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Chapter 743 : The Indomitable Third Hokage (1)
🕑 Added 2024-09-08 20:41:53 +0000 UTCFujin's clone saw with a deadpan expression as Gaara transformed and Naruto used Kurama's chakra and summoned Gamabunta to stop him. He let out a sigh and muttered, “Fuck it. This is still beneficial for me. Time to do what I have to do.”
The chakra signature of Fujin's clone suddenly changed and so did his appearance and physique. The change was so drastic that no one would be able to associate him with Fujin. At the same time, a seal imprint lit up on his right palm as he slammed it on the ground.
Hundreds of Flying Thunder God marks spread throughout the area as a new seal imprint appeared on his left palm. He didn't make any other move and instead watched Shukaku and Gamabunta like a hawk.
Inside the barrier, Orochimaru watched in amusement as Hiruzen's Shadow Clones moved to intercept the 12 former Kage. The ones leading the charge were none other than Hashirama and Tobirama. Hiruzen's clone immediately noticed the changes in Hashirama's chakra and realized, ‘So, he's using that technique…’
‘Bringer of Darkness jutsu’
In an instant, Hashirama placed a hallucinatory darkness on Hiruzen and all his clones’ eyesight, causing them to see nothing but black.
However, Hiruzen and all his clones disrupted their chakra flow and released a large amount of Yang chakra.
‘Yang Release: Annihilator of Darkness jutsu’
Hashirama and Tobirama were surprised. Not even half a second had passed and Hiruzen and his clones had broken Hashirama's Genjutsu. Hiruzen thought, ‘I may not have reached the raw power of Lord First or the speed of Lord Second, but I have lived long enough to surpass them in Ninjutsu and Genjutsu.’
Two of his Shadow Clones flickered in front of Hashirama and Tobirama. Both attacked his clones immediately, but his clones grabbed their arms. The arm of the God of Death appeared from the chests of Hiruzen's clones, pierced the bodies of the former Hokages and began extracting their souls!
Hashirama muttered, “So sorry, Sarutobi.”
Tobirama smirked and said, “Forgive us for troubling you.”
Hiruzen's clones replied remorsefully, “Please forgive me, Lord First, Lord Second.”
While Hiruzen's clones dealt with Hashirama and Tobirama, the other Kages didn't stand still. They had already begun clashing with Hiruzen's clones.
Lightning Armor appeared on the Third Raikage's body as he said, “Even though I'm not at my full strength, do you think that a mere clone can stop me? I never imagined that Konoha would be so desperate, that too against your own student… A shame that this didn't happen when I was alive!”
The clone facing him didn't reply. Instead, he wondered, ‘How would he react if I informed him of the mess Fujin and Akuro created in the Land of Lightning?’
‘Hell Stab: One finger assault’
The Third Raikage concentrated an extremely high amount of chakra into a single finger and moved towards Hiruzen's clone at an extremely high speed. However, Hiruzen's clone immediately counterattacked with Vacuum Bullets while moving backwards.
The Third Raikage quickly dodged them while reducing the distance between the two of them. Due to his far superior speed, he appeared in front of Hiruzen's clone in just a second. Unknown to him, this was also the moment Hiruzen's clone was waiting for!
‘Wind Release: Serial Vacuum Wave jutsu’
At such a close range, Hiruzen's clone fired extremely fast and sharp Vacuum Blades! Had he been alive, the Third Raikage would have retreated. But, due to Orochimaru's control and the immortal nature of the Edo Tensei body, he continued his attack.
The Vacuum Blades hit him and sliced straight through the armor of his Lightning Chakra Mode before hitting him! Several massive cuts opened up on his body, with the largest extending from his neck to his abdomen. Yet, none of the Vacuum Blades managed to pierce through his body or enter deeper within his body even though his body was considerably weaker than when he was alive! That's how strong his body was!
Ignoring the injuries, he continued his attack but was shocked when Hiruzen's clone suddenly grabbed his wrist. The Third Raikage's invincible spear was stopped! He turned his gaze towards his wrist and saw that Hiruzen's left hand was covered in wind chakra.
The Third Raikage immediately realized, ‘Now I see. The previous attack wasn't to kill or dismember me. Instead, he wanted to damage my Lightning Armor. Since the Vacuum Blade had cut my wrist, that part was momentarily without protection of my Lightning Armor and that's why he could stop me. However, what's the use of doing this?’
He was confused. Even though Hiruzen's clone outplayed him, there wasn't any actual loss for him as he could still continue to attack. Suddenly, his eyes widened as the Lightning around his body disappeared! Instead, he saw the God of Death behind Hiruzen's clone, extracting his soul!
Hiruzen's clone chuckled and said, “Death seems to have clouded your memories. Let me remind you why you never dared to duel against me.”
As his soul was extracted, the Third Raikage recalled some of his memories. During the First Great Ninja War, Hiruzen had built up a terrifying reputation. Tobirama's death at the end of that war had been a huge blow to Konoha. In order to compensate for it, Hiruzen had trained so much that his strength had become extremely terrifying, to the extent that even the other Kages didn't want to face him in battle.
Over the next couple of Great Wars, the Third Raikage had clashed with Hiruzen several times. However, those clashes convinced him to never confront Hiruzen by himself for a long time. Needless to say, he hadn't forgotten it. However, he was already dead. So, he didn't particularly care if Hiruzen killed him. Yet, seeing the God of Death shocked him.
Some distance away, intense winds were flowing around Shamon, the Second Kazekage as he confronted another one of Hiruzen's clones. He said, “I don't know whether you killed the Fourth Kazekage or your student did. However, the winds are telling me that hundreds of my villagers were murdered here. I can only make you pay for their deaths!”
Hundreds of Wind Blades formed around him and bombarded Hiruzen's clone. Hiruzen's clone spat out a large amount of mud, which transformed into several walls and absorbed the wind blades. As soon as the barrage of wind blades ended, several mud bullets were launched from the mud.
Shamon immediately dodged, but several mud tentacles suddenly burst out of the mud and tried to grab him. Before they could reach him, wolves made of wind appeared around him and shot Wind Explosion Spheres at the tentacles and destroyed them.
Shamon was about to turn his attention back to Hiruzen's Shadow Clone when several mud clones appeared out of the mud he had spit earlier and attacked Shamon. Shamon glanced at them and thought, ‘The same jutsu for defending, attacking and reinforcing him… His expertise in Ninjutsu is at a whole different level from what I remember…’
The Mud clones attacked him from one side, keeping Shamon busy. Hiruzen's clone used the opening to flicker behind him. However, even before Hiruzen's clone completed the Body Flicker jutsu, Shamon turned around and pointed both his palms towards Hiruzen's clone.
Two large Vacuum Spheres were forming in each of his hands as he said, “I'm impressed. To think that fire-spitting youngster from back then has come so far. I wouldn't have imagined. Unfortunately, this isn't enough to stop me.”
Dozens of Vacuum Bullets, Cannons, Arrows and Vacuum Blades were launched at Hiruzen's clone continuously from the large Vacuum Spheres. What made it even more complicated was that each of them acted in a different manner, making defending extremely difficult.
However, Hiruzen's clone shot multiple Vacuum Bullets at him. For a moment, Shamon was confused as Hiruzen's clone had attacked instead of dodging. After all, piercing wounds were useless against an Edo Tensei, but the clone would be dispelled if gravely injured.
As the first Vacuum Bullet shot by Hiruzen's clone reached close to the incoming barrage, it exploded! The winds released from the explosion were strong enough to divert the incoming attacks just enough to miss Hiruzen's clone. All of his other bullets exploded in the same manner, creating a path for Hiruzen's clone to move forward.
Shamon's eyes widened as he thought, ‘Incredible! To think that he can even use my Vacuum Bullet jutsu in such a manner. It'll shut down most of the wind jutsus. Of course, it isn't completely safe, but he has managed to avoid all my attacks…’
As a wind user, Shamon liked to fight from a distance. He was about to retreat, when the Mud clones behind him launched suicidal attacks, cutting his retreat paths. Without being able to retreat and having very little time to react, he coated his fists and legs in Wind Chakra and attacked Hiruzen's clone.
However, Hiruzen's clone very easily gained the upper hand in Taijutsu and quickly grabbed both of his hands. Shamon said, “You've grown very skillful. I don't recall ever seeing anyone as skillful as you.”
As the God of Death's arm entered Shamon's body, Hiruzen's clone replied, “I've had time to train. To be honest, your mastery of Wind manipulation was one of the few things I couldn't get a hang of. Fortunately, I've had some inspiration lately.”
Hiruzen's clone chuckled, offending Shamon slightly who retorted, “If I was at my full power and not inside a small barrier, even your main body wouldn't have been able to stop me.”
Hiruzen's clone chuckled once again and said, “The times have changed. In your time, your talent in Wind manipulation was the best. For decades, no one came close to your level. Until a few years ago, when a young ninja showing even greater talent than yours appeared in Konoha!”
[A/N: I know this will be asked a lot, so clarifying it right now. These battles are very fast-paced and are happening at the same time. So, the battles against Hashirama, Tobirama, Third Raikage and Second Kazekage (along with the battles in the next chapter) are happening simultaneously. The time difference in between their souls being sealed is just a few seconds. So, very little time has passed.]
