I'd Even Pay for a Ticket!

Within the Four Violet Flames Formation, thick vines and towering trees tangled like dragons and serpents. Three of the four carved stone faces on Kage Rock had converged here.

Orochimaru wore a sinister smile, a gray-scaled serpent in his mouth. A Kusanagi Sword protruded from the serpent's jaws.

After the First Hokage kicked Hiruzen Sarutobi away and bound him with Wood Release, the blade in the serpent's mouth suddenly stretched out and shot toward him.

The Adamantine Staff reverted to the Armored Ape Demon of its own accord. Its bloodied hand caught the Kusanagi Sword, and it glanced back in shock. "Sarutobi, what's gotten into you? This isn't like you!"

Hiruzen Sarutobi looked utterly exhausted.

Back when Orochimaru had conducted his wicked experiments, he hadn't killed him. He'd let him go.

Now, with their lives on the line, he still found himself recalling what Orochimaru had been like as a boy in the middle of the fight.

Was this Genjutsu?

Or was he simply getting old, with memories weighing on his mind?

"Hey! Is that all you've got, old man?!"

A familiar voice suddenly rang in his ears from outside the barrier.

Naruto cupped his hands around his mouth and shouted in disappointment, "So much for the God of Shinobi and the strongest Hokage in history! You're getting knocked around by three things that are neither human nor ghost! Were you just bragging all those years?"

The First and Second exchanged a glance.

Hiruzen Sarutobi's old face flushed. He spun like a top, shredding the tree vines.

"Naruto, what are you doing here? This isn't a battlefield you can get involved in. Leave, quickly."

Naruto pointed at the Four Violet Flames Formation. "I'm perfectly safe. Worry about yourself."

The three ANBU wearing cat masks nodded too. "Lord Hokage, don't worry. We've been watching the whole time."

Hiruzen Sarutobi was at a loss for words.

Roar!

The Second Tobirama's Water Dragon Bullet roared toward them.

Enma transformed into sixteen Adamantine Staffs, crisscrossing to form a shield that blocked the Water Dragon Bullet. The chakra-laden water splashed across the vines of the Wood Style: Deep Forest Emergence, making the branches and leaves grow even more luxuriantly.

The cat-masked ANBU said, "As expected of the Second. He can use such powerful Water Style Jutsu even without a source of water! It's simply impossi—"

Thump!

"Quit praising the enemy, damn it!" Naruto promptly kicked him off the roof tiles.

The other two ANBU fell silent at once.

Naruto yelled at the top of his lungs, "Come on! Fight to the death! Kill those three creepy bastards!"

Hiruzen Sarutobi felt that Naruto's cheering somehow held a mysterious power. Heat coursed through his body, and he transformed Enma again.

A moment ago, his age had made the Adamantine Staff feel heavy. Now, its heft made it feel solid and powerful in his grip.

Maybe it wasn't the body that had grown old, but the mindset?

He sprang into action, his short, wiry frame darting nimbly through the Wood Style: Deep Forest Emergence like a monkey. The two long ribbons behind his helmet streamed straight out behind him.

Dense vines reached out to entangle and block him, but none could catch him. He leaped into the air and looked down at the First, the Second, and Orochimaru.

From a great distance, Hiruzen Sarutobi swung down with all his might. The Adamantine Staff in his hands rapidly thickened and grew, slamming down like a massive pillar.

The First and the Second quickly formed Hand Seals.

"Earth Style: Mud Wall!"

"Wood Release: Hōbi Technique!"

A wall of earth rose below, and a wooden shield bearing a fanged demon face appeared above. The two layers collided with the Adamantine Staff with a dull boom, blasting a tangible wave of air through the sky.

Hiruzen Sarutobi's withered body unleashed strength that belied his appearance. The Adamantine Staff hammered down again and again, scattering splinters from the wooden demon face and crumbling the earthen wall.

"Orochimaru, it looks like you need to go back to the Ninja Academy and start over. The First and Second summoned by your Impure World Reincarnation Jutsu don't even have half the strength they had in life."

Beneath layers of defensive Ninjutsu, Orochimaru's head snaked out. He snarled, "Draining your Chakra is enough."

Hiruzen Sarutobi knew he was telling the truth. Once his Chakra ran out...

"Awesome! Awesome! Keep it up, old man!"

Naruto's eyes shone as he applauded like a pounding drum. "A fight this amazing? I'd even pay for a ticket!"

Hiruzen Sarutobi's pupils contracted to pinpricks. "You think you can drain my Chakra?! Ninjutsu: Earth Dragon Fire Stream!"

Mud gathered into a dragon's head, which opened its mouth and spewed out a torrent of earth. Flames then surged after it, burning the mud into a pillar of fiery clay like molten rock.

His original combination of two elemental releases burned through the dense branches of the Wood Style: Deep Forest Emergence and crashed against the Second's circular Water Formation Wall. It plunged into the water at once, sending up clouds of scorching steam.

The Adamantine Staff pierced through the steam and struck straight at Orochimaru's face.

Orochimaru's head bent backward, his neck hanging down against his chest. He raised the Kusanagi Sword to block the blow. "Sensei, don't underestimate me. I'm your proudest student, after all."

Just then, an eye opened at the tip of the Adamantine Staff. A fur-covered, armored ape's arm burst out of the staff and clamped around Orochimaru's throat.

The Adamantine Staff's end shortened, pulling Hiruzen Sarutobi down from the air and into the middle of the three of them. They traded punches and kicks, fighting at close quarters with Taijutsu.

He was certain to lose if he kept up the Ninjutsu battle. To win, he had no choice but to throw everything he had into killing Orochimaru.

With the Wood Style: Deep Forest Emergence blocking his view, Naruto kept running to get a better angle while testing the strength of the Four Violet Flames Formation.

A roof tile he threw touched the thin barrier and turned to ash in an instant, burned by the violet flames. Even his Rasengan couldn't break through; it only stirred ripples across the surface.

The barrier's casters were hiding inside it, protecting themselves with another barrier within the formation.

At first glance, it seemed flawless, but after a little thought, Naruto's brain gave him the answer.

The formation was maintained by four people. People had limits to their Chakra; they couldn't keep it up as long as they wanted.

If it held firm against one attack, then another, that meant it was strong. But wouldn't it still consume Chakra every time it took a hit?

As long as he kept attacking, he'd break through eventually.

Naruto took a deep breath. After clashing with Rock Lee while he had the Five Gates open, he'd pushed himself to the brink and entered the simulated rotation state. Now he could extend his Chakra outside his body, almost like telekinesis.

Pure blue Chakra streamed from his pores and swiftly gathered around his right hand, forming an energy sword.

Two ANBU crouched on the roof like frogs, facing the barrier, but their eyes beneath their masks peered sideways at Naruto.

The next moment, something that made their blood run cold happened. Naruto suddenly turned and stared through the holes in their masks, his eyes glinting with icy menace.

"Split up and run!"

The two ANBU used the Clone Technique. Three darted left and three right, leaping off the roof without hesitation.

But the sword had already been thrown the instant they turned around.

The blue blade flashed brightly. As it shot forward, it split in two, pierced their necks, then circled back, trailing blood, and landed in Naruto's hand, reuniting into one sword.

Naruto didn't know the ANBU at all, and he couldn't tell which were real and which were clones. But he'd killed them, so they had to be the fake ones.

He couldn't be bothered with right and wrong, twists and turns, or schemes. Those ANBU were like corpse-watching ghosts, making it impossible for him to think straight. He wouldn't be satisfied until he cut them down.

He raised his sword again and walked up to the barrier of the Four Violet Flames Formation. Then he swung with all his might.

The blade couldn't cut into the light curtain. Even its tip couldn't penetrate it at all; it vanished on contact, like snow melting in water.

But Naruto clearly felt an energy clashing with and canceling out his Chakra. He had to be on the right track.

The blue sword reformed, and he kept hacking at the barrier. Hell Sword Qi crisscrossed through the air.

The Sound Four, stationed to the north, south, east, and west inside the formation, all turned to look at Naruto. Shock and fury twisted their faces as they took out pill after pill and stuffed them into their mouths.

As he fought, Hiruzen Sarutobi couldn't help tearing up. He'd never imagined that, at the end of his life, the one trying to kill him would be the disciple he cherished, while the one trying to save him would be an orphan he'd barely helped.

He was the Third Hokage, the pillar of the entire village. He wouldn't let Orochimaru destroy his home—a home where someone as dear to him as Naruto lived.

"Naruto! Your Third Grandpa's will won't let you down! Wherever the leaves dance, the fire burns on!"

"Quit bragging, old geezer. Get up off the ground before you start talking."