"Tō, this time the loser is you!" Orochimaru sneered, his voice cold and eyes narrowed. He coyly flicked out his tongue.
From the previous battle, although Tō withstood the combined assault of the Hokage, he hadn't defeated them entirely. As long as Orochimaru bought time, the other Kage no longer mattered… yet he had underestimated Nagato and his allies.
To everyone's surprise, Orochimaru was suddenly hurled backward by an unseen force. Behind him, Karin, using countless Paper Release explosive tags, and Sasori, firing swarms of explosive kunai, bombarded him relentlessly.
Startled, Orochimaru promptly formed hand seals and cried out:
"Sage Technique – Inorganic Rebirth!"
Instantly, rocks erupted across the battlefield, forming a protective barrier that absorbed the onslaught, burying Orochimaru beneath roaring dust and stone.
At that moment, Nagato sneered, sealed his hands with a hand seal, and bellowed:
"Shinra Tensei!"
A violent, repulsive force erupted, knocking the exploding tags skyward along with the jagged rocks. Nagato's momentary defense held… but Orochimaru's confidence only deepened.
He slammed his hands into the ground again—rock formations spewed out around Nagato, Karin, and Sasori, launching razor-like spikes at them.
Before anyone could react, Itachi appeared, summoning full Susanoo to shield the trio. The rock spikes shattered on contact—completely harmless.
Orochimaru's voice was chilling as he approached:
"Itachi, it's not that I couldn't confront you before… but my soul had suffered from the strain of Edo Tensei. I lacked power in genjutsu. But now… I am different. I have truly mastered Sage Jutsu."
He formed seals:
"Sage Technique – White Chakra Release!"
"Roar!"
A serpentine chakra dragon erupted forth, its glowing orb emitting brilliant radiance. Startled, Nagato summoned several toad allies and retreated alongside Itachi and their group.
Sasori, unshaken, activated his countless puppets—his consciousness retreated into one of them for protection.
Nagato commanded instantly:
"Itachi, left side!"
He summoned mechanized armor that launched missiles to the left, triggering a massive explosion from the combined Itachi's Fire Release and Nagato's missile salvo. Yet, recklessly, Orochimaru vanished from sight.
He then unleashed:
"Sage Technique – Eight-Headed Serpent Jutsu!"
From the dust emerged a colossal white serpent with eight heads, each lunging to devour the three shinobi.
Itachi snarled and raised the Yata Mirror; as the serpent heads struck, he deftly blocked and countered with eight consecutive Totsuka Blade strikes, decapitating several heads outright.
Nagato responded: lightning reflexes, jumping, and sending summoned toads to assault the Eight-Headed Serpent. Simultaneously, he formed seals:
"Ten Thousand Thunder Pull!"
The serpent lunged at Nagato—but Itachi stood ready, Totsuka Sword raised, guarding.
Orochimaru suddenly laughed:
"White Chakra Technique – White Release Battle Style!"
The chakra dragon orb pulsed violently. The very fabric of the battlefield warped as the blast threatened to overwhelm everything, even the force of Ten Thousand Thunder Pull! Itachi's Susanoo trembled, and the mechanized armor began to flicker and fade.
Kisame stepped forward, eyes cold, and sealed his hands:
"Water Release – Exploding Water Wave!"
A torrent of water erupted across the battlefield.
Amid the chaos, Orochimaru stomped the earth again—shifting the terrain—and the eight serpents simultaneously spewed Sky-Blades toward Itachi and company. But Nagato blocked them all with ease.
Meanwhile, Tō (Tōdoroki?) was growing alarmed—Orochimaru's sage powers surpassed even what Kabuto achieved in the original story. He'd fully unlocked Sage Jutsu…
Nagato yelled to Tō:
"Tō, this is not the moment to control the entire battlefield. Focus—defeat our adversaries first, or we won't be able to coordinate help!"
Indeed, the blows just landed on Tō had felt like striking metal. If he remained distracted, he might fall to the four Hokage banding together.
Meanwhile, Sasuke, Naruto, Kurama, and various Leaf shinobi were tied down by Obito's distortions—and Obito was gaining the upper hand.
Nagato still hesitated to summon the Tailed Beast chakra, since Obito was controlling space-time; if not careful, the battle might turn into an uncontrollable tug-of-war.
The six Pains he wielded—even with their tremendous abilities—might not be enough to subdue Orochimaru.
Tō realized: unless the Four Hokage were eliminated, victory seemed impossible—and defeating them would not be easy.
Elsewhere:
Deidara and Hidan, pursuing Obito, found themselves blocked by Fourth Raikage, Second Mizukage, and Second Tsuchikage—huge defenses they couldn't break through. Sasori swooped in to help—but it was still a fierce struggle.
Deidara retreated and hissed:
"Scorpion-brother, these Mizukage's techniques… what are they made of? Explosions, power—none of it works on this doll!"
Scorpion, commanding his puppets, was locked in combat with the Mizukage's Steam Explosion technique, and suddenly, both seemed entranced by an illusion.
Scorpion frowned.
"Use Sharingan to locate his real position. If we can't pinpoint him, we can't defeat him!"
Deidara nodded and activated his Mangekyō Sharingan—only to be engulfed as the steam explosion magnified and erupted again.
"Two o'clock, behind that ridge!" Scorpion called.
Four puppets darted and launched booby-trapped kunai toward that location.
Explosions thundered—and the Second Mizukage soared upward, fistfuls of seals forming rapidly to summon a massive mirage-like barrier of vapor. Instantly, battlefield visibility plunged into thick mist.
Hidan, furious, couldn't locate the Mizukage. Worse, the Mizukage's Earth Release techniques were overpowering—even his own body was shaken. Only Raikage remained dangerous with overwhelming chakra, but his speed far outmatched Hidan's enhancements; Hidan struggled to even track him with his speed tag.
"This is... embarrassing." Hidan hissed, dematerializing into dust again, only to reappear and slash towards the Raikage—yet still no reaction.
He kept searching through Sharingan, but Raikage's speed was beyond expectation.
Meanwhile, Naruto and Sasuke were also being challenged, though Sasuke was immensely powerful, Obito's space-time abilities and powerful Mangekyō Sharingan techniques kept him off-balance. Sasuke turned inward, strategizing.