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The air inside the Four Violet Flames Formation grew heavy, tasting of ozone and grave soil. The two resurrected legends stood before their summoner, their cracked skin and darkened sclera marking them as unholy puppets of the Edo Tensei.
Hashirama Senju looked around, his gaze landing on the old man in battle armor. A spark of recognition lit his lifeless eyes.
"Saru..." Hashirama's voice was deep, echoing with a strange duality of warmth and sorrow. "You've grown old, Saru."
"Lord First..." Hiruzen gripped his adamantine staff, his knuckles white. "Lord Second."
"To be summoned like this," Tobirama Senju scowled, sensing the tag in his head suppressing his free will but leaving his consciousness intact. "This jutsu... it is a stain on my legacy. Who is the caster?"
"I am," Orochimaru hissed, standing behind them. "And you will destroy them."
Tobirama's gaze shifted to the blonde man standing casually beside Hiruzen. His sensory abilities, the finest in history, flared.
"This chakra..." Tobirama narrowed his eyes. "It is vast. Comparable to Elder Brother. And it feels... ancient."
"Prepare yourselves!" Hashirama shouted, his body moving against his will. He clasped his hands together. "Young man in the red coat! We cannot control our bodies! So you'll have ti watch out!"
Tobirama moved first. There was no buildup, no telegraphing. One moment he was standing by the coffin, the next, he was mid-air, his chest expanding. 'Water Release: Water Severing Wave!'
A high-pressure jet of water, thin as a needle and sharp enough to cut through diamond, sliced through the air aimed directly at Alaric's neck.
Hiruzen moved to intercept, but Alaric was faster.
"No need, old man," Alaric said calmly.
Alaric didn't dodge. He mirrored the stance. He didn't weave a single sign, yet the moisture in the air obeyed his command instantly.
'Water Release: Water Severing Wave.'
A matching beam of water erupted from Alaric's mouth.
ZZZZZT!
The two high-pressure streams collided in the dead center of the roof. The impact created a shockwave of mist that blinded the Anbu outside the barrier. The water scattered, slicing deep grooves into the tiled floor and the purple barrier walls.
Tobirama landed, his expression one of clinical interest. "You used my technique without hand seals. Your chakra control is absolute."
"I learn fast," Alaric replied, wiping a drop of water from his lip.
"Then dodge this," Tobirama warned.
The Second Hokage threw a marked kunai. It flew past Alaric's head. 'Flying Raijin Slice.'
Tobirama vanished. He reappeared instantly at the location of the kunai behind Alaric, a blade of water formed in his hand, ready to decapitate.
It was instantaneous teleportation. Unbeatable.
CLANG.
Tobirama's eyes widened.
Alaric hadn't turned around. He had simply raised his right arm, hardening his coat with chakra, blocking the water blade with his forearm. His head tilted back slightly, his Eternal Mangekyo Sharingan spinning lazily, tracking the space-time distortion the moment it happened.
"Teleportation is instant," Alaric said, looking at Tobirama over his shoulder. "But your swing isn't."
Alaric spun, delivering a back kick infused with Swift Release.
BAM.
Tobirama was launched across the roof, crashing into the barrier with a hiss of burning flesh before his body began to regenerate.
"Impressive!" Hashirama roared, his voice booming. "You reacted to Tobirama's speed! But what about power?"
The God of Shinobi slammed his hands together. The roof groaned under the pressure. "Wood Release: Deep Forest Emergence!"
The tiles shattered. Massive roots, thick as house pillars, erupted from the concrete. They surged forward like a tsunami of wood, twisting and gnashing, threatening to swallow Alaric and Hiruzen whole.
Hiruzen stared up at the tidal wave of timber. "This is... I cannot stop this with Earth style!"
"I told you, old man," Alaric grinned, stepping in front of the Hokage. "No need."
Alaric slammed his foot onto the ground. His chakra flared, green and vibrant.
'Wood Release: Deep Forest Emergence!'
"WHAT!?" Orochimaru screamed, his composure finally cracking.
From beneath Alaric's feet, a counter-wave of trees exploded upward. The two forests collided in the center of the rooftop with a sound like a thunderclap. Branches locked with branches, roots strangled roots. The sheer force of the collision shook the entire tower, cracking the foundation.
The two wood constructs wrestled for dominance, rising higher and higher until they nearly touched the top of the purple barrier.
Hashirama stood atop his creation, looking at Alaric who stood atop his own. The First Hokage was laughing, a genuine, hearty sound.
"A Wood Release user!" Hashirama shouted, delighted. "Are you a Senju? Are you my descendant? Tsunade never told me she had a son!"
"Distant cousin... on the side of... reincarnation," Alaric quipped, channeling more chakra.
His trees grew spikes, piercing Hashirama's wood and pinning the First Hokage's constructs in place.
"You have more raw power than I do in this vessel," Hashirama analyzed, his body regenerating from a splintered branch that had impaled his shoulder. "But your control is rigid. Wood is alive, boy! Let it flow!"
"Thanks for the tip," Alaric muttered.
While Alaric was locked in a power struggle with the two Hokages... holding back Tobirama's water dragons with one hand and Hashirama's forest with the other... Orochimaru saw his opening.
The Sannin melted into the floor, slithering through the chaos of the roots. He emerged from a shadow directly to Alaric's blind spot, the legendary Kusanagi Blade extending from his mouth.
"You are distracted!" Orochimaru hissed, the blade aiming for Alaric's heart.
Alaric didn't turn. He didn't panic. He barely acknowledged the Sannin's existence.
The air around Alaric condensed.
'Wind Release: Great Gale Palm.'
Alaric simply flicked his left hand in Orochimaru's direction.
BOOM.
A concentrated blast of wind, heavy as a solid wall, slammed into Orochimaru mid-lunge. The Sannin's eyes bulged as the wind pressure crushed his momentum, folded his body in half, and launched him violently across the roof.
Orochimaru flew past Hiruzen, tumbling end over end until he crashed into the far corner of the barrier.
"Go play with the monkey, little snake," Alaric said coldly, not looking away from Tobirama who was preparing another attack. " The adults are talking."
Hiruzen blinked, then hefted his staff. He looked at the sprawled Orochimaru, then at Alaric who was casually fighting two gods at once.
"Right," Hiruzen muttered, feeling a surge of adrenaline he hadn't felt in decades. "I suppose I should do my part."
The battle intensified.
Tobirama, realizing physical strikes were failing, switched tactics. "Genjutsu: Bringer of Darkness."
Total blackness descended on the rooftop. Sight was gone. Light was extinguished. Even the purple glow of the barrier vanished for those inside.
"Now you are blind," Tobirama's voice echoed from everywhere. "Can you fight what you cannot see?"
"Sight?" Alaric chuckled in the darkness. "I don't need eyes to see you, Second."
His senses pinged the locations of every entity in the vicinity. Alaric felt the displacement of air.
"Fire Release: Dragon Flame Song." Alaric inhaled and exhaled. In the pitch black, four massive dragon heads made of blue fire illuminated the void. They didn't aim blindly; they homed in on heat signatures.
The darkness shattered as the flames collided with Tobirama's water wall, creating a blinding explosion of steam.
Hashirama burst through the steam, his fists coated in chakra. Sage Art: Wood Golem Fist.
Alaric matched him, coating his own fist in hardened with chakra.
CRACK!
Fist met fist. The shockwave blew the roof tiles off the tower completely.
"Excellent!" Hashirama yelled, spinning to deliver a kick which Alaric blocked. "You fight like Madara! But you have the vitality of a Senju! Who are you really?"
Alaric caught Hashirama's leg, swung him around, and threw him into Tobirama who was trying to teleport.
"I'm just a guy," Alaric grinned, panting slightly as the thrill of the fight finally reached him. "Who likes a good challenge."
He looked at the two regenerating Hokages.
"Now," Alaric cracked his knuckles, golden chakra flaring around him like a cloak. "Shall we kick this up a notch? I haven't even used a fraction of my power yet."
Outside the barrier, the Anbu stared in horrified awe. The silhouette of a massive forest was growing inside the purple box, illuminated by flashes of lightning and fire.
"They... they're destroying the tower from the inside out," Eagle whispered. "Is this really a battle between ninja?"
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