Jiraiya looked at the Orochimaru's forces who he defeated through ambushing them and thought: 'Even though it was a formidable force, it was too easy...a diversion force? So the main force should be somewhere else...but for now there are no signs of it...something is wrong! I should hurry back...'
He left as quickly as he came, befitting of his title of a legendary shinobi.
'Is this a genjutsu?...no, I made sure to not look into Sasuke's eyes...' - Orochimaru first thought was to make sure that he wasn't in a genjutsu.
He then looked at Kabuto, but he didn't seem to be under a genjutsu too, so his next thoughts were that it's either faked or it has to be real and he was deducing which one of those two was more likely.
"What's wrong? Do we finally start the exchange, or do you get off of seeing someone vomit? Damn...you're really a high-level pervert..." - Eiji started to pick his nose.
Of course, such remarks were effective enough to get Orochimaru out of his thoughts.
"HAHAHAHA!!! I see you are full of spirit...but don't you think are a bit too conceited? What stops me from just taking Sasuke by force and then just kill you?" - Orochimaru licked his lips, while Kabuto his glasses touched his with one hand, while the other moved towards a kunai.
"Well...that would be a bit problematic, to be honest...but I'm the type of person who would rather destroy everything I have myself than to give it to my enemies..." - he said that in a bored tone while he finished picking his nose.
But then in a sudden movement, his sword was fully drawn and touched Sasuke's neck.
"YOU!!" - Orochimaru stopped all his movements and even Sasuke had a look of surprise and glared angrily at Eiji, but he didn't have the energy to do anything more.
"...why don't we all calm down? If you kill him now, not only will you not get the Edo Tensei, but since Sasuke is the strongest out of you and in the scenario that you give him an antidote, he would be your safest best for survival." - Kabuto calmed down faster than Orochimaru.
"I am calm...just give me the Edo Tensei and I'll toss Sasuke over to you - simple, right?" - Eiji
'Toss?...more importantly...' - Orochimaru was already calm again and had a smile on his face.
"Alright...Kabuto!" - he ordered Kabuto while thinking: 'It doesn't matter if you have it or not...when I get Sasuke, I will kill you either way...'
Kabuto sighed and took out a scroll before throwing it to Eiji.
Eiji watched it with his other hand and looked at it with an anticipating gaze.
"Now, since you have it hand Sasuke over to me!" - Orochimaru licked his lips.
"Wait...I have to make sure it's authentic, right?" - Eiji ignored the intense atmosphere and opened the scroll with one hand.
"...fine, but I advise that it won't take you too long..." - now, Orochimaru couldn't contain his bloodlust anymore.
"Hmm...looks like its rea-"
"SASUKE!!!!" - Naruto jumped out from his hiding spot, with a flustered Sakura who seemingly tried to hold him back and a whole Anbu squad following those two.
When Eiji saw that, his eyes widened and he almost vomited blood out of anger: "Son of a..."
"YOU!!! GET AWAY FROM SASUKE, NOW!!!" - Naruto was the first to arrive in front of Eiji.
He was on the same end of the bridge site as Eiji's group, while Orochimaru and Kabuto were still on the bridge.
'...are you for real? Why are Naruto and Sakura here? THEY ARE ABOUT TO RUIN EVERYTHING!!!' - Eiji screamed internally while on the surface his grin grew brighter.
"Looks like we have some visitors..." - Orochimaru said amused.
'Naruto, huh? Looks like Konoha managed to find out about it...but it doesn't seem like it was through the Shiki Ryuu...' - Kabuto looked towards the angry Naruto, who looked like he wanted to rip Eiji apart.
'...sigh...I'm sorry Lord Jiraiya...' - Yamato couldn't help but cry internally.
Ukon was looking at Eiji, expecting him to give one of his usual remarks, but Eiji was too perplexed for that and continued to just stare dumbly at Naruto with his smile gradually turning into just an open mouth.
Whatare you doing?...sigh...I shouldn't have agreed to your plan..." - Sasuke swallowed the antidote which was hidden in his cheek and got up.
Why didn't he just fake it?
Because Eiji didn't want to risk Orochimarufinding it out and canceling the deal before giving him the Edo Tensei.
Of course, Sasuke was against it, but Eiji managed to convince him.
Either way, Orochimaru was sharp enough to suspect that Eiji would have the antidote for Sasuke, so he wasn't surprised.
However, that wasn't the case for Naruto...
"SASUKE!!! ARE YOU ALRIGHT?!" - Naruto
"...Naruto..." - Sasuke looked at him, but after a few seconds he lost his interest.
Unlike in the original timeline, he was strong enough to not feel a rivalry with Naruto anymore, and more importantly - he was solely focused on finally meeting Itachi and get him out of Akatsuki.
"Looks like you won't uphold your part of thedeal...so I'll have to take Sasuke by force!" - Orochimaru licked his lips, but still didn't attack, because he wanted to make sure if Konoha would aid Eiji' side or not.
"Hmph! Try it!" - Sasuke stood there in a cool pose, proudly without any fear of defeat.
"SASUKE!!!" - Naruto wasn't sure why Sasuke ignored him, so he finally rushed to him.
"NOO!!! STOP!!" - Yamato tried to stop him, but to no avail.
But since he couldn't stop him with words, Yamato decided to use summon a wood wall to stop him.
"WHAT?! HEY WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!" - Naruto looked at Yamato's concealed face.
"Hoo...this jutsu reminds me of someone...things get more and more interesting..." - Orochimaru
"Hey, how long you gonna stare into the air dumbly?" - Sasuke kicked Eiji's butt, which got Eiji out of his stupor.
"Shit...this situation got more complex now, didn't it? Whatever...we got one of the things we came for, we can get the other just another time... let's ge-" - a fist in his face, catapulted Eiji a few meters away."
The one who punched him was none other than Ukon.
He didn't say anything, but his face told more than a thousand words may tell.
"Looks like, not everyone agrees here..." -Sasuke said aloof.
Eiji got up while touching the location he was hit: "Hmm...well I promised to you that you get your revenge...sigh...fine. Let's just continue with our plan!"
Meanwhile, Jiraiya got back and watched thisscene with a headache.
'AHHH!!! DAMN IT!!! NARUTO YOU IDIOT!!!...butthe good thing is, at least the enemy doesn't know about me, so I should wait for the right moment to ambush...but this is weird...why isn't Akatsuki making their move now? It really would have been better if this idiot didn't rush in...'
"Isn't it a good chance to leave now? The situation is chaotic enough..." - Hidan
"No... let's wait. We might win the jackpot if we stick around and wait." - Kakuzu
"What? Didn't you say you wanted to leave? You always change your mind every minute...someone like you would never be a good follower of Jashin-sama!" - Hidan
"Like I care." - Kakuzu
Zetsu watched the duo while thinking: 'It's good that they are staying...I didn't even need to convince them...now, let's show me your power Sasuke...'
"Naruto! Listen to me! And you Sakura, as themedic-nin stay get back in case we need you. Let us handle it for now!" - Yamato stepped in front of Naruto and got ready.
"?" - suddenly a wood prison appeared to imprison Sasuke, while Anbu's started to attack Orochimaru and Kabuto with kunais, various water, fire, and lightning release jutsus plus painted creatures.
"Then it's decided that they aren't together!" - Orochimaru transformed into a giant snake and crawled towards Sasuke with a tremendous speed.
"Oh no you won't" - Yamato raised anotherwood wall to stop Orochimaru to get to Sasuke, who he imprisoned, but Kabuto used the chance to get behind Yamato and almost reached Sasuke.
But Ukon couldn't hold himself back anymore and already in Curse-mark level two, he attacked Kabuto.
However, amidst this, Sasuke and Eiji looked like this didn't involve them.
Eiji spoke towards the entrapped Sasuke: "Youdeal with Orochimaru and Kabuto like weplanned, while I'll deal with your formerteammates, alright?"
"Like I care. Just don't take too long..." - withthose words Sasuke cut the prison easily down with a Chidori.
Jo! Long time no see, how you doin'?" - Eiji walked nonchalantly towards the Konoha force while greeting Naruto and Sakura.
"YOU!!! GET OUT OF THE WAY!!" - Naruto
"NOO!! STAY BACK NARUTO!! IT'S AN ORDER!!" - Yamato didn't want Naruto to do something stupid again.
"Get out of the way? And then? You gonna run to Sasuke so he can continue to ignore you?" - Eiji said mockingly.
"Ugh!" - Naruto didn't know how to respond.
But at this time Sakura stepped forward: "Excuse me...but can you tell me why Sasuke is with you? I don't understand...why would he..."
"Why would he what? He isn't doing anything illegal and is just an official employee of the Shiki Ryuu, earning money through honest work...or would you prefer if he was with Orochimaru?" - Eiji
"..."
For some reason, they really had trouble speaking with Eiji.
But Yamato thought about the mission and suddenly attacked with the other Anbu.
Eiji tried to dodge, but the barrage of a whole Anbu squad was too much and an arm was bitten off by an ink-tiger.
However, he didn't seem to be faced and just looked at it before it started to regenerate: "Even though I can regenerate, I still feel pain you know...this was pretty rude to suddenly jump at me like that..."
"This regenerative ability will be a huge pain in the ass..." - Yamato started to feel that this day couldn't get any worse.
Meanwhile, Sasuke just looked at the transformed Orochimaru crawling towards him.
It was obvious that Orochimaru wanted to fight in close-range, but even though Sasuke wasn't worried that he would lose in close-range, why would he do what his opponent wants?
So he decided to use the Fireball Jutsu, which was easily dodged by Orochimaru but Sasuke was already firing Chidori Senbons at him.
Normally Orochimaru wouldn't care and just let himself get hit, but since he not only was weakened because his current body was rotting and he needed to take over a body soon, but also because his arms still weren't restored, so he dodged.
"Hmph...are you really a legendary shinobi? It looks like I won't even need to get serious." - Sasuke sneered at Orochimaru.
"Hehehehe...you think I would get defeated that easily? It looks like they are finally here" - Orochimaru suddenly jumped backward and transformed back.
Suddenly a group of Otogakure shinobi appeared, being lead by the Sound Four - or Sound Three.
Like in the original timeline, Orochimaru didn't have the time to bother with finding a replacement, which was even more true when only one spot was vacant.
Unlike the Sound Three, the other Otogakure-nins were all carrying coffins.
When he saw that Sasuke instantly knew what his plan was and he scoffed: "It seems like you still have the habit of digging corpses out."
But he wasn't worried, no matter who Orochimaru would revive, Sasuke was sure that he could easily defeat them.
"I see...so the other force was indeed a subversion, while this group only moved after Orochimaru already made contact with Eiji so that it would be easier to go undetected...of course it could have backfired in case they didn't reach him fast enough, but it's Orochimaru we are talking about...with his haughtiness, he would never think that he would get done that quickly. But if Sasuke instantly went full out, it might be different...anyway, the more important thing is, who will he revive? I should only move after finding it out, until then Sasuke should be able to deal with it...I'm more worried about Akatsuki..." - Jiraiya was still hiding and watching for now.
"This damn heretic!! Reviving the dead is a blasphemy! Death is the highest gift from Jashin-sama! I will sho-"
"Shut up or you expose us!" - Kakuzu hit Hidan on the head while grunting.
"Damn you! How can I stay calm when I see such blasphemy in front of me?" - Hidan
"Then just wait until they wear each other down and then you can do your religious nonsense for all I care!" - Kakuzu
Zetsu actually hoped that Hidan would just jump in so that they can force Sasuke to show his potential, but of course, he couldn't say that aloud.
But after thinking for a few seconds, he made up a plan in his mind...
The Akatsuki was about to participate as well!
Jiraiya was still waiting when he suddenly felt a presence on the outside of the battle.
"So there you are..." - he concluded that this must be Akatsuki, but he didn't act instantly - instead he thought what would be the best course of action: go for them or wait for a chance to ambush Orochimaru?
"I'm worried about who Orochimaru intends to summon, but the Akatsuki is more of a wildcard and more unpredictable, so I should go for them..."
He prepared himself to ambush them, but what he didn't know was that Zetsu intentionally had a clone get found out by him.
"Kabuto, it's time..." - Orochimaru smiled while saying that.
Orochimaru's arms still weren't healed, so he needed Kabuto to perform the jutsu.
This was also the reason that they sacrificed a bunch of their henchman beforehand so that they won't waste time to do it on the battlefield and only had to carry the coffins.
But Kabuto was currently defending against a powered-up Ukon who bombarded him with Taijutsu attacks.
'Isn't he asking too much?' - Kabuto smiled wryly.
The only reason he was able to hold up was that Ukon was more or less just rushing at him without any thought behind his attacks and Kabuto using his knowledge of the human body to read his muscles to predict his movements.
Sasuke was watching in a cool pose and ridiculed Orochimaru: "How long are you gonna make me wait?"
"Hehehehe...just wait a bit...you three switch with Kabuto!" - he ordered the Sound 3.
"I wanted to deal with this traitor anyway..." - Tayuya said before going in and giving Kabuto the chance to escape.
"Sorry Lord Orochimaru...you know musclebrains are a bad matchup for me..." - Kabuto readjusted his glasses.
"Whatever...just get started!" - Orochimaru
With that Kabuto walked towards two coffins and opened them.
"!" - when Sasuke saw who was in the coffin, he couldn't maintain his aloof attitude.
Eiji looked at the Anbu squad and sighed.
He knew that talking would be fruitless so he moved his hand towards the sword grip, but at the same time, he glanced at the over to the other battlefields.
'Ukon should be fine though with the snakes I gave him before, but...what's up with Sasuke? I told him to let them revive whoever they want so that he copies the Edo Tensei with his Sharingan, but why is he looking like he saw a ghost?'
While his mind was preoccupied with that, Konoha's side was preparing themselves: just the presence of Eiji touching his sword was enough for them to guard themselves.
This was one of the psychological-advantages of Iaijutsu compared to other sword-styles.
The enemy knew an attack was coming, but attacking ruthlessly and open themselves up would be even worse, so they only could wait for the attack and defend.
Eiji used this time to return his thoughts to his own battle: 'If I'm not mistaking, the leader was the one who used the wood jutsu on Sasuke, so I guess that's Yamato? And the other one is Sai? I never thought I would meet them like that...but it doesn't matter. Let's just deal with them quickly and look at what's causing Sasuke trouble.'
Of course, he didn't intend to kill them, which greatly limited him.
He often lamented that he only runs into people he can't kill, but that's expected when he has to interact with the "main story".
And then he finally drew his sword.
The Anbu instantly reacted to the wind coming from Eiji and used the Mud Wall Jutsu and other defensive Jutsus, but it cut through it without any difficulties.
However, they expected that and used the minuscule time which their defensive Jutsus bought to dodge.
Furthermore, since Eiji only attacked the Anbu, it gave the opportunity for Naruto to attack from a blind spot with a Rasengan.
Eiji sneered, thinking: 'I may be not the brightest shinobi out there and just a knowledge cheater, but I still learn when you keep doing the same thing over again and again, you know?'
After his last fight with Naruto, he started to instinctively know how Naruto will attack, so he turned nonchalantly around and with a raised finger he shot an air-bullet at Naruto, which pierced his heart.
miserable.
"Aren't I generous? To be able to see your parents again, I'm sure you must be grateful to me...hehehehehehehe..." - Orochimaru snickered.
Orochimaru was truly evil: instead of gambling that his other revived Shinobis might take Sasuke on, he chose to defeat him purely psychologically instead!
"Mum...Dad..." - Sasuke's tears floweddown, making him unable to see much despiteusing the Sharingan.
Sasuke...looks like we were revived...I'm sorry..." - Fugaku (Sasuke's father) said bewildered while looking around.
Though, even though he was confused from suddenly returning from the dead, he more or less could get a grasp of the situation.
"...Sasuke...I'm glad that you are healthy and alive..." - Mikoto (Sasuke's mother) had a smile on her face, seeing how her son has grown up.
Orochimaru looked at Sasuke who looked completely lost, but he didn't do anything.
It was more beneficial to not suppress their personalities, since it inflicts more psychological damage to Sasuke.
"...it looks like a lot of time passed and I want you to share everything which happened to you, but we were revived to fight you, so we don't have the time for that sadly...just please tell me one thing: what happened to Itachi? Did you kill him for revenge? Or is he still alive?"
When he heard that, Sasuke's tears stopped and he was reminded of what Itachi had to do and go through because of Konoha, and anger surfaced in his heart.
"No...I learned the truth about the Uchiha downfall and killed Danzo...but I want to see Itachi and hear his side of the story, and after that, I will decide if I'll completely eradicate Konoha or not." - now he had his Mangekyo Sharingan activated, giving him an eerily look.
"You...no..." - Fugaku saw deep darkness in Sasuke.
Even though Itachi had a most pitiful destiny, he never succumbed to darkness and carried love and hope for peace in his heart, so he was surprised that the cheerful (in the past) Sasuke, would have such darkness in him.
"No...please, Sasuke. The only thing we wish for is for you is happiness, so please don't walk the path of revenge!" - Mikoto had teary eyes, but also looked a bit angrily and shouted at him like she reprimanded a small child.
Orochimaru looked at it amused and clapped: "Alright, I'm glad that your family reunion is proceeding so well, but I don't have all day, so let's start with the battle, shall we?"
With a loud sound, Hidan and Kakuzu appeared on the battlefield, with completely turn clothes.
"Damn...now that we are here, what now?" - Hidan
"Let's split up and join different battles...I'll go to the Nine-tails, while you join Orochimaru's fight...it doesn't matter who you target specifically, just raise some hell...the more chaos the better for us!" - Kakuzu
"Aye...that's what I was waiting for..." - Hidan grinned while licking his scythe.
"Stop doing shit, and go already!" - Kakuzu saw how Jiraiya and Gamabunta would reach here any second as well, and sprinted off.
"Wait! Let's talk for a second, I'm sure it would be beneficial for you guys as well..." - Eiji stopped his Iai-stance suddenly and gestured them to stop.
"?" - Yamato and the other Anbu.
"WHAT DO YOU WANT NOW AGAIN?!" - Naruto was almost completely healed by Sakura now.
"You want to help Sasuke, right? Look over, he seems to have a bit of trouble, so why don't we go over to help him together?" - Eiji
Naruto gritted his teeth and started to think, after looking at Sasuke's battlefield.
What Eiji said made sense!
Still, he wanted Sasuke to return to Konoha, so Eiji being there would hinder it.
"Then...then move aside...we will help him while you stay here!" - Naruto
"Huh? Why should I?" - Eiji
"BECAUSE I DONT TRUST YOU!!" - Naruto
"Wait, Naruto...this isn't important right now...we need to help Sasuke..." - Sakura
Yamato was also lost in thought, deciding what to do, when suddenly a huge flame engulfing a widespread area was approaching them.
He and the other Anbu instantly reacted and used defensive Jutsus to block it from reaching them, Naruto and Sakura - Eiji was on his own though.
After it subsided, a wild Kakuzu was standing there between them and Eiji, who decided to just dodge Kakuzu's flamed attack instead of taking it on.
"You guys looked like you had a lot of fun, so I decided to join." - Kakuzu said that in a grumpy voice, which suggested that he wasn't seeking fun.
"Akatsuki..." - Yamato
"Well...it seems like people keep on joining without an end...I wouldn't even be surprised anymore if Kaguya would suddenly pop out too..." - Eiji smiled wryly.
"?" - everyone else.
An orange-haired figure clad in a black robe could be seen flying above a range of tall mountains.
From this height, a village could be seen hidden by these mountains.
With a dark gaze, the figure solemnly raised his arms above his head, but the figure didn't act right now, because it could hear someone speaking to him to his main body.
"Nagato...this will reduce your life span significantly...are you sure?" - Konan
"They are two Jinchurikis in this village...I would prefer to take them by the order of their tails, but if I'm already here it would be a waste to not take the Eight-tails as well...but even I would be troubled if two Jinchurikis and the Raikage fought me at the same time, so I'll surprise them...and this will accelerate our plan the most, so I don't mind using my life for that..." - Nagato
Konan had a worried expression but didn't say anything else.
The Deva Path stopped listening to the faraway conversation and breathed in: "This world...shall know pain...Shinra...Tensei!"
With those words, he decimated Kumogakure!
But no one at the Chaotic Battle could know of it.
Especially Eiji who indirectly caused it.
The butterfly effect Eiji feared so much, didn't happen because of Danzo's death as he worried, but because Hidan and Kakuzu weren't on Yugito's track to hunt her, she was in Kumogakure.
In the original timeline, she would die only after Team 7 meet with Sasuke at Orochimaru's hideout, which was in the current timeline still weeks off.
Since Nagato send Kakuzu and Hidan to the Chaotic Battle, no other Akatsuki team was currently able to hunt the Two-tails and since he didn't want to lose time unnecessarily, he decided to capture her himself plus B who were in the same village.
This development was something that would later shock Eiji since he experienced how fate made sure that everything stayed on the "right track".
But he was naive to think that fate worked for everyone the same.
The highest priority was that Naruto would unite all tailed-beast and bring peace to this world, and other personal fates like the death of Hayate were only a natural occurrence through karma and consequences rather than something written in stone.
In other words: as long as it didn't concern the great strings which were spun eons ago, someone powerful enough is indeed able to change his own fate!
However, the one who would change fate isn't Nagato, since he is still the "Child of Prophecy" like Naruto...
At Mount Myoboku, the Great Toad Sage was sleeping peacefully when he suddenly opened his eyes.
"Nghi!" - Gamamaru
"What's wrong, Great Honourable Geezer?" - Fukasu who was about to fall asleep, rubbed his eyes and tried to fight his drowsiness.
"I just foresaw a new destiny..." - Gamamaru
"A new prophesy? What is it this time about?" - Fukasu turned serious and his drowsiness instantly disappeared when he heard that.
"...I forgot because my mind is a bit slow after just waking up..." - Gamamaru
"...sigh...it's because you are senile and not because you just woke up..." - Fukasu regretted not just falling asleep.
"!!!!!?!???!?!??!!??" - Black Zetsu swore that he felt how he shit his pants, even though with his body, he isn't physically able to do so and was sharing a body with the carefree White Zetsu.
"...hey calm down...if we get exposed it would be bad, you know?" - White Zetsu
"...this disgusting cockroach! How dare he speak mother's name with his disgusting mouth! I'll kill him! Wait no...I need to find out what he meant by this first! There is no way..." - Black Zetsu was still startled.
"I don't think he meant something by this though...if the information we got on him is true, he occasionally says something nonsensical..." - White Zetsu
"You idiot! There is no way he would know mother's name just like that! The few people who know about her existence only know her as the Rabbit Goddess!" - Black Zetsu
"Hmm...wait, you are right! What will we do?" - now even White Zetsu realized how serious this was.
Eiji didn't know that with his thoughtless remark, he brought Zetsu's mind in complete turmoil and that he was targeted by a really dangerous individual from now on!
HYAHAHAHA!!" - Hidan appeared between Sasuke and Orochimaru, waving his scythe madly around.
The nearest to him were Sasuke's parents, so he targeted him.
Orochimaru saw that and his smile froze.
Hidan was thwarting his plan!
He expected that Eiji will most likely come and try to help Sasuke, but now it was Hidan who came instead.
"Tsk, talking with this lunatic is pointless...Kabuto get the other coffins ready!" - Orochimaru
Kabuto sighed internally since he was the one performing the Edo Tensei, so he knew that he would use a lot of his chakra up, but he did as Orochimaru ordered.
While this was going on, Sasuke looked at Hidan attacking his parents: On one hand, he pissed that someone just suddenly appeared and attacked his parents, on the other hand, he was glad that he wasn't the one needing to fight his parents because he knew that it would hurt him to attack his mother and father.
But he couldn't just stand there and continue to watch.
His parents were skilled shinobis - especially his father who was the head of the Uchiha clan and the leader of the Konoha Police, while his mother was a Jonin, but against a weird opponent like Hidan, most of their attacks seemed to have no effect.
However more important was the fact that it still wasn't the Edo Tensei which was later perfected by Kabuto but Orochimaru's one, so the reincarnated aren't as powerful as when they were alive.
Of course for an elite like Fugaku, he had a few aces up his sleeves - more specifically the Mangekyo Sharingan.
But he didn't use it since he and his wife actually hoped that they would be defeated by this mysterious assaulter so that they wouldn't have to fight their own child.
Orochimaru sensed that, but he didn't bother to increase the control over them because in the first place he didn't count on their fighting power but to use them for psychological warfare against Sasuke instead.
So it was better to just use the Edo Tensei to revive a bunch of strong other Shinobis to deal with Hidan quickly and continue with using Sasuke's parents as a psychological weapon.
In the first place, he prepared those other shinobis to deal with Eiji, so they weren't weak at all!
Meanwhile, Jiraiya arrived with Gamabunta on the battlefield, standing on top of Gamabunta's head while quickly glancing over it.
There were 3 "battlefields".
In only a second he made up his mind.
He went to Orochimaru's battlefield.
With Yamato being there, he trusted that Naruto should be fine, while the other battlefield was Ukon and the Sound 3...no one cared about this battlefield.
Of course, his entrance attracted the attention of everyone.
"Sigh...he is finally here..." - Yamato
'He is heading to Hidan? That idiot won't bother to use his brain to let the Sannins fight each other, so he is doomed...tsk!' - Kakuzu thought already about abandoning his partner to run away.
"Hm?" - but he suddenly noticed that someone was missing from his "battlefield".
Eiji used the chance when everyone was distracted by Jiraiya's entrance to leave!
'Whatever, this is better for me anyway...before I get out of here, I'll capture the nine-tails!'
"Hey kid, let's finish this quickly, I don't have the whole day..." - a lot of black threads appeared around his body, which gathered at around eight really long and thick "arms", giving him the somewhat look of an octopus.
"OH NO!! EVERYO-" - Yamato tried to warn everyone, but Kakuzu's arms swung in such a huge range, that not everyone could dodge and he caught two Anbu.
Kakuzu then dragged those two to him and with way smaller threads he tore into their body and took their hearts out.
"When that Sannin destroyed two of my hearts I was worried a bit, but luckily I found some small fires here." - Kakuzu grumpy tone wasn't as grumpy as before.
"!" - Yamato knew now that even though their opponent is heavily outnumbered, this fight was far from over.
Even worse was that it might be actually disadvantageous that they have the higher number if his hunch about his opponent's ability was right...
Click.
With a sound, three coffins opened.
"Dammit! I'm too late!" - Jiraiya arrived at the same time with Gamabunta, and the first thing he did, was looking at who's in the coffins.
"Ah...welcome...I didn't expect for you to come here too, Jiraiya...but you arrived at a good time." - Orochimaru greeted his old companion with a smile.
Now that he successfully revived what he prepared, he wasn't worried about Jiraiya or Eiji messing his plan up but was instead looking forward to finally getting rid of Jiraiya.
"...to think I would be revived by a former enemy...but it looks like there was a fall-out between the two of you since the last time I saw you." - Hanzo of the Salamander stepped out of his coffin and his presence full of confidence despite being summoned as a minion showed why he was feared when he was still alive.
"Well well...my most bitter enemy delivered right to me..." - the Second Mizukage saw the Second Tsuchikage next to him and smiled, ready to fight his rival.
"...this isn't the time for that...it looks like we were called back from the underworld by the Second Hokage's wretched Jutsu." - Mu (Second Tsuchikage) calmy analyzed.
"Oh yeah...the other guy also said something about being revived...WAIT WHAT DO YOU MEAN DEAD?!" - Gengetsu (Second Mizukage)
"Don't you remember? I killed you myself." - Mu
"Oh yeah...WAIT WHAT?! BUT YOU DIED TOO, RIGHT? YEAH, I KILLED YOU!" - Gengetsu
"Yes you did...but let's forget that for now and move on..." - Mu looked at Kabuto who summed him.
But Kabuto looked pretty tired and was painting, while Orochimaru clapped happily his hands and started to order them - so he could see who was the mastermind behind his revival.
"He is right...let bygones be bygones...I didn't assemble you here just for fun...for the sake of all of us, let's not waste time and jump straight into what you are here for. Defeat the one on top of the Toad, the scythe-wielding maniac, and capture the one in the back alive!" - Orochimaru
"Hmph! Being ordered by some brat like this..." - Gengetsu was saying that quietly to himself with a sulky face.
"Let me see how much you've grown since last time!" - Hanzo to Jiraiya.
Jiraiya knew that the situation was really bad...he didn't expect Orchimaru to pull out such strong foes, but at least he knew that it wasn't completely doomed: a maniacally laughing Hidan was waving his scythe around and Sasuke was here as well!
Though he knew that calling them allies would be a stretch, so he didn't expect much...
Hidan looked a bit stupid, so he was sure he could manipulate Hidan who was his enemy, to fight his other enemies...the problem was Sasuke.
Jiraiya could see how Sasuke was still indecisive and bothered about the possibility of fighting his parents, so he might not even join the fight until it's too late.
If he didn't come up with a plan fast, Jiraiya might really get into trouble, since the three summoned were preparing to attack.
"Jo! Why are you standing there like your fart betrayed you?" - Eiji suddenly was standing next to Sasuke and touched Sasuke's shoulder with a fist.
When he saw that Jiraiya's heart calmed down...Eiji being there made the situation much more manageable if they decided to team up.
Furthermore, he was sure that if Eiji teamed up with him, Sasuke would too.
But could he be sure that Eiji would team up with him?
Jiraiya knew about Eiji's secret with Danzo and no matter what happened, Eiji was still a fellow Konoha shinobi at his heart, unlike Orochimaru, carrying the Will of Fire!
"Hehehe...so you came back...you don't know how much I've waited to finally tear you apart! There is no person I've ever truly hated except for you!" - Orochimaru didn't hide his hatred anymore and his face was distorted creepily with a grimace full of malice.
The summoned three stopped their preparation because they awaited the orders of what they should do with Eiji.
Eiji glanced at him in return for a second, before looking at Sasuke again.
"Get a hold of yourself...this is pretty embarrassing for a supposed Genius of the Uchiha clan." - since Sasuke didn't seem to respond and still was lost in thought, Eiji hit his head with a chop.
"The hell are you doing? Want me to kill you?" - in his usual arrogant voice, Sasuke looked at Eiji angrily.
"Yeah yeah, whatever you say...since you are now listening to me, let's get outta here. Ukon will sacrifice himself heroically so that we can escape!"
"..." - Jiraiya wasn't sure anymore if Eiji inherited the Will of Fire.
Stop joking around...I was just distracted by a thought for a bit, nothing more...so let's just finally do what wecame here for..." - Sasuke breathed in and remembered his goal and why he accepted to come herewithEiji in the first place.
'Just distracted by a thought, huh?'-Eiji smirked by didn't say anything more to Sasuke, instead he waved towards Jiraiya and shouted to him: "How about making a temporary alliance?"
"I agree that would be the best for each of us...I will hold off against the three summoned with Sasuke helping me, while you the fastest go for Orochimaru, alright?" - Jiraiya signaled for Gamabunta to jump towards Eiji's side while saying that.
Orochimaru heard that too, but Jiraiya knew that this didn't matter.
It was the most effective plan they go for and him knowing about it wouldn't really change much.
Bang!
With a loud sound, Gamabunta landed beside Eiji and Sasuke.
Eiji and Sasuke weren't bothered by a giant Toad suddenly landing next to them, almost crushing them if he were to land a bit nearer.
"Nope." - Eiji
"...what? This is the most sensible decision...or do you have a better plan?" - Jiraiya
Meanwhile, Orochimaru didn't order the undead trio to move.
But why did he do this?
It was because he was waiting for them to make the first move. He had the upper hand since Sasuke's parents were still under his control, and it was clear to everyone that Sasuke wouldn't just run away and leave his parents in Orochimaru's hands, so he could just wait for them to make the move first, and then order his undead in the most efficient tactical way.
If he just ordered them to rush at them, even though his side would have the initiative and would weaken their cooperation at the start, the undead trio might be too preoccupied to retreat back and fight around Sasuke's parents, resulting in him losing his biggest advantage.
Furthermore, there was Hidan...
"Yep, my plan is bulletproof if we manage to pull it off...we just need to buy time for Sasuke...he will do the rest." - Eiji said to Jiraiya who was now near him, so he could say it withoutOrochimaru hearing him.
"Buying time...hmm...certainly I can do that, but what are you planning? I can't trust you fully, so I need to know..." - Jiraiya was touching his chin while thinking.
Eiji's smirk disappeared and was replaced by an indifferent expression: "Make one ofOrochimaru's folk betray him."
"Sigh...that really doesn't tell me much, but I got a hunch, so let's start already...at this pace, the other battles will be finished before we even made our first move." - Jiraiya
"Hmph!" - Sasuke didn't say a word, butEiji and Jiraiya knew that it meant something along the lines: "Start already, I'm tired of waiting!"
"NARUTO, STAY BEHIND!!" - Yamato shouted while raising a wood wall to defend Naruto, Sakura, and himself.
Naruto was the Jinchuriki, so obviouslyhe couldn't allow Kakuzu to capture him, so he kept defending Naruto, and Sakura who was their important Medic-nin.
Unfortunately, that meant that the other Anbu had to fight Kakuzu.
Grabbing two of them with black threads and taking their hearts out, surprised them at first, but they knew their enemy was Akatsuki, so they just accepted that he had such a mysterious ability.
The giant thread arms gave them atfirst huge trouble since they had an enormous range and power -plus there were eight of them,so they only could passively dodge.
But to the patient, an opportunity alwaysarrives: Sai managed to summon 5 small ink birds, attached with explosive tags, which flew unnoticed by Kakuzu out of his vision and now closed in on him from a blind spot!
BOOM!!!
"Did we get him?" - Anbu A
When the smoke settled, Kakuzu could be seen standing there as nothing happened with the only difference being that his skin was darker, it was the Earth Release: Earth Spear technique!
"Tsk...you Anbu are an annoying bunch like always...even though you are a bunch of small fries you jump around like rabbits and throw useless junk at me!" - Kakuzu
"He let Earth-Chakra run through his body to increase his defensive power to a maximum...coupled with his long and destructive range, he has no weakness...what a monster..." - Anbu B
"There is a way to counter his Earth-technique though...Lighting-based Jutsus will still work on him." Anbu C
The Anbu saw a glimmer of hope again!