'The Kusanagi Sword?' Watching Orochimaru's actions, Hiruzen slightly frowned.
"Let's go, Enma." Looking at the Kusanagi Sword in Orochimaru's hand, Hiruzen understood that even Enma was not indestructible. Even a diamond-hard body would hurt when struck by the Kusanagi Sword.
Thinking this, he directly leaped high into the air, then thrust the staff at Orochimaru.
Seeing this, Orochimaru performed two backflips, jumping away from his original spot and dodging the attack.
Seeing the first strike miss, Hiruzen used the Adamantine Staff to quickly land on the ground, then began rapidly spinning the staff in his hands. Orochimaru also tightly gripped the Kusanagi Sword, starting to look for an opportunity to attack.
Soon, it was Hiruzen who took the initiative to attack first, swinging the staff at Orochimaru several times in a row. Orochimaru directly used the Kusanagi Sword to block the staff.
Just as the two were clashing weapons, on Takeru's side, the Twilight Moon, which had been burning for a long time, finally showed a trace of damage. However, it was repaired almost instantly.
And the Twilight Moon underwent another round of Destructive Growth!
[Twilight Moon: Defense +135, Power +270, Additional Skill: Destructive Growth... (Damage Count: Eight)]
Seeing this, Takeru slightly nodded, 'It was worth being burned by the fire for so long.'
But seeing that the Twilight Armor and Twilight Shadow on his body showed no sign of damage at all, Takeru sighed and directly left the burning area.
As Takeru stopped contacting the barrier, the flames didn't disappear immediately. However, with a thought from Takeru, a large amount of ice enveloped him, instantly extinguishing the flames.
Afterward, Takeru directly used ice to create a room and quickly took out his Demon Slayer Corps uniform and undergarments, putting them on swiftly.
Although the burning flames couldn't injure Takeru, his clothes had still been burned off.
As for Kidomaru and the others, seeing Takeru finally leave the barrier, they heaved a sigh of relief. Maintaining the barrier normally didn't consume much Chakra, but if someone continuously attacked it, Chakra Consumption would accelerate.
Although Takeru only touched it simply with his sword, the continuous burning of the flames consumed much more Chakra for them than normal maintenance.
After taking care of his appearance, Takeru dissolved the ice room and saw that inside the barrier, Orochimaru and Hiruzen were currently in a stalemate with their weapons.
It seemed Hashirama and Tobirama had also come back online, starting to attack Hiruzen.
First, Hashirama swept his leg at Hiruzen. Noticing Hashirama's attack, Hiruzen lightly jumped, dodging the attack, and even took the opportunity to place an explosive tag on his leg.
Then, he dodged Tobirama who tried to attack him, also placing an explosive tag on his arm. However, to place the tag, he was kicked away by Tobirama the next moment.
"Got you!" Noticing Hiruzen's current state, Orochimaru quickly charged forward, starting to punch his head repeatedly.
Then, he jumped up again for a heavy kick, sending him flying.
"How foolish, rushing over without even using the Shadow Clone Technique!" Looking at the fallen Hiruzen, Orochimaru didn't forget to mock him.
Hearing Orochimaru's words, the Anbu here understood clearly. It wasn't that Hiruzen didn't use shadow clones earlier, but because of his age, his Chakra Reserves had diminished compared to his youth.
Coupled with not having any particularly special physique, his Chakra amount couldn't compare to people like Naruto.
The Shadow Clone Technique required dividing Chakra equally. Although a certain amount of Chakra would be returned upon dispelling, there would still be loss. He was afraid of wasting Chakra for nothing.
"Are you alright, sensei? Please pull yourself together. You are the one known as the Professor, versed in all the Ninjutsu that exist in Konoha, aren't you? Please don't disappoint me too much, hahaha!" Looking at Hiruzen's exhausted face, Orochimaru revealed a wicked smile.
"Hokage-sama, please pull yourself together! Then please save the Konoha Village!" The Anbu here, seeing this, shouted loudly at Hiruzen.
Hearing their words, Takeru looked at these Anbu speechlessly, 'These guys were really too weak.'
"Hiruzen, what's wrong with you? This isn't like your usual self. It's completely unbecoming. What are you hesitating for? It's time to settle this!" Enma, cast aside to the side, also opened one eye and said to Hiruzen.
Hearing Enma's words, a tear involuntarily fell from Hiruzen's eyes as he looked at Orochimaru. Facing this disciple he once cherished so much, he ultimately found it difficult to sever ties.
"Orochimaru, you fool!" At this moment, Hiruzen finally completely made up his mind.
Compared to Orochimaru, he cared more about Konoha. Thinking this, he also shouted and launched an attack at Orochimaru.
Taking advantage of his distraction, he grabbed Orochimaru's collar, then kicked his legs, making him lose balance. The Adamantine Staff also suddenly extended an arm, directly grabbing Orochimaru by the neck.
"Orochimaru, you're finished now! I'll break your neck!" Compared to Hiruzen, Enma didn't have much fondness for Orochimaru.
However, when he exerted force, Orochimaru's body turned into mud, scattering. Clearly, it was a mud clone...
But Orochimaru's real body soon emerged from below the mud clone. Seeing this, Hiruzen kicked him away.
Seeing Orochimaru knocked away, Hashirama prepared to move. However, Hiruzen gave Hashirama a calm look, then detonated the explosive tag on his leg. With the explosion, he completely lost balance.
He did the same with Tobirama, detonating the explosive tag on his right hand. Instantly, Tobirama also fell beside the trees.
However, seeing this scene, Orochimaru had a calm expression.
Then, under everyone's gaze, the armless Tobirama and the legless Hashirama rapidly regenerated. In less than ten seconds, the two stood up again.
'As expected, I must find a way to deal with the souls bound by the Edo Tensei themselves. Otherwise, it's meaningless. Relying on this, indeed, I can only use that Jutsu of the Fourth's!'
'First Hokage-sama, Second Hokage-sama, please forgive me. I am going to perform that Jutsu.' Thinking this in his heart, Hiruzen also pressed his palms together.
"Sensei, your breathing seems quite labored. You've grown old. I've never seen you in such pain before, hehe." Sensing Hiruzen's breathing becoming ragged, Orochimaru said with a faint smile.
"What's so funny!" Looking at Orochimaru's smile, Hiruzen frowned.
"How pathetic. Even you, once called the God of Ninja, cannot defeat aging." Saying this, Orochimaru tore off his disguise again. A young woman's face appeared before everyone.
Seeing Orochimaru turn into a woman, not only was Hiruzen shocked, but even the Anbu outside were stunned.
Only Takeru clearly understood… this was Orochimaru. He had simply performed the Living Corpse Reincarnation to obtain eternal life and a young body.
The so-called Living Corpse Reincarnation is a Jutsu that transfers one's spirit into another's body, thereby gaining eternal life.
Originally, Jutsu related to immortality would be considered forbidden, but Orochimaru sacrificed many people to use this Jutsu to achieve his ambitions.
This technique also has a weakness: after a successful reincarnation, one cannot transfer to another body for the next three years.
"Just who are you?" Looking at the woman before him, Hiruzen couldn't connect her to Orochimaru no matter what.
"Too sudden to comprehend? It's me. I am Orochimaru." Now that Orochimaru had restored his original appearance, his voice also completely became a woman's voice.
"Could it be... you have already mastered that Forbidden Technique? You have become a terrifying, inhuman thing!" Hiruzen said, angry at his lack of ambition.
"Hahaha..." However, facing Hiruzen's anger, Orochimaru found it incredibly amusing.
...
On the other side, after a long chase, Sasuke finally caught up with Gaara and the others.
'Damn it, neither of them are in good condition right now, and of all people, it's this guy who chased us!'
Kankuro naturally saw the showdown between Sasuke and Shino. Sasuke seemed to have grown much stronger compared to a month ago, so Kankuro didn't have much confidence facing him.
"There's no other way. Temari, Gaara, you two go ahead first. I'll hold him off. I'll catch up with you later." Looking at the two, Kankuro volunteered.
"Be careful!" Seeing Kankuro's serious expression, Temari quickly said.
"Don't die." Hearing Kankuro's words, Gaara also took a deep look at Kankuro and said quietly.
Hearing Gaara's somewhat odd words of concern, Kankuro was stunned. It was the first time he felt Gaara's concern.
"I know. Don't worry, I definitely won't die." Though surprised, Kankuro seriously nodded at him.
As Kankuro stayed behind to cover their retreat, Temari and Gaara continued forward.
Then, the two erupted into battle. However, compared to Kankuro, Sasuke's strength far surpassed his. So after a brief fight, Kankuro was quickly defeated by Sasuke in the most Chakra-efficient way.
After defeating Kankuro, Sasuke didn't dwell on it and continued pursuing Gaara.