A towering tree immediately engulfed Orochimaru, and Danzo swiftly chopped off his own arm before quickly creating distance.
"Danzo! How are you?"
"Have you dealt with them?"
At this moment, two Root ninjas rushed to Danzo's side and immediately helped him up.
Looking at the towering tree dozens of meters tall in front of him, he watched helplessly as the other person was swallowed up by the tree. He knew about the assimilative power of Hashirama Cells and had never seen anyone who could resist the erosion of Hashirama Cells!
However, in his eyes, the almost unsolvable Hashirama Cells were not a threat to Orochimaru at the moment.
His body cells have reached the same level as Hashirama Cells. Apart from the fact that he cannot inherit the other's Kekkei Genkai, the two can be said to be almost the same!
"What... what's going on?"
As the group gazed at the towering tree before them, the earth suddenly trembled, and what happened next left them speechless.
As soon as the tree in front of us stopped growing, its branches and leaves began to wither immediately.
A jet-black claw then pierced through the tree trunk, and a head resembling a demon emerged.
Seeing the figure that seemed to have crawled out of the abyss, many people present trembled slightly, and even the Root ninjas who had been stripped of their emotions felt a chill run down their spines.
"Protect the adults and evacuate!"
Two Root ninjas quickly led Danzo away from the village, while the remaining five or six stayed behind to snipe Orochimaru.
Having broken free from the tree trunk, and with the tree behind him completely withered, Orochimaru stretched his neck slightly and saw Danzo away into the distance. Orochimaru smiled again.
"I thought you were so enlightened! In the end, you're just a coward who's afraid of death!"
As he was reflecting, the Root ninjas who had surrounded him launched their attack.
Shuriken and ninjutsu rained down on him, but Orochimaru simply flapped his wings, deflecting all the attacks.
He used the momentum to rise higher into the sky. Having done all this, he didn't want Danzo to escape, otherwise all his previous efforts would have been in vain.
With no chance to deal with these small fry, Orochimaru quickly flew towards Danzo, releasing Rasa and Madara's summoning at the same time as he took off.
After the barrier shattered, Orochimaru had these two confront Konoha ninjas, which effectively tied down quite a few people.
Fortunately, those Genin weren't present. Otherwise, it would have been a bit much to ask them to fight Uchiha Madara right after the Chunin Ninja Exams. Now that they're no longer needed, it's time to take them offline.
"Is this direction a relocation back to their base?"
Orochimaru was following closely behind the group, quickly realized Danzo's intention: Danzo wanted to return to the Root Base and use its defenses to stop Orochimaru!
"How naive!"
At this point, it doesn't matter where the other party runs; Konoha is no obstacle for him. The only ones who can stop him are either Jiraiya or Tsunade.
Unfortunately, neither of them is in Konoha. Right now, the only one Konoha can boast is probably Might Guy. If the other party is willing to stop him for Danzo's sake, Orochimaru wouldn't mind fighting him as well.
While Orochimaru was lost in thought, Danzo and his companions had already left the village. The entrance to a basement slowly opened, and Danzo and his Danzo immediately went inside.
Just as the stone gate at the entrance was about to close, Danzo glanced back and met Orochimaru's gaze from mid-air.
Upon discovering that the other party was not rushing over in a hurry, but instead hovering in mid-air, Danzo's heart skipped a beat again, and a feeling of anxiety rose in his heart.
"Take me to the basement immediately! Send in more guard ninjas! Stop them at all costs!"
Danzo urged the Root ninjas around him. There were still nearly two hundred ninjas inside the Root Base, and even if Orochimaru was strong, he wouldn't be able to break through in a short time.
He could use this time to treat his wounds and then escape through another exit!
He played his cards well, but Orochimaru had no intention of following his script at all.
At this moment, the Root and Anbu Ninja who had chased after them from the village arrived at the entrance of the Root Base, looking warily at Orochimaru in mid-air.
"Now that everyone's here, let's hit the road together!"
Instead of attacking the crowd below, Orochimaru once again made a heart shape with his hands, and a Thunder Spear filled with violent energy was drawn out.
It just absorbed a wave of energy from the giant tree, which was grown from the Hashirama Cells and was of very high quality!
"Feel the pain, you sewer rats!"
The ninjas on the ground only saw a beam of light filled with lightning shooting towards them. One Root ninja even jumped into the air, trying to knock the beam away.
However, the longsword in his hand melted instantly upon contact with the light gun, and his body was pierced through by the light gun without any resistance. Then, his body scattered like ashes.
The ninjas who had already moved aside gasped at the sight. By the time they realized the immense power of the light gun, it had already sunk into the ground.
The next moment, a burst of scorching and violent energy exploded, instantly engulfing the surrounding ninjas. Only in their dying moments did they regret not having moved further away.
They were relatively lucky; the Root ninjas guarding the other side of the entrance were caught in the blast wave before they could even figure out what was happening.
Those at the epicenter of the explosion were instantly vaporized, while those further away suffered internal injuries from the shockwave.
"What happened?"
Danzo, who was bandaging his wounds, suddenly felt the earth shake violently. The walls and floor of the stone chamber began to crack, and stones fell from above.
"Get me out of here!"
He had just finished giving instructions to the Root ninjas beside him when an even more intense shockwave struck again, and the epicenter was even closer to him.
He and a Root ninja were both knocked senseless, but the matter was far from over.
The bombardment from the two Thunder Spear had created a crater twenty to thirty meters deep where the Root Base was located.
After firing another shot, the crater deepened and widened again, and he also felt somewhat tired.
In his perception, all the Chakra below had disappeared, and some ninja remains were still left on the edge of the crater.
"If Danzo survives this attack, I, Orochimaru, will support him becoming Hokage!"
His words were immediately contradicted when a ninja, with only half his body remaining, was pushed out from the ruins at the edge of the crater.
Then a head emerged from beneath the corpse; it was none other than Danzo.
"Ahem... Stop, Orochimaru! I can support you becoming Hokage..."
Danzo coughed up a few mouthfuls of blood, and with his only remaining hand outstretched towards Orochimaru, he signaled Orochimaru to stop attacking, as he had something to say.
But look at what kind of outrageous things they're saying; they'd say things like "just to survive."
However, Orochimaru generally adhered to the principle of shooting first and then questioning, and he mercilessly fired the Radiant Spear at Danzo.
Having no strength Danzo pinned to the ground by the spear, looking no better than the Second Hokage was impaled by Madara.
Danzo, on the verge of death, saw Orochimaru slowly approaching him. At this point, even if he wanted to die together with Orochimaru, he could no longer do so.
On his deathbed, he seemed to recall the words the Second Hokage had spoken to him before his passing. Only then did he understand Tobirama Senju's intentions, but alas... it was too late.
"Let's go, 4th and 5th Hokage!"
Before his consciousness faded, he seemed to hear these words: at this moment he became Hokage, someone acknowledged his Hokage status, and he could die with a smile on his face!