcing Nidaime to halt his attack on me.

This wasn't working, not even a single bit. So long as Itachi had to come to my aid, he could never do what he needed to do.

However, as Nidaime said, I lacked an effective method to exert enough pressure on him that he had no choice but to leave Itachi alone. I couldn't get close to him injury-free unless I used Jinrai, but just the swords in Jinrai were not dealing enough damage to suppress his movement. On the other hand, my long-range ninjutsu was too slow and predictable, especially considering how easily he could counterattack, with no constraint on chakra and the option to sacrifice his body if necessary.

So it comes to this again. It was exactly times like this that my mind went to Mangekyou. Susanoo would probably solve all my problems, like countless times before. Whenever I had to face an enemy that was more sturdier and destructive than usual, I always had to use the Mangekyou.

I told Itachi at every argument that I didn't need to rely on the power of Mangekyou. But looking at my sorry state, gee, I wondered why he never gave up on trying to offer his eyes.

"Are you giving up?" Suddenly, Nidaime's solemn voice rang loud across the water-logged ground. He was standing with one foot while his other was slowly regenerating. With his ink-black eyes, he seemed to see through my decision in a second.

I supposed that he was right in a sense. I was about to deny everything I had tried so far - every technique that I had practiced endlessly to perfect - and turn to the help of the Mangekyou.

How should I put it? They just couldn't match up.

"Maiko, switch with me." It was Tsunade who called out to me as she crash-landed towards Nidaime. Her punch broke apart the ground, sending a violent splash of water flying along with Nidaime. "Your Fire and Lightning Releases are a horrible match-up for Nidaime's Water Releases. Might as well try switching things up."

And that will somehow make things better? I wanted to scream, but my body moved on its own to intercept Shodaime as he followed Tsunade. My hands finished the seals automatically before I touched the ground, letting the screen of Uchiha Kaenjin rise up to block the violent advances of a whole damn forest.

The wood got burned to dust the moment it touched the ruby red veil, but there always seemed to be more coming. When the trees and branches finally stopped surging, I saw the long-haired figure standing in between the shades of brown and green, adorned by the forest and blessed by nature.

"Was Tobirama being mean earlier? Don't mind him, he always talks like that." Shodaime yelled from across the clearings, but the tumbling branches around me never stopped in their goal of crushing me.

Lightning activated in my body and I flashed out of the swarm of branches. In the span of a breath, I landed on a tree trunk behind him and let the layer of lightning chakra faded. "Tobirama is right, you are fast-"

His words were interrupted when I gathered the chirping lightning on my sword and let the icy blue blade stab through his chest. I figured it was a little rude for me to interrupt him with a Chidori to the heart, but there was also the fact that he was already healing as soon as I pulled out the blade and suddenly, I didn't feel so bad.

A feeling of strangeness nagged at me. Chidori and my Yin-chakra fire were similar in their destructive power, yet Shodaime's injury from Chidori was already healing amongst the crackling lightning. On the other side of the battlefield, Nidaime's foot had finally regenerated, but not before Tsunade landed a punch on his chest, sending him into the ground.

Then again, Senju Hashirama was known for the incomparable vitality that came with the Wood Release. So, just to confirm, I dodged a wooden spear that was aiming to impale me and tapped the surface of a large branch.

My chakra flowed forward and in a second, a red lotus opened beneath the tall man. He switched with a wooden clone, my eyes told me as the flower shut tight. Still, I pushed the chakra through, willing it to go farther and farther until it reached the true Shodaime that was standing in the shadow made by leaves.

The tree behind me stirred, I could hear the spikes surging forward from the surface. However, just this once, I didn't move. Water bullets arrived as I expected, breaking the spikes at their weak points.

Once again, Itachi slipped out of the shadow and repelled a fatal attack for me. Thank you. I'm almost done making you wait, no matter what the outcome of this … experiment is.

A second flower bloomed ferociously from the tree trunk behind where Shodaime stood, biting off an arm and a chunk of his shoulder. Then, I snapped the control and the compressed fire blew up like a firework, incinerating every wooden structure in that area.

"That's an … interesting Uchiha Kaenjin I'm seeing." Shodaime had the time to say when he retreated to another branch, freshly grown just to catch his landing. Sure, small talks were for those that weren't on the verge of dying.

I saw his burnt shoulder, cleaved off cleanly by the lotus fire. Paper dust was floating around the area, signifying the start of regeneration, but it was clear that the speed at which his flesh reformed had slowed.

Shodaime caught my glance as he looked down at his shoulder as well. A moment later, he smiled. "It seems that you noticed. The core of Edo Tensei is the soul being summoned and the soul determines the strength of the body it inhabits."

It wasn't the concentrated fire or the destructive power of the red lotus that interfered with their regeneration, it was the yin-chakra that got threaded through the flames. The foreign yin-chakra somehow disrupted the pure state of their soul, like a drop of ink that got dipped into a pond. Eventually, the ink would get diluted by the vast amount of water and the pond would return to clear again. However, at the moment of its appearance, the drop of ink disrupted its purity and calmness.

"Thank you," I conversed with the reanimated Hokage for the first time. Kind of ironic, considering how Shodaime flickered in front of me and aimed a kick towards my head. I ducked, letting his leg slam against the tree trunk, shaking the leaves with a loud smash. They had no choice but to kill us, but they were still trying their best to help.

These were still the souls of Shodaime and Nidaime Hokage, after all.

"You're welcome. But the problems that Torbirama mentioned are still present," Shodaime said as I parried another kick with my sword. Going along with the momentum of his force, I let him swiped me to the side and flipped in the air, landing on another branch nearby. "It's strange, you seem to have everything - speed, power, agility, and technique - but you can't ever get them to work simultaneously."

It was true, Jinrai specialized in speed, while Yin-chakra Fire specialized in damage. Against a normal opponent, the speed of my jutsu was never an issue, but here, be it the Kaenjin, the lotus, or the arrow, they felt clunky and slow, with an activation time just long enough for the counterattacks of my opponents to interrupt.

To be fair, they could afford to get hit, I couldn't.

There was one other way though - activate Jinrai only for the duration of movement, interlace it in between my use of jutsu so that I could move and dodge with more agility.

"If only it's that easy," I muttered as Shodaime sent a wooden dragon towards me. Hama Ya gathered in front of my hands and shot off in an instant. I didn't even have the time to observe the arrow piercing the dragon before I had to move again to escape the spears rising from the branches.

If only it were that easy, then I would have been able to activate Kannon Bosatsu in time against Tobi and Orochimaru. Whenever I finished Jinrai, there always seemed to be a tiny gap in time before I could use my chakra again, like a circuit that had to be reset before starting again. This tiny pause was not significant in normal situations, but here, any openings I had got infinitely magnified and could very well be my undoing.

Tsunade-sama always reminded me that theoretically, I should be able to end Jinrai and start another jutsu immediately. They were all just chakra, flowing chakra, she said. They were supposed to be one. However, the last time I tried that, I almost choked on my own chakra and was left with a sore arm for the entire day.

Oh well, since I'm already this far down the road. With that decision made, I coursed the lightning chakra through my body and dashed.

With my timescale moving faster than the world around me, my internal sensations seemed to get amplified while my external perceptions save for the Sharingan dulled in comparison. I felt the chakra moving through my body in waves, spreading outwards into my limbs before returning to the centre.

After two dashes, I broke through the cages of branches and saw Shodaime, standing guard against my Jinrai. The moment I pushed myself off the tree, I forced the lightning chakra to withdraw and regathered Yin-chakra to fill the blade. Infusing metal weapons with a chakra aura was the simplest form of nature chakra manipulation, and I might as well start on something basic.

Like last time, my chakra felt like it got stuck in my body. My blade never lit up and in the end, I only managed to slice across Shodaime's leg, creating a shallow cut that healed itself a second later.

The feeling of soreness nagged at my arm - it was never good to push chakra against its natural flow - but I had to reorient and flicker away before a barrage of taijutsu would rain down on me.

No time to lament for failures. Once again, I activated Jinrai, focusing on the waves of chakra flowing out and flowing in, The lightning chakra returned to the center of my body right before I was about to land and immediately, I dispelled Jinrai, converted the lightning chakra into yin chakra just as the flow expanded out again.

This time, my blade lit up in the familiar silvery glow and I didn't hesitate to slash the blade down.

"Oof, almost. If only you had a little more speed." Shodaime commented as my sword grazed his shoulder - the side that had almost reformed from earlier - before a wooden clone popped up between us, pushing me back. He was right, I had to dispel Jinrai at the last possible second to make the trajectory unpredictable.

Once again, I disappeared in a crack of electricity just before his wooden structures crushed down on me. Outward and in, I landed on a tree branch, seeing the tall figure to my left. However, just before the lightning chakra gathered in, I jumped to the right.

I pulled JInrai back in midair and when my chakra expanded out again, it reached my blade and made it glow silver just before I slashed my blade down.

The slash cut through the camouflage on Shodaime as the wooden clone fell down behind us. If this was a normal body in front of me, his trachea would have been cut open along with a slash across his torso. But this was a body from Edo Tensei, there was no blood, only a wound that looked like someone had slashed a clay figure.

However, the damage didn't regenerate immediately as Shodaime's steps turned sluggish for a second.

A crow flew over us, glaring at me with its red eyes. I mouthed 'I'm ready', knowing that Itachi would see. A moment later, the crow cawed, telling both Tsunade and me that he was starting. A flash of lightning appeared in the corner of my vision, driving Orochimaru out of the ground, right into a flock of crows.

Tsunade-sama didn't even blink in her attack as she kicked Nidaime into the air. Water bullets from behind pierced her body, but her wounds started to close as soon as they appeared.

"Tsunade-sama, catch!" I yelled as I threw my tantō to her, already infused with yin-chakra. It would dissipate in a few seconds, but enough for a slash. Tsunade caught the blade as she jumped up and I flashed towards Shodaime, leaving behind a spark of lightning.

In the count of a breath, I zoomed to a spot covered by shadows and charged forward, switching from Jinrai's lightning chakra to the yin-chakra right before I slashed across his right knee, cutting it like butter, making him stumble in balance.

It didn't always work. I was out of practice, after all. When I went for his other leg, my yin-chakra blade didn't activate in time because I was a little off with the timing, so I had to retreat before a cage of wood sprouted around Shodaime, attacking me and protecting him at the same time.

Across the battlefield, Tsunade-sama pinned Nidaime down in a crater, created when she smacked him down from midair. Smoothly, she sliced through his right arm with the tantō right before the yin-chakra faded. Even though there was no fire, the wound looked like it got seared by the flame, preventing the paper dust from gathering and regenerating the flesh.

"Another one!" Tsunade shouted as she tossed the sword back to me. I caught the tantō and threw her the ninjatō, already imbued with the silver chakra. Suddenly, a snake bounced off of a tree, opening its mouth to snatch the silver blade. A shuriken pierced the snake, pinning it into a tree as the ninjatō arrived safely in Tsunade's hand.

"What are you planning, a genjutsu that would make me release Edo Tensei?" Orochimaru mocked Itachi with annoyance as my brother cornered him with a wall of fire. "Even if it's you, the chances of a genjutsu being successful is abysmal once your opponent realizes your intention. Besides, you're at your most vulnerable when casting a genjutsu. Do you think the reanimated Hokage would let you live with such a golden opportunity?"

"I wouldn't worry about the second part if I were you," Itachi said just as a red lotus manifested at where Shodaime's wooden cage stood. This time, I cut off the control as soon as the lotus bloomed, allowing it to explode in its full glory.

I didn't have time to waste, activating Jinrai as soon as I caught the fleeting figure amidst the fire. A wooden dragon crashed down at where I once stood, but it was too slow - I had nothing but speed right now.

Calm yourself, remember the circulation and match the timing, the thought flashed through my mind and in a blink, I was in position. Out, in, withdraw, convert, and expand. This time, my blade glowed in perfect timing as I sliced through his other knee, making Shodaime tumble onto the ground.

The next try didn't work and I almost got swallowed up by the wood, if I hadn't turned Jinrai back to escape, despite the screaming cells in my body. At this point, there was nothing else to do except keep trying.

Itachi never pushed me for anything. He always cleared the obstacles in front of me so that I could walk the road a little easier, with a little less injury along the path.

So this time, please let me clear the obstacles for you.

Two more flashes of lightning mixed with the silver glow of the moonlight, I discarded Shodaime's arms. With one last dash of Jinrai, I slammed my sword-hilt into his body, sending him flying into a tree trunk, a few meters away from where Tsunade punched Nidaime into a tree, both his arms cut off and delayed in its regeneration.

Hama Ya was slow in the eyes of Shodaime and Nidaime, but with their body so broken and thus, their ability to use chakra affected, there was no reason for it to not hit.

I kneaded the chakra in front of me, letting a dozen balls of ruby-red fire gather at the same time. The clusters of fire soon expanded into the shapes of arrows - well, the shape was a little rough to be called arrows, feathers might be a better word.

Ah, my arms feel dead. There were probably a few bruises under my sleeves from internal bleeding caused by unregulated chakra flow. But at least my tenketsu were still functioning.

I narrowed my eyes at the two Hokage and let the crimson feathers pierce through the air, stabbing into their bodies, pinning them into the trees and burning more holes in their already disfigured bodies.

"You look horrible, Tobirama. Tsunade did you good." For someone who had just lost all functionality of his limbs and had a few holes in his torso, Shodaime was looking rather relaxed.

"You're one to say, brother." Nidaime glanced at his brother's body, or rather, the parts that were missing.

Behind us, on the other side of the field, Orochimaru let out a 'tsk' of irritation as Itachi disintegrated into a flock of crows.

"As for your concerns on my genjutsu. Have you ever heard of Kotoamatsukami?" Itachi's voice sounded from a distance. Orochimaru's eyes widened in shock just as a crow appeared in his vision - a crow with a red Mangekyou in its eye. Instinctively, Orochimaru turned around, and what greeted him was Itachi's own Mangekyou.

Orochimaru didn't know that Kotoamatsukami had been used, but clearly, he knew of its monstrous effect. However, Kotoamatsukami was never Itachi's plan.

"Tsukuyomi." With that, Itachi cast Orochimaru in an eternal nightmare. As for how Itachi planned to get him to release Edo Tensei, he had his ways.

"So, you got what you want. How long will it take for Edo Tensei to be released," Shodaime asked me when he saw Orochimaru and Itachi both falling into silence.

"Just a few moments," I answered, catching the ninjatō that Tsunade had thrown back to me.

A few moments for us, but for those in Tsukuyomi, a few lifetimes.

(づ｡◕‿‿◕｡)づ fuwa~fuwa~desu~~~

There was a saying that a person's life would flash through their eyes when they died.

Itachi didn't know if that was a common occurrence or not, but he did know that he could make it happen for others. Their lives so far, and their lives to be completed, Itachi could unfold them all for those caught by Tsukuyomi, right before they are killed by it.

This was the last bit of dignity that Itachi could offer to his victim.

"For a second, I truly thought you had a plan. But what do you think you can do with Tsukuyomi, torture me? Kill me and risk having Edo Tensei running wild?" Orochimaru asked, his emotions relaxed as soon as he realized that this was not Kotoamatsukami, even if his body and mind were bound by Tsukuyomi's domain.

Itachi looked at the snake sannin as he stood in front of the red moon, his shadow dissolving slowly into the marble-like background.

"Orochimaru, why do you pursue immortality?" Itachi asked instead, watching the scene of a laboratory expand from Orochimaru's body, colouring the red domain into a shade of gray.

Orochimaru didn't say anything as he let the touch and smell of his laboratory overwhelm him. The sensations must have felt like reality, even if he knew that he was within a genjutsu. That was the power of Tsukuyomi, able to weave a genjutsu that was even more concrete than reality.

"I supposed the answer doesn't matter." Itachi didn't bother waiting for an answer. The time in Tsukuyomi had already started to stretch. "But Orochimaru, avoidance of death and senility eventually leads to fear, no matter how it started."

Orochimaru feared death and senility. His endless research and journey towards finding a way to preserve his body, memories, and knowledge had made him cheat death multiple times. But here, Itachi made sure that Shinigami would be able to chase the fleeing snake and made him pay his debt in full.

Orochimaru's body started to age. It started with the skin, next, the muscles, and then, the bones. Itachi made sure that he could see every wrinkle on his skin and feel the cracking in his bones as ageing took its course.

One second had passed for Itachi, but twenty years had just passed for Orochimaru. He would feel every single second of it, the slow and agonizing decay of his body as he searched endlessly in his laboratory, trying to find something, anything out of his pile of 'experiments' that would slow down the course of nature for him.

But there was no such thing in Tsukuyomi. Itachi made the rules from the very beginning.

"Tsukuyomi turns genjutsu into reality. Everything you felt and experienced will stay with you forever, Orochimaru. This feeling of decaying flesh, trapping you into a body that will soon wither and die. Not just your physical body, your mind too, will decay and wither with time" Itachi said, allowing Orochimaru to hear his words at that intersection of time.

"Release Edo Tensei, and you won't have to feel such things anymore." Itachi made his offer. He had chosen to say it now because soon, memory loss would hit him as per the progression of ageing.

Orochimaru's wrinkled fingers twitched, but as expected, he wasn't just going to accept Itachi's words. It was just a genjutsu, which was also a reality for Orochimaru, who was keenly aware of the fact that Tsukuyomi, in all its essence, was merely a work of imagination.

Another second had passed for Itachi while fifty years passed for Orochimaru. Itachi saw Orochimaru's endless attempt to save himself from the clutch of nature. In a passing scene, Itachi saw the flash of the red sharingan in the freezer and in the next, it was gone.

In between those two scenes, was Orochimaru's futile attempt to find help from Ryūchi Cave.

Itachi constructed this version of 'life' for Orochimaru using a bit of his own memory. The process was automatic with the Mangekyou, so definitely not the most convenient way of information gathering.

However, sometimes, details of buried memories would show up like this, giving Itachi a hint, just something to guess on.

Knowing the importance of Father's Mangekyou to Itachi and Maiko, Orochimaru must have stored it somewhere only he had access to, so they couldn't find it without his help. His contract with Ryūchi Cave - a place that normal people wouldn't have access to - would have been perfect for that purpose. So, in all likelihood, Father's eyes were with one of his summoning creatures.

Back to Orochimaru, who was holding onto life by the barest of breath. His body had long stopped working as it should. His organs malfunctioned, his flesh had started to rot, his bones had lost the strength to support any movement. His memories and brain functions would have been scrambled for now, but his strong resentment for Itachi still remained as Orochimaru stared at him before he dissolved in crows.

Finally, Orochimaru took his last breath. At that moment, he must have thought that he had won over Itachi because he survived the 'death'.

To that, Itachi let out a chuckle. A moment later, Orochimaru appeared again, young and healthy in his twenties. But not a blink of an eye had passed, and Orochimaru's skin started to wrinkle like an overwashed cloth.

"It won't end, you know. The experience of death and senility will stack and continue to be etched deeper and deeper into your memory, your instinct, and your body." Itachi said, watching Orochimaru breaking his test tubes in anger. His fingers had already started to shake, losing his grip power. He would be about sixty now, if Itachi had to be exact about the passage of time.

The first life was just an appetizer. It was when Orochimaru started his life again that the true implication had settled in. All the fear, the helplessness, and the disgust he had towards his senile, decaying self … they would fully materialize as memories returned to him, compacted by the fact that it would happen again and again.

Tsukuyomi was meant to be traumatizing, and Itachi didn't lie when he said that what happened here would be engraved in Orochimaru's soul even if he were to survive Tsukuyomi.

It took determination, for a goal as grand as that of Orochimaru, even Itachi had to admit that. That was why Orochimaru couldn't afford to let his mind be tainted, let his determination be clouded by blatant denial of his entire purpose.

"What if I don't give, Itachi. Can you afford to keep me in Tsukuyomi until I die?" Orochimaru said in his raspy voice as his ageing body sagged on the chair. Once again, all he could do was slowly feel the life draining out of his body. Youth, vitality, health, intelligence … all those he had sought in his journey would slowly be snatched away from him and all he could do was feel it happen.

Right, Father's Mangekyou and Edo Tensei, those were the trump cards that Orochimaru held in his hands, thinking that his life was untouchable so long as he still held control over them.

To be fair, Itachi wasn't sure if he could kill Orochimaru with Tsukuyomi. Any normal person would have died after experiencing the personal hell that Itachi had designed for them. But this was Orochimaru and nothing was impossible. Even now, Itachi never planned to threaten Orochimaru with his life, merely exploiting the holes in Orochimaru's obsessions and mentalities.

But he supposed that if he kept him in Tsukuyomi long enough, it was possible for Orochimaru to die, or Itachi's Mangekyou would be drained, whichever one would come first.

Still, Itachi laughed at Orochimaru's words. Causing both agitation and confusion to the immortal Sannin trapped in a dying body.

"So what if Edo Tensei continues to be activated after you die? Nidaime made it a kinjutsu, and there's no way that he hadn't taught his students the ways to stop the technique forcibly. The … cost might be great, but Sandaime would do it in a heartbeat." Itachi said in a calm voice as if he wasn't just talking about letting the Sandaime Hokage sacrifice his life.

"As for Father's Mangekyou, it's not as important as you may think, Orochimaru." Itachi walked in front of Orochimaru, making sure that his senile eyes could see the full view of his face. "If I want, I will make Maiko take my eyes and gain the Eternal Mangekyou, even if I have to manipulate her to do so."

Human nature lay on a spectrum of pure good and absolute evil, Itachi had learned that since he was young. Itachi never thought he was controlled by evil, but there were impulses that even he couldn't deny. They were always real, and that was why Orochimaru found no traces of disguise on his face.

There was no question on whether or not Itachi could go through with what he suggested. Orochimaru had seen him as a missing-nin in Akatsuki, where the disregard for human lives and freedom was an everyday occurrence.

Time was ticking. Soon, Orochimaru's memories and judgements would be chipping away as ageing progressed and this cycle would be as good as done, advancing into the third life where nothing would change except the piling trauma.

It didn't take Orochimaru long to make the decision. With his shaking hands, he made the hand seals one by one. Only the second cycle, Itachi thought Orochimaru would last longer, but he supposed that Orochimaru always knew when to cut his losses.

The part of his consciousness that was still connected to the outside confirmed the reanimated Hokage were starting to disintegrate in paper dust.

Itachi kept his words, dropping Tsukuyomi and releasing Orochimaru from this perpetual hell of reincarnation and suffering.

The moment Orochimaru's mind returned from reality, Maiko's Chidori blade had already arrived with the blinding lightning. But Orochimaru was Orochimaru, his mind recovered fast enough to summon a giant snake that engulfed him in full.

Itachi smelled charred flesh as the giant snake disappeared in a puff of smoke, teleporting Orochimaru away using a reverse summon. Lightning faded from Maiko's blade as she flicked it to get the smoking carcasses off.

The summoning creature would probably die soon from injury, but Orochimaru on the other hand had escaped another encounter with death. If he had experienced another cycle of 'life' in Tsukuyomi, his mind might not have recovered fast enough. Then again, he had probably taken it into account when he made his decision.

Should have kept him in Tsukuyomi for at least three cycles before proposing the deal, Itachi thought in his head.

Maiko looked back to where Tsunade-sama stood and Itachi followed her gaze. The paper flesh of Shodaime and Nidaime were breaking off into clouds of dust and flew into the air. The Otogakure shinobi that were supporting the barrier had already run off when Orochimaru was pulled into Tsukuyomi, which granted, was only a few seconds ago in this world.

They needn't worry about them. There were Anbu hiding nearby that could deal with the runaways.

Itachi felt something cold and slimy on his face. It took him a moment to realize that Maiko had placed a bite-size Katsuyu on his face, just below his bleeding eye.

Maiko gave him an apologetic look as she tapped the little slug clinging to his face, telling it to heal his overused sharingan.

"Maiko, your arms too!" Tsunade yelled at the girl. Against a medical-nin, Maiko didn't need to be reminded twice as she rolled up her sleeves, revealing patches of purple bruises on her arms. As they walked towards the three Hokage - both the past and the present ones - she lowered her body a little, allowing the little Katsuyu to crawl on her arms to start the healing process.

"Hokage-sama." Both of them bowed at the two reanimated Hokage, as their pearly white souls were starting to separate from their broken bodies. Itachi might not know them personally, but they were still great Hokage of Konoha.

Shodaime laughed at the scene in front of them - they were crawled with slugs, to be fair - while Nidaime gave them a dignified nod.

"It's too bad, Tsunade, that we didn't get much time to chat," Shodaime said to his granddaughter.

"Isn't that for the best?" Tsunade said instead. She didn't need to explain all that much to Shodaime, who could see the flourishing village for himself.

The battle around the village outskirts was contained. The three-headed snake was being pushed back by Sandaime and Enma. In the Arena, Kakashi and Jiraiya were able to contain everything abnormal in that warded space, minimizing casualties and maximizing efficiency.

"You're absolutely right, Tsunade. It gives me faith, seeing the village in your hands - all of your hands," Shodaime said as he turned to the two of them. He stared into Maiko and Itachi's Sharingan as a bit of nostalgia rose upon his face.

"Orochimaru said that there were only three Uchiha left. How?" Nidaime, however, was far more practical and straight to the point with his words.

At the reign of the Nidaime, Senju Clan had already started to decline with many of its members blending into the civilian population, never to be seen in shinobi's history again. But the Uchiha clan was still populated, running the Konoha Police with full authority.

"Five years ago, there was … a massacre that wiped the entire clan, almost." That was all Tsunade decided to tell Nidaime, omitting the details on the Uchiha Rebellion and the true culprit of the massacre.

"It's too complicated of a story to be told in a few sentences. It wouldn't do them justice." Tsunade concluded and Nidaime didn't ask any further.

Edo Tensei was unnatural. Neither he nor Shodaime belonged here. They were merely passersby in this era, and they knew it better than anyone else.

Itachi heard Tsunade let out a sigh as the souls of Shodaime and Nidaime disappeared in the sky. A pile of paper dust crumbled in front of them, revealing two dead bodies with the Otogakure headband.

There was a moment of silence before Yamanaka-san's voice sounded in their head. "Hokage-sama, Jiraiya-sama requests your help in suppressing the Nine-Tail. One-Tail was rescued by the Sunagakure force and is fleeing the village. Area 12, 17 and 20 also need reinforcement to finish the battle. Commander Hatake wants to prioritize reinforcing the village and he requests your input."

Tsunade only processed the information for a second before turning towards them, silently asking for their status. Maiko nodded, followed by Itachi, telling her that they were good for combat. With Katsuyu's help, the pain in Itachi's eyes had dulled a little and his chakra was somewhat replenished.

With that, her decision was made. "I'm coming to the Arena. Tell Hatake to focus on the shinobi force in the village and bring the battle with Suna and Oto to an end. Maiko and Itachi will go track One-Tail."

"Tell our shinobi that victory is near. Konoha thanks their service, always."

(づ｡◕‿‿◕｡)づ fuwa~fuwa~desu~~~

Kakashi wondered if he had finally lost it when the thought 'hey, this half-rampaging tailed-beast isn't that bad' crossed his mind.

Maybe he had just spent too much time with Maiko and Itachi, where a tap of the hand could incinerate a good portion of the forest. It changed one's perception, you know, over what was manageable and what was not.

Kakashi wasn't sure if that was a positive development. He imagined that it'd made him bolder, but also more stupid.

Gai slammed his foot into the clunky creature made of sand, sending it tumbling backward. However, One-Tail's large size quickly stabilized itself as it spat out a large wave of sand, dyeing everything in their vision a golden brown.

Kakashi hid under the earth as the earth rumbled above him. There was a moment of quietness as he re-emerged, before a sand tail slammed down at where he was. The barrier shook with the forces it had to endure, quite a comparison to the Jiraiya's side.

While the floor of the arena was mostly in shambles now, Naruto in the crimson coat was being restrained under Tenzō's Wood Release and Jiraiya's sealing array. However, they couldn't put on the last layer of the suppression because once they did that, Naruto would lose the protection from Nine-Tail's chakra, and Orochimaru's destructive chakra would run wild.

Jiraiya needed Tsunade to be here to heal Naruto with speed and accuracy once he suppressed Nine-Tail's Chakra. This was one thing they couldn't afford to mess up, no matter what.

On the other hand, Gai and Kakashi needed to finish their side of the battle quickly, before the barrier would break under the pressure. The battle with the Suna-Oto forces was also at its last stages now and Kakashi needed to reallocate forces to push the battle to its finish line.

The outer shell of the Sand Tanuki was already cracking under their constant attack. Still, it was difficult to get their attacks in with such a restricted space while the tanuki did nothing but try to crush them under the sand.

In the blinding sunlight, Gai crashed down from the sky, punching One-Tail in the head and pushing it into the sand-covered floor. Kakashi quickly made the hand seals, gathering the small ball of concentrated lightning until it glowed icy blue.

Then, Hakuryuu zoomed towards One-Tail's face, exploding in its eye upon impact, making the giant Tanuki scream in pain. Gai maintained his balance as he turned and continued his barrages of Taijutsu, knocking One-Tail back again.

Kakashi caught that moment of pause in One-Tail's attack as lightning converged in his arm, lighting up the arena with flashes of electricity. He pushed himself off of an earth wall that was tumbling down, as spikes of sand rose behind him, carrying the rage of the sand creature.

Raikiri charred through the sand as Kakashi's hand entered the shell with barely any resistance left. For the past few minutes, Gai and Kakashi had been hitting this spot while interlacing it with attacks to other locations. Even with the innate regeneration, the sand would get tired eventually.

Raikiri gave out another burst of lightning as the final firework, and the statue of sand cracked and peeled away, revealing the red-haired boy in the core of the sand creature. The Suna Jinchuuriki fell from the sky and landed onto the pile of sand gathered under him.

He rolled over with raspy breaths, before clutched onto his head and growled in pain. Kakashi could see from his chakra flow that it was drained for now, like a crash after the high. But then again, Jinchuuriki always had terrifying potentials when pushed to the brink of defeat.

Kakashi raised his hand, signalling the sealing team to move in and seal the boy's chakra. However, before anyone could move, a series of loud explosions sounded at the edge of the arena. Their barrier that had barely held on throughout the Jinchuuriki's damage had finally collapsed, allowing more explosive tags to fly into the arena, preventing Konoha shinobi from taking a step forward.

Amidst the chaos, Kakashi caught Baki, the Suna Jonin along with the two other genin on his team rushing towards Gaara. Kakashi flickered towards them, using his sharingan to help him avoid the fire and the debris.

"You think you can get away? After everything Suna had done," Kakashi said as he brought the lightning-charged kunai down on Baki, grazing his shoulder as he dodged at the last minute.

"As if Konoha didn't see it coming," Baki mocked, but given the predicted outcome of this invasion, it was hard to say at whom he was mocking. "No matter the cost, we will take Gaara back to Suna."

In the corner of his vision, Kakashi caught a Suna-nin running into the group of Konoha Anbu, with the pattern of the explosives tags in his sleeves only visible for a moment.

Kakashi ran towards their direction, hitting his hand on the ground as a thick dome of earth enveloped him and the others, right before a deafening explosion sounded. Chunks of stone fell from the shattering dome, one of them grazed Kakashi's arm as it dropped down, leaving behind a bloody cut. Soon, Kakashi was exposed to the left-over heat and the smell of charred human flesh.

A little to their left, Gai had cuts and bruises all over his body, but he managed to kick the suicide bomber away before he could explode in full force. At the other corners of the Arena, some Anbu were less fortunate, caught in surprise by the desperate strategy that Suna had used.

Still, Baki and his students carried Gaara away, already out of the Arena and towards the Village wall.

"Commander, Area 12, 17 and 20 require reinforcement to finish the battle. Otherwise, it might drag on for a while." Yamanaka-san's voice sounded in Kakashi's head, The fact that he was asking him meant that all the other forces were occupied, save for the ones at the Arena.

Unfortunately, because of Suna's suicide bombers, they were a little short on reinforcement here.

Kakashi paused for a second before replying, "One-Tail has been rescued by Suna-nin. Ask Hokage-sama what her priorities are, if she doesn't respond, then I'm prioritizing the battles near the village and I will send the remaining forces from the Arena to help."

There was a moment of silence, and just before Kakashi decided to go with his decision, Yamanaka-san responded. "Hokage-sama has finished her battle. She will come to the Arena to help with Nine-Tail's suppression. She asks you to prioritize forces in the village. Maiko and Itachi will pursue One-Tail."

"Barrier team, reorganize and activate the spare barrier around Nine-Tail. Gai and team 2 will go help Area 12, team 1 with me to Area 17, while the rest will go to Area 20. Medical-nin assigned to the Arena, focus on rescuing the injured and removing them from the battlefield if possible" Kakashi assigned the vacant forces at the Arena to their respective posts, before leaving with team 1.

Kakashi couldn't stop his left eye from twitching in unease. At this point, all players in this game with no rules had shown up, except for Tobi and Akatsuki.

"Hokage-sama has spoken, she said 'Victory is near, and Konoha thanks every one of its shinobi for their service and sacrifice. Always."

Kakashi took a deep breath. It was Maiko and Itachi, he told himself. If they couldn't handle the mission, then there was unlikely to be anyone in the village that could. It was every Konoha shinobi's job to do what was best for the village, and as the Jonin Commander, he had to exemplify that more than anyone else.

At least, the sooner they tidy up the battle here, the sooner they could send reinforcement to the fleeing One-Tail and every trouble he brought.

(づ｡◕‿‿◕｡)づ fuwa~fuwa~desu~~~

"Ryūchi Cave. That's beyond difficult to access," I exclaimed when Itachi proposed his guess on where Orochimaru had kept Father's eyes. The residence of the sage snakes was so obscure that it might as well be in a different dimension.

"It's not impossible. Both Katsuyu-sama and Jiraiya-sama's toad summons had connections to Ryūchi Cave as a part of the triad clans that had access to Sage Arts. If they are willing to help, then we might have a direction," Itachi replied. "The real concern is if he's going to destroy the eyes. While I tried to make him believe that it's not that important, predicting human intentions is not always successful."

Right, he did threaten us with that, didn't he? Orochimaru's only reason for destroying the Mangekyou was to make us suffer. But in all rationality, keeping the Mangekyou would serve as a bargaining chip for emergencies, amongst other things. Therefore, Itachi tried to invalidate the first point so that Orochimaru's decision would be inclined to shift to the second.

Nevertheless, human impulses were hard to predict, never mind to manipulate. But between Edo Tensei and Father's Mangekyou, we could only have the solution to one of them using Itachi's Tsukuyomi. Some opportunity, once passed, would never present itself again.

Still, both Itachi and I had decided not to dwell on that for now. We have long moved past the stage where regrets lingered in our decisions.

When we took on the mission to track the fleeing One-Tail, we knew that there was a high chance that Tobi might show up.

Akatsuki's involvement might be ambiguous when this whole Chunin Exam had started, but given how a lot of things panned out, their intentions - or perhaps, their likely next steps, I should say - had started to become clearer and clearer.

With Konoha in conflict with Suna after their invasion, if Suna's Jinchuuriki had suddenly gone missing, there was not a single person outside of the village who wouldn't think that it was us who kept the Junchuuriki captive, save for Kiri who might believe us on the narratives about Akatsuki.

It was the perfect moment to strike for Akatsuki, and Orochimaru's plan of invasion had just created those ideal situations. But still, something else felt amiss.

"If Tobi could teleport others away, then why didn't he just snatched the Jinchuuriki to some remote locations? Why send teams of missing-nin that would most certainly make a ruckus in their attempt to subdue the Jinchuuriki?" I asked Itachi. Deep down, I had an idea, but it was still nice to receive inputs from him.

"Ah, if only things were that easy, then they'd be done collecting the tailed beast already." Itachi had the time to joke. "But tailed-beasts are more sensitive to danger, like the skill of the Mangekyou. Tobi probably wouldn't be able to teleport them away forcibly if their tailed-beast part struggled. You can't skip it, the part about subduing the beast, defeating it until it had exhausted its power for the time being."

Well, too bad, Kakashi and Gai had done exactly just that, moments before Suna carried their exhausted Jinchuuriki away.

"I wondered if that's all he was looking for from Orochimaru," I muttered, a little uncertain. Tobi didn't interfere with our confrontation with Orochimaru, and based on how quickly Orochimaru chose the option that would best preserve his life, he knew that he was of no use to Tobi anymore.

My Chidori at the end pierced Orochimaru's body through the snake. I felt that very clearly. It probably wouldn't kill him, but it would sure make him go into remission for a while. However, if he was a little more disoriented by Tsukuyomi, then he might not have gotten away using the reverse summoning, even at the sacrifice of his summoning creature.

It was logical to infer that Tobi wanted Orochimaru's plan to proceed so that Akatsuki could snatch away the boy and pin it all on Konoha, maybe even letting Konoha do the work to subdue the rampaging tailed-beast for him.

But, would his plan actually work? Gaara's state of transformation was not complete, so the true potential of One-Tail's power might not even have come out yet. With this in mind, would Tobi really be able to snatch away Gaara without resistance?

Dots of chakra appeared in our vision as we approached our targets. According to Kakashi's reports, it was just Baki and his three genin students that made it out, while the rest of the Suna-nin stayed behind to make life miserable for Konoha Anbu by going Kamikaze style.

One, two, three, four … five and six, along with a messy map of chakra lines. No matter how I counted, the chakra signatures didn't look right. Without a word, Itachi and I sped up even more.

Suddenly, a dot of chakra extinguished, dimming away like its owner's life force. In the distance, I saw Baki fall on the ground with weapons sticking out of his chest. His killers were three puppets.

The three genin stood a little farther away, with the girl holding onto Gaara and the other boy standing in the front. His hands were shaking with fear radiating from his body as if he had just seen the impossible.

Masses of shadow flew towards them and I sent out a wave of lightning senbon without hesitation. The lightning needles met the flying masses head-on and exploded upon contact. The smell of electricity filled the air as Itachi and I arrived in front of the Suna genin.

"The hell are you doing here, traitor?" I heard the shouts as soon as we laid eyes on the attackers. Fallen puppets separated us from two people dressed in Akatsuki's robes. Sasori of the Red Sand and … Deidara of Iwa, I recognized based on Itachi's intels. It was the blonde-haired man, Deidara, who yelled at Itachi just now.

So Tobi did realize that the potential of the Suna Jinchuuriki was not quite spent yet.

"Sunagakure genin, do not try to escape from here. Trust me, the moment you do, all of our attacks will be directed to you and there are more of these people coming," I warned the three siblings behind us. This was not ideal, but only if they stayed here would we be able to caution them against Tobi, who had yet to show up.

"You're protecting us from them," The girl - Temari - concluded after a second. Her knuckles were white as she clutched onto her fan in one hand and held on to her little brother in the other.

"Yes, If we fail, then they will kill the two of you and abduct Gaara for the creature inside him," I answered her, not mincing the words at all to spell the gravity of the situation. "Only then, you should run the hell away from here."

"Agh, Tobi never told me about this." Sasori seemed to let out a sigh of annoyance in his clunky figure. "Itachi, you're extra work, but I guess it can't be helped."

"I call this a plus. You're dead, Itachi. I'll kill you and explode your Sharingan into dust." Deidara said with his mouth widened as if he was already imagining my brother's demise.

"I see you're popular with your former coworkers," I managed to say to Itachi, who had the heart to raise the corner of his mouth and laugh at my sarcasm.

In a split second, I released a small crimson feather into the air and severed the control when it was high up in the sky. The concentrated fire exploded in a blazing cloud, calling out to Konoha about the trouble in the distance and signalling the start of a new battle.

A/N: Been busy and having writer's block. Yeah, things would probably be easier if everyone just open their Susanoo and be down with it. But in my mind, at the highest level of shinobi like the first and second Hokage, it's not just the ability to drop nuclear bombs, but also their impeccable foundations - their speed, their strength, their reaction times, their prediction, and their seamless use of ninjutsu. They are mirrors that reflect Maiko's current state of segmented techniques. Only against opponents of this calibre, that her 'sloppiness' in the basics were shown and every small opening becomes a weakness. Thus, it forces her to perfect and integrate what she already has.

As for why Itachi didn't keep Orochimaru in Tsukuyomi after, a simple answer is that it's taxing for his body. Every move that he does is calculated, weighted against its benefit and risks. He doesn't know if he can kill Orochimaru with Tsukuyomi, but he does know that with his current state, he can't keep it for long, and he still has to caution against Tobi. Therefore, he concluded that keeping him in 2 cycles was enough, hoping that it will shake his mind enough to present an opening. But he is still human, so he's not infallible, thus Orochimaru still had enough consciousness and reaction to escape.

Also, Tsunade is a superwoman. That's all.