On a plain in the southern part of the Land of Water, the earth was ravaged and left in ruins due to the battles of powerful Ninjas.
"This is quite rare!" Inside a blockade formed by several barriers, Kabuto looked calmly at the two before him. "To join forces with a former prey just to capture me, that's not like you at all, Orochimaru-sama!"
Orochimaru, who was continuously deepening the seals on Kabuto's body, grinned, extending his long tongue to lick his lips. "I have no choice. You're the first sample of a Ryuchi Cave Sage I've encountered!"
Having long sought immortality, Orochimaru had often turned his gaze to the most readily available Senjutsu. But his fear of death prevented him from crossing the threshold of Senjutsu Training, which in turn kept him outside the path to immortality.
Earlier, he had glimpsed the possibility and hope of achieving immortality through Senjutsu from Sakura and Tsunade. And now, fate seemed to favor him by delivering a sample like Kabuto.
The double delight nearly made the newly revived Orochimaru faint. He did not hesitate to pursue Kabuto and, with Itachi's cooperation, finally captured him.
"Orochimaru, don't forget the reason I'm assisting you!" Itachi, watching the snake, whose mind was entirely on himself, spoke coldly, reminding him.
His hands crossed and hidden in the sleeves of his kimono, Orochimaru nodded. "Understood. It's about the Edo Tensei, isn't it!"
"Don't delude yourself. The improved Edo Tensei cannot be undone without my operation! Even if you kill me, the technique won't stop!" Trapped within the barrier, Kabuto remained defiant.
But then Orochimaru bit his own finger and pressed the Summoning Technique runes onto the ground. "It seems my assistant is very confident in his technique. Well then, let's have a competition!"
Amidst a burst of massive smoke, a blue giant serpent raised its head. Seeing Orochimaru, it opened its mouth and spat out two bodies soaked in nutrient solution, along with a small fragment of remains.
"This is... you're planning to perform the Edo Tensei technique... wait, who are you trying to summon?" Kabuto frowned. The feeling of ominousness within him reached its peak.
Orochimaru tilted his head, his golden pupils filled with excitement. "The previous God of Shinobi has already proven for us that Senjutsu can also be used on an Edo Tensei body. So..."
Though he didn't finish the sentence, the meaning was already quite clear.
For Orochimaru, who also mastered the Edo Tensei technique, if he couldn't get what he wanted from the living Kabuto's mouth and memory, wouldn't it be easy to get it once he turned him into a dead person?
Standing aside, Itachi, who was being glanced at by Orochimaru, understood his meaning. Willing to act as the muscle, Itachi stepped forward, raised his sword, and cut off Kabuto's head. Orochimaru stepped forward to collect the materials and began the technique.
Several tens of minutes later, on the plain, two new Edo Tensei puppets stood up. The golden figure among them made Itachi's pupils slightly dilate.
Just as the two were preparing to manipulate Kabuto to undo the Edo Tensei army that had been holding back the allied forces, someone burst into the plain.
The giant-bodied Sato Sakura, carrying Leviathan, Naruto, and Sasuke, happened to arrive beside them, delivering the two to Orochimaru as Sakura had commanded.
Frantic with worry, Itachi immediately dragged Orochimaru to treat Sasuke and Naruto. Meanwhile, the conversation within their spiritual spaces continued.
"Damn it, everyone is still fighting outside! This is no time to listen to a strange old man say strange things!" Inside his warm-colored spiritual space, Naruto jumped up and down in exasperation.
The old man floating before him grasped his khakkhara and tapped the clear water before Naruto. The reflection showed a young-looking man. "Just listen to me first. Beneath the water's surface is your previous previous life, my son, Otsutsuki Asura..."
The Sage of Six Paths then told Naruto the whole story of how he founded Ninshu, split the Ten-Tails, and inadvertently triggered the conflict between Indra and Asura.
"So there's also Chakra Reincarnation? It kind of feels like being possessed by a demon!"
Naruto scratched his head and asked the same question that Sasuke, in the other spiritual space, had asked. "Then, whose reincarnation is Sakura?"
"Ahem, that girl... is an accident. But now, she has already made her choice and will no longer become a being that destroys the world." Otsutsuki Hagoromo narrowed his eyes, his gaze somewhat deep.
Just then, Naruto's spiritual space rippled. The Chakra that had been sent out from the Ten-Tails' body by the many Tailed Beasts earlier began to appear.
"Hey, stop your rambling, old man! His body won't last much longer after I was extracted!" The Nine-Tails' giant head emerged from a spiral vortex in the spiritual space.
"Kurama!" Naruto's eyes lit up upon seeing it, and he waved.
The other eight Tailed Beasts also appeared one by one beside Naruto, surrounding him from nine directions, forming a circle.
Seeing that the timing was ripe, the Sage of Six Paths raised his khakkhara in both Naruto's and Sasuke's spiritual spaces. "In short, I hope to end all old grudges. As for what kind of future you will create, I can only leave that to you to decide!"
Naruto and Sasuke seemed to understand something and stepped forward, placing their hands on either end of the khakkhara, allowing the miraculous Chakra to be transmitted through space-time connection to themselves.
…
Meanwhile, on the main battlefield of the Land of Water.
Sakura abandoned all weapons, purely using her fists infused with Senjutsu Chakra to strike Obito at high speed.
Whether it was the membrane formed by the Truth-Seeking Balls, the invading hands of Ten-Tails Chakra, or the crimson conical Tailed Beast Bomb condensed from high-density Chakra, they were all fragile.
Everything was shattered upon being hit by Sakura's fist, which combined Senjutsu Chakra, Haki, and her ability.
Obito himself was treated like a baseball, knocked from one side to the other by Sakura, and then back again.
"Monster, how can someone use Taijutsu to achieve the effect of a Kekkei Mora!" Black Zetsu, who had been lurking underground, watching the battle above, was frantic with anxiety.
Although he had no eyes.
But the situation at this moment was indeed very dangerous. The Ten-Tails' state was far from sufficient for Kaguya's revival.
And if the Ten-Tails were killed by Sakura, waiting for the vast Chakra to be reborn would consume a long period of time, adding too many variables in between. So he had to think of a way.
"There's no choice. I didn't want to use this trump card so early!" Black Zetsu, beneath the ground, formed hand seals, unfolding the Summoning Technique runes above the battlefield.
Pop, pop, pop, pop—!
Just as Sakura sent Obito flying again, tens of thousands of White Zetsu troops were suddenly summoned on the ground behind her, heading straight for the allied forces and the five Kage who were battling Madara.
At the same time, driven by the Ten-Tails' survival instinct within him, Obito also split without being taught, raising his hand and flicking out Chakra like mud droplets, which upon hitting the ground formed numerous small Ten-Tails, charging alongside the White Zetsu army.
"Hahahaha, good strategy!" Faced with this situation of having too many places to cover, Sakura couldn't help but laugh.
After weighing her options, she withdrew her fist, preparing to go support her two teachers and the Allied Forces behind her.
"Sakura, you focus on that guy. Leave the rest to us!"
A voice approached from far away. Two golden meteors descended from the sky, landing before the Ten-Tails split bodies and the White Zetsu army.
Emerging from the smoke and dust stirred up by the fierce winds were Uzumaki Naruto, who had been absent from the battlefield! And… Namikaze Minato, whom Orochimaru had helped him summon from the Pure Land!