Tobi: "I'm honored to meet you all...but my honor will not save you."
Minato, Hiruzen, and Tobirama don't respond for they are still analyzing the situation.
Hashirama breaks the silence. "The way you entered this realm is absolutely different then the way we entered. How did you get here?"
"You see, my sharingan allows me to travel through space and time. With the extraordinary powers of my rinnegan combined with my space-time technique, I can travel through realms...without bieng dead. Also, I can obliterate souls, erasing one's existence completely with my rinnegan's human path ability."
Hashirama, Tobirama, and Hiruzen all jump back 50 feet, though Minato doesn't move an inch.
"Lords, remember he can teleport without seals, so distance won't be a factor." Minato reminds them.
"Right." Tobirama replies.
The three jump back to Minato's side.
"Well, what do you want with us? We're dead after all. Your hatred towards the Leaf couldn't be that strong, so strong that you want to try to destroy all Hokages." Minato says.
Hashirama, Tobirama, and Hiruzen gasp simultaneously.
Hashirama steps forward. "If you so much as touched a hair on my granddaughter!"
Hiruzen clenches his fists. "I hope for your sake that she is alive and healthy!"
Tobi just shrugs. "Hmph. No, no. I can assure you that the fifth Hokage is alive, but I can't promise that she's healthy. You see, I declared war on the entire shinobi world. My...ally, Kabuto, has perfected your technique, Tobirama. He has summoned many formidable shinobi to increase our morale, including Madara Uchiha, who is fighting your dear Tsunade as we speak."
Expressions of shock show on each Hokage's face.
"No!...why does she have to fight Madara?...why him?" Hashirama questions, feeling as troubled as ever.
Tobirama places his hand over his face with shame. "I have doomed them all with my creation...sorry my grandniece."
Hiruzen's knees slightly buckle. "She's still too young..."
Minato's stance remains the same, obviously and surprisingly calm. "Have faith my friends, as long as she carries the Will of Fire then there is hope. Masked man, wha-"
"You can call me 'Tobi'." Tobi interrupts.
Minato continues. "...Tobi, what is Naruto doing in this war?"
"Well, I'm fighting him right now." Tobi answers.
Minato and the others glance at one another, confused.
"Let me explain myself. I had my partner, Zetsu, clone me to keep Naruto busy while I take care of more important matters."
"What would those matters be?" Minato demands.
Tobi points up at the orange sphere of chakra. "For one, I need to gather the kyuubi's chakra that has been sealed with you, Minato."
Minato doesn't look surprised one bit because he has already expected that. "And two?"
"I need to destroy all your souls. I fear my partner Kabuto has found a way to summon you all from this realm. He will use the extreme power of the Hokages against me when the war is over. As you know, shinobi in their edo forms are much more dangerous because the only way to defeat them is to seal them. So I'll rather get rid of you all now while you're just souls."
"Well, why can't you just attack Kabuto?" Hiruzen asks.
"He is suspicious of me as I am him so attacking him would be a risk I am not willing to take."
Minato nods his head to the other Hokages. "I see, well let's get to it, Tobi."
Hiruzen pulls out a shuriken and Minato notices.
He's going to use his Shadow Shuriken jutsu Minato says in thought. "Lord Third, it's useless. Tobi can become intangi-." He tells Hiruzen, trying to warn him.
Hiruzen throws the projectile. "Shadow Shuriken Jutsu!"
Tobi doesn't move an inch. "As the Fourth Hokage said, it's usel-"
The shuriken makes contact with Tobi.
"Impossible!" Tobi exclaims. He then materializes and the shuriken goes right through him.
Minato stands there, astonished.
I'd better stay on the defensive for now Tobi says internally.
Hiruzen settles back from his offensive stance. "Minato, I've interrupted your sentence, what was it you were going to speak of?"
"Well, it's strange. When I fought Tobi that night of my death, he was able to become intangible, thus making my attacks render useless. The only way I got him was with my Flying Raijin Level 2, a technique that requires perfect timing and the element of surprise. But, the jutsu you've just performed lacked the element of surprise and timing, so he should've turned intangible and avoided the attack, but that obviously didn't happen. The shuriken made contact when he became intangible and the shuriken went through him when he materialized. Hmmm..."
Hiruzen looks as if Minato's answer was of no assistance. "What does all of this mean?"
Tobi looks troubled for the first time he entered the realm. I myself would also like to know why my technique is switched around...
"I've come to the conclusion that because the four of us are souls and Tobi is alive, we cannot touch him. He shouldn't even be able to see us." Minato says.
"It must be another remarkable ability of the Rinnegan to be able to see souls." Hashirama assumes.
Tobirama nods in agreement. "It seems so."
"Well that still hasn't broken the surface to how my shuriken hit him when he becomes intangible." Hiruzen states.
"I'd say it's because his intangible state is very similar to that of a soul's. Living objects cannot touch souls or ghost, nor can they touch Tobi when he's intangible. Souls and Tobi's intangibleness are basically the same kind of form, that is your shuriken made contact with him while he was intangible. Well, intangible to objects of the real world, I should say. His normal state is technically intangible since we are souls." Minato correctly assumes.
I see. So, this means I'm going to fight them the opposite of how I would fight someone who's living.
Minato resumes his explanation. "Remember he must 'materalize' to warp someone, so do not let him touch you. Also, it seems his Rinnegan gives him extraordinary powers, so extraordinary that he can be even be a threat to beings not of the real world, so be cautious."
"We are souls, which mean we are only made up of chakra. Tobi is alive, which means he is mostly made up of flesh. Things of nature like medicine, drugs, poison, and pollen have no effect on us, but as for Tobi..." An invisible light bulb suddenly appears above Hashirama's head.
"Brother, I understand where you are getting at. Minato, Hiruzen, jump!" Tobirama commands, though not in a superior-like tone.
Tobirama, Hiruzen, and Minato all jump as high as they can.
Hashirama clamps his hands together. "Wood Release: Advent of a World of Flowering Trees!"
A grand forest of flowering trees emerges from underneath Hashirama. Minato, Hiruzen, and Tobirama lands on a giant peddle. A bundle of roots makes it way toward Tobi with deadly speed. But, the roots go straight through him.
"What a nuisance of an ability." Hashirama says.
"Indeed it is, but we will find a way to defeat him." Minato states, absolute confidence in his voice.
Tobirama balances himself on the motioning peddle. "Yes, we will. But we're going to have to be able to see him in order to do that."
Due to Hashirama's large scale jutsu, Tobi is out of the Hokages' sight.
Minato slowly shakes his head from side to side. "This isn't good. Tobi can roam through the forest without making the slightest noise, due to his intangibleness. I'd better mark you all with my Flying Thunder God seal, so I can be of assistance if anything sudden were to happen."
Minato places the FTG seal on Tobirama and Hiruzen. Then, he jumps down to Hashirama to do the same. As Minato is in the air, a few yards from Hashirama, somewhere down in the forest...
"Shinra Tensei!" Tobirama shouts from an undetectable location.
The entire forest is destroyed from the inside out. Thanks to Minato's legendary reflexes, he avoids the impact and teleports to Tobirama and Hiruzen and catches them. Minato didn't make it to Hashirama in time to place his FTG seal on him. So, Hashirama was sent soaring in the air, out of the reach of the other Hokages. Hashirama came crashing down at high speeds and hit the ground with a devastating thump.
"Hashirama!" Tobirama calls out to his brother, then goes running to his aid.
Minato and Hiruzen quickly follow. As they run towards Hashirama, his form turns into wood.
Tobirama comes to a stop—Hiruzen and Minato as well—and even comes close to smiling, which he almost never does. "A wood clone? Thank the heavens."
From behind the three, Hashirama emerges from a destroyed root. "I'm fine. I've studied the rinnegan in my living days, so I know it would be wise to prepare if I were to ever go against it. Therefore, I made a clone. But, I am not sure what would've happened if I did collide with the ground with such force, being that we're souls."
"Interesting...that has never occured to me. We have sparred with each other many times in this form, but this is our first real battle in this realm. I doubt that our souls will be obliterated by something physical like an impact or impalement, but let's not take the risk." Minato suggests.
Hashirama, Tobirama, and Hiruzen firmly nod their heads.
Hiruzen shifts his attention to their foe. "Let us get back to the matter at hand."
All four Hokages turn their heads to Tobi, who is staring at them with an observatory look in his eyes.
It seems the Fourth Hokage hasn't marked the First with the Flying Thunder God seal. In that case...Tobi raises his left arm and faces his palm toward Hashirama.
Hashirama hovers above the ground and is involuntarily pulled toward Tobi.
"This isn't good!" Minato yells, stating the obvious.
Tobirama, Hiruzen, and Minato run toward Hashirama, but it is too late. Hashirama is already halfway to Tobi and the gravitational pull is too strong and fast. Hashirama is now fifteen feet from Tobi.
Tobi calmly awaits for the first Hokage to get in range..."Your soul is mine."