The Shinigami

His aura was overbearing, savage and ferocious.

He looked like a demon from the depths of hell had burst into the world. His eyes were blood-red, his short hair a golden blaze of bloodflame. Six whisker-like marks spread across his cheeks, forming six crimson fangs.

Naruto moved like drifting fire. He landed with a stomp that shook the eaves, then raised his absurdly oversized cleaver in an equally absurd pose and brought it down, cleaving through half the moon's shadow.

BOOM!

His mighty Chakra surged. The blade struck the barrier and didn't vanish like the energy swords had.

Instead, it stopped dead against something solid.

The translucent barrier, previously as still as a pond, roiled with purple flames that sought to engulf Naruto.

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Naruto's bloodflame burned just as fiercely, meeting the purple fire head-on.

The Sound Four inside the formation jolted violently. Their faces quickly flushed red as blood seeped from their eyes, ears, noses, and mouths.

They stared at Naruto in horror. He looked less than human, yet showed no sign of tiring. He drew back his blade and raised it again.

Naruto saw nothing but the thought in his mind: Slash. Slash hard. Slash with all my might.

He no longer looked at the barrier. Instead, he stared into the formation, gazing through it at the sky beyond, as though nothing stood in his way.

An invisible presence swelled in his chest, growing stronger and fiercer. It stirred his blood, while Chakra billowed his coat and sent dust swirling through the air.

The Hell Demon Blade swung again.

"Twenty thousand units of Chakra! Break already!"

Naruto roared, "YEAH!!"

Bloodflame and purple fire surged as the eaves shattered and burned.

Like a muffled thunderclap, the blow shook the entire arena. The dignitaries and spectators who had fallen asleep under the Genjutsu all jolted awake.

Might Guy, who had smashed through a wall with a Sound Ninja's head in each hand, lifted his chin. "I'll finish off the remaining forty enemies in fifteen minutes. If I can't, I'll crawl around Konoha on my hands for eight hundred laps!"

Shikamaru, wearing his usual world-weary expression, knocked out the trembling Gaara. "Fine. This job's still easier than Naruto's."

A few more booms rang out, growing closer together, their echoes reverberating through the arena's circular structure without end.

At last, a sharp crack.

Cracks like tree roots raced across the purple-flamed barrier, spreading from the point in front of Naruto where his blade had struck.

The Sound Four spat blood and collapsed to their knees, utterly drained. The Four Violet Flames Formation vanished completely, exposing the entire Wood Style: Deep Forest Emergence.

"Chakra? Chakra? How can he have so much Chakra?!"

They couldn't understand it.

"A Nine-Tails Jinchuriki..." The First was startled, then thought of his wife, Mito Uzumaki.

Orochimaru glared with venomous resentment.

He'd made his move twice, and both times Naruto had interfered. At first, he'd dismissed him as a troublesome brat. Now, Naruto had become a genuine thorn in his side, making him sick with irritation.

Naruto knew better than to linger. When he saw the two pairs of dark eyes belonging to the Demon Snake Spirit and the First and Second, he turned and ran without hesitation, sprinting up a vertical wall.

"Old man Third! Keep up!"

He knew his own strength. He'd broken the formation only by overwhelming it with his vast Chakra reserves.

One or two blows from those monsters might really send him to his grave.

But Hiruzen Sarutobi didn't follow.

He'd been caught in the First's Genjutsu: Bringer-of-Darkness Technique.

His vision had been completely taken from him. Everything before his eyes was pitch-black.

"Naruto, I'm afraid I can't keep up. I made you go to all that trouble for nothing."

More than anything, he couldn't ignore Orochimaru's shameless threat: if Hiruzen dared to leave, Orochimaru would lead the First and Second in a slaughter throughout the village.

He knew his former student was capable of it.

He loved Konoha. He couldn't bear to see the villagers' blood run through the streets. And he would never let the Second Hokage, his teacher, lose his good name and have his reputation ruined after death.

"Wherever Konoha's leaves dance, the Fire will burn. The new leaves will kindle new flames. If my old life ends in tragedy, then that is what I must do."

All three Hiruzen Sarutobis had unfocused eyes. Enduring attacks from an unseen source, they struggled to form Hand Seals. "Snake, Boar, Ram..."

Enma's eyes, set in the Adamantine Staff, were round as beads. "Sarutobi! The formation's broken. You can wait for help!"

"There's no time, and no one will come to save me." Hiruzen smiled and brought his hands together. "Forbidden Jutsu! Reaper Death Seal!"

A massive, pale ghost appeared behind him.

Its arms were spread wide. It had a white-painted face, two horns jutting from its wild hair, and fangs clamped around a dagger.

The soul hanging from its belly was Hiruzen as a young man.

Only the one who performed the jutsu could see the Shinigami. The price was their life.

Still unable to see his enemies, Hiruzen's three bodies darted about wildly, dodging the incoming ninjutsu by instinct.

He took hit after hit, pretending to form Hand Seals as he waited for an opening to draw his opponent close.

"Five meters away, thirty degrees northwest, old man!"

Hiruzen heard the voice and leaped blindly without hesitation. His hands met something solid.

He grabbed the gaps in the First's armor. Behind him, the Shinigami's narrow eyes snapped open. Its arm, covered in black Cursed Seal markings, plunged into Hiruzen's stomach.

A clawed, ghostly hand emerged from his belly, pierced the First's armor and flesh, and seized his soul.

The First was controlled. The Genjutsu vanished, and light returned. As his soul was pulled free, his body crumbled like a clay statue.

Naruto, wreathed in bloodflame, had somehow returned. He stood behind Hiruzen, overlapping with the Shinigami.

"Not bad, old man. Two more to go—stay sharp!"

"I am Hiruzen Sarutobi, the Third Hokage!" Hiruzen looked as though he'd been rejuvenated. "Brat, your grandpa's got plenty of spirit!"

Orochimaru ground his teeth. "Uzumaki Naruto."

Naruto stood behind Hiruzen. "What is it? Come over here if you've got something to say."

Orochimaru had never seen such a strange jutsu. The First had been killed in an instant, so he didn't dare rush in.

But Hiruzen gave him no time to hesitate. His three bodies used the Adamantine Staffs to vault forward, pouncing on Orochimaru and the Second.

The tide of battle turned in an instant.

"You had a move that strong and didn't use it sooner?" Naruto said, then suddenly felt a chill deep in his heart. "Could it shorten your life?"

He stood atop a towering green vine and watched from a distance, waiting for the right moment to slash out sword energy or throw a Rasengan in support of Hiruzen. His well-timed attacks repeatedly hit their mark.

Orochimaru's Kusanagi Sword was razor-sharp and dangerous. It could even wound Enma, whose body was said to be indestructible, and it could extend in an instant. Several times, it nearly skewered Naruto's vital points. Fortunately, he was quick on his feet.

Hiruzen moved even faster, just as his name suggested.

After a Rasengan forced him back, the Second made a careless move and was caught by Hiruzen. He smiled with relief and said, "Thank you."

Those words carried a great deal. He knew Hiruzen could have escaped once the formation was broken, but he hadn't. The reason needed no explanation.

He was proud to have a student like that. But what about his other students? Where had they gone? Had they died of old age?

He didn't know, and didn't ask. The Shinigami pulled out his soul, and his body crumbled.

After dispelling the two Shadow Clones with spiral seals on their chests, Hiruzen panted heavily and smiled at Orochimaru. "Looks like you won't be able to kill me today."

Orochimaru smiled coldly. "I've barely used any Chakra. You're already at the end of your rope."

"Is that so?" Hiruzen planted the Adamantine Staff on the ground. "Why don't you come over and find out?"

His face was fierce, his spirit undaunted. There wasn't a trace of fear in him.

Orochimaru had never been one to favor a head-on fight. Otherwise, he wouldn't have invaded with two Hokage at his side. If Hiruzen had been ten years younger, he wouldn't have come at all.

Just then, the summoned serpent's anguished cries came from within the village. The Twin-Blade Toad leaped into the air and sliced off its head, which was as large as several houses. Blood sprayed like rain.

Jiraiya would be free to act soon.

Orochimaru was unwilling to give up, but there was nothing else he could do. "I'll be back."

Hiruzen hurled the Adamantine Staff with all his strength. "You think you can come and go as you please? Do you still think Konoha is your home?!"

The staff sprouted a monkey's arm.

Orochimaru cast one last venomous look at Naruto. Then his body abruptly broke apart into countless little snakes, which slithered into cracks in the buildings and scattered in every direction.

Naruto jumped down from the tree and, one by one, cut off the heads of the Sound Four as they lay on the brink of death.