[Same Gentle Fist, but it just HITS different when my wifey uses it]
[Like a whole tier above in sheer style points]
[So cool]
[Cool, sure, but remember Kushina Yuki—this move burns your life away]
[Grass (a type of exclamation), a life-burning move?]
[No way, right? Look at her expression—isn't that the face of someone doing this effortlessly?]
[Hanabi's the kind of character who'd cry behind a smile. She looks relaxed now, but she could genuinely be burning through her lifespan right this second]
Life-burning? Not quite.
But resonance did come with the pain of being entangled by Mara-Struck.
If she was going to be an idol, a little pain like this was no reason to flinch.
A true idol performs in bare legs even at minus eighteen degrees!
"This Chakra—deathly still, freezing cold… Hanabi has Chakra like THIS?!"
The Third Hokage, standing behind Hanabi, was gaping.
That quick combo just now—put any ordinary Jōnin in the reanimations' place, and they'd already be down for the count.
And it wasn't just the power. There were those eyes.
Hanabi's eyes… hadn't they been gone?
He'd witnessed it himself, back then.
No possibility of repair.
—Could it be because of that Chakra?
"Third Hokage-sama—aside from Orochimaru, we can't undo the Edo Tensei. But we can at least seal them."
During the Fourth Shinobi World War, Edo Tensei subjects had been sealed.
In the spirit of shameless borrowing, Hanabi went ahead and used that approach now.
She'd saved the Third Hokage, and scooped up his screen time while she was at it. No complaints.
Besides, the theme Hanabi had scripted for this act was a joint battle between the three members of Team Seven.
"Right—I'll prepare the sealing formula!" The Third Hokage pulled out a scroll and got to work immediately.
"Kabuto."
Orochimaru called for his subordinate.
—This spectacle had been prepared specifically for the Third Hokage. No way was he letting some little girl ruin it.
And now, Hanabi gripped her twin blades again and engaged the First and Second Hokage.
"Water Style: Water Shockwave!"
Tobirama launched ninjutsu at Hanabi.
Hanabi answered in kind.
"Ice Style: Crystal Wall!"
"Incredible—the Second Hokage-sama can use Water Style without any existing water source!"
The ANBU had recovered by now. All eyes were fixed on the battlefield, none of them noticing they'd been caught in Hikari's Sharingan earlier.
"Hanabi-sama is amazing too! She froze the Second Hokage-sama's Water Style and turned it into a wall!"
"Mm-hmm! Mm-hmm!"
Hikari was thoroughly satisfied with every "Hanabi-sama" that left the ANBU's lips.
Meanwhile, Hashirama was already rushing in from the other side.
Unfortunately, this Edo Tensei Hashirama lacked his true cells, couldn't use Sage Art, and his Wood Style was downright pathetic.
"Lucent Moonglow—"
Hanabi raised her blade and cut clean through Hashirama's chest in a single stroke, then sealed the wound in ice. That would buy some extra time before regeneration kicked in.
"I look forward to fighting you at full strength."
In this state of resonance with Jingliu, "early-era Edo Tensei" Hashirama was simply too weak.
"Don't forget about me!"
Kabuto burst from behind Hanabi.
"Against a Hyuga, ambush tactics are useless!"
Three hundred and sixty degrees of vision. Kabuto had no hope of sneaking up on her. Hanabi had seen every move.
The two Ice Swords vanished from her hands, dissolving back into snow.
"Out of the way—Eight Trigrams Sixty-Four Palms!"
Within the Eight Trigrams domain, Kabuto didn't stand a chance. Sixty-four strikes landed clean, sealing his Chakra and stripping his combat ability.
Then a single Ice Sword reformed in Hanabi's grip.
"Moon On Glacial River—"
The ice blade flew from her hand, cutting off Orochimaru's path toward the Third Hokage.
"This Ice Style…"
Something was deeply wrong about this Ice Style. Orochimaru had no choice but to dodge.
Within it lurked an eerie presence that sent chills down even his spine.
Whatever it was, he had to be careful. If it connected, the consequences wouldn't be pleasant. So Orochimaru chose to retreat.
But Hanabi had no intention of letting him go.
"I used this move on Sasuke before. But this time—this is the full version."
Hanabi raised her blade to strike Orochimaru—but a grin spread across his face.
"Genjutsu: Bringer-of-Darkness Technique!"
The voice came from behind.
Hanabi's vision went black.
"If you can't see, then the Byakugan you just got back is useless too, isn't it?"
Orochimaru's voice echoed.
But Hanabi didn't so much as flinch.
"Florephemeral Dreamflux—"
Ice blades erupted outward.
Incomparably more powerful than what she'd shown against Sasuke—a torrent of freezing ice and cascading blades hammered into Orochimaru.
"Summoning: Triple Rashōmon!"
Orochimaru immediately threw up his defense.
But the massive ice blades shattered all three gates.
"She's completely unaffected?"
Orochimaru frowned.
The instant Hanabi had opened her eyes, Orochimaru had suspected she might have been faking her blindness all along.
Easy enough to guess—a Byakugan seeing through a mere blindfold was child's play.
But the reality exceeded his predictions.
Bringer-of-Darkness had zero effect on her.
"Ugh—?!"
And then the ice blades connected.
In an instant, a bizarre agony seized Orochimaru by the throat.
"I'm terribly sorry, Orochimaru-sama. I've grown accustomed to the dark," Hanabi said. "But you, Orochimaru-sama—this pain is prepared specifically for those who pursue immortality. Can you feel it? If you'd lived a bit longer, you'd feel it even more acutely."
"An attack that specifically counters me…"
Orochimaru had never imagined that his pursuit of immortality could be directly exploited—that someone out there had a "super-effective" against longevity itself.
[Soloing three Kage-level threats—Hanabi's insane]
[Only Orochimaru is actually Kage-level. The other two are nerfed]
[One Kage plus three Kakashi-level threats is still impressive—and Kabuto's already been shut down]
[Kabuto feels fishy though—going down THAT easy? This guy's probably already turned and is waiting for the backstab moment]
[What does the "anti-immortal special attack" mean?]
[Is it a Shinigami thing?]
[Black Barrel, is that what it is? Lmao]
[Where's Second Pillar? I feel like we haven't seen him at all]
None of it was as dramatic as the chaos-gremlin audience made it sound.
All it really boiled down to was that Mara-Struck hit immortal beings harder—the resonance went deeper. Hanabi had woven that sympathetic link into her attacks, so Orochimaru felt the Mara-Struck torment upon being struck.
"By my count, Sasuke should be running into that person right about now…"
The danmaku had reminded Hanabi about Sasuke.
And right on cue, the screen helpfully cut away, transitioning to the arena stands a short while earlier—