Orochimaru's POV (Hokage Manor - Hidden Leaf Village)
"Sarutobi, if you need me to take point with your pitiful stamina. I, of course, understand." Danzo stated as he subtly signaled he was at sixty-five percent of the chakra reserve left. Hiruzen laughed merrily as he signaled back fifty-five.
"You underestimate me, old friend. I feel young teaching my students again." Hiruzen countered with false merry.
"A comedian as always sensei." Orochimaru hissed. "You grow arrogant with age, old man! Without the other fossil here, you'd be dead already!"
"I assumed you taught him shinobi don't make excuses?" Danzo asked.
"He's my problem child."
"Jiraiya?"
"Clown."
"Tsunade?"
"Bit of a brat, honestly."
"So you do know."
"I find it best to pretend not to."
Orochimaru growled at this. The rage filled him yet again. Even now, he was being overlooked! His mind reminisced even as his anger grew. The Uchiha was a bit much, he would admit. Danzo, while cooperating with him, investigated. Someone had manipulated the Uchiha, he reasoned.
Someone of considerable power and way. Blatantly admitted to trying to do the same with Itachi and Shisui Uchiha for a similar goal. Yet someone else had set him up. Hiruzen believed it was some odd play to claim innocence from Danzo. But Danzo had known the truth. Orochimaru had arranged for the Uchiha to attempt a coup. Then leaked the knowledge to Hiruzen afterwards. They had all met in secret and decided to jail them.
At first, Orochimaru merely did it blindly. Looking to hurt the Leaf as they had to him. But his mind, as always, had found another route. He, even more than wanting greatness, sought knowledge. Primarily with jutsu, though, any chakra-related phenomena often worked. In the chaos of crushing the Uchiha, he had managed to gain several Sharingan. He had considered using them, but Kakashi Hatake was a prime example of their price. So, for now, he sat upon them.
Orochimaru had to accept the truth. Jutsu is a beautiful and flexible art. But it simply wasn't enough to gain the knowledge he yearned for. So, he had turned to science. Inspired by the soldier pill and the Akimichi's unique pills, he sought to make a steroid to increase his power. He developed many, but most simply did not seem worth the trouble of being used in combat.
Until he met Ikam. The man was arrogant and murderous. But with his unique knowledge, Orochimaru had finally developed a combat steroid. He then had Ikam offer it to any traitorous Leaf he could find. Easy enough with a village as broken as that. Mizuki had been an excellent choice. Just average is sufficient to get a feel for the drug. And the man had held off three Genin near his original level alone. He assumed the gate boy probably finished him off. An intriguing technique but not worth the cost, even for him.
Once he had received the body, improvements had been made. Before, Mizuki had somewhat lost his mind. It took some tweaking, but now his Cursed Energy Shot is ready. Losing the only noticeable flaws.
"Well done. I see why you're both considered legends. You always did warn me, sensei, that my arrogance may very well become my downfall. I suppose in that sense, you did teach me something… kukukuku." Orochimaru spoke in between his pants. Clearly, near the end of his rope from the sustained assault of his elders, he suddenly drew a syringe that both men recognized; they both rushed forward, hoping to stop him from injecting the drug.
The syringe injected the serum into the Sannin before either could stop it. The swell of chakra stopped them in their tracks. Enma quickly jumped into Hiruzen's hands as a staff as Danzo fired off shuriken. Both are nearly instantly recovering from their momentarily flinching at the chakra level of the Sannin now. Orochimaru cackled as he dropped Kusanagi and rushed the two. Danzo attempted to jump back and fire off a jutsu, but Orochimaru appeared behind him, kicking him into the ground so hard it created a hole.
"My physical enhancements are quite thrilling, kukuku!" He caught a staff thrust that now seemed slow and pulled Hiruzen in. Enma, being the clever bastard, was reformed into monkey form and pulled the Sannin into a full Nelson. Hiruzen rushed forward with murder in his eyes. Orochimaru smirked as he flexed out of the Nelson and kicked Emna across the clearing. Hiruzen fired in with a jumping roundhouse that Orochimaru caught and slammed the man into the ground. Sealing with one hand, he prepared to finish him off before dodging a windball. His eyes flicked to the barely standing Danzo. He smirked as he shifted towards him, firing off with glee, "Ninja Art: Sound Wave!" He called as a powerful blast of sound fired toward Danzo. It tore through his body with ease. Destroying his robe and showing off a discolored arm. Before either could even react, Danzo seemed to reform. It was as if an illusion had faded and revealed a healed Danzo, though his robe was still torn. Both men were stunned into silence as Danzo's arm revealed pale skin that seemed to almost glow at night. With nine open, Sharingan glared from the man's arm. The tenth one was slowly closing as he fired off a jutsu. So shocked was the Sannin that he barely dodged this before he shot off. Wanting to crush the annoyances with his own hands. Before he could break Danzo's neck, Hiruzen somehow appeared in between with a grimace. Obviously somewhat exhausted from the long bout of combat.
"Earth Style: Mud Wall!" A large wall appeared, and Orochimaru painfully flew through it. This led to a monstrous haymaker from Emna, sending him flying back and slamming into the remnants of Hokage Manor with a crunch of bone. He hatefully spat himself out and glared at the two. The two stared back, tensing, before Orochimaru merely smiled.
Hiruzen had no time to react as Manda burst from the ground, biting the old man in half. Another of Danzo's Sharingan closed as Hiruzen formed back. Hirzuen seemed surprised but quickly fired off another jutsu at Manda. "Wind Style: Fujin's Fang!" A large tooth-shaped gust of wind formed, slamming through the large Snake. Manda screamed in pain as he poofed away. Hiruzen ducked as he dodged a kunai thrown from his former student, watching in horror as Danzo was beheaded by the absurdly quick-flying Kusanagi. But once again, Danzo reformed a little bit away from his death and stabbed the Sannin from behind. Orochimaru spits out yet another body for himself. But he was fatigued. He jumped back, staring intensely. Yet he smiled still.
"So the rumors were true, kukuku. The Uchiha truly did have a technique capable of rewriting reality itself!" He roared happily. "When I kill the two of you I will learn it for myself!"
"Izanagi. It allows a user of the Sharingan to rewrite reality for a time. In my case, I rewrite each death you cause." Danzo stated simply. Hiruzen stood with him but was infuriated by the revelation.
"If you want sensei, I'll let you kill him before I kill you, " Orochimaru said with a wide smile. Hiruzen obviously felt some way about the technique, it would only serve his purposes if the two turned against each other.
"Danzo will pay for his crimes, make no mistake. But that will be after you receive punishment!" Hiruzen shouted and focused on the Snake. In truth, he was exhausted. Danzo's trick gave them an edge.
"Oh, Danzo, you think I haven't heard of a technique as fascinating as Izanagi?" Orochimaru taunted. "You can use it for a few seconds to control reality at the cost of your eye's sight and a massive amount of chakra. The extra eyes in your arms… you're spamming it using extra eyes! Each use costs you one eye. I imagine you have seven more uses. KUKUKUKU! I SEE I WASN'T THE ONLY ONE WHO BENEFITED IN TRAGEDY!"
"Correct. Using this benefit, I'll aid the Leaf by writing the end of your story!" Danzo screamed defiantly. He went to weave hand signs as Hiruzen charged forward to close the distance. But with the amp, the drugged Orochimaru merely met Hiruzen's charge with a smile. He slammed an uppercut into Hiruzen's chin. The old man stumbled back open for a leg kick. Kusanagi, still moving on its own, pierced through Danzo's heart. But Danzo faded once again, now above Orochimaru, already finishing a jutsu. "Wind Style: Great Wind Breakthrough!" The stolen technique slammed the Snake into the ground hard. Before The Snake could escape, another flame dragon slammed into the wind, holding him down and causing a massive explosion. Hiruzen and Danzo both jumped back, landing on the small amount of Hokage manor that still stood from the three destructive battles. Looking down as the smoke cleared, they could hear the snake still heaving himself out. So both barely reacted as the Snake crushed both their throats from behind.
"A simple clone." He taunted.
The two faded above, unleashing crushing kicks to the Snake's skull. Sending the Sannin flying through the building and collapsing it on top of him. The two landed on top of the rubble. To see the other two battles had concluded. None of their men were standing. Neither were the Orochimaru's.
"It seems your little Anbu has gotten better. I never expected they'd manage to kill my favorites!" Orochimaru screamed angrily as he flew through hand signs. The two older men attempted to move but stumbled and fell to their knees. They had nothing left, and the snake seemed to be going strong. "But you can't keep up anymore! Fire Style: Great Blaze Ball!" An absurdly large fireball flew toward the two, incinerating them where they stood. Orochimaru flinched as he realized the illusion.
"Foolish to think the Sharingan was merely for one purpose. With them, I can wield genjutsu to fool even the likes of you." Danzo whispered as Orochimaru felt a kunai where his heart would be. Danzo sent wind chakra into the blade and bisected the Sannin. Orochimaru flew out of the mouth of the top half. But this achieved little as Hiruzen's staff again slammed into him in giant form, crushing him. He threw the staff back hard enough to send it flying. Before either old man could react, snakes bit into their ankles. Holding them in place as Orochimaru beheaded both. They faded back in behind him, and without missing a beat, he cut them both as they faded in, bisecting both. They then fade in from above. But snakes flew from the Sannin and bit into the men, pumping them full of venom. They then slammed the men down as Orochimaru walked forward and checked Danzo's arm to see all the Sharingans closed.
"Excellent, paralyzed by my lovely snakes and out of fight. That can only mean this pathetic battle is over… Anything to say? Perhaps a preference on who dies first?" Orochimaru asked gleefully.
"Curse you Orochimaru! I should've killed you when I had the c-" Hiruzen began to roar, however Kusanagi sliced through his lower jaw before he could, ending his statement with a sickening crunch and splat. Hiruzen, to his credit, didn't beg nor attempt to scream as his face fell apart. Nearly flinch as Orochimaru stabbed him repeatedly and viciously. Twisting the blade after stabbing into his heart. Hirzuen died silently with a tired sigh.
"Tragic truly kukuku. Any words for you, Danzo?" Orochimaru asked as he raised the blade over his head.
Dazo merely offered a small smile. "Today will be yet another failure for you, Orochimaru."
The Sannin smiled back before viciously hacking the man relentlessly. Chopping him into small pieces, and coating himself in blood in the process. He rose from his work with a smile. Looking around, he saw multiple ninjas attempting to bypass the barrier angrily. How cute they were. In this form, he could slaughter a lot of them very well. But he had achieved his goal. This should stop them from bothering Ikam and himself for a while.