Chaos erupted at that very moment. The place where the Hokage and Kazekage were located was suddenly covered by a translucent red barrier.
A three-way melee?
What followed was indeed a three-way melee, but not one between Naruto, Mirai, and Hyūga Neji. The scale was slightly larger than that. It was a three-way melee between Konoha, Sunagakure, and Orochimaru.
Sunagakure really did not have any Konoha Crush plan, but none of them knew that the Fourth Kazekage inside the barrier was actually Orochimaru. So they made their move.
Although they were allies, just how much trust could there really be between Konoha and Sunagakure?
No matter how much trust there had been, it had now vanished completely.
At this moment, Konoha's reaction was that the Kazekage had ambushed the Hokage. After all, the village had no plan in place to deal with the Kazekage. Although attacking the Hokage on Konoha's own turf was a brain-dead move, it was also sufficiently "unexpected." Caught completely off guard, the Hokage really had been sealed inside the barrier.
Sunagakure's reaction was the opposite, and they even felt more "righteous" about it, because their reasoning was "reasonable" enough: the Third Hokage had attacked the Kazekage. Konoha's invitation for the Kazekage to attend the Chūnin Exams had been a trap from the very beginning.
The barrier that created the sealed-off area was called the Four Violet Flames Formation. It was an extremely powerful sealing barrier, used to divide off a space that prevented interference between the inside and outside, and it could ignite anything that touched it.
The ones casting the technique were the Sound Four, who had been hidden all along. Given the level of chaos in Konoha during the Chūnin Exams, sneaking in a person or two was not difficult. Besides, they had entered under the identity of the Kazekage's guards.
Inside the barrier:
"As expected, compared with what I predicted, unexpected things always happen… My plan did not include an estimate for dealing with both of you at once."
The "Fourth Kazekage" said this.
At this moment, Orochimaru was still maintaining the Kazekage's appearance, because it still carried enough meaning. As long as he did so, the Sunagakure shinobi outside would take hostile action against Konoha.
More importantly, this behavior happened to align with Ueishi Hagoromo's needs.
"I had a feeling you would definitely appear today, which is why I made arrangements beforehand… Orochimaru," the Third Hokage said calmly. It was as if he had truly anticipated this, and so when it actually happened, he was not surprised.
He could recognize that the person before him was Orochimaru.
As for the Hokage's "arrangements" that Orochimaru saw?
The situation was this: inside the barrier, Konoha's side did not consist only of the Third. He also had an accomplice.
In Konoha, there was one person who, in terms of real authority, was Konoha's No. 2, yet always liked to oppose the Hokage.
He had clearly once been the Hokage's former teammate, yet he had spent a lifetime screwing over the Third Hokage.
So at the very end, the Hokage decided to screw him over once as well. Jokingly speaking, one could say this was to regain a bit of psychological balance.
The performance about to begin was a 1v2 matchup: Orochimaru versus the Third Hokage, Hiruzen Sarutobi, and Shimura Danzō… Yes, the Third had anticipated that Orochimaru would appear today, so he brought Danzō along with him. This was probably what people meant by "best friends for life."
"Sarutobi, what exactly is going on? Is that not the Fourth Kazekage across from us?" Shimura Danzō asked coldly. He still had not quite figured out the situation.
"He is Orochimaru," the Third explained in one sentence.
"Taking on both of you alone… to be honest, my odds of winning are very low. However… it does not matter. Fortunately, I have a few interesting puppets."
Although both of them were old men, and their chakra levels had declined compared with their peak states, they were absolutely rich in battle experience. Orochimaru was not so arrogant as to think he could easily dispose of both of them. A single Third Hokage was already enough trouble for him.
"Orochimaru, what is your objective?" the Third Hokage asked.
"My objective? If I had to say… I suppose it is to prove my own strength."
As Orochimaru said this, his hands were already forming seals.
He used the Summoning Technique. That much was not difficult to see.
The Third Hokage fell silent. At this moment, Orochimaru probably would not lie, but there were still things hidden behind his words that he had not said. Prove his own strength? He would not do something so boring for that reason alone.
While the Third was thinking, four coffins were summoned in front of Orochimaru. Then the four upright coffins opened one after another, revealing the people inside.
"There is no need to introduce the first two. You should both be quite familiar with them," Orochimaru said.
To the Third Hokage and Danzō, the First Hokage and Second Hokage naturally needed no introduction. Moreover, the First had even appeared once not long ago.
However, this time Orochimaru definitely would not be stupid enough to let the First use Bankai.
"As for the last one, he is the Fourth Kazekage, whom I just obtained. His strength is quite decent."
After realizing that the Fourth Kazekage was Orochimaru in disguise, the Third Hokage had already anticipated this possibility. Now that he saw the Fourth Kazekage summoned, all he could say was, "As expected."
"As for the third one, he is the puppet I am most satisfied with. Being able to deal with the Fourth Kazekage was also thanks to him."
Orochimaru's third card was someone the Third and Danzō were also quite familiar with, because many years ago, they had personally seen that corpse as well… It was Kumogakure's "strongest spear" and "strongest shield," the Third Raikage, A.
Looking at it now, allowing Orochimaru to come into contact with his corpse had undoubtedly been a mistake.
As for why he was the puppet Orochimaru was most satisfied with? It was simple. The Third Raikage was extremely powerful, with high attack and high defense, and his fighting style was straightforward. He just charged in and clashed head-on. Unlike the First Hokage, he was not that difficult to control. He was practically the ideal puppet.
"So you used this technique again after all…"
In truth, the Third Hokage would not narrow-mindedly use this method merely to trap Danzō. That did not fit his personality. He simply felt that hidden dangers left behind by the older generation should be resolved by the older generation themselves. In the matter of Orochimaru, Danzō inevitably bore a certain amount of responsibility.
Given the current situation, although the Third and Danzō were fighting "two against one," things were indeed troublesome. These Kage-level powerhouses had declined somewhat in strength after being reincarnated through the Impure World Reincarnation compared with when they were alive, but they were absolutely not decorations.
At that moment, five Rashōmon suddenly descended from the sky. Afterward, black curtains connected them together, enclosing the entire Four Violet Flames Formation inside.
From then on, the situation inside the double barrier could no longer be seen at all.
Sunagakure would no longer be able to discover the fact that the Kazekage had already died, and Orochimaru could also return to his original appearance.
"So he appeared after all?" Orochimaru muttered to himself.
At this moment, Hagoromo appeared between the two barriers. If there was anyone in Konoha capable of undoing the Four Violet Flames Formation, it was him.
But Hagoromo did not seem to have come for that purpose.
The Third Hokage turned his head, his gaze falling on Hagoromo's face.
"Hagoromo, act according to our agreement."
He seemed to be saying that.
So Hagoromo nodded, then disappeared from the spot again. The only reason he had appeared here was to have Mirai lay down another, even stronger barrier.
Orochimaru had actually done something somewhat unnecessary. He had acted using the Kazekage's appearance for one fundamental reason: to help Hagoromo create a perfectly legitimate opportunity to deal with Shukaku. He knew Hagoromo was currently looking for trouble with the tailed beasts. Although Shukaku was here, the alliance between Konoha and Sunagakure was undoubtedly an obstacle.
Now Orochimaru had removed that obstacle, allowing Hagoromo to openly launch a "counterattack."
By finding something for Hagoromo to do, he would no longer become an obstacle to Orochimaru… Uncle Snake was doing his best to avoid direct conflict with Hagoromo.
However, at this moment, Gaara was no longer Hagoromo's first target. The jinchūriki would temporarily be held back by Team Six, while the first thing Hagoromo had to do was fulfill what he had promised the Hokage.
According to the plan and agreement he had made beforehand with the Third Hokage, next, the White Yaksha was going to help the future Fifth Hokage take back something that should belong to her, thereby returning all of Konoha's power to its normal unified state.
This thing had a very interesting name.
It was called…
"Root."
No matter how the battle inside the barrier ended, from now on, Root would no longer be Danzō's power.
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