At this moment, Tsunade was swallowed by overwhelming fear and despair.
She stared at her lover and her younger brother, returned to the world of the living in the forms of the dead. Her wide, beautiful eyes had even forgotten how to cry. Within them remained only crushing shock and boundless sorrow. She wanted to move closer, to look once more at the man she loved and the brother she cherished.
Such despair struck everyone present. Even Kakashi in the distance stopped relaying information from the battlefield.
All eyes followed Tsunade as she took step after step toward Dan Katō and Nawaki.
"Big sister… I'm sorry…" Sadness surfaced on the young ninja's face. "My death must have caused you so much pain. I'm sorry. It was all because I was too reckless. Please don't blame Orochimaru-sensei."
Hearing her kind-hearted younger brother still defending that bastard who had disturbed his peaceful rest in the Pure Land was the final blow. Tsunade could no longer restrain herself. She rushed toward Nawaki, arms spread wide, wanting nothing more than to hold her dearest family member who had appeared before her once again.
"Wait! Tsunade!!"
Just as Tsunade was about to reach Nawaki, Dan suddenly shouted.
But it was already too late.
Pfft—
A torrent of blood burst forth, staining Nawaki's vision red.
Tsunade stared in disbelief as vivid crimson sprayed from her own body. Her pupils shrank sharply, and her entire body began to tremble violently…
Naruto, Sasuke, Sakura: "!!!!"
Obito, Kakashi, Rin: "!!"
Adult Kakashi, Minato Namikaze: "!"
"Tsunade!!"
Jiraiya reacted first. He immediately summoned a toad to force an opening, breaking away from his battle with Kimimaro. He rushed to Tsunade's side, scooped her up, and leapt far from the battlefield.
The body in his arms shook like a sieve…
A massive wound ran from the lower to the upper part of Tsunade's torso, carved open by a kunai. Blood poured out endlessly. Yet she did nothing but tremble. Despite being the strongest medical ninja in the entire shinobi world, she couldn't even bring herself to treat her own injuries.
"Shizune!!"
Jiraiya roared, calling out to Shizune, who was still fighting Kabuto Yakushi in the distance.
Only then did Shizune notice her uncle. Her dark pupils quivered violently.
"Uncle Dan?!"
Dan saw her as well, but there was no time for explanations.
"Go to Tsunade!"
Shizune turned her head and saw Tsunade protected in Jiraiya-sama's arms.
"Tsunade-sama?!!!"
She rushed to Jiraiya's side and immediately began treating Tsunade.
The once-dominant woman was now trembling uncontrollably as her hemophobia took hold. Her eyes were filled with disbelief, unable to accept that she had been attacked by her own younger brother, Nawaki.
The fury Jiraiya and Shizune felt toward Orochimaru had reached the breaking point.
At the same time, Orochimaru pressed his advantage, giving them no chance to recover.
Dance of the Willow. Dance of the Camellia. Dance of the Larch.
Kimimaro's attacks came one after another without pause. To avoid endangering Tsunade and Shizune, Jiraiya had no choice but to draw Kimimaro away to another area.
Kabuto Yakushi, who had originally been Shizune's opponent, was on Orochimaru's side. Time and again, he deliberately feigned attacks toward Tsunade, forcing Shizune to hold back. On one hand, she was desperate to defeat Kabuto quickly so she could continue treating Tsunade. On the other, she had to remain constantly alert, fearing that Kabuto might suddenly launch a sneak attack on Tsunade, who was curled up there, completely immobilized and unable to fight back.
"What the hell is going on?! Orochimaru!!"
If Dan Katō were not already among the dead, he would have been glaring at Orochimaru with eyes ready to split the earth.
Nawaki, once Orochimaru's student, stared in horror at the bloodstained kunai in his hand.
Had he just attacked his sister?
Was that… his sister's blood?
Why? He had never once thought of doing something like this.
His body had moved on its own, acting before his mind could stop it. His body had attacked his own sister.
Nawaki couldn't understand it at all. Why would his body turn against his own family?!
Lost and shaken, he looked toward his teacher for answers.
Through lip-reading, Kakashi relayed everything happening on the battlefield to Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura.
When they learned that the boy truly was Tsunade's younger brother, Nawaki, and that Orochimaru had once been his teacher, yet was now treating him as a mere tool, dragging him back from the Pure Land to attack his own sister, the three were left both stunned and furious.
"Damn it! That bastard!" Naruto shouted. "Let's rush in right now!!"
Minato Namikaze paused to think.
The current situation was clear.
Shizune was protecting Tsunade-sama while fighting Kabuto Yakushi.
They were clearly at a disadvantage, but Kabuto's mission scroll still hadn't been judged as completed.
As for why they were helping Kabuto Yakushi complete his mission scroll, the reason was simple. Whether it was Kabuto Yakushi, Itachi Uchiha, or Obito Uchiha, their mission scrolls were all part of the overall mission rewards tied to Naruto and Obito.
Logically speaking, completing these branch missions should also count as progress toward the final objective.
That meant Tsunade-sama and Shizune were being guided by some unseen will, one that required Tsunade's hemophobia to be cured first. For now, they could only wait a little longer.
Jiraiya was facing Kimimaro. With the Cursed Seal fully activated, Kimimaro's strength had undergone a qualitative leap. Even for Jiraiya, holding the advantage was far from easy.
Orochimaru had lost an arm and could no longer freely form seals to use ninjutsu, which actually made him easier to handle. The real danger was avoiding being implanted with his Cursed Seal.
His true threat lay in the two Edo Tensei bodies he had prepared in advance.
Minato had heard of Dan Katō before. His Spirit Transformation Technique was anything but ordinary. It was unclear how much of that power Orochimaru could draw out through Edo Tensei.
While Minato was still thinking, Orochimaru had already activated the cursed seal talismans planted inside Dan Katō and Nawaki, forcing their bodies to charge toward Tsunade and Shizune.
"Tsunade! Shizune!"
"Big sister!!"
Unable to control their own bodies, the two could only cry out in terror, hoping Tsunade and Shizune would stop them as soon as possible.
"Big sister! I can't control my body! Kill me now!"
The boy's voice exploded inside Tsunade's fragile mind. She jolted violently, lifting her head just in time to see Nawaki rushing toward her. She shook her head in panic.
The air was thick with the smell of blood. Her hands were already stained red.
"What's wrong, Tsunade?! Snap out of it!!" Dan Katō was frantic. If he ended up hurting Tsunade, he would never forgive himself, even in the Pure Land. "Get up! Kill us!!"
They were about to reach her. The kunai in their hands gleamed with cold light.
And the woman kneeling there could do nothing but tremble, utterly helpless.
At this suffocating, despair-filled moment—
Naruto finally couldn't take it anymore and bolted forward.
But he was too far away. There was no way he could make it in time.
At the critical instant, a flash of golden light cut through the battlefield.
Minato Namikaze appeared in a precise position between Dan Katō and Nawaki.
"My apologies, you two," he said calmly.
He dodged the kunai in their hands and, without hesitation, severed their right arms.
"You are…?" Dan Katō didn't recognize the man before him. In the chaos of battle, he didn't even have time to thank him for stopping them.
Minato spoke quickly. "This is the sixtieth year of Konoha. You were summoned back to the living world by Orochimaru using the forbidden technique Edo Tensei. His objective is to assassinate the Hokage and destroy Konoha."
"What? Kill the Hokage?!" Dan Katō exclaimed. "Which Hokage is it now?"
"Still the Third."
"But isn't this already the sixtieth year of Konoha?"
Meaning… the Hokage hadn't changed?
"He was replaced once," Minato replied, glancing toward Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura as they charged over. "But the other died too early."
Off to the side, the restless Obito had already broken the plan and rushed in as well. If he moved, Kakashi and Rin would inevitably follow.
"Now isn't the time to talk."
The two troublemakers had indeed forgotten the plan they had agreed on beforehand. But that was also because Minato hadn't anticipated Orochimaru summoning these two Edo Tensei so early. He needed to rethink his strategy on the spot.
"Wait, this is the Second Hokage's Edo Tensei, isn't it?" Dan Katō looked at his right arm, which was already slowly regenerating. "Edo Tensei is an unkillable ninjutsu. Unless you know how to release the technique or seal us away, no matter how many times you destroy us, our bodies will just reform again and again until your chakra runs dry."
He looked at Minato Namikaze and asked urgently, "Does anyone here know the Four Violet Flames Formation?! As long as you trap me and Nawaki inside it, that'll be enough!"
"I've got it."
As a son-in-law of the Uzumaki clan, Minato was no amateur when it came to sealing techniques.
Under Dan Katō's surprised gaze, Minato created three additional shadow clones. Using high-speed movement, the four of them appeared at the four corners surrounding Dan Katō and Nawaki.
"Naruto! Get Tsunade-sama out of here!"
"Got it!"
Receiving his dad's order, Naruto rushed over, hoisted the trembling grandma onto his back, and retreated at full speed.
Once they were outside the range of the formation, Minato acted without hesitation.
All four Minatos shouted in unison, "Barrier Technique: Four Violet Flames Formation!!"
A square barrier instantly rose up, trapping Dan Katō and Nawaki inside. Naruto ran a bit farther with Grandma Tsunade before turning back.
Sasuke said sharply, "Idiot, take her farther away first. Let Sakura treat her wounds. At least make sure she can't see any blood."
"Dad's barrier should be able to stop their movements," Naruto said. "Wouldn't it be better to keep Grandma a little closer so she can talk to them properly? This kind of chance doesn't come often, right?"
What Naruto meant was that unlike them, Grandma Tsunade didn't have a mission scroll that would let her go back to the past and resolve her regrets.
"Even though Edo Tensei is an enemy's technique, maybe letting Grandma reunite with her brother and her lover is the real meaning behind why this jutsu was created."
"Naruto…"
Minato looked at him in surprise, shocked that he had even thought that far.
The true intention behind the Second Hokage creating this technique…
Was it meant to force enemies into endless suicide attacks, or to allow the living who carried regrets to see the dead one last time? No one could really say.
In the end, whether a ninjutsu or a tool becomes a weapon that kills or a medicine that saves depends entirely on the heart of the one who uses it.
Even though it was an enemy's technique, Naruto believed that as long as it was controlled, it might be the key to easing Tsunade-sama's regrets and curing her hemophobia.
['That way of thinking really does resemble that old man.']
Naruto couldn't hear Kurama's thoughts.
Inside the Four Violet Flames Formation, Nawaki was filled with guilt.
"I'm sorry, big sister," he said, looking at Tsunade's wounds with deep remorse.
Sakura quickly ran over to assist Naruto, using medical ninjutsu to treat Tsunade's injuries.
Minato had to keep maintaining the Four Violet Flames Formation.
Naruto and Sasuke stood there, watching the two Konoha ninjas inside the barrier, one tall and one small, both falling silent.
Just as Tsunade looked at Dan Katō and Nawaki with sorrow in her eyes, about to say something—
"Naruto! Sasuke! Watch out!" Minato shouted.
Naruto and Sasuke turned around.
It was Orochimaru, who had deliberately kept a low profile this entire time.
His neck suddenly stretched out, closing the distance to less than a meter behind Sasuke in an instant.
"!!!"
Sasuke activated his Sharingan.
Time seemed to slow. He could clearly see the sinister smile on Orochimaru's face, yet his body froze like prey caught in a snake's gaze, unable to move.
At the critical moment—
Naruto slammed into Sasuke, knocking him aside and throwing himself directly into Orochimaru's path.
Straight beneath Orochimaru's fangs.
Minato Namikaze's eyes flew wide open.