The Third Coffin

A member of the Second Hokage's elite guard unit.

Possessing a strong Will of Fire, he dedicated his life to Konoha and was one of the few Uchiha clansmen to earn the trust of the Second Hokage.

Kagami Uchiha!

Kagami rarely appeared in the history of the Hokage, so Feng Yao did not recognize him at first.

The two Hokage and Kagami Uchiha had not yet had their consciousnesses completely stripped away. They looked around, and when the Second Hokage saw Danzo's corpse, his pupils constricted involuntarily.

"Has Danzo been killed? To think that someone would summon us using only such a young man. People these days are truly remarkable. So, is our opponent this fine-looking lad?"

"In that case, we have no choice but to battle him. Which clan of Konoha do you belong to?"

"Lord First Hokage, Lord Second Hokage, I never expected to meet you both under such circumstances. It seems Konoha is in a dire state."

Seeing the corpses on the ground and the attacking Sunagakure forces, the three of them could not help but feel a sense of grief. As the deceased, they were being summoned back to the world of the living to help outsiders destroy their own village.

"It's actually the past Hokage and Kagami Uchiha."

Rasa, standing to the side, was naturally horrified to see these figures, especially the two Hokage—the legendary God of Shinobi, Hashirama, and the master of ninjutsu, Tobirama.

Orochimaru was very satisfied with the expressions of shock on the faces of Rasa and the others.

However, Feng Yao remained visibly calm, as he had already known who was inside. This calm gaze made Orochimaru feel insulted.

"Hmph, let me begin. Enjoy yourself, Yao-kun."

With that, he drove three kunai bound with paper charms into the back of their heads.

The dust on the three men began to vanish, making them appear more like living people, and their consciousnesses were erased. Now, the three were merely tools who knew only how to kill.

"No... Lord Orochimaru... cough, cough."

Tayuya, standing nearby, saw this scene and tried to step forward to stop him, but she collapsed to the ground coughing up blood after only two steps.

Seeing this, Feng Yao wanted to speak up to stop her, but he knew that if Orochimaru heard him, he would likely use her as a hostage to threaten him. Thus, he focused his attention on dealing with the figures before him.

The First Hokage pressed his palms together, not even forming hand seals.

"Haa—"

"Wood Style: Deep Forest Emergence!"

Using chakra as the source of life, the ninjutsu caused multiple trees to grow rapidly from the ground. It was as if the trees had been uprooted; in an instant, a forest was created, and under Hashirama's guidance, the trees surged toward Feng Yao to consume him.

Feng Yao sighed inwardly: As expected, the First Hokage's Wood Style is the strongest. What I use is probably not even half as powerful as his.

He bit his finger and summoned the Rashomon to defend himself.

"Summoning: Triple Rashomon!"

Three gates, each hundreds of meters high, rose from the ground and collided violently with the Wood Style. The first gate showed signs of collapsing instantly, and it was only by the second gate that the attack was barely held back. At this moment, Kagami Uchiha made his move; as a member of the Uchiha clan, he was naturally skilled in Fire Style.

Kagami formed hand seals rapidly, took a deep breath, his chest swelling slightly, and then exhaled.

"Fire Style: Dragon Flame Song Jutsu!"

Four fire dragons erupted from Kagami's mouth, attacking from above, below, left, and right. Their power and temperature were not to be underestimated, and combined with the Wood Style, their lethality increased further. The remaining two gates collapsed in succession, and the billowing smoke and dust were so thick that the ninjas downwind could not open their eyes, coughing incessantly.

However, Feng Yao was nowhere to be seen. Just as Orochimaru frowned and began to search for him, Feng Yao used Intangibility to emerge from the ground behind him. He had used the Rashomon specifically to block Orochimaru's line of sight.

"Lord Orochimaru! Watch out behind you!"

Kimimaro was the first to notice, pulling out his own spinal bone to attack, but Feng Yao did not want to give him the chance. He reached out and grabbed Orochimaru's shoulder.

Whoosh!

A Kamui vortex appeared in his right eye. His right-eye Kamui favored defensive movement and close-range attacks, capable of sucking himself and external objects into another dimension. Its passive ability was the Intangibility that allowed him to shift his body into that dimension to dodge all damage.

The surrounding scenery and Orochimaru's body began to distort as Feng Yao attempted to suck Orochimaru into the Kamui dimension.

"Damn it, is this a space-time ninjutsu? Attack him, quickly!"

At this point, Orochimaru's body was already within the suction range of the technique and could not escape, but Kimimaro was still dozens of steps away.

The Second Hokage made his move, his speed even faster than Kimimaro's.

Sshhh—

"Water Style: Water Severing Wave!"

The Second Hokage spat out a violent, high-pressure water jet in a straight line! It transformed into a sharp water blade, surging directly toward Feng Yao. If he insisted on absorbing Orochimaru, he would likely be sliced in two by the Second Hokage.

Unlike ordinary Water Style, in the original records, Tobirama used this technique to sever the roots of the God Tree.

Forced to stop the absorption, he activated Intangibility to dodge the strike. The ground and the giant boulders behind him were sliced open by the water jet, leaving a smooth, level line.

Orochimaru took the opportunity to put some distance between himself and Feng Yao. He had thought he was careful enough, but he hadn't expected to almost fall victim to Feng Yao's trap.

Feng Yao looked at Orochimaru, who was now far away, along with Kimimaro and the past Hokage. He knew the best opportunity to defeat Orochimaru had been missed.

"Be careful. He seems to be able to use ninjutsu to turn himself into nothingness to avoid attacks, but he is in a physical state when he uses that space-time ocular jutsu. Otherwise, I would have died just now. It seems your eyes hold many secrets, Yao-kun."

Orochimaru spoke with wariness, having realized his discovery. In ninja battles, intelligence was crucial. Seeing that Orochimaru had thoroughly analyzed his abilities, Feng Yao did not want to continue wasting time with him; his chakra did not come from the wind, after all.

The scene shifted to the ground, where the Sand Ninja and Konoha ninjas occupied their respective sides. However, the Sand Ninja's morale had surged due to the death of the Hokage, and they were faintly suppressing Konoha.

"Wind Style: Pressure Damage."

Shukaku spat a massive sphere of chakra-infused wind from the air, assaulting the Konoha ninja. Just as the ninja were about to scatter, a small, thin figure blocked their path, a frame so frail it seemed a strong gust might snap it in two.

"Earth Style: Earth Style Wall."

The terrifying air bullet slammed into the wall; though the barrier was shattered, it ensured the people behind it remained unharmed.

When the crowd caught sight of the newcomer's face, their expressions lit up with joy.

"Lord Third Hokage, you have finally come to take command!"

"Thank goodness, with the Third Hokage here, we are certain to win."

"Please lead us once more."

The Third waved his hand to signal for silence, simultaneously issuing the next operational orders. The primary objective was to drive invaders like the Sand ninja and rogue ninja like Feng Yao and Orochimaru out of Konoha.

"Use a barrier to lock down the One-Tail's movements. Kakashi, Guy, you two will assist me in restraining it."

With that, the Third performed a summoning jutsu, calling forth Enma.

"Adamantine Prison Wall."

Enma transformed into the Adamantine Staff, binding Shukaku tightly. Yet, Shukaku was fierce; its claws struck the cage incessantly, causing the staff to tremble slightly.

"Wind Style: Sand Scatter Shot."

By using wind to reinforce the sand bullets, the attack gained enough power to pierce flesh and exert control over the opponent.

Kakashi immediately summoned multiple Earth Style Walls to block the incoming technique.

BOOM.

The One-Tail's attack had failed once again.

By this time, the Four Violet Flames Formation set up by the Konoha ninja was ready, and the three of them moved inside to subdue the One-Tail.

While battling, the Third cast a silent glance toward the high platform, feeling a sense of relief.

It all depends on you now, he thought. You must defeat Orochimaru.

After the brief exchange, Orochimaru realized that the ninjutsu Feng Yao used to absorb others' attacks must be a dojutsu.

Consequently, he employed a genjutsu he had created years ago.

"Bringer-of-Darkness Technique."

This genjutsu stripped away the target's vision and had been developed specifically to counter the Sharingan of the Uchiha Clan.

Seeing Feng Yao's blank expression, Orochimaru knew he had succeeded, so he immediately ordered Kimimaro and the others to attack; he did not believe Feng Yao could maintain Intangibility forever.

Indeed, the duration of Intangibility was only five minutes.

"Wood Style: Advent of the World."

"Water Style: Water Dragon Bullet."

"Fire Style: Great Fireball."

"Shikotsumyaku: Dance of the Seedling Fern."

Yet, even though Feng Yao was the one being attacked, Orochimaru felt a sudden sense of crisis. Although Feng Yao's eyes looked vacant, his gaze was fixed directly upon him.

Acting on instinct, he used the Orochimaru-Style Substitution Technique.

He opened his mouth wide, a pair of hands clawing their way out, followed by his body, slick with wet mucus, as his lower half—a snake tail—slithered out of the old skin.

The very next moment, the space where Orochimaru had just been standing twisted.

Crack—

The entire husk was twisted and sucked into another dimension.

Feng Yao's mental power had long since reached unfathomable heights, especially after his constitution had changed, allowing him to be immune to the vast majority of genjutsu. Of course, even Feng Yao was not certain he could resist the strongest genjutsu, Kotoamatsukami.

Thus, he had feigned being caught in the genjutsu to trick Orochimaru into lowering his guard.

He had intended to use the long-range strike of his left-eye Kamui to instantly eliminate Orochimaru, but he had still been detected.

The left-eye Kamui could directly distort the space within the user's line of sight and send it into another dimension; it was an incredibly aggressive technique. Kakashi possessed this ability as well, but the current Kakashi had not yet fully mastered it.

After the Kamui failed, Feng Yao used the Flying Thunder God to retreat to a safe location.

He shouted directly: "As one of the Sannin, you wouldn't go back on your word, would you? If you don't show yourself, I might just join forces with the Sand to attack Konoha!"

No sooner had he finished speaking than a massive cloud of white smoke exploded in the center of the battlefield.

A giant orange toad sat crouched on the ground.

"The Toad Sage of Mount Myoboku—Jiraiya is here! Long time no see, Orochimaru."