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Chapter 44 - Chapter 44: Hiruzen, Jiraiya and Orochimaru Vs Satoshi

As Satoshi emerged from Kushina's shadow, the interrupted ritual triggered a catastrophic reaction. Since the Nine-Tails was not fully sealed and its host was unconscious, the orange chakra exploded outward. Within seconds, the Nine-Tails manifested into its full physical form, towering 300 meters high. The sheer pressure shook the earth.

Satoshi's eyes shifted, his Mangekyō Sharingan spinning in a Three Pointed Star. With a single glance, he seized control of the beast, commanding the fox to roar and charge toward the Village. Seeing the imminent destruction, Nawaki Senju immediately broke away from the group. He slammed his hands together, channeling his Wood Release to create a massive wooden barrier to intercept the Nine-Tails before it could reach the civilian sectors.

While Tsunade and Minato rushed to Mito and unconscious Kushina, the Third Hokage engaged Satoshi directly. Hiruzen summoned Enma, who transformed into the Adamantine Staff, while Orochimaru unsheathed his Kusanagi blade. Jiraiya moved in with high-speed taijutsu.

"Give me time to enter Sage Mode!" Jiraiya shouted.

Hiruzen and Orochimaru nodded. The Hokage quickly wove a series of hand signs, unleashing the Bringer-of-Darkness Technique. An absolute, ink-black void swallowed the battlefield, stripping Satoshi of his sight. However, before Hiruzen could capitalize on the darkness, Satoshi appeared in front of Hiruzen, slamming a spinning Rasengan directly into Hiruzen's chest. The impact shattered the darkness technique and sent the Hokage flying backward across the stone floor.

With Hiruzen momentarily sidelined, Orochimaru lunged forward. Their blades clashed in a high-speed duel. While locking swords with his right hand, Orochimaru's left arm transformed into snakes, hundreds of snakes erupting from his sleeve to devour Satoshi.

Satoshi's left hand crackled with intense blue lightning. He electrocuted the snakes instantly and, in a single fluid motion, sliced Orochimaru in half. Orochimaru's body disintegrated into a mass of writhing serpents—a substitute—and a new Orochimaru emerged from the floor, unleashing a tidal wave of snakes. Satoshi countered by forming a Flame Release: Rasengan, incinerating the entire serpent army in a roar of hot fire.

By now, Jiraiya had successfully entered Sage Mode, with Ma and Pa perched on his shoulders, his nose was bigger with watts, his limbs were like toads, and there were red marking on his face. Hiruzen also recovered and coordinated an elemental assault. The Hokage created four shadow clones, and together they launched the Five Elements Blast, a combined torrent of Fire, Wind, Lightning, Earth, and Water. Simultaneously, Jiraiya unleashed Sage Art: Goemon, a massive wave of boiling oil and fire.

Satoshi stood his ground as the sea of elemental destruction approached. Suddenly, a skeletal, purple ribcage erupted around him, manifesting into a half-length armored Susanoo. The purple ethereal armor took the full force of the combined ninjutsu, leaving Satoshi completely untouched within its protection.

Seeing the terrifying scale of Satoshi's power, Jiraiya and Orochimaru bit their thumbs and slammed their hands onto the ground. In a dual explosion of smoke, Gamabunta and Manda appeared on the battlefield, the giant toad and serpent towering over the ruins.

The purple, skeletal Susanoo stood tall amidst the smoking ruins. Satoshi's Mangekyō spun as he manifested Yasaka Magatama. He hurled the glowing, comma-shaped projectiles with devastating force. The massive energy discs tore through the air, forcing Gamabunta and Manda to scatter in opposite directions to avoid being obliterated by the impact.

Suddenly, the ethereal armor flickered and vanished. They froze, confused by why Satoshi would cancel his ultimate defense in the heat of battle. Seizing the opening, Manda lunged from the shadows, his massive jaws wide. But Satoshi didn't flinch. He drew his blade, the steel chirping violently as a Chidori-enhanced edge coated the metal in blue lightning.

Hiruzen Sarutobi felt a sudden, instinctive jolt of terror. He leaped backward, but Satoshi appeared directly in front of the Hokage. Before Hiruzen could raise the Adamantine Staff, Satoshi's blade flashed in a wide diagonal arc.

The strike was brutal. The lightning-edged steel carved through Hiruzen's armour, slicing deep from his torso up to his shoulder. The blade bit through the ribcage, and only Hiruzen's desperate last-second leap prevented him from being carved in half. The "Professor" collapsed, blood soaking his armour as he gasped for air.

Jiraiya, atop Gamabunta, charged toward Satoshi, while Orochimaru and Manda erupted from the ground to flank him. Satoshi's Susanoo flared back into existence instantly. With a roar of ethereal power, the Susanoo thrust its massive blade directly into Manda's open mouth, pinning the gargantuan serpent to the earth.

Satoshi's hands blurred into hand signs, and in a terrifying display of synchronization, his Susanoo mirrored them. "Fire Release: Majestic Destroyer Flame!" A sea of orange-hot fire erupted from the Susanoo's mouth, engulfing Gamabunta. The heat was so intense it forced the summoning contract to break, and the giant toad vanished in a cloud of steam. Satoshi then dismissed his Susanoo, appearing in front of Jiraiya. He slammed a Rasengan into Jiraiya's chest, but the Sage Mode-enhanced Jiraiya was far more durable than the Hokage. He tanked the blow, his feet skidding back as he immediately retaliated.

"Summoning: Toad Mouth Binding!"

Satoshi and Jiraiya suddenly found themselves encased in the pulsing, fleshy walls of a giant toad's stomach. The air was thick with the scent of acid.

"You're trapped," Jiraiya panted, blood trickling from his mouth. "The stomach acid will corrode and digest you before you can find an exit. This is the end."

Satoshi looked around at the organic walls. "You are quite durable, taking a Rasengan and remaining unshaken.

"It is," Jiraiya replied. But suddenly, Pa Toad shrieked a warning from Jiraiya's shoulder. "Jiraiya! Look out! He's not trapped—He's absorbing the natural energy from the surrounding environment at an astonishing rate!"

Satoshi's hand began to glow. A Rasengan formed, but it wasn't normal; it grew larger and denser as it "ate" the natural energy. Satoshi directly appeared in front of Jiraiya, and slammed the massive sphere on Jiraiya, simultaneously re-activating his Susanoo. The explosion of energy shattered the Toad Mouth Binding from the inside out.

The Binding collapsed, and Satoshi emerged, standing tall in his Susanoo. He began to march toward the wounded Hiruzen, who was being supported by a pale Orochimaru. Suddenly, a figure appeared in a flash of white light. Sakumo Hatake, the White Fang, stood between Satoshi and the Hokage.

"Calm down, Satoshi!" Sakumo shouted, his hand resting on his white-light chakra sabre. "It was Danzo who ordered the capture of you and Kaori! The village didn't know!"

Satoshi's voice came from the Susanoo. "Then tell me, White Fang... what punishment did the village give to Danzo for his treason?"

Sakumo's eyes fell. He remained silent, the heavy weight of Konoha's politics tying his tongue. Satoshi's Susanoo took a step forward, the ground shaking. "Exactly. Your silence is the village's answer."

Before Satoshi could strike, a thunderous roar echoed through the forest. "DAY TIGER!"

A massive, shimmering tiger of pure air pressure slammed into the side of the Susanoo. The impact was so violent that the ethereal armour cracked, and the entire construct was sent skidding hundreds of meters backward through the trees.

PS: Satoshi is using his eye technique for movement. Jiraiya isn't proficient in sage mode yet. 

 

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