On Konoha's outskirts, Ino-Shika-Cho had successfully killed the three giant snakes. As for the Sunagakure Ninja and Otogakure Ninja trailing behind them, they too were slaughtered on the spot under the support of an ever-increasing number of Konoha Anbu!
"Still, I never expected Sunagakure to join forces with Otogakure and betray Konoha, even going so far as to ambush us." After reverting from the Multi-Size Technique, Akimichi Choza had slimmed down by several sizes. He now looked like a handsome middle-aged man!
"Shikaku, you knew about this long ago, didn't you?" Yamanaka Inoichi wiped the blood from his face and looked seriously at Nara Shikaku.
"Yeah, we received word a few months ago. But I didn't expect them to deploy so many ninja either. Fortunately, we were well prepared!"
Looking at the corpses strewn across the ground, Nara Shikaku finally let out a sigh of relief.
Suddenly, a black shadow flashed past from the side.
Nara Shikaku narrowed his eyes, then said calmly, "Inoichi, Choza, go check the other areas first."
"Yeah, got it."
Yamanaka Inoichi and Akimichi Choza exchanged a glance before quickly leaving.
Then, Nara Shikaku ran in the direction the black shadow had gone.
Before long, he spotted a ninja dressed in Sunagakure attire.
"Houka?" Nara Shikaku was not entirely sure.
Houka tore off the artificial skin from his face, revealing his true appearance.
"If you're here, then things inside should be mostly over too, right?" Nara Shikaku asked. "There weren't any casualties, were there?"
Houka shook his head. "Orochimaru used Impure World Reincarnation on the First and Second Hokage. To prevent the situation from worsening, the Third Hokage used the Dead Demon Consuming Seal to seal the two of them, as well as Orochimaru's soul."
"The Dead Demon Consuming Seal?" A sense of foreboding welled up