Boom, boom, boom—!
The coffin doors slowly swung open, and a cloud of dust billowed up as they hit the ground.
This time, Feng Yao directly bound their consciousnesses. He couldn't make the same mistake twice.
Inside the coffins were Mahiru, Kakkō, and Taiseki from the Land of Earth (Iwagakure shinobi encountered by Team Kakashi at Kannabi Bridge); Hunt, a member of the Land of Earth's Iwagakure Demolition Unit who possessed the Explosion Release Kekkei Genkai;
Kushimaru Kuriarare, Jinin Akebino, and Munashi Jinpachi of the Hidden Mist's "first generation of the Seven Ninja Swordsmen";
And the Third Raikage of the Hidden Cloud.
The strongest among them was the Third Raikage. Feng Yao had been lucky to find him.
It was like drawing lots. Not everyone could be like Orochimaru later on and draw all four Hokage at once.
Feng Yao, on the other hand, had summoned a whole bunch of useless shinobi.
Their strength was roughly sixty percent of what it had been in life, mainly because they lacked good bodies.
The strength of the Impure World Reincarnation depended on the quality of the bodies used as sacrifices and the caster's skill. The latter was adequate, but the former fell short: they were just ordinary bodies.
Depriving the reincarnated of their wills also made them less effective in battle and less agile.
Just like Feng Yao was doing now, directly controlling them to fight.
Feng Yao patted the reincarnated figures in front of him, then turned to Orochimaru and said,
"Orochimaru, I'll control these guys in battle. Get ready to take Tsunade."
Orochimaru sneered. "Don't worry, Yao. I know Tsunade's weakness."
With that, Orochimaru bit his finger and charged at Tsunade, using Soft Physique Modification.
Feng Yao also sent the Third Raikage and the Seven Ninja Swordsmen charging at Jiraiya.
The four shinobi from the Land of Earth split into pairs to deal with Kabuto, who was under control, and Shizune beside him.
Shizune ignored the shinobi charging at her. Instead, she rolled up her sleeve, revealing a hidden needle launcher, and pulled its trigger, sending several poisoned darts flying toward Orochimaru.
"Do you only know how to use hidden weapons like that? You can't stop me."
As he spoke, Orochimaru spat out the Kusanagi Sword and knocked all the darts away.
Shizune tried to help again.
"Earth Release: Earth Shore Return!"
"Earth Release: Earth Flow Spears!"
But two Iwa Ninja had already rushed up to Shizune. She could no longer help Tsunade.
She could only focus on dealing with the two reincarnated Iwa Ninja.
With no one in his way, Orochimaru reached Tsunade in the blink of an eye, his bloodstained hand reaching for her.
Tsunade stared at the blood, unable to move. Even though she had seen her beloved again, she still couldn't escape the shadow of that day.
"Tsunade, what's wrong? Dodge!"
Dan Katō was under attack from two opponents in the distance, but seeing his beloved in danger, he immediately shouted to her.
But it was too late. Orochimaru was about to succeed!
Then a furious shout rang out from above.
"What are you doing to Grandma Tsunade?" A hot-blooded boy in orange burst into view from above.
In one of his hands was a sphere formed from blue chakra.
Orochimaru's heart lurched when he saw it.
"Is that the Rasengan? Jiraiya actually taught him that technique."
He moved back to evade. With no target to hit, Naruto fell to the ground.
The Rasengan in his hand smashed a small crater, half a meter across, into the earth.
Orochimaru looked at him and sneered. "Looks like he hasn't mastered it yet. I was worrying too much."
Watching Orochimaru miss his chance, Feng Yao furrowed his brow and thought, As expected of the number one unpredictable ninja.
But he was busy controlling the reincarnated shinobi to keep Jiraiya, Shizune, and the others pinned down. He couldn't spare anyone to help.
Feng Yao had a bad feeling. He focused even harder on directing the Third Raikage and the others to attack Jiraiya.
But Jiraiya wasn't easy to deal with. Jinin Akebino of the Seven Ninja Swordsmen had just missed an attack, and Jiraiya seized the opening.
"Summoning: Food Cart Destroyer Technique!"
He summoned Gamaken, who slammed down on Jinin Akebino like a boulder, pinning him beneath him.
Jinin Akebino's blunt sword, Kabutowari, had to be used at close range: first, he had to strike with the blade, then smash with the hammer. At such close quarters, he was naturally the first to go down.
Gamaken briefly blocked their view. Jiraiya leapt onto the toad's head, formed Hand Seals, and puffed out his stomach.
"Fire Release: Great Flame Bullet!"
Feng Yao ordered the two remaining Seven Ninja Swordsmen to drag Jinin Akebino out. He didn't want to let this drag on.
He directly controlled the Third Raikage to cover his body in chakra and lightning and unleash his strongest spear.
"Hell Stab: Four-Finger Nukite!"
Boosted by lightning chakra, the Raikage moved at incredible speed. In the original story, the Third Raikage had used this technique to break through the Allied Shinobi Forces' defensive jutsu, "Earth Release: Ten Thousand Mile Earth Wall," as well as the defensive jutsu "Lava Release: Adhesive Barrier," cast by the Kekkei Genkai user Dodai.
And the fewer fingers he used, the more powerful the technique became.
Jiraiya didn't dare block it head-on and immediately retreated, but the Raikage was faster. The three Seven Ninja Swordsmen emerged from beneath Gamaken and hurriedly moved aside to clear the Raikage's path.
Even if this attack couldn't defeat Jiraiya, it would at least leave him badly wounded.
Thud—!
The Raikage's arm pierced straight through Jiraiya's left collarbone. Jiraiya spat out a mouthful of blood.
Seeing the hit land, Feng Yao finally relaxed. Kabuto's situation was going the smoothest. Kabuto specialized in Medical Ninjutsu and attacking an enemy's internal organs, but the reincarnated were immune to that.
So it was only a matter of time before Kabuto was captured.
Feng Yao turned and said, "Orochimaru, I'm done over here. I'll come help you in a moment."
But then Feng Yao sensed something was wrong. He abruptly turned around and formed a hand seal, only to find that he couldn't control Jinin Akebino.
It seemed some strange technique had been used. The Jinin Akebino in front of him was a fake!
The "Jinin Akebino" opposite him seemed to realize he'd been found out.
He formed two red spheres of chakra in his hands.
"Fire Release: Great Flame Rasengan!"
He had added a fire-nature transformation to the Rasengan, making it more powerful. It was the same principle as Naruto adding wind nature to his Rasengan.
Jiraiya slammed the two Great Flame Rasengan into the backs of Munashi Jinpachi and Kushimaru Kuriarare.
The terrifying force pinned them to the ground, blasting apart most of their bodies. Fire-nature chakra scattered through the air.
At the same time, he quickly pulled out a sealing scroll and wrapped the two of them inside. This was one way to counter the Impure World Reincarnation: seal the reincarnated person's body. It could only stop the person from moving; the Impure World Reincarnation itself remained intact.
Jiraiya extended his hand, fingers spread in the classic pose he used to introduce himself.
"Don't underestimate me, brat! I'm one of the Sannin, the great Toad Sage, after all~"
Earlier, while using the Food Cart Destroyer Technique, Jiraiya had taken advantage of Gamaken blocking Feng Yao's view to use a Shadow Clone. He had also used the Frog Transformation Technique to turn Jinin Akebino into a frog and tuck him away.
Then he disguised himself as "Jinin Akebino." Once the other two Seven Ninja Swordsmen rescued him, he used the chance to get close and took out the two reincarnated swordsmen in one move.
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