Compared to the unfathomable First and Second Hokage, Hiruzen actually felt much more at ease facing Minato Namikaze.
Minato had died too young, his strength far from its peak. Aside from the unpredictable Flying Thunder God Jutsu, he wasn't particularly troublesome to fight.
But the very next second, the sudden change in Minato made Hiruzen's jaw drop.
Golden chakra flames flared to life, completely enveloping Minato's body. Black tomoe patterns materialized across his haori. The sheer, overwhelming aura made Hiruzen's pupils shrink.
'When did Minato master such a terrifying ability?!'
'What kind of deep hatred is this? Using an ultimate move right out of the gate? It's just one arm, is there really a need to go to such lengths?'
Watching Minato, Jie Uchiha was left completely speechless.
He knew Minato was a genius. Sealing the Yin-half of the Nine-Tails inside his body and perfectly using its power without a single day of practice proved that much. But was it really necessary to go straight into Kurama Mode just to deal with Hiruzen?
This wasn't just using a cannon to shoot a mosquito—this was dropping a nuclear bomb on one!
Within the golden chakra, Minato frowned slightly.
This Edo Tensei body was just too fragile, completely incapable of handling such terrifying power. Under the immense strain of the chakra, he could already feel the reanimation formula starting to break down.
Once the formula completely collapsed, he would be forced right back to the Pure Land.
'I better end this quickly', Minato thought to himself.
"Dad, you look so cool!"
Staring at Minato bathed in the brilliant golden chakra flames, stars practically popped out of Naruto's eyes. His face was filled with pure admiration.
Minato smiled warmly at his son. "Naruto, this is called Kurama Mode. Once you and the Kurama inside you learn to get along, you can be just as cool as Dad! But for now... let Dad collect some interest for you first."
The moment he turned his head, the smile vanished. The look he shot Hiruzen was biting and absolutely cold.
"Lord Third. When I gave my life to seal the Nine-Tails for the village, you promised me you would treat Naruto well. Why did things turn out like this?"
Hiruzen's pupils shrank. Gritting his teeth, he argued, "Minato, I know this betrayed your trust, but I did it all for Konoha! As a fellow Hokage, I thought you would understand my painstaking efforts. Besides, this was just a kind of tempering for Naruto..."
"Enough!" Before Hiruzen could finish his excuse, Minato cut him off sharply. "It's exactly as Jie said! What 'for the village'? Those are just high-sounding excuses you fabricated to justify doing whatever you wanted. Hiruzen Sarutobi, you disgust me."
A deep look of revulsion crossed Minato's face.
Then, a golden flash cut across the battlefield. The clash ended unbelievably fast.
The golden light flickered, and Minato instantly reappeared in his original spot. A heavy thud echoed across the arena. Only then did Kakashi and Naruto realize that Minato had vanished, struck, and returned in the blink of an eye.
Minato casually gripped a Flying Thunder God kunai. Drops of blood slowly trickled down its three-pronged blade.
That heavy sound was Hiruzen's left arm hitting the ground.
"Ah! Ahhh!"
Hiruzen finally reacted. In the split second his arm was severed, he hadn't even felt the pain. It wasn't until he saw the stump that he violently clutched his bleeding shoulder, wailing in agony.
"Help! Let me go, please! No!" In a blind panic, Hiruzen screamed at Tobirama Senju. "Tobirama-sensei, aren't I your most beloved disciple? Spare my life! I know I was wrong!"
Having taken an arm, Minato considered his revenge complete. He stepped back.
Listening to the desperate wails of his former disciple, Tobirama Senju's stoic expression remained completely unchanged.
"Hiruzen, have you really still not realized it?" Tobirama said coldly. "From the beginning until now, everything has been witnessed by the people of Konoha. Yet, from start to finish, not a single person has stepped forward to defend you or speak on your behalf. Have you ever thought about why that is?"
Tobirama's words made Hiruzen freeze in his tracks.
Interestingly enough, they also made Jie Uchiha pause.
How could there be no one speaking up for Hiruzen? He had sat in the Hokage's seat for nearly forty years—the longest-reigning Hokage in history. Over the years, he had upheld and preached the village's guiding ideal, the "Will of Fire." Because of this, his die-hard loyalists, mostly ordinary shinobi, were scattered everywhere.
The real reason none of those people had stormed the arena to rescue him was, of course, because Jie Uchiha had orchestrated everything in advance. All of Hiruzen's fanatical loyalists and hidden backup plans had long been silently exterminated by the Uchiha Clan.
Jie hadn't expected his behind-the-scenes cleanup to become the final nail in the coffin, perfectly cementing Tobirama's decision to sentence Hiruzen to death.
Hiruzen opened his mouth to speak, but Tobirama cut him off.
"There's no need for useless words. Saru, since I taught you all your ninjutsu, I will be the one to take them back."
Tobirama calmly picked up a standard kunai from the ground and etched his Flying Thunder God formula onto the handle.
"Shuriken Shadow Clone Jutsu!"
That single kunai instantly multiplied into thousands. A torrential rain of bladed steel poured down from the sky, entirely blanketing the area above Hiruzen!
Facing a barrage of kunai marked with the Flying Thunder God formula, Hiruzen frantically raised his hand to weave signs, but with a missing arm, he found that forming even the most basic hand seals was now impossible.
For a fleeting, bitter moment, Hiruzen felt profound remorse. 'Why didn't I ever learn one-handed seals?'
He struggled desperately to dodge and parry the few kunai aimed at his vitals, completely powerless to mount a counterattack.
"Flying Thunder God Jutsu!"
Tobirama instantly vanished. Before anyone could even blink, he materialized directly behind Hiruzen.
"The reason I created Edo Tensei was specifically to use this technique," Tobirama stated flatly over Hiruzen's shoulder. "But I never imagined that my first target would be you, Sarutobi."
Hearing the voice right by his ear, all color drained from Hiruzen's face. He desperately tried to leap away, but Tobirama's arms locked around him in an inescapable grip.
"Mutually Multiplying Explosive Tags!"
At the same instant, Hiruzen felt the chilling sensation of a paper tag plastered squarely onto his back.
'Mutually Multiplying Explosive Tags'. An A-rank, infinite-explosion ninjutsu developed by the Second Hokage.
The original intent behind its creation was to cover the immortal bodies of Edo Tensei reanimations with explosive tags, turning them into living bombs to perish alongside the enemy. It only required a single tag to hit the target. That first tag would then summon more, continuously multiplying to trigger an endless cycle of catastrophic, localized explosions.
The blast radius was massive, and the destructive power was horrifying. Since it was virtually guaranteed to catch the caster in the blast, it was an absolute suicide technique.
But because an Edo Tensei body could infinitely regenerate, it formed a flawless loop. For Tobirama Senju, these multiplying explosive tags were the grandest funeral he could give his fallen student.
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