Chapter 135 Betrayal of Orochimaru
Seeing the movements of the 5 Tailed Beasts before him, Hiruzen naturally understood their objective.
They wanted to retreat?
Did they really think Konoha was a place they could come and go as they pleased?
A cold sneer appeared on Hiruzen's face. So what if both of his arms were broken? Behind the True Several Thousand Hands were still countless arms.
Hiruzen placed both hands on the scroll that summoned the True Several Thousand Hands, and massive amounts of chakra poured into it continuously.
His already pale face turned even paler.
Boom! Boom!
Behind the True Several Thousand Hands, dozens of arms moved at the same time, transforming into overlapping fist shadows that slammed down toward the 5 Tailed Beasts below.
The violent assault instantly engulfed the figures of the 5 Tailed Beasts.
Furious roars continued to echo from within the dust and smoke.
Perhaps a single Tailed Beast facing the True Several Thousand Hands would only be helplessly suppressed. However, when 5 Tailed Beasts joined forces, the power they unleashed was indeed astonishing.
During the bombardment, Tailed Beast Balls occasionally shot out from the dust, striking the True Several Thousand Hands and producing deafening explosions.
Crack! Crack!
One arm after another of the True Several Thousand Hands shattered, while even more arms continued to join the assault.
The combined force of the 5 Tailed Beasts could only be considered a minor nuisance for Hashirama, but for Hiruzen, it was a major problem.
Compared to Hashirama's vast chakra reserves, Hiruzen's chakra was likely insufficient to fully activate the True Several Thousand Hands.
Standing atop the True Several Thousand Hands, Hiruzen quickly realized the flaw. Engaging in a prolonged chakra battle with the Tailed Beasts would only result in him being exhausted to death.
He had to end the battle quickly, even resolve everything in one decisive move.
Hiruzen raised his hands and rapidly formed seals, then bit his finger and slammed it onto the ground.
Summoning Jutsu!
As the smoke dispersed, Enma appeared beside Hiruzen.
The moment Enma appeared, he quickly surveyed the surroundings. When he saw the scene before him, even someone who had experienced countless battles could not help but pause in shock.
"Old partner, it looks like I'll have to trouble you this time," Hiruzen said weakly.
"This is much easier than our usual battles," Enma replied after a brief pause, then laughed as he understood.
After speaking, Enma placed both hands on the scroll as well, injecting a large amount of chakra into it.
With Enma's assistance, Hiruzen clearly felt much more at ease.
The dozens of arms attacking simultaneously instantly increased to hundreds.
Faced with the sudden surge in attacks, although it still could not deal fatal damage to the 5 Tailed Beasts, they were likewise unable to do anything to the True Several Thousand Hands.
During this stalemate, roughly half of the ninjas from the 4 Great Ninja Villages had already withdrawn from the center of the battlefield.
The Mist Village ninjas in particular had completely evacuated the Tailed Beast combat zone and were preparing to retreat further outward.
Seeing this, the Jinchūriki naturally had no desire to continue fighting.
Their original goal had been to buy time for their forces to retreat.
The 3-Tails, Isobu, moved the fastest. Its limbs suddenly retracted, withdrawing into its massive turtle shell.
Shadow Camouflage!
Immediately afterward, its entire body began to spin, just like the Akimichi Clan's Human Bullet Tank, rolling forward at high speed.
However, its direction was not toward the True Several Thousand Hands, but toward the rear.
Before Hiruzen could react, Isobu had already broken through the attack range of the True Several Thousand Hands and rapidly rolled outward.
At the same time, its massive body visibly shrank during the rolling process.
In the blink of an eye, it vanished from everyone's sight.
On a stretch of ground shattered by the aftermath of battle, a palm-sized turtle almost turned into an afterimage as it crawled rapidly toward Yuto's direction.
During the shrinking process, Isobu briefly considered fleeing entirely. However, after thinking of the consequences, it felt it would be better to obediently crawl back.
Isobu's escape was swift, and Utakata was not slow either. Using the soft body of the 6-Tails, Saiken, he forcibly moved forward and endured a strike from the True Several Thousand Hands.
Using the recoil from the impact and Saiken's flexible body, he was launched rapidly backward.
While airborne, he reverted to a partial Tailed Beast state and simultaneously released countless bubbles, using them to vanish swiftly from Hiruzen's sight.
As the figures of the 6-Tails and 3-Tails disappeared, the remaining 3 Tailed Beasts also reacted.
There was no longer any need to continue this battle. After the previous clash, the Jinchūriki had already realized that even without their attacks, this terrifying jutsu would not be sustained for much longer.
Just as the remaining 3 Tailed Beasts prepared to retreat, Hiruzen reacted as well.
"Two slipped away due to my carelessness. You 3 still want to leave? Do you really think there's nothing I can do about you Tailed Beasts?"
A ruthless glint flashed in Hiruzen's eyes as his hands rapidly formed seals.
Known as the Professor of Ninjutsu, Hiruzen had naturally studied Hashirama's techniques in depth.
"Wood Release: Sage Art: True Several Thousand Hands—Seat of Enlightenment!"
Hiruzen let out a shout, and blood spilled from the corner of his mouth.
With his level of strength, activating this jutsu was indeed a heavy burden.
The hundreds of arms that had been striking downward suddenly froze.
Immediately after, a massive "seat" character appeared on the palms of 3 of the arms.
Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!
The 3 arms moved at extreme speed, slamming onto Shukaku of the 1-Tail, Kokuō of the 5-Tails, and Gyūki of the 8-Tails.
The 3 Tailed Beasts felt their bodies tremble as their normally smooth chakra flow suddenly slowed. In the next moment, all 3 Tailed Beasts lost consciousness, along with their Jinchūriki.
The hundreds of arms suspended in the air then descended, but instead of striking the Tailed Beasts, they landed all around them.
Rip! Rip!
Under Hiruzen's control, the arms all snapped off.
The severed arms slowly transformed into an enormous Wood Release prison, completely confining the 3 Tailed Beasts inside.
"It's a pity we couldn't keep all the ninjas of the 4 Great Ninja Villages. Although we killed quite a few, it's still not enough to cripple them."
"Still, these 3 Tailed Beasts can serve as a bit of capital left behind for Konoha."
Hiruzen coughed up a mouthful of blood and spoke softly.
At that moment, a hoarse, low shout suddenly came from ahead of the retreating forces of the 4 villages, near the edge of the battlefield.
Summoning Jutsu!
A massive summoning array had already been set up at the evacuation route without anyone noticing.
Countless giant snakes surged out of the array, immediately charging into the crowd.
Some ninjas who failed to react in time were bitten to death or swallowed whole.
Hiss—
Hiss—
The giant snakes continued pouring out endlessly, and within moments, the area ahead resembled a sea of serpents.
Boom!
Another deafening explosion rang out. Compared to the snakes summoned earlier, an incomparably massive serpent appeared before all the ninjas.
Orochimaru stood atop Manda's head, his face cold as he spoke in a hoarse voice.
"All of the ninjas below are enemies. Attack however you like."
Hearing Orochimaru's words, and sensing the unprecedented finality in his voice, Manda swallowed the mockery it was about to utter and charged directly into the ninja ranks.
With a casual swing of its massive body, large numbers of ninjas were crushed to death.
Among them were many Mist Village ninjas, clearly within Orochimaru's attack range.
"Orochimaru, you're courting death!"
Yuto's expression instantly turned cold as he looked toward Orochimaru's distant figure, his voice filled with killing intent.
Orochimaru had betrayed him.
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