Chapter 331: Breaking Free from Control, the Mighty Hashirama Senju
A heavy sigh, thick with ancient weariness, echoed through the damp, dimly lit cavern. Water dripped from the stalactites, breaking the oppressive silence.
"Young man, you shouldn't do this."
Senju Hashirama fixed his gaze on Orochimaru. Despite the cracks marring his reincarnated face, his expression carried the gentle but firm admonition of a towering elder.
"Letting the dead rest in peace is the greatest respect one can offer to life."
"Lord First is right!" Sarutobi Hiruzen immediately chimed in. The Third Hokage stared at his former disciple, his aged eyes swimming with deep, agonizing heartache. "Orochimaru! Stop this madness at once! You have no idea what kind of existence you are trying to provoke!"
Hiruzen strained against the unnatural stiffness of his paper-ash body. "Uchiha Akira's power has long exceeded the boundaries of your imagination! Doing this... you are only seeking your own destruction!"
Hearing Hiruzen's desperate warnings, Orochimaru merely tilted his head. A low, hoarse laugh slithered from his throat, echoing off the stone walls.
"Hehehehehe..."
He extended his unnaturally long, pale tongue, slowly licking his lips. His serpentine eyes gleamed with absolute disdain.
"Teacher, you have truly grown old."
Orochimaru took a slow step forward, his voice dripping with mockery. "Has even your courage to challenge the strong been completely ground away by the passage of time?"
The sheer arrogance in that mockery struck Hiruzen like a physical blow. The old Hokage trembled, his jaw locking in fury, yet the words died in his throat. He was entirely speechless, suffocated by the bitter reality of his own failures.
Before the tension could escalate further, a voice as cold as glacial ice cut through the cavern.
"Uchiha Akira..."
Senju Tobirama slowly rolled the name over his tongue, his crimson eyes narrowing into dangerous slits. The air temperature seemed to plummet the moment the Second Hokage spoke.
"That Uchiha brat indeed needs someone to teach him a harsh lesson."
The sickening smile on Orochimaru's face stretched even wider. He assumed the legendary Second Hokage was aligning with his grand design.
But Tobirama's next words shattered that illusion, instantly putting the Sannin on high alert.
"However..." Tobirama shifted his weight, his gaze locking onto the snake summoner with predatory intensity. "I have absolutely no interest in being controlled by the likes of you."
The very instant those words left his lips, Tobirama's hands blurred into motion.
Rat! Ox! Monkey! Tiger! Dragon! Boar!
A complex sequence of hand seals was executed with terrifying, blinding speed, finishing in a fraction of a second. This was the reverse unsealing sequence for the Impure World Reincarnation. As the original architect of this forbidden jutsu, Senju Tobirama knew its structural flaws and backdoors better than anyone alive or dead.
"Release!" he commanded, his voice echoing with absolute authority.
He waited for the ash to crumble away. Instead, a vicious, suffocating binding force surged from the very depths of his bound soul, slamming his chakra pathways shut. The invisible chains held firm.
'Failed?!'Tobirama's crimson eyes widened in rare shock.'How is that possible?!'His sharp senses immediately swept inward, analyzing the foreign chakra woven into his artificial vessel.'No, this vitality... these are Elder Brother's cells!'
The realization hit him. This specific Edo Tensei vessel had been heavily augmented with Senju Hashirama's genetic material, drastically amplifying the caster's binding power over the summoned soul.
"Hehehe... Lord Second!" Orochimaru hissed, his shoulders shaking with dark amusement. "This vessel is a flawless masterpiece I carefully prepared just for you!"
The Sannin raised his hands, his fingers curling into a tight, controlling seal. "Are you satisfied with a body perfectly fused with Lord First's cells?"
Orochimaru violently slammed his palms together, his chakra flaring with malicious intent.
"Be... obedient!"
Tobirama let out a muffled grunt. The autonomy over his own limbs was violently stripped away in an instant. His muscles locked tight, rendering him utterly unable to twitch even a single finger.
'To think this snake brat has researched my jutsu to such a terrifying extent.'
A cold, burning fury ignited within Tobirama's chest, yet he found himself temporarily helpless against the overwhelming suppression of his brother's amplified cells.
He needed a countermeasure. Unless...
"Ugh! What an absolute hassle!" Hashirama suddenly complained, his tone entirely casual despite the grim situation.
And then, the cavern shook.
The sheer, unfathomable willpower belonging to the man hailed as the God of Shinobi erupted. It poured out completely and unreservedly, a tidal wave of pure, crushing spiritual pressure that defied the very laws of life and death.
"Break... for me!!!"
A sharp, crystalline crack echoed through the air, sounding exactly like a physical chain snapping under immense strain.
The unnatural stiffness binding Hashirama's body vanished without a single trace. He rolled his shoulders, the dust settling around his feet. He had forcefully ripped back his freedom through sheer, unadulterated strength.
"What?!"
The smug, victorious smile on Orochimaru's face froze instantly, shattering into a mask of extreme, primal shock.
A flat, yet supremely authoritative voice bypassed the distance, ringing directly beside Orochimaru's ear. The Sannin abruptly snapped his head up.
Without a sound, without even a flicker of displaced air, the First Hokage had crossed the cavern. Senju Hashirama now stood directly in front of him, towering over the snake summoner like an immovable mountain.
"Your little game of toying with the dead ends right now."
Hashirama raised his right hand. He pulled his arm back and threw a straightforward, unadorned punch aiming dead center at Orochimaru's chest.
The speed of the strike did not seem fast. In fact, Orochimaru could clearly track the trajectory of the fist, watching the knuckles rapidly enlarge in his slitted pupils.
Yet, Orochimaru could not move.
His entire nervous system was paralyzed, utterly suppressed by the terrifying, suffocating aura radiating from Hashirama. The sheer killing intent and absolute authority of the First Hokage locked the Sannin in place, turning his blood to ice.
The fist connected.
A terrifying, explosive kinetic force erupted from the point of impact. The shockwave blew the surrounding dust into a violent cyclone.
Orochimaru was launched backward like a broken ragdoll. He tore through the air, crashing violently into the solid rock wall deep within the cavern. The stone caved in, spiderweb cracks spreading outward as tons of debris collapsed over him.
With just one casual strike.
Orochimaru was utterly crushed.
Hashirama slowly lowered his fist, letting out another long sigh.
"Tobirama, you foolish fellow..." he muttered, shaking his head. "You are always creating such incredibly troublesome jutsu."
Before the dust could even settle, a strange, wet hissing sound echoed from the depths of the collapsed rubble.
Immediately after, a horrifying mass of white scales breached the surface. Countless pale snakes frantically burrowed out from beneath the crushed rocks, a densely packed, writhing sea of reptiles that would make anyone's skin crawl.
The thousands of small serpents did not linger. They instantly scattered in every conceivable direction, diving into the cracks of the earth and vanishing into the shadows without leaving a single trace behind.
They showed absolutely zero desire to continue the fight. The Sannin had chosen immediate, desperate flight.
Watching the cowardly escape tactic, Hashirama merely pouted, crossing his arms over his chest. He did not even bother taking a single step to pursue the fleeing snakes.
A few paces away, Tobirama completely ignored his elder brother's earlier complaints. The Second Hokage stood perfectly still, his eyes closed tight as his brilliant, analytical mind worked at a furious, calculating pace.
'Elder Brother's willpower is simply too abnormal,'Tobirama deduced silently.'He possesses the sheer spiritual density to directly shatter the summoning contract by force. Hiruzen and I cannot replicate that brute-force method...'His thoughts raced, dissecting the very jutsu he had birthed.'But the absolute core of the Impure World Reincarnation is the soul link established through the caster's chakra. That is the tether.'A cold, sharp logic pierced through the mental fog.'Since it is a link, there must be a precise method to sever it!'The solution materialized in his mind's eye.'A sealing jutsu... If I construct a miniature chakra isolation barrier directly onto this vessel, I can effectively jam and shield against the caster's chakra signal!'
Tobirama's crimson eyes snapped open, a brilliant flash of realization illuminating his sharp features.
Without wasting a fraction of a second, he extended his right index finger, channeling a razor-thin edge of chakra to the tip. He slashed his finger across his own left arm, carving into the paper-like flesh with astonishing, surgical speed.
Precise, highly complex sealing runes rapidly materialized, trailing behind his moving fingertip like black ink. The formula spread across his skin in a dense, geometric pattern.
The moment the final stroke of the rune was completed, an invisible, humming barrier instantly enveloped Tobirama's entire body.
The faint, suffocating tether of control radiating from the distant Orochimaru was cleanly and absolutely severed. The oppressive weight vanished.
Senju Tobirama had reclaimed his freedom.
He slowly flexed his wrist, testing the smooth articulation of his joints. A cold, dangerous sneer pulled at the corner of his mouth.
"Orochimaru," Tobirama murmured to the empty air, "your research on my jutsu is still far from complete."
He then turned his sharp gaze toward Hiruzen, who was still locked in place, struggling uselessly against the residual binding command.
Before the Third Hokage could even blink, Tobirama's figure flickered. He used the Body Flicker Technique, reappearing directly beside his former student. Tobirama extended his finger once more, his hand moving in a rapid blur as he carved an identical isolation barrier directly onto Hiruzen's chest.
"Release!"
Accompanied by that low, commanding shout, the black runes flared. The dull, suppressed haze masking Hiruzen's eyes instantly dissolved, completely regaining their sharp, human clarity.
At this precise moment, all three legendary Hokage resurrected by Orochimaru's Impure World Reincarnation had successfully shattered their chains. The grand scheme the Sannin had so carefully plotted was entirely dismantled.
The situation had completely reversed.
Hiruzen slowly raised his hands, staring at his freely moving fingers. He then turned his gaze toward the towering figures of the First and Second Hokage standing beside him. A storm of incredibly complex emotions swirled within the old man's chest.
"Lord First, Lord Second..." Hiruzen began, his voice raspy. "What should we do now?"
His question hung heavy in the damp air, laced with deep confusion and a lingering sense of powerlessness. They were the deceased, ghosts dragged back from the grave by a forbidden jutsu. They had absolutely no place existing in the present world.
Yet here they stood, granted temporary freedom and wielding strength that bordered on their historical peaks. Should they actively seek a method to undo the jutsu and return their souls to the Pure Land, or...
"What should we do?" Hiruzen repeated, seeking guidance.
Senju Tobirama crossed his arms, letting out a sharp, cold snort that echoed with obvious authority.
"Of course, we head straight to Konoha first!"
His crimson eyes burned with a fierce, protective intensity, his chakra flaring slightly as he looked toward the direction of their home.
"I intend to see with my own two eyes exactly what that arrogant brat named Uchiha Akira has done to our village!"
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