A sinister wind swept through the arena.
A coffin rose from the ground between Orochimaru's palms.
Hiruzen Sarutobi stared at the coffin in astonishment, his expression slowly turning grim. "Impure World Reincarnation... You secretly learned the forbidden jutsu left by the Second Hokage!"
"You're wrong, sensei!" Orochimaru shot back, his face twisted with a hint of madness. "This isn't just learning... it's surpassing!"
Crack!
The person inside shattered the coffin lid with a single punch. A full head of vibrant red hair flowed out.
The woman opened her dark eyes and murmured, "What on earth is going on? Is someone trying to control me with a cursed seal?"
"It really is Kushina..." Hiruzen Sarutobi's face seemed to age another ten years.
"Third Hokage?" The reanimated Kushina Uzumaki looked at the old man before her. The confusion on her face gradually faded as she began forming hand seals. "We'll talk in a bit. First, I'm going to seal away this cursed seal that's trying to control me..."
The woman had only just been reanimated, yet she already had a way to break the jutsu's control. When it came to sealing jutsu, no one in the entire ninja world was more skilled than the Uzumaki clan. As for the cursed seal in her mind attempting to control her, she could remove it in a matter of seconds.
For the ninja who revived Kushina, this was absolutely unacceptable. Orochimaru hadn't gone to all this trouble just to give Konoha another powerful ally. He revived Kushina to be a weapon in his own hands.
"That won't do!"
A drop of sweat trickled down Orochimaru's face. He suddenly clapped his hands together, forcing Kushina's movements to a halt. "As expected of a master of sealing jutsu," he said in a low voice. "Minato Namikaze's light shone so brightly that it overshadowed how terrifying you truly are..."
To maximize the combat power of his reanimated pawns, Orochimaru hadn't hesitated to sacrifice the four Sound ninja under his command. Originally, he had used cursed seals to empower the Sound Four, intending for them to use the Four Violet Flames Formation to isolate the battlefield.
However, Naruto Uzumaki's Spiral Ring had shattered the formation during the preliminaries, forcing Orochimaru to abandon that plan. Instead, he used them—Kidomaru, Jirobo, and the others—as sacrifices for the Impure World Reincarnation.
"Orochimaru... senpai?" Kushina was stunned. She could feel the chakra binding her originating from Orochimaru behind her. Why would one of Konoha's Sannin use the Impure World Reincarnation to control her?
"Kushina!" Hiruzen quickly formed hand seals and shouted, "It's been over ten years since you died! Orochimaru is a rogue ninja now, and he wants to use you to attack the village!"
"Understood!" Kushina's face instantly turned solemn. She channeled all her chakra, trying to break free from Orochimaru's control.
As the last pure-blooded Uzumaki, Kushina had mastered countless sealing jutsu. After all, every sealing jutsu in the ninja world had its roots in the Uzumaki clan. The cursed seal of the Impure World Reincarnation was extremely complex, but for Kushina, it wasn't an impossible challenge. Given enough time, she could break its control.
Even as Orochimaru struggled to restrain her movements, he couldn't stop the flow of chakra within her body. This was not going according to plan.
"I'll have to extinguish your consciousness for now."
Orochimaru took out a kunai with a sealing tag and plunged it into the back of Kushina's head, instantly suppressing her will. Although her combat power would decrease without her consciousness, it would free up Orochimaru's hands.
After sensing that Kushina was no longer struggling, Orochimaru lowered his hands and looked up at his teacher with a cold smile.
Hiruzen's heart skipped a beat, but he forced himself to remain calm. "Orochimaru, do you really think you can win by relying on the reanimated?" he asked, though his voice lacked conviction.
Of all the powerful shinobi Orochimaru could have revived, Kushina was undoubtedly the most troublesome. Since only sealing jutsu could truly counter the reanimated, her specialization made her a nightmare. Kushina was a sealing master, so proficient she had even been her husband's teacher on the subject.
The "Red-Hot Habanero" was about to turn Konoha upside down once more.
The most troublesome part was that Naruto Uzumaki could now control the Nine-Tails. In terms of raw power, he had already suppressed the rampaging One-Tail and was Konoha's strongest asset on the field. The problem was that Kushina was the natural enemy of Tailed Beasts. Even if she couldn't defeat Naruto in a direct fight, stopping him from attacking the One-Tail would be child's play for her.
"If I wasn't completely confident, why would I appear here?" Orochimaru smiled, holding another cursed seal as he cut his palm again. "Sensei, the Nine-Tails may be the strongest Tailed Beast, but shinobi who can suppress or even defeat it do exist... Ninja Art: Impure World Reincarnation!"
Another coffin rose from his palm.
Hiruzen quickly formed hand seals, chakra surging in his chest as he spewed a fierce flame at the coffin. "Fire Style: Fire Dragon Flame Bullet!"
"Fire Flame Formation!" Kushina shouted. A crimson barrier suddenly opened, blocking the Fire Dragon's attack. The aura coming from the barrier carried a scorching heat; it was clearly a sealing jutsu derived from the Four Red Yang Formation, and it was more than strong enough.
Behind the barrier, Orochimaru was safe, quietly watching the second coffin shake violently. It was clear a great figure was inside, one that even he had trouble controlling. Orochimaru could only hope that he could plunge the cursed seal kunai into the man's head before he broke free.
Boom!
The coffin suddenly shattered, unleashing a powerful wave of chakra that swept across the entire arena.
The man's face was revealed: he wore dark red plate armor over a simple black outfit, with a full head of smooth black hair tied back. On his head was a forehead protector with a spiral insignia.
The First Hokage, Hashirama Senju.
Hashirama's gaze didn't fall on Hiruzen. Instead, he looked doubtfully at the golden fox that was beating up the One-Tail in the arena. "Huh? Is the Nine-Tails causing trouble again?" he asked, a hint of excitement in his voice.
The man was completely out of touch with the current situation.
Before he could react further, Orochimaru formed a hand seal, temporarily restraining the First Hokage's movements and inserting the cursed seal into the back of his head.
Hiruzen looked at the revived Hashirama, his face a mixture of shock and anger. "Orochimaru, how dare you defile the body of the First Hokage!"
"When facing the Nine-Tails, is there a more suitable choice than him?" Orochimaru's eyes darkened. "Sensei, before I even launched the Konoha Crush plan, I had already considered how to handle the Nine-Tails."
"Hmph, I'll kill you first!"
"Don't be in such a hurry, sensei," Orochimaru said with a light laugh, wagging his finger. "When I'm away, I find myself missing you. So I thought... you must be missing your own teacher as well, right?"
-----
Bonus:
Nine-Tails: I am invincible!
Orochimaru: Impure World Reincarnation! Summons Uzumaki Kushina!
Nine-Tails: You think she can beat me in a straight fight?
Orochimaru: Impure World Reincarnation! Summons Hashirama Senju!
Nine-Tails: ...I have several complaints.