"What about you? Still want a piece of this?" Sakura raised a single finger.
The massive form of Shukaku trembled violently before shrinking rapidly, retreating completely into Gaara's unconscious body.
Sakura created a shadow clone to carry Gaara back to the village for treatment, while she herself teleported to the Flying Thunder God's kunai left back in the exam arena.
…
Inside the Chunin Exam Arena.
Hiruzen's weary eyes were locked on Orochimaru.
After a certain someone's [Ikoku Sovereignty] had obliterated the Hokage's viewing platform, the two old adversaries had landed in the very center of the stadium floor.
Stripped of the containment offered by the Four Violet Flames Formation, Hiruzen and his rogue student were now exposed to the entire venue.
Outside, giant summoned snakes wreaked havoc, with Konoha's Anbu struggling to contain them. Yet, the 'Anbu' stationed within the arena itself remained motionless, ignoring the clear attempt on their Hokage's life.
"Anbu! What is your malfunction? Support your Hokage!" Tsunade yelled from the stands, held in a tense standoff with Onoki where neither dared throw the first blow. Her voice, however, was unimpeded.
"Give it up, Tsunade. They're not Anbu. They're Root," Jiraiya explained with a resigned sigh, himself forced to sit under the watchful, heavy hand of the Raikage.
"Root... That snake, Danzo!" Tsunade's teeth ground together in fury, her brow furrowed deep with hatred.
"It appears you are quite isolated, Sarutobi-sensei," Orochimaru hissed, his tongue flicking out to wet his lips. With a casual gesture, a swarm of snakes materialized and struck, latching onto Hiruzen's neck with venomous fangs.
The elderly Hokage, entangled and bitten, showed no distress. His form simply dissolved into mud, which flowed away and vanished.
"You remain as disagreeable as ever," The real Hiruzen stated, reforming nearby. He made a subtle hand gesture. The head of an earthen dragon burst from the ground, chakra glowing within its maw before it unleashed a volley of earth dragon projectiles.
He combined the attack with Fire Release, setting the projectiles ablaze.
The combined elemental assault roared towards Orochimaru, who merely dissolved into a stream of earth himself, allowing the attack to pass harmlessly through the space he occupied.
"Now, is that any way to speak to your favorite student? Aren't the troublesome ones the most memorable?" The earth whispered, reforming behind Hiruzen into Orochimaru's smirking visage.
"Enough of these games. We are not in the Academy," Hiruzen retorted. A series of Jutsu exchanges that would have overwhelmed most Jonin were mere feints and probes between these two.
From the shadows, guarded by his loyal Root's members, one man watched the duel between master and former disciple, his teeth clenched so tight his jaw ached with bitter envy.
"Hmph, a fair point!" Hiruzen discarded his formal Hokage robe, revealing the dark, functional combat armor beneath.
A palpable, violent aura erupted between them. Visible Chakra flared from both the aged Hokage and his unnaturally preserved former student.
The very ground beneath them cracked under the pressure. Pebbles and dust, caught in the clash of their rising energies, lifted into the air and were pulverized into nothing.
"Shadow Shuriken Technique!" Hiruzen initiated the true assault, drawing and hurling a cloud of shuriken with blinding speed.
His hands simultaneously formed seals, channeling Chakra into the flying blades.
One shuriken became two, two became four, four became eight… in the blink of an eye, the air was filled with a metal storm descending upon Orochimaru.
"Marvelous as always, Sensei!" Orochimaru praised, even as he bit his thumb, formed a Ram hand seal, and slammed his palm onto the ground.
[Summoning Technique: Impure World Reincarnation]
"One!" Orochimaru ducked behind a summoned wooden box as shuriken thudded into the lid of a rising coffin.
"Two!" Seeing his former student's manic excitement grow, Hiruzen realized with dawning horror what foul art he was employing.
"Orochimaru! You would defile the very souls of the departed?!" Hiruzen's face contorted in rage as he saw the outline of a third coffin beginning to form.
His hands flew into the Snake hand seal, pouring a massive surge of Chakra outward to disrupt the third summoning matrix.
"The third lacks sufficient anchor strength? No matter!" Sweat beaded on Orochimaru's brow, but his expression was one of rapturous anticipation, "Now then, how will you handle them, my dear Sensei?"
Thud!
The heavy lids of the first two coffins fell away, revealing two figures with ashen, cracked skin.
Their movements were stiff at first, but with each step, awareness and a grim intelligence returned to their eyes.
"Long time no see, Monkey," The taller one in ornate red armor said, his voice hollow, his eyes empty.
"You've grown old, Sarutobi," The silver-haired man in blue armor added, his crimson eyes flicking towards Orochimaru, "To be used against the village... how troublesome."
"First Hokage! Second Hokage!" Hiruzen whispered, tears of grief and shame welling in his eyes at the sight of his revered predecessors.
"Tobirama, this is precisely why I told you not to invent so many Forbidden Techniques!"
"Brother, if you understood the theoretical foundations..." The two reincarnated Hokages began conversing as if Orochimaru weren't there.
But he had not summoned them for a family reunion.
"Enough of these tedious reminiscences!" He snarled, producing two kunai tipped with cursed talismans and driving them into the backs of the reanimated Hokages' heads.
His hands formed the final seal, exerting his full will to dominate theirs.
"My body... it's moving against my will?" Hashirama's immense life force churned, but his leg lifted mechanically.
"A control seal? My apologies for this burden, Sarutobi," Tobirama said, his brow furrowed in anger as he felt his hands rise against his will, "You must seal us! Now!"
Hidden in the shadows of the contestant entrance, listening to the exchange, Danzo shut his single eye tightly.
From the moment his own teacher, the Second Hokage, had appeared, he could no longer bear to look upon the scene.
"Forgive me, Sensei," He muttered, his grip on his cane turning his knuckles white, "This is all for the sake of Konoha."
The bond forged over a lifetime… childhood friends, fellow students under the same master, how could it be cast aside so easily?
But for his vision of a truly powerful, secure Konoha, Danzo would sever that bond with his own hands today.
"Farewell, Hiruzen... and my own pathetic sentimentality!" Danzo declared, rising and preparing to melt back into the darkness, his ambition eclipsing all else.
It was at that exact moment.
Swoosh!
The distinct sound of Space-Time tearing open echoed in the confined passage. A pink-haired girl materialized out of thin air.
'Oh, it's just Haruno Sakura returning from dealing with Rasa... Wait. No.'
'Haru... Haruno Sakura?!' The instant Danzo's eye registered her face, he knew. His carefully laid plans had just shattered.
"Wait! I can grant you the title of Sixth Ho-" His desperate, wheedling offer was utterly drowned out by the girl's battle cry.
A moment of startling clarity pierced the habitual darkness in Danzo's gaze, reflecting only the image of Sakura hoisting her massive sword.
"Sixth Hokage? You can be the sixth flying Hokage! Ikoku Sovereignty!!!"
Zero wind-up. The legendary technique fired point-blank.
For a single, crystallized moment, Danzo achieved a form of ascension… soaring high above the earth, untethered from gravity.
He was free from the earth, the village, everything. He should have felt a transcendent liberation.
If only it weren't for the soul-shattering agony of being on the receiving end of the blast.
Boooommmmm!!!!!
The thunderous detonation rivaled the storm clouds overhead. The colossal roar forced every single person in the arena to turn and stare.
That one, horrifying glance made every living face blanch in terror.
A vast, spiraling shockwave filled their vision, expanding until it consumed the entire world.
A single drop of cold sweat fell from Hiruzen's forehead, darkening the dirt.
'Has the girl finally turned? Has she come to kill her master and seize power?'
'Wait... I'm not her master!'