Three Hokage

"Fine. I believe you."

Naruto put away his killing intent, pulled a scroll from his ninja pouch, unfurled it, and slapped it against Gaara.

About two seconds later, Shukaku's body crumbled into fine sand and slid away, leaving Gaara unconscious inside.

"Here."

Naruto lifted Gaara with one hand and tossed him to Temari. "I reinforced the seal on him. From now on, even when he's asleep, Shukaku won't be able to come out whenever he wants."

Temari caught Gaara in a panic. When she heard what Naruto said, she couldn't quite process it. "What did you say?"

"The seal on Gaara was very crude. I'm guessing he hasn't been able to sleep properly all these years, which is why his dark circles are so bad."

Naruto explained, "This situation is already a mess. It'd be a real hassle if he and Shukaku started causing trouble again, so I added another layer to the seal. From now on, unless someone removes it, Shukaku won't be able to affect him, and Gaara can sleep peacefully. The trade-off is that it'll be harder for Gaara to use the Tailed Beast's power."

Wasn't that even better?!

Temari was secretly delighted, but struggled to control her expression. No, she couldn't smile now!

"Th-thank you very much!"

Temari bowed to Naruto while holding Gaara. Then she and Kankuro became Naruto's "prisoners."

Just after he finished sealing and tying up the three siblings, Sasuke and Sakura came over from the stands.

"Fast work."

Sasuke looked at Gaara. "His situation is a lot like yours, right? Is it safe to leave him like this?"

"If a Jinchuriki dies, the Tailed Beast dies with them, then revives somewhere in the world. That could easily cause trouble, and Sunagakure might make the worst possible choice after losing its Tailed Beast. It's safer to keep him under control with a sealing jutsu."

Naruto explained, "I think I just saw Kakashi-sensei telling you two something. Is there a mission?"

"We've already finished it."

Sakura pointed at Gaara. "Kakashi-sensei told Sasuke and me to work with you and suppress him."

"Ha!"

Naruto laughed and handed them two kunai. "I'll leave the three of them to you. I'm going to check on Grandpa Third. If you run into a situation you can't handle, pour chakra into the kunai and I'll come help right away."

"Be careful."

Sasuke took the kunai. "Sakura and I will come find you later."

Naruto nodded. "I'll try to finish things before you get there."

With that, he used the Flying Thunder God and disappeared.

A little earlier, just as Gaara began to go berserk.

The Fourth Kazekage suddenly said, "Begin."

At his words, the two Sunagakure shinobi standing behind him rushed toward the Third Hokage and slammed their smoke bombs onto the ground. Thick smoke immediately enveloped the main seats in the stands.

At the same time, several giant snakes were summoned near the Konoha Gate and began tearing through the village, starting at the gate.

Konoha's sentries arrived at once, but their attacks had little effect against the enormous summoned beasts.

Then a voice rang out from the sky. "Summoning: Food Cart Destroyer Technique!"

A toad even larger than the giant snakes dropped from above and landed on one with a heavy thud, crushing it to death on the spot.

Jiraiya appeared atop the giant toad, his expression grave. "I'll handle things here. Prioritize evacuating the other civilians."

The sentries replied, "Yes, Lord Jiraiya!"

Jiraiya watched the smoke rising in the distance and murmured, "Old man, don't you dare die on me."

At the Chunin Selection Exams arena, the smoke in the stands was about to clear. The Fourth Kazekage leaped out of it, holding the Third Hokage hostage, and landed on the roof above the stands. Four strange-looking figures took positions at the roof's corners and shouted together, "Ninja Art: Four Violet Flames Formation!"

A purple, cube-shaped barrier covered the entire roof. Immediately afterward, the four of them cast the technique again, raising a second Four Violet Flames Formation to protect themselves.

"I thought the Fourth Kazekage had gone mad. So it was you all along..."

The Third Hokage didn't look at all like a hostage. His tone was utterly calm. "Orochimaru."

"Since you could tell it was me, why didn't you do anything?"

Orochimaru tore off the false face he'd used as a disguise and casually tossed away the Fourth Kazekage's hat. "Teacher Sarutobi."

"In the end, you still chose to attack the village."

The Third Hokage—Hiruzen Sarutobi—instantly broke free from Orochimaru's grasp. He removed his own hat and shrugged off his robe, revealing a Combat Suit suited for movement. "I shouldn't have let you go back then."

"It's too late to say that now."

Orochimaru gave a sinister smile. "Still, I'm happy to have one last fight with you."

"I, on the other hand, am very sad."

Hiruzen's face was full of sorrow. "You betrayed the village. Tsunade and Jiraiya have been away for years and rarely come back. You three were once the disciples I was most proud of. In the end, not one of you became what I'd hoped. As your teacher, I failed."

"But as Hokage, you succeeded."

Orochimaru stopped holding back his presence. "Teacher Sarutobi—this is the last time I'll call you that. Try to stop me, or I'll destroy the village you love most!"

That was all there was to say. The battle began.

Hiruzen attacked first, throwing a Shuriken as his hands formed seals almost simultaneously. "Shuriken Shadow Clone Technique!"

In the blink of an eye, one Shuriken became dozens, nearly covering Orochimaru.

Orochimaru didn't dodge. He pressed his hands together. "Summoning Technique: Impure World Reincarnation!"

Three coffins slowly rose from the tiles in front of him, like three shields, blocking every Shuriken.

"That jutsu!"

Hiruzen's eyes widened in shock. "Orochimaru, you bastard! How could you desecrate the dead like this?!"

"I've brought Hokage from several generations together after all this time. You should be even happier."

Orochimaru smiled and opened the coffins, but only two opened. "One of them failed...? Doesn't matter. Two are enough."

Two figures with cracked skin stiffly stepped out of the coffins. From Hiruzen's position, the man on the left had black hair, while the one on the right had silver-gray hair. Both wore Konoha Forehead Protectors.

"This feeling... Impure World Reincarnation?"

The silver-gray-haired man turned to Orochimaru. "To summon my brother and me at the same time... You're an extraordinary young man."

"The person over there... is little Hiruzen."

The black-haired man looked at Hiruzen. "You've grown so old. I almost didn't recognize you."

"Monkey."

The silver-gray-haired man suddenly addressed Hiruzen. "Attack."

Hiruzen trusted the silver-gray-haired man. He was Hiruzen's teacher, and Konoha's Second Hokage—Tobirama Senju!

Hiruzen Sarutobi: "Earth Release: Earth Flow River!"

The tiles beneath his feet turned to mud and surged toward Orochimaru.

"Tch!"

Orochimaru had just pulled out two kunai with talismans attached. Before he could use them, the mud was about to sweep him away, so he had no choice but to give up for the moment and form Hand Seals. "Earth Release: Earth Style Wall!"

As the mud surged toward Orochimaru, it suddenly hardened and rose, becoming an earthen wall more than ten meters high and several meters thick. It blocked all the oncoming mud.

Taking advantage of the moment, Orochimaru buried the two talismans, kunai and all, inside the bodies he'd summoned, completely erasing their free will.

This meant the two wouldn't be able to use the full extent of their abilities from when they were alive, but compared with the risk of leaving their consciousness intact, Orochimaru could accept that small price.

"You even prepared the talismans. Looks like you've completely mastered Impure World Reincarnation."

Tobirama spoke to Orochimaru, then looked toward Hiruzen and muttered, "Monkey, don't you dare die by my hand..."

"Orochimaru!"

Hiruzen leaped over the earthen wall. Somehow, he now had a staff in his hands, which he swung down at Orochimaru with the force of a sweeping army...