"Then what do you want to do, old man Senju?"
When the Second Hokage mentioned her being the sole backup, Uchiha Hikari pouted discontentedly, still holding a grudge.
"...Of course, we need to make thorough preparations."
Tobirama took a deep breath, comforting himself not to argue with a child and to focus on the task at hand.
'Do not argue with the Uchiha brat, Do not argue with the Uchiha brat.'
"I agree."
Orochimaru voiced his support for the Second Hokage while grinning widely.
"If my most respected Second Hokage had been this cautious during the negotiations with Kumogakure back then, perhaps he wouldn't have turned into a corpse so early."
"Orochimaru, you!!" Tobirama was both furious and frustrated!
First the Uchiha girl, now this guy? Why was everyone exposing his dark history today? Did they find Hashirama too stupid to bully effectively, so they decided to gang up him instead?
"Alright, Orochimaru. The Second Hokage means well. Let him explain how we can further improve our preparations under the current circumstances and conditions."
Makoto waved his hand, signaling for the Second Hokage to continue.
"Hmm."
Tobirama gave Makoto a strange look, then glanced at Nagato.
"Hmph." Tobirama shot Makoto a suspicious glare.
'Wait a minute. Didn't this guy just call Nagato 'Leader'? Why is he the one giving orders? Who is actually running this organization? you or him?'
Tobirama was puzzled, but now was not the time to dwell on organizational hierarchy.
They had to focus on the chakra bomb in front of them.
"This thing contains a massive amount of Chakra. If we are even slightly careless and it goes out of control, the resulting explosion would be powerful enough to destroy everything around us."
"Fortunately, we are in the desert of the Land of Wind, so we don't have to worry about nearby villages. But we cannot escape it. So we must take precautions. Even if there is only a one percent chance of something going wrong, we cannot gamble."
Tobirama began explaining his thoughts and emphasized the word "gamble" heavily while his eyes darting toward his brother.
"Indeed. We really cannot gamble."
Hashirama nodded seriously in agreement with his brother. "Tobirama, let's use that."
"Exactly, brother. That's what I was thinking."
"But we don't have enough people. Uchiha Hikari and Nagato need to absorb Chakra, so they cannot participate in maintaining the barrier. Orochimaru can, but that leaves one more..."
Tobirama looked at Makoto.
"You probably can't, right?"
Makoto didn't even have Chakra, so naturally, he couldn't perform Ninja Techniques.
But could a man admit he couldn't do it? Absolutely not!
'This petty old fucker,' Makoto thought. 'He's pointing this out on purpose to embarrass me. I should have written more humiliating scenes for him in 'Vigorous Paradise'.'
Without receiving Makoto's reply, Tobirama nevertheless seemed to have gotten his answer and looked at the two White Zetsu behind Orochimaru.
"Orochimaru, summon Sarutobi again, and then bring out one more..."
"The Four Red Yang Formation right?"
Orochimaru understood what the Second Hokage intended to prepare.
The Four Red Yang Formation was the superior version of the Four Violet Flames Formation he had used in his "Konoha Crush" plan.
It required four Kage-level shinobi to perform, and the barrier's strength was dozens of times greater.
Of course, while it was said to require four Kage, the condition actually referred to the generally recognized Chakra reserves of Kage-level individuals.
After all, the title of Kage was merely a position.
For example, if you asked the future Eighth Hokage Shikamaru to use it, he definitely wouldn't be able to sustain it.
"Correct. We happen to have two more sacrifices. Orochimaru, are you carrying materials for Impure World Reincarnation of others? Such as the Fourth Hokage, for instance," Tobirama nodded.
Since Tsunade was the Fifth Hokage, that meant the Fourth had already died as well.
"The Fourth? His strength certainly qualifies him, but it's impossible." Orochimaru shook his head slightly.
"The Fourth used the Reaper Death Seal, and his soul was swallowed and sealed within the Reaper's stomach. Without breaking that seal, there's simply no way to perform Impure World Reincarnation on him."
"So that means you do have materials for Impure World Reincarnation with you? What about others?"
"I don't have them on me, but I can summon snakes from Ryuchi Cave at any time to bring them. As for others, to be honest, the materials I've collected so far aren't particularly extensive."
Orochimaru was speaking truthfully.
His current research prioritized quality over quantity.
It was Kabuto Yakushi's Impure World Reincarnation during the Fourth Great Ninja War that was truly large-scale.
Back then, Kabuto had gone mad as a grave-robber, stealing so many bodies that he essentially turned the war into a gacha game card pool, pulling every trash mob he could find.
Like that guy who found out after death that his wife had remarried, or that one who had a crush on Temari and died on a C-rank mission—meaning, he die on a mission where the enemies didn't even include ninja.
Such individuals didn't exist in Orochimaru's elite collection.
Even his experimental materials and lab rats wouldn't include such trash.
"What a pity," Tobirama sighed, a dark look crossing his face. "If only I had carved a piece of flesh off Uchiha Izuna when I killed him."
"..." Everyone stared at him.
"If I had his DNA," Tobirama continued, lost in his own twisted fantasy, "I could reincarnate him right now. He would refuse to help, of course. But then Makoto could force him into submission, and we could make him dance for our amusement... or perhaps sell him to a brothel..."
A smile that could only be described as 'diabolical' crept onto the Second Hokage's face.
Just thinking about it was mentally and physically pleasurable for Tobirama!
Too bad.
"Then let's proceed like this."
While Tobirama was lost in thought, Orochimaru had already summoned a snake to bring over one set of materials.
Taking the scroll, he retrieved one DNA sample from it.
Adding the remaining the Third Hokage dick from earlier, he performed two Impure World Reincarnation.
"Ahhh—Orochimaru, you rebellious disciple, are you never going to stop?!"
After his screams, Sarutobi Hiruzen found himself reincarnated again and couldn't help but feel exasperated.
In the world after death, unless one had lingering attachments to maintain clarity for a period, there was no concept of time or space.
Just like in the original work where the First, Second, Third, and Fourth Hokage stayed together in the Reaper's stomach for so long, yet when they were reincarnated, they still didn't recognize the Fourth immediately.
"Don't be anxious, sensei. This time, I brought you out to ask for your help. And it's not me who wants you out—it's your teacher, the Second Hokage's request," Orochimaru explained smoothly.
"Is that so?"
Hiruzen glanced at his teacher, the Second Hokage, and seeing that he didn't refute Orochimaru's words, understood that Orochimaru wasn't lying.
"This is... Orochimaru, don't tell me this is also the Second Hokage's request?"
Hiruzen's gaze fell on another subject of the Impure World Reincarnation rising beside him.
His pupils instantly contracted, and he glared angrily at Orochimaru.
"You could say that. The Second Hokage needed someone capable of using the Four Red Yang Formation. Since the Fourth couldn't be summoned from the Reaper's stomach, I thought of this person."
Orochimaru gave Hiruzen a sinister smile.
"Impure World Reincarnation? Third Hokage? Orochimaru? What's going on, dattebane?"
Kushina Uzumaki blinked her eyes, looking around in confusion.
"Another member of Mito's clan? But the Uzumaki clan naturally possesses vast Chakra reserves, so they can indeed serve as one corner of the Four Red Yang Formation."
He looked at Kushina.
Then he looked back at Hikari.
Reaction to someone that looks like Madara: Heart pounding, eyes sparkling, pure excitement!
'My friend! My rival!'
Reaction to Kushina (his wife's relative): Calm and complete indifferent.
'Oh, a redhead. Cool i guess.'