章 726: Chapter 720 : Orochimaru's Trump Card!
Despite possessing the Swift Release Kekkei Genkai, Shigeru failed to outrun Fujin. While his speed was faster than Fujin's, even when Fujin was assisted by the Wind Cloak, the Wind Cloak allowed Fujin to use the Assassin's Rush jutsu seamlessly and continuously. It allowed Fujin to outspeed Shigeru temporarily.
As his sword sliced through Shigeru's body, he thought, 'It looks like Swift Release can't keep up with me either. Well, at least not when used by a Jounin-level ninja. I guess Ay is the only one who is faster than me. At least when I don't use the Flying Thunder God jutsu...'
His eyes focused on Guren, who had just completed a complicated set of hand seals. The two subordinates protecting her noticed the Vacuum Slash flying at her and cursed, "Shit! Protect Lady Guren!"
Both weaved hand seals and slammed their hands on the ground.
'Earth Release: Earth Wall jutsu'
Multiple layers of earth walls appeared in front of them. However, recalling what Fujin's attack did to the crystal wall, both knew that such a defense wouldn't block Fujin's attack. Hence, they didn't rest easy and weaved hand seals once again.
'Earth Release: Iron Skin jutsu'
As Fujin's Vacuum Slash pierced through the walls, the two of them stood in its path to block the deadly jutsu with their bodies! Needless to say, both were sliced into two pieces as the slash continued towards Guren, who had slammed her hands on the ground.
Fujin's eyes widened as he saw six coffins rise from the ground! A smile appeared on Guren's face as she thought, 'It's done! This is our victory!'
She suddenly felt something and glanced at her right. Her eyes widened as she saw a Vacuum Slash mere meters away from her! The Vacuum Slash sliced through four of the six coffins, destroying the boxes as well as the bodies within!
Guren instinctively moved behind to dodge the Vacuum Slash. Unfortunately, she had too little time. Even though she managed to save her life, the Vacuum Slash cut her right arm at the elbow cleanly!
Fujin cursed, 'Shit, did she just perform the Edo Tensei jutsu? And summoned 6 ninjas at the same time?'
For the first time since the start of the battle, Fujin felt some pressure.
At the same time, 3 coffins rose inside the barrier. Unlike in the original story, Hiruzen didn't try to attack the coffins. Instead, he just looked at Orochimaru with a dark expression. Reading the words on the coffins, he knew who Orochimaru was trying to summon and understood why he was so confident.
He thought, 'To think he would try to summon the three dead Hokages… Sigh, he has completely drowned in hatred. For him to be so confident, has he improved the Edo Tensei jutsu to let the revived ninjas have the strength that they possessed when they were alive?'
Thoughts flashed in Hiruzen's mind at the speed of light as hope appeared in his eyes. He analyzed, 'Minato can't be revived. However, if Orochimaru can revive Lord First at his full strength, he won't be able to control him. Even Lord Second might be able to gain control. If that happens, we'll win in the blink of an eye.'
Even though Hiruzen had that hope, it was a very small one. He knew that Orochimaru wouldn't make such a basic error. In an inconspicuous corner of the stadium, a figure stood. Even though several battles were happening around him, no one attacked him. In fact, none of them even saw him. It was none other than a clone Fujin had left behind in the stadium long before the finals began.
From the moment the battle had begun, this clone had done only one thing, which was to observe the fight between Hiruzen and Orochimaru. He analyzed, 'So, Hiruzen didn't bother to try blocking the coffins. It makes sense considering that it really won't have any effect.
Regardless, these two indeed are at the peak of this world in terms of Ninjutsu. Their battle is exactly how I expected it to be. I can be considered good at Ninjutsu as well, but compared to them, I'm lacking considerably. The only technique in my arsenal with which I can compete with their skill is the Wind Domain…'
He recalled their fight before letting out a sigh and thinking, 'Oh well, these two have worked on their skills for several decades longer than me. It'll take me some time to catch up with them in this regard. Besides, with the Flying Thunder God jutsu, I can easily compete with them even if I'm lacking in Ninjutsu.'
He continued observing the battle. Considering how advanced the battle between Hiruzen and Orochimaru was as compared to their fight in the original story, he was looking forward to seeing the two Senju brothers in action. Even though neither lived as long as Hiruzen, there was no question regarding their skills.
In another part of the stadium, a figure stealthily left the stadium and chased after Naruto's group. It was another clone of Fujin! Due to Shikaku's plans, Fujin was no longer sure whether Naruto would get to fight Gaara. He just arranged a clone to follow them in case things somehow happened similarly. With the reanimated Kabuto stalling Kakashi, the chance he was awaiting had appeared.
In the arena, Guren held her right arm. Crystal appeared around her elbow, closing the cut. She glanced at Fujin with fear in her eyes while thinking, 'He was able to kill Shigeru and Kurogaki in such a short time?'
The area around Guren was covered in dust and splintered wood, blocking the eyesight of most ninjas. She saw the four bodies that were reforming and thought, 'Luckily Lord Orochimaru had already reanimated them and my only task was to summon them. Otherwise, there might have been complications and our plan would have been a lost cause.'
Guren recalled her meeting with Orochimaru when he trusted her with the most important task. Her expression hardened as she decided, 'My role isn't done here. Orochimaru-sama's former teammate is still somewhere around. Even if I die, I won't let Orochimaru-sama down!'
The crystal around her right elbow began expanding, eventually forming an arm. Fujin paid no attention to Guren. Instead, his attention was on the six reanimated ninjas. Even though he couldn't see their appearance yet, a frown appeared on his face as he recognized the chakra signatures of two of the six ninjas.
He quickly analyzed, 'These two… This will be a difficult battle. Even though I can take on these two myself, I won't be able to handle all 6 alone if others are at the same level as them. And, if anyone is stronger…'
Fujin quickly analyzed, 'If the card Orochimaru prepared is Edo Tensei jutsu, then we won't need Guy's Eight Inner Gates. I guess this is as far Shikaku's pre-war plans go!'
Fujin suddenly disappeared from his spot and appeared among the Konoha ninjas who were fighting the Oto ninjas. The Oto ninjas had activated stage 2 of the curse seal and initially overwhelmed the Konoha ninjas. However, once the Jounins stepped forward, they were easily suppressed. However, the Jounins hadn't been able to kill them in a short while due to their physiques.
Suddenly, all ten remaining Oto ninjas were sliced in two. The Konoha ninjas looked at Fujin, who was standing among their ranks. Before they could say anything, Fujin glanced at the Jounins and said, "Free up Kakashi and Guy. I'll need help."
Fujin immediately looked at the reanimated ninjas after giving the order. He couldn't afford to take his eyes off them for a long time. The Konoha ninjas followed his gaze and shock appeared on their faces.
"That's Juzo! Wasn't he dead?"
"Is he Kaminari? Didn't he go rogue over a decade ago? Why is he here?"
"Wait, look at their eyes!"
The experienced ninjas immediately realized that their opponents had been reanimated with the Edo Tensei jutsu. Without exchanging a single word, they retreated and moved towards Kakashi and Guy.
As the dust settled and the bodies of the four ninjas completely reformed, the Konoha and Suna ninjas started seeing who were summoned one by one. The battle slowed down slightly as most ninjas were more interested in this development. The Konoha ninjas were slightly nervous while hope ignited within the Suna ninjas.
Only Baki was slightly nervous. He wondered, 'Why hasn't Kazekage-sama appeared yet? I can't trust Orochimaru's arrangements…'
As the figures became visible, the surprised voices of several ninjas could be heard.
"That's Juzo and Zabuza! Two of the former Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist!"
"The Kumo rogue is here too? When did Kaminari die? No wonder there was no news about him."
"Who is that girl?"
"Holy crap! Kaguya Shirogane is also revived! That madman led his entire clan to its demise!"
Finally, the last person's appearance became clear. Immediately, the blood of all Suna ninjas who saw him became cold. Terror appeared in the eyes of Konoha ninjas. Even Fujin's expression became grave! While the remaining 5 weren't a threat to Fujin, the last person forced him to raise his guard to the highest level!
[A/N: Kaminari appeared in chapter 136.]
[A/N: The author's notes in chapter 632 were related to this. I was struggling with one simple question - Why didn't Orochimaru spam the Edo Tensei jutsu to destroy Konoha in the original story? It would have been an easy win. Even though Orochimaru's Edo Tensei isn't as advanced as Kabuto's, it was never said that he could control only a small number of reanimated ninjas. The limitation was more focused towards the fact that the revived ninjas (more specifically the strong ones like Hashirama and Tobirama) couldn't reach their full strength (and even this was added later in the story).
Since there was no explanation, my initial plan was to temporarily nerf Edo Tensei jutsu so that Orochimaru could do only what he did in the original story. However, when I was considering what to do with Fujin (since he is considerably stronger than my initial plans), I suddenly wondered why I was nerfing the Edo Tensei jutsu when it was the perfect answer to my issues.
Kinda glad that the idea appeared in my mind when it did as it'll make this arc far more fun. Anyway, I hope you guys enjoy it. Plenty of fun battles to come (but please keep the author's notes from chapter 704 in mind).]
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