If they used Edo Tensei to summon Senju Tobirama again, maybe they could find out who this masked man really is.
Of course, Orochimaru still didn't know that this world no longer had the means to summon Senju Tobirama again.
Because his soul had already been taken away by Uchiha Kage, the Shinigami(God of Death).
"Where's the corpse I asked for?"
"That's simple," Orochimaru had backups of both the First Hokage's and Second Hokage's cells, so he didn't mind giving away one of the corpses.
"Orochimaru! As long as you don't give him the corpse, I can let go of all your past crimes!"
Seeing Orochimaru about to hand over the space scroll containing the First Hokage's corpse again, Hiruzen Sarutobi quickly tried to stop him.
"And I can even tell you a secret about how to truly obtain immortality!"
After all, the Future Diary recorded the intel that becoming the Ten-Tails Jinchuriki would grant immortality.
That should be enough to tempt Orochimaru.
Besides, gathering the Tailed Beasts was something Orochimaru couldn't do on his own. Once he realized that, he would logically choose to return to Konoha, only with Konoha's strength could he possibly collect the Tailed Beasts.
This was a completely open strategy. No matter what Orochimaru thought, Hiruzen Sarutobi believed he could persuade him.
"Hokage-sama..."
The Konoha ninjas around looked surprised and puzzled at the Third Hokage's words and actions.
The secret to immortality, was that information really something to be shared with a rogue ninja like Orochimaru?
And Orochimaru had committed such heinous crimes in the past, could those really just be forgiven?
Also...
The rogue ninja who exterminated the Uchiha Clan, Uchiha Itachi, had actually appeared in Konoha so brazenly, and was even standing beside the Hokage.
Just what was the Hokage thinking?
"Oh? True immortality? Could there really be a better method than Living Corpse Reincarnation?", Orochimaru was indeed a little tempted.
He knew Hiruzen Sarutobi's personality, he wouldn't say something without basis.
Living Corpse Reincarnation required switching bodies, and each switch would damage the spirit and leave one weakened for a time.
If there was a better method, Orochimaru certainly wouldn't choose a jutsu with such heavy side effects.
However, although he knew Sarutobi wouldn't make empty promises, Orochimaru also understood how scheming his teacher could be.
All of Hiruzen Sarutobi's gifts usually came with a price.
"Yes. As long as you change your mind and return to the village to help me eliminate the traitor Uchiha Obito, I'll give you both the secret of immortality and your former status in Konoha."
"How wonderful," Orochimaru licked his lips with his tongue.
"Alright then. If you, this bag of old bones, can defeat both the First Hokage and the Fourth Kazekage on your own, then I'll obediently return to the village. If not, I'll just have to stay with this 'Uchiha Madara' gentleman."
Seeing the masked man beside him still remaining calm and composed, Orochimaru didn't immediately side with Sarutobi. Instead, he proposed a bet.
"Well then, teacher, do you want to give it a try?"
After implanting the talismans that completely controlled consciousness into the backs of the First Hokage and the Fourth Kazekage Rasa's heads, Orochimaru had the two Edo Tensei'd individuals step forward to face Sarutobi.
"You..."
'Making me, the Hokage, personally fight two dead people in front of so many people?'
Sarutobi couldn't accept that.
"Hokage-sama, Orochimaru can't be trusted. He's just toying with us!"
The surrounding Konoha ninjas quickly tried to dissuade him.
"Orochimaru, I didn't expect you to be this obstinate. As your teacher, I have no choice but to clean house," Sarutobi had more or less figured out that Orochimaru was determined to have a fight with him.
That guy was the type who had to vent his grudges.
"Itachi, Kakashi, Guy, you three block the others. I'll take on Orochimaru myself!"
"Yes..."
Kakashi was still wondering whether the masked man in the distance was his old comrade Uchiha Obito.
But with the current situation, he couldn't question Sarutobi too much.
Forget it. They'd probably figure it out in the fight soon anyway.
"I just didn't expect... there'd be a day I'd fight alongside you."
Uchiha Itachi... the Hokage said there was more behind the Uchiha Clan's downfall?
Was that true?
Looking at his former subordinate from the Anbu, Kakashi still couldn't see through Itachi.
Just like in the past, he had never understood why Itachi suddenly became a butcher of his own clan.
"Kakashi-senpai, that guy's ability will reveal itself when he attacks."
Whether he was Obito or someone else, Uchiha Itachi had unquestionably locked onto the masked man ahead as his target.
"Mm."
'Obito...'
'I hope you really are still alive.'
Kakashi stretched out his hand and raised his Raikiri once again.
———
"Orochimaru, you're quite the schemer."
Noticing that he had been targeted by Kakashi and Uchiha Itachi, Uchiha Kage realized that his appearance had helped share Orochimaru's burden.
He had originally just come to collect the souls of Senju Tobirama and Senju Hashirama, but now things had taken quite a few turns.
No matter, it just meant more ninja fragments to collect.
Especially from Kakashi and Uchiha Itachi...
If he could obtain Mangekyo abilities from their ninja fragments, that wouldn't be bad at all.
"The famed 'Uchiha Madara' of the ninja world wouldn't mind a few Konoha ninjas, would he?"
"Of course not. And I don't mind dealing with you too."
"You're joking, senpai. I was planning to follow your lead someday."
Orochimaru definitely didn't want to get on this powerful Uchiha's bad side.
Rather, until he got his hands on an Uchiha body, he didn't want to fight any Uchiha who had awakened the Mangekyo Sharingan.
Uchiha Itachi, Uchiha Shisui, and now this masked guy, each had left a deep psychological scar on him.
"Follow me? Kill Hiruzen Sarutobi first, and then I'll think about it."
The odds of Orochimaru killing Sarutobi today, or rather, Sarutobi 'committing suicide', were very low.
Still, if he could make both Orochimaru and Sarutobi suffer a bit, that would be fine too.
This was all part of Uchiha Kage's plan.
If Sarutobi really died, Konoha probably wouldn't continue attacking Sunagakure.
But if Orochimaru and Sarutobi got entangled again, and combined with the "Future Diary" he gave them, Konoha would definitely become more aggressive.
At that point, a new ninja world war would be inevitable.
And that was the real way to activate the Paradise Plan.
———
"I'm not going to do anything to you. Why are you struggling like this?"
Looking at the girl whose hands and feet were tied and who still kept twisting around with a towel stuffed in her mouth, Samui grew a little impatient.
Not just because of the girl's pointless actions, but also because of herself.
Seeing the girl struggle brought back memories of how she had struggled under Uchiha Kage.
Just as helpless.
'Damn it!'
Back at the small cabin, she opened the door.
Samui threw the still-struggling girl onto the bed.
The entire Konoha Village was empty right now. If her younger brother and the others weren't still in that bastard Uchiha Kage's hands, she would have escaped this "hellhole" long ago.
'Door, bed, sink with a mirror, bathroom...'
Each time her gaze swept over a part of the cabin, images of herself being violated by Uchiha Kage, both from behind and in front, flooded her mind.
Even the floor she often knelt on, no matter how clean she scrubbed it daily, still felt like it held remnants of that guy's stuff.
"Mmmph! Mmmph! Mmmph!"
Temari twisted around frantically, trying to spit out the towel stuffed in her mouth.
She didn't know why, but the towel had a strange salty taste.
"Can't you just stop struggling?"
Annoyed, Samui smacked the girl's raised butt with the sheath of her ninja sword.
"Mm!!"
Temari shook her head furiously.
Who knew what this masked Konoha kunoichi wanted to do with her?
Besides, even if she died, she didn't want to be captured like this.
"Forget it. I can roughly understand how you feel."
Samui sighed, she now completely understood what it felt like to be suddenly kidnapped.
Which made her even more uncomfortable seeing the girl struggle like that.
So she raised her hand and chopped the girl on the neck, knocking her out.
"So kidnapping someone feels... this painful."
If she ever managed to escape this hellhole alive and return to Kumogakure, she would definitely plead with the Raikage and the village's higher-ups to stop issuing missions to kidnap ninja with bloodline limits from other villages... those human-trafficking missions.
Rumble! Rumble!
Just as Samui was lost in thought, a light tremor shook the entire house and floor.
"What happened?"
She walked out of the house and closed the door, then quickly leapt onto the roof.
Looking into the distance, a the edge of Konoha, a gigantic three-headed snake suddenly fell from the sky and smashed through Konoha's outer wall.
"That's... a summoned beast?"
Such massive summons were rare.
Samui saw many Konoha ninjas rush up to try stopping the three-headed snake, only to be easily thrown aside.
And it wasn't just that, after the snake breached Konoha's wall, large numbers of Sunagakure ninjas started pouring in.
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