Author Note

Hello there and welcome to another chapter of Nidaime no Sairin.

I don't want to comment much beforehand, since I don't want to risk giving any sort of indication of what will happen.

Now, let us proceed with the chapter.


Nidaime no Sairin

Chapter 18 - Sensei

Beta: Scheffinator


When the Hidden Village in the Leaves had awakened this morning, none of its citizens even dreamed of the possibility of being in the midst of such chaos.

Hell, the last time this ever happened was thirteen years ago when the Kyuubi attacked, levelling most buildings with a mere flick of its nine tails. Still, it came as a surprise to most when the very same target of the hatred generated by the fox thirteen years ago was practically seen in multiple locations, assisting the shinobi force and protecting the villagers from the onslaught they were facing right now. Because of this, many of the villagers were safely taken towards the village shelters in safety. However, while they all were protected for the meantime, the tension in the air was still palpable. The reason being that they could still hear the thunderous earthquakes and destruction, meaning that the village's shinobi were still courageously fighting against the invaders.

Outside, the many Chuunin from the village were being literally manhandled by the joint forces of Suna and Oto that plowed through through the main gates.

The enemies were more numerous than the defenders, at least two to one and many of Konoha's Chuunin were falling victim to Suna's finest.


===Orochimaru x Hiruzen===

While the village worked hard in order to protect Konoha from the invaders, Orochimaru and Hiruzen just stood in the same pose for a while, with Orochimaru holding a kunai close to Hiruzen's throat. For those who were born yesterday, it appeared life-threatening, to have an S-ranked shinobi holding you hostage. However, to one Sarutobi Hiruzen, this scene was nothing new. Especially since this is something he has been waiting to happen for a long time, ever since he caught his student's illicit practices.

"I knew that this day would come eventually…" The snake merely smirked while holding his old sensei. "Though, you won't take my head off that easily."

"Ku, ku, ku, you should hurry up and choose a Godaime Hokage, Sarutobi-sensei…after all, the consequence of time eventually reaches us all, right? Even you, who should have retired a long time ago."

Despite the situation, it was quite humorous to hear that coming from his student.

"That's very true…though I don't suppose you would underestimate me, Orochimaru. But I'd rather believe that all this…" Hiruzen said, gesturing to the chaos down the arena. "is not all because of a petty grudge. You don't seem like the type for that." The snake Sannin just chuckled and released his hold on his sensei, before walking away. Orochimaru had allowed a brief respite of his intentions, considering that he enjoyed the view right now.

"No…I guess you can say that I get no pleasure if something doesn't move…like a windmill that doesn't turn." Removing the Kazekage's blue hat and letting his long black hair fall, he continued the contemplation. "Certainly, it has an appeal once in a while, but this era of supposed peace is quite dull, wouldn't you agree? For me, it's not worth even looking at it. So, I had decided to move the windmill a bit, you know. Destroy the Leaf Village…imagine the chaos that would ensue in the Elemental Nations once the great and majestic Konoha falls." Hiruzen just observed the little monologue going on. Despite it all, it brought a sense of comfort for the senior shinobi to see that his most prized student was still the same as before.

"Huh, I see…I don't suppose you'd be that appreciative of living in a world without wars."

"Said world does not exist, Sarutobi-sensei." Orochimaru's answer came more automatic than he intended to be, though said introspection lasted less than a second, before his maniac grin resurfaced once more.

It came and went faster than anyone could breathe, but for a seasoned shinobi like Hiruzen, it was like it happened in slow-motion.

It was true that the senior Hokage did not believe in a world without wars, having grown up in the midst of the first two great wars. However, Hiruzen did cherish these peaceful times, as he could see the next generation of shinobi grow into a more prosperous settlement, at least until the next conflict arrives and he would be forced to throw his shinobi force into chaos once again. The image of Naruto strangely appeared in his mind at this exact moment. But not the Naruto of today, rather the younger and exuberant blond bundle of joy that caused nothing but trouble in the academy. While this Naruto has indeed grown as a shinobi, a part of the grandfather mentality in Hiruzen still wished to see the old Naruto hanging around, perhaps painting the Hokage's Monument or even making his ANBU detail chase the kid around the village.

After the brief trip down memory lane, sensei and student stood face to face sizing each other up. Well, rather Hiruzen was frowning while Orochimaru was smirking, but it was all the same in the end.

Soon, the tiles in which they were standing cracked under the force of their chakra powered dash as Hiruzen immediately went through a sequence of hand seals.

Ninpou Kora Shuriken (Ninja Art: Tile Shuriken)

Orochimaru observed as many tiles left the roof and turned into shuriken from Hiruzen's technique. The snake then laughed and jumped to the air. His tongue turned to a large viper that attacked Hiruzen and lodged its fangs in Hiruzen's neck, making the old man flinch and the snake Sannin laughed, joking about his sensei's old age. Orochimaru then used the snake to drag his body towards his sensei, considering the amount of venom that he was injecting in Hiruzen's bloodstream. In mid-distance, though, Orochimaru frowned as Hiruzen's body turned into mud and melted away. Releasing the snake back inside his mouth, Orochimaru then landed on the ground and looked around for his sensei, before his eyes turned right…right where Hiruzen appeared with a finished hand seal sequence.

Doton Doryuu Taiga (Earth Release: Earth Flow River)

The place where Orochimaru was standing turned into a mud river as the snake Sannin was instantly dragged down the roof.

"Is this it, sensei?" Orochimaru just chuckled at being dragged, while doing hand seals, but before he could finish, Hiruzen beat him to it, with a sequence of his own.

Doton Doryuudan (Earth Release: Earth Dragon Bomb)

Orochimaru looked startled as a dragon head emerged from the mud river and unleashed a full bombardment of mud balls at him. Still, it didn't look as threatening, but Hiruzen had other plans as well, making even more hand seals, before unleashing a fire beam technique that mixed with the mud bombs. The result…Orochimaru was set aflame, screaming in pain, much to the ANBU detail's amazement at seeing the Hokage use two elements mixed together.

When the mud river vanished and there was no sign of Orochimaru anywhere, Hiruzen just narrowed his eyes, visibly irritated at his student.

"Stop the stupid act, Orochimaru…please don't treat your old sensei like this." The hollow laughter of the snake echoed in the clearing, until Orochimaru emerged from below the roof, while a smile was on his face.

"Yes, very good sensei. Though, I think I deserve better coming from you. Did you truly think that this level of jutsu would be enough against me?" Hiruzen, though, merely tsked at the comment. "So…how about we stop playing around, sensei…or are you so desperate to finish this and go save this pathetic village?" The Hokage frowned at the small jab. To believe that he would hear this from his own student was like a punch to the gut…he truly needed to be present and protect the village, not waste his time in this pathetic fight. Still, it didn't look like he would be going anywhere, not with Orochimaru and this two-line barrier technique that his student's lackeys created around them.

In the end, Hiruzen had to consider that the village had the means to protect itself without him for a while.

So, grabbing the fire hat for a while, Hiruzen permitted himself a moment of relaxation as he inflamed his chakra coils, ready for the true fight.

"Huh, you do have a point, Orochimaru. Though, I would refrain from underestimating Konoha if I were you. You should know that better than anyone, how we operate." Hiruzen said his final words, before removing his Hokage robe and revealing his battle clothes. Orochimaru did the same thing, before both inflamed their respective chakra to the maximum as the roof started to shake and the dust began to lift. As student and sensei stared at each other once more, neither seemed perturbed about the combined onslaught of their chakra clashing with one another.

After all, what happened before was merely a warm-up.


===Throughout the Village===

While the S-ranked shinobi were battling it out, the Hidden Village in the Leaves were still busy dealing with the invaders.

Still, considering that most of the villagers and even the dignitaries from other villages were safely protected, it was finally time for the real force of Konoha to show its true colors. As such, while it appeared that the Suna and Oto shinobi were having it easy, they were still due to face most of the Jounin and ANBU force as well as the major clan heads. So, when said force erupted and faced the opposition, the Suna and Oto forces were easily overpowered, and most were simply dumbfounded over what happened. Yuugao's ANBU team were seen dispatching the enemies left and right, with supreme agility and effectiveness. Though, Yuugao's sword swings were filled with ferocity, far above what her peers did.

The other Jounins were also busy with the village structure's protection, easily countering whatever jutsu or weapons the enemy could throw at them.

The clan heads were also doing their part.

Hyuuga Hiashi was seen in a clearing surrounded by no less than ten shinobi from Suna, before he started spinning into a massive Kaiten (Rotation) that dragged all of the enemies into a chakra hurricane.

The now last Ino-Shika-Chou trio composed of Nara Shikaku, Inoichi Yamanaka and Akimichi Chouza were busy using their clan's respective skills to rid the village's commercial district of enemies. With Chouza using his body expansion jutsu, he managed to grow his body into amazing proportions easily topping the village buildings. With but a swing of his bo-staff, he could create hurricanes by his swing alone, expelling the enemies. Nara Shikaku, standing on Chouza's shoulder, gladly appreciated the shadow casted by Chouza and managed to link his own shadow to the group of enemies. With but a small hand sign, Shikaku's shadows crawled over the enemies' bodies, reaching for the neck and quickly snapping them.

Last but not least, Inoichi Yamanaka was using his mind techniques to turn the enemies against each other.

The members of the Hyuga Clan were quickly closing the invader's tenketsu and capturing them.

One Inuzuka Tsume and Inuzuka Hana were seen dashing on rooftops with their canine familiars and killing most enemies they could get their hands on.

Most other clan shinobi and kunoichi were quickly dealing with the invasion force. However, what was still left unchecked were the huge snake summons, composed by giant three-headed snakes. The summon's tails were destroying the walls and buildings left and right and Morino Ibiki's squad clearly were in quite the situation. Seeing as none of Ibiki's shinobi had a summon contract to deal against these monsters, they were reduced to what the shinobi could do, which was very little in fact.

"We have to hold them off, somehow!" Ibiki shouted to his teammates, but he was treading on thin ice as to what even he himself could accomplish against the summons. It all changed, however, when everyone heard a shout.

Kuchiyose: Yatai Kuzushi no Jutsu (Ninja Art: Food Cart Destroyer Jutsu)

When next they realized, the three-headed snake was smashed by a giant white toad carrying two swords on its back. After the smoke and dust cleared, Ibiki looked up at the toad's head to see a man with long white hair, crossing his arms.

"Long time no see, Ibiki." The lead interrogator could feel the sneer from Jiraiya's tone from afar as he then reached for the toad's head.

"Jiraiya-sama…" Ibiki greeted the toad shinobi, before kneeling in deference. "Thanks for the assistance. Though, I believe Hokage-sama needs it more." Jiraiya was surprisingly quiet as he processed everything that was going on. The toad Sannin then looked towards the arena where he knew that Orochimaru and Hiruzen were battling. He very much wanted to go there and assist his sensei in kicking the snake's butt, but he remembered his orders given by Hiruzen himself. Quickly closing his eyes to ponder, Jiraiya then turned to Ibiki.

"For now, let's focus on dealing with these pests. So if you please make yourself scarce, Ibiki…I have some snakeskin to slice." Ibiki frowned at the dismissal, but now was not the time as he simply jumped away just as Jiraiya caught movement from the forest in front of him. Looking closer, he could spot three teens, one female and two male, leaving the village instead of approaching it. That in itself was strange, considering that no respectable Konoha shinobi would even think of fleeing. Which meant that those were Suna shinobi. With a predatory smirk, Jiraiya did a small dance, before finishing with a pose.

"Gamahiro, you're free to have your fun with the snakes!" Jiraiya didn't even wait for the toad's acknowledgement, before he jumped away from the toad and charged in pursuit.

Meanwhile, at the arena, Naruto was now having the company of a different ally in dealing with the opposition, most of them Oto shinobi. Kurenai and the rest of the Jounin took advantage of the Genin's help and assisted the ANBU detail in evacuating the dignitaries from the arena and even Konoha. If anything happened to them, the village would lose resources as these dignitaries were high profile clients. No matter the circumstances, Konoha was still hosting the Chuunin Exams and were, thus, responsible for the dignitaries' and nobles' safety. And while Jiraiya had summoned building-tall toads, Naruto had summoned his own partner, Gamatsurugi to assist. Bringing in a heavy muscle fighter, because he was running low on chakra and couldn't keep up on his own.

Back down in the arena, Baki and even the disguised ANBU eyed the toad warrior. Though Kabuto didn't express any reaction, Baki was another story altogether. While facing Genma and a few other shinobi, Baki counted on some of the dignitaries being killed and thus Konoha would be blamed because of it. Being an Elite Jounin from Suna, Baki was made aware of how much revenue Suna lost because of Konoha. Hell, this was precisely the reason why Suna invaded the village in the first place. However, the Elite Jounin recognized Konoha's strength and realized Suna's folly. Perhaps, now only the Ichibi could provide them with something.


===Hiruzen x Orochimaru===

No sooner had they flared their chakra to the brim, both superior shinobi dashed to close the distance. Hiruzen grabbed a lone shuriken from his pouch and hurled it at Orochimaru, before going through hand seals.

Shuriken Kage Bunshin no Jutsu (Shuriken Shadow Clone Technique).

Afterward, the lone shuriken turned into dozens, while Orochimaru went through a sequence of hand seals of his own.

Kuchiyose Edo Tensei (Summoning: Impure World Resurrection)

Hiruzen immediately cursed his old student for daring to use this technique on him. As he saw the first and second coffins rise in front of him, Hiruzen frowned when he saw the third one rise. Doing hand seals of his own, Hiruzen managed to cancel the third coffin from rising as well, just as the shurikens embedded on the first two coffins. Orochimaru just chuckled at the vague but useless attempt to stop him. Despite the third coffin not being useful, the first and second ones were more than enough for what he wanted to do.

The Hokage was starting to sweat profusely, considering that he knew precisely whom Orochimaru had brought from the dead. Truly, from the atrocities the snake had committed, this one easily topped it all.

When the coffins opened, Hiruzen stood face to face with two of his own predecessors, the Senju brothers, Hashirama and Tobirama. The snake was visibly thrilling to see the look of pure shock coming from the Hokage.

"So, what will you do now, Sarutobi-sensei?"

The corpses belonging to the First and Second Hokages slowly walked outside the coffins, like zombies at first. Their eyes were devoid of life and even many of the usual expressions and mannerisms that were familiar to Hiruzen were present. Hashirama Senju was exuberant, expansive, and could easily attract everyone to his cause. Tobirama Senju was calm, collected, and rarely talked unless it was necessary. Well, Tobirama didn't look much different than when he was alive, but Hiruzen knew his sensei better than most. Once Hiruzen Sarutobi could just picture himself much younger looking up to these two as his role models. Now, thanks to his student, he was able to meet them once more, however, this was not the meeting that Hiruzen wanted to have. Not by a long shot.

"Hashirama-sama, Tobirama-sama…" The two previous Hokage then stopped as they heard the familiar voice, though both clearly were struggling to realize what was going on right now. After all, seeing an old Sarutobi Hiruzen could be quite surprising.

"It's been too long, Saru…" Hashirama commented on it, but Hiruzen noticed that it still lacked the old Senju Hashirama's mannerism.

The Nidaime Hokage, for his part, though, kept on introspective as he stared at the older version of his successor. He was about to comment something about the Sandaime Hokage, when his brain instantly got assaulted by memories…memories that didn't belong to him…nor even something about his life. Memories about himself staying inside a dark and humid cave, the same cave that he had placed the marking with his kage bunshin sealed inside, so that one of his students could find and carry on his legacy. Memories of a blond kid with a familiar chakra first showing up…memories of Tobirama tutoring this boy…named Uzumaki Naruto. Memories of Tobirama training Naruto in many aspects of the shinobi life, until the last memory of Tobirama sealing his knowledge in one giant scroll.

That all happened in less than a second, but all that transpired on the outside was a simple uncharacteristic blink, followed by a grunt as the geezer Sarutobi had a conversation with his brother.

'Edo Tensei…huh…to believe that I of all people would be used by the very technique I created.'

One thing Tobirama realized was that despite this foe bringing him and his brother back to life, Tobirama had zero to no control over his movements, except his mouth apparently. Playing along for now, Tobirama barely turned to see the one who dared use his technique on himself.

"Edo Tensei…so this young man had summoned us using this prohibited technique?" Hashirama was also looking back at Orochimaru, before he turned and faced Hiruzen.

"So this means that we have to fight you, Sarutobi?" Orochimaru merely chuckled as he approached the two Senju brothers with two sealing tags strapped to two kunai, one for each summon. Hashirama, though, wanted nothing but to sigh in dismay, in real life, though, because he didn't have full control over his actions, all he could do was mourn the situation. "There are always fights, no matter the era you live in. For this, we're truly sorry, Saru." Tobirama kept quiet, as he tried assessing the situation. It's truly vexing that he didn't have control over his body or else he would teach this youngster a lesson in manners. However, the Nidaime Hokage found himself wondering what happened to Naruto. Hiruzen, though, was livid at this point.

"Damn you, Orochimaru, no good will come of playing with the dead like this!" Orochimaru, though, only laughed as he placed the kunai inside the brothers' heads.

"You're a fool if you truly believe I care about that, sensei…now, I believe you have more pressing manners than trying to appeal to my consciousness."

As soon as the kunai got inside and Orochimaru made a hand seal, smoke erupted from their bodies as their bodies' usual color came back slowly. However, and much to Hiruzen's utter shock, despite them being identical to his heroes, they were no more than mere puppets to Orochimaru's machinations. Hiruzen truly felt his old age right now and even more so, after he saw Orochimaru's actions. Because at the end of the day, the student's wrongdoings are the master's responsibility. Even more so, when Hiruzen had the power to stop it and did nothing. Tobirama at this point felt his own consciousness fade slowly and concluded that this sealing tag must be suppressing his soul as well. Hashirama, at this point, was already a mere puppet, but Tobirama had but a small window of consciousness for one final thought, just before he too became a mere puppet.

'I am sorry Saru…'

With those parting words, the Senju brothers then vanished and charged straight at Hiruzen in taijutsu. Despite the senior shinobi knowing that they were not the real ones, it still pained him to fight like this. Still, Hiruzen Sarutobi wasn't appointed by the Nidaime Hokage as Sandaime Hokage for nothing and blocked all of the Hashirama's attacks, before hurling him across the rooftop. Tobirama, then, came from up top with the same strategy, but Hiruzen did the same, grabbing Tobirama's legs and hurling him towards Hashirama's location, before going through hand seals.

"Here I come…" Gathering enough air inside his lungs, Hiruzen finished the hand seals sequence and ignited the air inside his lungs, releasing it all in one great white fire beam.

Katon Karyuu Endan (Fire Release: Fire Dragon Flame Bullet)

The deeply concentrated white fire beam charged at the previous Hokages like a mad train, taking most of the tiles in its path. However, the Nidaime Hokage merely went through a small sequence of hand seals, before gathering water inside his lungs.

Suiton Suijinheki (Water Release: Water Encampment Wall)

Hiruzen stopped his technique as soon as he saw the geyser of water from his sensei's mouth, instantly dousing the flames. Hiruzen saw as droplets of water still hovered in front of the Nidaime Hokage, before the man made a simple praying hand seal, molding his chakra. Hiruzen had to blink twice, not to observe a strange pattern of this follow-up ninjutsu. Because he had seen one Uzumaki Naruto performing the exact same thing in his fight against Gaara. The water started forming around Tobirama like a small water typhoon at first, before climbing towards the heavens as the man exploded his chakra with a shout.

Suiton Suishouha (Water Release: Water Shockwave)

The tidal wave created by the Nidaime Hokage was quite threatening indeed, but Hiruzen didn't wait two seconds before spitting mud on the ground and lifting a tall earth wall to block the incoming wave from dragging him away.

Down at the arena, Uzumaki Naruto was observing his toad companion deal with the last of Sound invaders, when his sensing skills tingled. This feeling…it couldn't be…but how was it possible? The last time he had sensed his sensei's presence was a long time ago. As soon as he looked upward, he saw the water geyser skyrocketing. The Genin gasped at the sudden occurrence and looked around. At this point, Kurenai and the other Jounin had already dispatched the dignitaries and the arena was clear of enemies, after Gamatsurugi's help.

Quickly eating a soldier's pill to replenish some of his chakra, Naruto could feel more chakra presences on top of the arena. Reducing his chakra to a bare minimum to avoid detection, Naruto swiftly climbed through the castle wall, until he took shelter in between the rooftops. Hiding behind one of the structure pillars, Naruto could see the team of ANBU behaving like spectators. He wondered why the ANBU were just sitting there, doing nothing, when he sensed the barrier lifted by four individuals. When his eyes landed on the man who was single handedly responsible for the shift in Naruto's life fighting against the Hokage, Naruto's heart plummeted. To see his sensei once more after so long, only to see him fighting for the enemy instead...

'Just what's going on here…why is sensei fighting against the Hokage and who is the other guy with the long black hair and red armor.'

Still, Naruto couldn't understand why Tobirama-sensei was acting like this. His brain was working furiously, trying to remember his training with the man as well as the scroll containing the Nidaime's knowledge. While he was doing so, he could see his sensei using water ninjutsu left and right to pummel Hokage-jiji. Even the other one…so far with nothing but taijutsu, but the sound of his attacks easily reached Naruto's ear. The Genin could only flinch as he saw this strange man punching the Hokage in the gut. Then, as he saw the Hokage kneeling on the ground, trying to recover his breath, Naruto shuddered at the sudden amount of chakra being used…what's worse…he could feel the mix of earth and water chakra used at the same time, which meant…

'Wait…earth and water at the same time…a kekkei genkai…oh kami…' Naruto saw the vines growing from within the rooftops, before full trees appeared, charging against the Hokage. 'Shit, that's the Shodaime Hokage…sensei's brother'.

But, how could the previous Hokage be used like this…until Naruto recalled reading about a technique in the Nidaime's scroll. A technique that dealt with space-time ninjutsu called Edo Tensei. A technique that according to his sensei allowed the user to summon the dead, using a living human being as a sacrifice. The memory of reading it was scarce, since Naruto had yet to dabble in space-time ninjutsu. So far, he had only grazed the theory behind it and his head hurt just trying to understand it. However, he remembered that the Nidaime had only explained the method in which to release the technique. He remembered the hand seals, though Naruto started doing it just to practice at first. When he was satisfied with the sequence, Naruto closed his eyes and reached out for his sensei's presence.

As soon as he did so, Naruto sensed another person's chakra in the mix. The area was filled with powerful chakras all at once, so it became hard for Naruto to lock on his sensei's chakra. The Shodaime's wood technique had allowed a full-sized tree to emerge on the rooftop and the Hokage was trapped by the trees. The Nidaime Hokage was just standing by his brother's side, looking up at the Sandaime.

'Okay, perhaps once I flare my chakra, I will be discovered. So, I only have one chance for this to work.'

Going through hand seals and flaring his chakra, Naruto ignored the fact that everyone around instantly turned to the location he was in and locked on his chakra with Tobirama-sensei's.

'Wake up, sensei!'

Edo-Tensei: Kai (Impure World Resurrection: Release)

For a while, nothing seemed to happen, until the back of the Nidaime's head started burning. Orochimaru wondered what the hell happened all of a sudden as he had lost his connection with the Nidaime Hokage. Hiruzen, who was about to do something to escape from the Shodaime's constricts, wondered when life suddenly returned to Tobirama-sensei's eyes. Tobirama, for his part, then looked at his hand and started flexing it and moving his arms freely. Without Orochimaru's control to hinder his movements, the Nidaime Hokage smirked as his senses returned to him. A full out smirk soon appeared on his mouth as his senses came back to him and with that, he was able to sense the presence of his student, hiding nearby. Huh, to believe that the gaki had grown this much already…

"What's the meaning of this…how could you recover control?" Tobirama looked at the snarling Orochimaru for a moment, before he used his water severing technique to slice Hashirama's trees that were trapping Hiruzen.

The Sandaime Hokage landed close to his sensei, also wondering how this happened all of a sudden. Though, when he noticed Tobirama, Hiruzen wondered why the man was looking in another direction and smiling. Quickly following the line of sight, Hiruzen was shocked to see a smiling Naruto. What was stranger was that Hiruzen saw recognition in Tobirama's eyes.

"Saru…now there is no time for explanations. I shall deal with my brother, while you teach this Orochimaru some lessons in manners."

Hiruzen then turned to the snarling Orochimaru and nodded, despite still wanting to know just how Tobirama-sensei came to know Naruto-kun. His senior mind was racing a mile a minute, already forming the puzzle of one Uzumaki Naruto. How Naruto suddenly improved in the academy…how Naruto had learned to use elemental ninjutsu at such a young age and quite similar to Tobirama-sensei's techniques. At least, the water techniques. Naruto's growth curve became geometrical and Tobirama-sensei, somehow, was the one responsible for it.

"I don't know how, but I'm glad to be fighting by your side once more, Tobirama-sama." The Nidaime nodded, though the water user legend frowned.

"Stop wasting time and get going already, Saru…" With that, Tobirama vanished and engaged in a fight against Hashirama, earning a chuckle from Hiruzen.

"It's been what forty or so years since we last spoke and you're still lecturing me…how nostalgic." Then, Hiruzen turned to the fuming Orochimaru. "I trust that you'll finally face me on your own, Orochimaru."

The snake Sannin tsked seeing his plans ruined somehow. He did sense someone else using chakra for a second, but he couldn't know who interfered with his plans. Naruto, for his part, was working profusely in almost blocking the last remains of his chakra from being used. This fight was between Hokages and S-ranked shinobi for heaven's sake. He was just lucky that no one caught him using the technique or else he would be toast right now.

Back to Orochimaru, he saw no other alternative than to face his sensei head on. Senju Tobirama was the creator of this technique, so he must have released himself from Orochimaru's control, meaning that he now became the enemy. This battle had started hugely in his favor, but now he was at a severe disadvantage here. Still, he would work towards his goal of killing the Sandaime and he had just the means to do so. Hiruzen observed as Orochimaru pulled out a sword from his mouth and frowned. He knew this sword of course and he also knew not to underestimate it. Doing some hand seals and sacrificing some blood, Hiruzen called upon a weapon for himself.


===With Jiraiya===

Jiraiya just watched as the kid Genin from Suna managed to summon the Bijuu Ichibi. Jiraiya had effortlessly tracked them and captured Temari and Kankuro. When he was beating the kid Gaara, the kid saw no other move possible but to bring forward the Bijuu trapped inside him. However, Jiraiya couldn't help but grin, already knowing who to call for assistance and knowing how much Gamabunta will complain about it. Jiraiya then saw as his opponent had put himself to sleep, before the creature screamed in glee about being released.

"Huh, so Suna had decided to use every possible tool to kill us. It's good that I don't need to defeat you, Ichibi, but merely to force your jinchuuriki awake." Sacrificing blood, Jiraiya went through hand seals, before Gamabunta emerged in all his grace.

"Jiraiya…how dare you…call me to deal with the Ichibi…!" The perverted Sannin just chuckled.

"Sorry there Bunta, but Gamahiro is actually busy at the moment." The toad chief hummed in annoyance, before eyeing the sand creature.

"You'll owe me big time for this…Jiraiya."

"Gladly, now would you please dodge." The toad grunted as he saw the Ichibi's belly expand. When Ichibi then slammed his chest with his hand, a powerful wind blast erupted from the Bijuu, levelling most of the forest with it. Bunta then was reduced to jumping mostly as the same attack happened more and more, forcing Bunta to use his own water bullet technique to counter the Ichibi's. The fight between monsters made the forest tremble as Bunta used his heavy weight and nimble legs to jump and evade the onslaught of wind bullets. Jiraiya, on top of the toad, frowned as those wind bullets forced them at a distance. He needed to shorten the distance and wake the kid up, though that was proving difficult. It was perhaps time for some heavy weaponry and Jiraiya at least hoped he wouldn't kill the jinchuuriki with it.

"Bunta, give me some oil." Jiraiya went through hand seals and pumped his chest to gather as much air as possible, while Gamabunta did the same.

Katon Dai Endan (Fire Release: Great Flame Bullet)

The toad then released a steady stream of oil beams that merged with Jiraiya's fire technique.

The end result…the gigantic flame beam enveloped the Ichibi fully in what could only be described as hell on earth. The searing burn caught Gaara head on as the pain of being burned alive forced himself awake.

With a battered body and almost without chakra, Gaara had no way of providing a counter as Jiraiya had quickly jumped off of Bunta's head and placed a seal on Gaara's forehead, sealing the Bijuu's influence. The Bijuu's scream echoed in the clearing as his sand body slowly crumbled as Jiraiya had safely captured the falling Gaara, before Bunta secured their fall.


===Hiruzen x Orochimaru===

Tobirama's water jutsu battled against Hashirama's wood techniques. Tobirama knew that his brother would be unstoppable normally, but without his consciousness, Senju Hashirama was beatable. As such, Tobirama then charged at his brother and engaged in taijutsu. While doing so, Tobirama swiftly placed exploding tags all throughout Hashirama's body. One by one, Tobirama ignited the explosive tags, forcing his brother's body to almost vanish, before the Edo Tensei technique ran its course, reforming his body.

"It's time for you to go back, aniki." Then, like Naruto did, Tobirama went through hand seals, before locking on his brother's chakra, releasing the effects of the Edo Tensei.

The usual brightness of Senju Hashirama soon returned and he could finally greet Tobirama properly, despite the situation.

"Glad that you somehow took control of this awful technique of yours, Tobirama."

The Nidaime grunted, remembering the earful he received from his brother when he created this technique.

"Yeah, though I can't take the credit for that, aniki."

Hashirama nodded, apparently knowing to whom Tobirama was referring to. The brothers truly wished to continue the conversation, but Hashirama's body started to glow, showing the end of his binding in this plane. With his body leaving this plane of existence, Tobirama observed a teen girl with a strange headband, dead, used as a sacrifice for his brother's summoning. Senju Tobirama considered himself a pragmatic man, but he always had grievances about going forward with this technique. Despite coming up with it, Tobirama had never come to use it, precisely for this reason. Using a human sacrifice like that would be crossing the line and that just wasn't what Konoha was about. Looking at the fight between Saru and the one who used the Edo Tensei, Tobirama then saw as Saru's black staff slammed hard into the enemy's body.

The noise of bones breaking was all too familiar as Orochimaru had no choice but to order his team to release the barrier and facilitate his escape.

The ANBU team began the pursuit, but one of the Sound Four spilled what appeared to be a spider's web and ensnared the ANBU team. Hiruzen just observed his old student fleeing and frowned in disappointment.

When he noticed Tobirama looking at him with his arms crossed, Hiruzen permitted himself a brief time of nostalgia at seeing this exact pose a long time ago. Though, before he could approach his sensei, Hiruzen stopped dead as he saw one Uzumaki Naruto approach the Nidaime Hokage. For some reason, Hiruzen found himself stuck where he stood as he looked at the scene of his grandson-figure looking up at the Nidaime Hokage and the Nidaime Hokage looking down at him. Both were smiling deeply.

"Tobirama-sensei…" Naruto was about to express his happiness at seeing his mentor once more, but Tobirama stopped him by ruffling his hair with a smile on his face.

"I can see you have grown stronger, Naruto…I expected nothing less, from my legacy." The Genin beamed at the praise, despite being quite uncomfortable. Usually, the water whips would have already hit him by now. Naruto was surprised when Tobirama's body started glowing white, just like what happened to the First Hokage, which meant…

"You're leaving, sensei, but I wanted to talk to you more…I…worked hard to study your scroll and managed to improve, just like you said." Tobirama smirked, while allowing his student to finish his rambling.

"I…am still struggling with fuinjutsu and space-time ninjutsu, though." Tobirama could still see Naruto's eagerness to improve...just like when they first met.

Indeed, the boy was full of potential and Tobirama could attest that the Uzumaki has barely tappeed into it yet. A part of him truly wished to remain and better guide his student, though. Seeing this potential realized and seeing his accomplishments in the future would be such a thrill to Tobirama, but unfortunately he was on borrowed time right now and it didn't make sense for him to entertain this thought.

His student would be perfectly fine by himself and Saru was here to help guide the Nidaime's legacy.

"Yes, those will come with time, I'm sure. Now, unfortunately, my time here has to be cut short, Naruto. Me being here is unnatural as I'm sure you know."

Tobirama then saw Naruto's saddened nod and smiled, placing a hand on his shoulder.

He saw the tears on Naruto's eyes at having to say goodbye once more.

"There is no need to shed those tears, my student, so wipe those off, immediately." Despite the heavy words, the tone was light, so Naruto did as commanded by his sensei and looked up once more. "Now, I will repeat what I said to you once before I go…my legacy, train hard and commit yourself into learning more and more…but above all else, use those skills I taught you to better protect Konohagakure and its citizens. That needs to be your goal above all else." Still saddened but moved by his sensei's parting words, Naruto then smiled and showed an excited fist to the Nidaime.

"I shall make you proud, sensei…I shall carry on your legacy and do my utmost best to protect Konoha."

Tobirama nodded as he allowed his spirit to be released from the body that was used as a sacrifice.

Before returning to the land of the dead, he turned to Hiruzen who was being attended by a couple of medic-nins and was observing their conversation, transfixed.

"Saru, I believe it's high time for you to appoint a successor. There is no sense in clinging to the title once you're no longer in your prime."

The Hokage chuckled at the advise mixed with heavy criticism as per the usual as he watched the spirit of Tobirama fade and the male Genin from Sound appear, dead.

Hiruzen knew that, without Naruto there to release the Edo Tensei, to which the senior shinobi was still dumbfounded that the blond shinobi even knew about it, he doubted his chances of survival. Obviously, someone younger than him would be better able to handle what happened. Perhaps, it was high time to focus on finding the Godaime Hokage, though right now, Hiruzen had to work over the consequences of Orochimaru's actions and Suna's betrayal.

Still, as the clouds moved and the sun graced everyorne with its presence, the old man Hokage had thanked the heavens that Konoha had survived through yet another test.


Author Note

And that's it for now…I saw that some of you had thought about Tobirama's kage bunshin theory, so congrats for figuring it out. I truly wanted to prolong the meeting between Naruto and Tobirama, but it wouldn't have been credible. Also, it wasn't my intention to have him spend more time with Naruto. Meeting his sensei once more and receiving praise for his skills was all that mattered. It means that he is going on the right path, while continuing to grow.

I first thought about doing the aftermath of the invasion in this chapter but decided against it in the end.

Next chapter, I shall cover the consequences of the invasion and the results of the Chuunin Exams. Different from canon, this Chuunin Exams progressed further, so more Genin had the opportunity to show their skills. Plus, Hiruzen now knows the truth about how Naruto managed to grow so much in a short amount of time, so a confrontation shall arise between them in the next chapter. Both in the end had kept things from one another.

Once more, I appreciate everyone for the feedback as well as adding this story to their favorite or following.

Thanks a lot everyone.

Just a reminder...I placed a poll in my author page about which of my Naruto stories to continue next, seeing as I'm finishing one of my Fate Stay Night stories.

Please help me decide.

Oh and Naruhina fans, please step up and vote.

Next update: Avalon Bond