"Damn it, that bastard Danzō got away again." Senju Tobirama and Namikaze Minato both ground their teeth in frustration.
What they feared most had happened. With Flying Thunder God and space-time ninjutsu at his disposal, Danzō came and went like a ghost. He could attack the village at will and vanish without a trace. He was like a parasite clinging to Konoha's bones—impossible to extract, endlessly troublesome. They were utterly powerless to stop him.
"Forget it, let's head back to the village first." Still seething, Tobirama and Minato activated Flying Thunder God and disappeared with twin flickers.
Upon returning to Konoha, they were met with a chilling sight—one reanimated corpse after another clawing its way up from the ground. Fueled by pent-up fury, Tobirama and Minato didn't hesitate. Blade after blade, strike after strike, they slaughtered the shambling dead from one end of the village to the other without blinking.
The ground was strewn with bodies. Rivers of mud flowed red with blood. But they didn't so much as flinch.
"Hold them off! Even if we die, we can't let the Twelve Guardian Ninja cross into Konoha!" Konoha shinobi fought desperately to repel the eight powerful intruders.
But to those elite Guardian shinobi, the Konoha defenders were little more than cannon fodder. Every moment, more of the Koharu and Homura clans were being slaughtered.
"Who exactly are the Twelve Guardian Ninja?" Tobirama asked while decimating a wave of enemies. He didn't even pause in his killing as he turned to Minato.
"According to our intel, they're a group of twelve elite Jonin who personally protect the daimyō of the Land of Fire. They're an independent force under his direct command, easily among the strongest shinobi in the nation. Their symbol is the 'Fire' kanji on their sashes."
Minato struck another corpse down with a kunai as he explained. "Now that Konoha's locked in civil strife, they're clearly trying to eliminate the Third Hokage's faction and bring the village under the daimyō's control."
"I see…" Tobirama's expression darkened. "So Danzō wasn't entirely wrong. The one-country-one-village system really is flawed."
While they were alive, the Hokage could keep the balance. But now that their grip was weakening, the jackals had begun to circle—each one eager to carve up Konoha for themselves.
Madara had been right. Only a united shinobi world could put an end to endless war.
"Kill them all," Tobirama ordered coldly.
"Understood." Minato nodded firmly.
"Flying Thunder God—Rasengan!"
"Water Style: Severing Wave!"
With the two legendary Hokage joining the fight, the tide turned immediately. Every puppet and corpse brought back with Earth Style was either torn apart by Rasengan or decapitated by Minato's kunai.
Tobirama in particular was a terror on the battlefield. His Water Style: Severing Wave unleashed a high-pressure jet of water like a laser, slicing through hordes of undead like a scythe through wheat.
It was nothing short of a massacre.
"Amazing… That's the Second and Fourth Hokage for you."
"Those Guardian Ninja who were giving us hell just now got obliterated in the blink of an eye! This is what true power looks like!"
"Flying Thunder God really is every man's dream!"
"Rasengan plus Flying Thunder God? Absolute domination. The enemies couldn't even react!"
"No way! That Severing Wave is even crazier—just one sweep and the whole line drops! That's real shinobi romance!"
Konoha shinobi looked on in awe, their eyes gleaming with admiration.
With Tobirama and Minato in the fray, the Earth Style–revived puppets stood no chance. They were wiped out to the last corpse.
The monks of the Fire Temple soon followed, routed and shattered.
Even the Twelve Guardian Ninja, once the daimyō's proudest force, couldn't last a single round against two former Hokage. It wasn't a battle. It was a slaughter.
The Uchiha had received their orders: none of the Fire Temple's monks were to be spared. Anyone who resisted—dead on the spot.
As Uchiha Itachi had declared, from this day forward, there would be only one belief across Konoha, the Land of Fire, and the entire shinobi world—the doctrine of the Sun and Moon Divine Cult of the Sun and Moon Celestial Palace.
The Earth Style: Ressurection Jutsu and Earth Style: Creation—Soil of the Dead were hailed as the ultimate resurrection techniques of Earth Release. The revived retained their full physical prowess, appearance, and chakra, even capable of using their original jutsu.
Kazuma had used these techniques to revive three of the Four Lightning Ninja and five of the Twelve Guardian Ninja, all with one goal: to destroy Konoha and eliminate Koharu and Homura's political bloodline.
But before they could finish their operation, they ran into the reincarnated Tobirama and Minato—resurrected by the very same Earth Style.
In seconds, the Land of Fire's so-called trump card was annihilated.
"I surrender! Please, I surrender!" Chiriku dropped to his knees, sobbing and pleading for his life amid the mountain of corpses.
The Second Hokage wasn't dead. The Fourth Hokage wasn't dead. They were both here, alive and unstoppable.
He, Kazuma, and even the daimyō had all been played by Danzō. That bastard had set them up from the start.
Konoha had lost Hiruzen, sure—but gained a whole army of former Kage in return.
Chiriku felt the despair settle in. The Land of Fire was finished. The daimyō was a dead man walking—not even the Sage of Six Paths could save him now.
"Take these monks into custody. Interrogate them thoroughly," Itachi ordered.
"Yes, sir!" The Uchiha moved swiftly, binding the surviving monks and dragging them off.
Those who had survived were the elite among the Fire Temple's ranks—masters of senjutsu.
Their value lay not in their loyalty, but in the senjutsu knowledge locked in their heads.
Chiriku, in particular, was a key part of Itachi's future plans.
Above, green souls floated in the air. Itachi used the Hell Curse Technique to capture them one by one, sealing each soul into the Eighteen Levels of Yomi's prison for future use.
"Multiple Shadow Clone Jutsu?" Tobirama raised an eyebrow as he watched Itachi work.
"Yes," Itachi replied respectfully with a nod.
"Not bad. Adaptable and precise. The Uchiha have produced another prodigy—it's no wonder, being Fugaku's son." Tobirama allowed himself a rare compliment.
In all his years since being resurrected by Edo Tensei, he had never seen a younger generation use his inventions—Shadow Clones, Flying Thunder God, even Impure World Reincarnation—with such finesse.
To say that the student had surpassed the master wouldn't be far from the truth.
"Thank you!" Itachi bowed deeply, visibly moved. "You've been my idol since I was a child. I've always aspired to follow in your footsteps…"
"Is that so? Then I'm honored."
Seeing Itachi flushed with excitement, his face lit up and eyes burning with passion, Tobirama chuckled quietly. "Looks like Minato isn't the only one—his student's a fanboy too. Not bad at all."
He had done his research after being revived. This boy—Uchiha Itachi—was Minato's student, Kakashi's junior, and a true monster of a shinobi.
He was on the battlefield at age four. Enrolled in the Academy at six, and asked to graduate the very next day. Though denied, he still finished in a year, with Shadow Clones attending class in his place.
Meaning he had already mastered B-rank ninjutsu by age six and used it flawlessly.
By seven, he was thinking like a Hokage.
By ten, he passed the Chūnin Exams solo—unheard of in Konoha's history.
At eleven, he joined the Anbu and became a double agent for both Konoha and the Uchiha.
By thirteen, he was captain of an Anbu squad, embedded in the Foundation, and working as a triple agent—serving the Hokage, the Uchiha, and Danzō all at once.
According to last night's intel, it was Itachi who had convinced Fugaku to suppress the Uchiha radicals, preventing civil war.
As a result, Fugaku awakened the Mangekyō Sharingan and abdicated, naming Itachi the new clan head.
That same night, after witnessing the chaos of internal strife—the maiming of the Third Hokage, the death of innocents—Itachi himself awakened the Mangekyō.
It was the kind of résumé that felt like a cheat code.
More shocking still was that during the summit, Fugaku, Madara, and Tajima had all read from notes written by Itachi alone. He had united the prideful Uchiha clan under his banner with nothing but his mind and presence.
In terms of prestige, this boy was already on par with Hashirama himself.
And he was only thirteen.
In strength, reputation, and political instinct, he had long since surpassed Hiruzen and Danzō. Tobirama felt both awe and relief.
Thank the gods that Itachi had inherited the "Will of Fire" passed down from the First Hokage and Uchiha Kagami. Like Kagami and Shisui before him, he had chosen the village over clan.
Otherwise… the consequences would've been unimaginable.
Most reassuring of all, Itachi's Mangekyō specialized in soul suppression—and he was the one who had cast Edo Tensei on all of them.
Yet he had never used it to control them. Not once.
That restraint was what truly earned Tobirama's respect.
This child's heart, strength, and vision… He was exactly as Kakashi and Minato had said—a leader who ruled by virtue, and inspired genuine loyalty.
With him, Konoha would rise again. The unification of the shinobi world was only a matter of time.
...
Konoha Interrogation Division
This division specialized in extracting information from captured enemy shinobi—especially spies and rogue ninja.
Due to the sensitive nature of their operations, they often worked in tandem with the Anbu. All intel was delivered directly to the Hokage.
Morino Ibiki was the head of this department.
After seeing Uchiha Izumi frightened earlier, Itachi had taken his girlfriend home to rest.
But Hashirama, Tobirama, Minato, Madara, and Izuna were all in Edo Tensei form. They had no need for sleep and had immediately set to interrogating Kazuma and Chiriku.
Hashirama and Madara took Chiriku to a private room for their "one-on-one time." The others dragged Kazuma away for questioning.
As for Asuma—tortured nearly to death—he had been sent to the medical corps. Whether he'd ever wake up was uncertain.
"Start talking. The more you confess, the more merciful we'll be. Refuse, and we'll tear it out of you piece by piece." Tobirama, Minato, and Shisui sat casually reading scrolls—Earth Style: Resurrection Jutsu and Creation—Soil of the Dead—without even looking up. They were clearly unconcerned whether Kazuma would cooperate or not.
Seeing Ibiki looking eager to get started, Kazuma went pale.
Morino Ibiki—the infamous "sadistic proctor." A master of psychological torture and mind games.
His reputation alone was terrifying.
"I'll talk… but please… spare Sora. He's innocent," Kazuma pleaded, glancing at the sleeping boy nearby.
"You're in no position to bargain," Tobirama said coolly, not even lifting his eyes from the scroll.
The Earth Release: Ressurection Technique bore strong similarities to the Impure World Reincarnation.
Ressurection required the dead body of the person to be resurrected, using Earth Release to reconstruct the body and bring it back as a puppet. The revived appeared exactly as they had in life—with all their powers and chakra intact.
Creation of the Dead Soil was an even more extreme Earth technique. It involved preparing soil steeped in death and decay, from which corpses would rise as mindless puppets.
Impure World Reincarnation, by contrast, used a portion of the deceased's flesh and a living body as a vessel for the soul. The soul was summoned from the Pure Land, forced into the vessel, and covered in dust and ash until it physically resembled the original.
Creation of the Dead Soil was easy to perform. Anyone with Earth Release nature transformation could use it. Just find a battlefield or graveyard and reanimate the dead en masse. The result: mindless husks with weak combat ability—perfect for cannon fodder tactics.
Ressurection was a step above—matching the original's strength—but had a fatal flaw: one clean hit and they vanish, just like Shadow Clones.
The most powerful of them all was Impure World Reincarnation.
It summoned the soul of a long-dead ninja, gave them a physical body, and rendered them immortal with infinite chakra. Though they could be controlled, the jutsu could also be released by the caster—or forcibly by the revived, if they knew the hand signs.
They could not be killed through normal means.
Tobirama drew diagrams, combining the mechanics of Ressurection with Impure World Reincarnation.
His goal: to merge both jutsu—retaining the full restoration of strength and identity from Earth Release: Ressurection and the immortality and infinite chakra of Impure World Reincarnation.
If he succeeded…
It wouldn't be resurrection anymore.
It would be true revival.