Whether there will truly be a New Konoha was still up for debate. What could be confirmed now was that the "Old Konoha" really seemed to be in trouble.
If they were only talking about victory or defeat, then the victor of the battle taking place far from Konoha was naturally the Third Hokage. However, this battle before them was not about victory or defeat, but life and death, so the situation was entirely different... After fighting for so long, the Third Hokage was already exhausted—he could even be said to be struggling to keep up physically.
Facing Orochimaru, who could not be killed no matter how he was attacked and who had fully activated and utilized First Hokage Cells, the Third Hokage's momentum and combat power were continuously weakening. In the end, he decided to use the Secret Sealing Technique of the Uzumaki Clan to take the monster Orochimaru down in one move—he decided to use the Reaper Death Seal.
The Third Hokage could keep fighting, but there was no point in continuing to entangle himself. He had to make up his mind to solve the problem while he still had enough strength to do so... Without a doubt, this was an extremely correct decision.
The Third Hokage was preparing to make it a "one-for-one" exchange. This would make both him personally and Konoha as a whole pay a very heavy price. However...
That was how life was. When the end came, he would only feel full of regret, but he did not feel that there was anything worth regretting at this very moment.
If he left things alone, Orochimaru would become more and more monstrous. In the end, he would certainly bring about a disaster that swept across the entire shinobi world... That was what the Third Hokage