Orochimaru looked down and noticed that his serpent-shaped body had actually been left outside of Rengoku's body.
A bit incredulous, he raised his hand and stared at it. An intense concentration of senjutsu chakra still lingered there.
He couldn't help but stick out his tongue and give a slow, satisfied lick, "If I'd known earlier, I would have used your body sooner."
Rengoku chuckled softly. If he had used him earlier, he wouldn't have even known how to use senjutsu yet.
At that moment, the Edo Tensei ritual at the side had already completed.
With his blond hair and Hokage robes, the Fourth Hokage, Namikaze Minato, appeared before them.
This Minato did not possess any memories from Naruto's side.
His first words upon awakening were filled with awe, "Never thought that sealing technique would actually be undone."
"Orochimaru-sama, how did you do it?"
Orochimaru was clearly in a good mood, a smug smile spreading across his face as he looked at Minato.
"Minato, you'll have to wait a bit. I don't feel like explaining everything."
Hearing that, Minato fell silent. He looked around to his left and right, and soon noticed Uchiha Rengoku standing nearby.
'For an Uchiha to stand so casually beside Orochimaru… who exactly is he?'
Just then, the shadows on the ground rippled as Kushina emerged from them, having used Shadow Slip to arrive.
Seeing her appear, Minato was utterly stunned.
"Kushina, how are you?"
"Shut up!"
Kushina glared at this clueless, softhearted version of Minato, the very same man who had, in his self-righteousness, caused Naruto so much suffering.
Without another word, she shoved a glowing orb straight into Minato's chest.
Minato's expression flickered, and his memories began to merge and settle.
"Kushina!"
Overcome with emotion, Minato grabbed her hands. Rengoku hadn't broken his promise, he had truly been rescued from the Shinigami.
The thought that he could now spend real time with his wife and son again made his heart overflow uncontrollably.
Kushina, embarrassed, quickly pulled her hand away, "What are you doing? Orochimaru-sama and Rengoku are right here."
Inside Naruto's mindscape, she could hold him all she wanted, but this was the real world.
Rengoku crossed his arms, amused, settling in to watch the scene like a spectator.
Minato finally regained his composure, though he still gave Kushina a quick, gentle hug before turning toward Orochimaru and Rengoku to express his gratitude.
"Orochimaru-sama, Rengoku, thank you."
Rengoku didn't seem particularly concerned with the thanks. Instead, he said calmly, "Try out your Golden Body Mode."
"Golden Body Mode?", Minato instantly realized, he meant Kurama's mode.
In the next instant, his body erupted in radiant golden light, the glow outlining him in stark contrast against the black, four-symbol sealing marks, making him look even more striking.
Rengoku shot Orochimaru a subtle look.
Orochimaru stepped forward and placed his hand on Minato's shoulder. Instantly, Minato felt an immense flood of senjutsu chakra surge into him.
"Enter Sage Mode."
"Yes!", Minato obeyed immediately.
The lines of Sage markings appeared around his eyes, and as his horizontal Sage pupils overlapped with the vertical slit pupils of the Nine-Tails Mode, they fused into a cross-shaped eye pattern.
Sage Mode + Kurama Mode = Sage Fox Mode appeared ahead of its time.
Feeling the tremendous power coursing through his body, Minato couldn't hide his excitement.
"Rengoku, I feel… I feel incredibly strong!"
Rengoku laughed heartily, then spun his Sharingan and drew Minato into a genjutsu.
Within it, Minato saw Naruto's training, how he had mastered the Rasenshuriken, and all the various "ball-making" scenes from the battlefield.
"Use these as reference. In your current state, you can consider using more powerful jutsu."
"For strengthening the Rasengan, are you going for form transformation, or nature transformation?"
"For now, stay in your Edo Tensei body and work on perfecting your Sage Fox Mode and any jutsu that require refinement."
"You'll be Konoha's greatest trump card."
The biggest advantage of the Edo Tensei body was that no matter how much you pushed it, it would neither tire nor die.
So using it to accelerate his senjutsu training and experiment with high-risk ninjutsu was absolutely ideal.
Even if the body blew up, it didn't matter.
Orochimaru withdrew his hand and frowned slightly. This body's efficiency at absorbing natural energy and converting it into senjutsu chakra was not very high.
But the greatest advantage of Rengoku's clone body was that senjutsu chakra flowed only one way, in, not out.
Once absorbed and mixed, it could be stored within the body perfectly, without any loss or leakage.
It was worth remembering that when Orochimaru had once gone to Ryuchi Cave to study Sage Techniques, he'd encountered two key problems.
The first problem, he had solved using the Cursed Seal. The second, however, he'd never been able to overcome.
He could absorb natural energy and create senjutsu chakra, but his body simply couldn't contain it.
To be precise, most people in the ninja world couldn't contain senjutsu chakra.
Even Naruto's Sage Chakra could only sustain him for a few minutes at most.
Later, in his Sage Fox Mode, it was Kurama who continuously generated senjutsu chakra for him.
As for Jiraiya, he had needed the two elder toads to help him absorb natural energy and convert it into senjutsu chakra.
But Rengoku's clone body was different.
It was like the perfect vessel, whatever senjutsu chakra went in, stayed in, without any loss.
And its storage capacity was incredibly high. For battle, that made it extremely powerful.
But for a researcher like Orochimaru, it held potential for many uses far beyond combat.
———
Meanwhile, as Hiruzen regrouped his forces, related information began spreading rapidly.
The extent of Hiruzen's losses needed no explanation. But even more devastating was that Hiruko and his three subordinates, along with the Sand's One-Tail Shukaku, had completely thrown their ranks into chaos.
If the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki hadn't appeared, Hiruzen's losses would've been even worse.
But here was the real problem, the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki had already joined the fight, yet he wasn't even in Konoha anymore. He'd been taken away by Hiruzen's men.
Now, Konoha was weaker than ever before.
The Uchiha clan of Konoha released a formal declaration, labeling Hiruzen and his followers as traitors, for stealing Konoha's Nine-Tails Jinchuriki.
Immediately after, the Akatsuki issued their own statement, announcing that traitors had appeared within the organization.
Those traitors had secretly conspired with Hiruzen, trading the original Konoha Jinchuriki candidate for a member of the Sarutobi clan.
Akatsuki declared they would now hunt down those traitors, and hold Hiruzen accountable.
Many across the ninja world couldn't make sense of either declaration.
Normally, things like this were done in secret. Even acts of revenge were carried out quietly. Openly publishing statements like these was unheard of.
Because once you announced something, your enemy would be on guard, and by admitting that the Uchiha had lost their Nine-Tails Jinchuriki, they were practically announcing their current weakness to everyone.
The balance of power across the ninja world quickly grew tense.
Especially in Kumogakure, who had already caught wind of the news ahead of time.
When word of Hiruzen's ambush reached them, they immediately began mobilizing troops.
Meanwhile, Iwagakure, after confirming that the Nine-Tails was no longer in Konoha, also began to stir restlessly.
As for Sunagakure, their people were grinning from ear to ear. They hadn't expected Hiruko to join the fight, and with Shukaku's help, they had completely forced Hiruzen's hand.
Hiruzen hadn't shown the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki at first, clearly holding it back for some other plan.
But when his forces couldn't handle fighting on two fronts, he'd been forced to release it in the end.
Now, the Sand were acting with high enthusiasm, mobilizing troops on a large scale, steadily concentrating their power along the borders.
The entire ninja world stood on the brink of a storm.
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